In recent years, particularly on the mainland, agents have begun to distinguish the role they play by becoming an agent for the buyer or the seller and making it clear whom they represent (and who is paying them) before they enter into a transaction.
The interesting part of this concept is the fee. Instead of listing at the traditional 6 or 7% commission to be paid if and when the sale closes, we charge 1% of the listed price at the time the listing is signed. That is, in advance, before the sale is made. Part of the agreement is that the property will be placed on the multiple listing service giving the widest possible exposure. In addition, McTeam will do every thing possible to encourage other brokers to bring buyers to the property. Those brokers will be paid normal fees under the old fashioned system.
In an ideal situation, the other broker would have signed an agreement to exclusively represent the buyer and would be paid 1% (instead of 3 or 4%) costing the transaction only 2%, rather than 6 or 7%. Look at the math. A $200,000 sale at 7% would require $14,000 in commission, but at 2% is only $4,000.
We've implemented the single agency concept at McLaughlin Arguin & Curreri, Realtors ® with the implementation of McTeam. McTeam is an organization within the organization, a team of professionals formed by Frank McLaughlin that basically works on listing property, although we will represent buyers looking for a specific property.
Frank, his son Brendan, Sharon Kuykendall and Tom Luff, work as a team to cover all aspects of the listing process.
They:
Next time you work with a broker be sure to ask who he or she is working for.
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