Why Your Realtor Won’t Buy You A Duplex

In the last several weeks, I’ve had several buyers and sellers ask me to give up all or part of my previously agreed upon commission on a duplex sale so they can either pay less or net more.

My answer was “no”.

Yes, real estate commissions are negotiable.

And I realize every get rich quick real estate seminar or web site encourages you to ask your Realtor to financially contribute to the sale. After all, the thinking goes, you’re going to be giving that agent “so much business” they’ll be glad to trade hundreds or thousands of dollars for the opportunity of your continued loyalty.

Besides, Realtors make so much money, they can afford to give up some or all of their commission, right?

Wrong.

In 2010, the average income for a Realtor was $34,100. This was down 4.5 percent from the average Realtor income in 2009.

Compare this to 2002, when the average Realtor earned $52,100; 34.7 percent than they do almost a decade later!

And that figure includes agents who’ve been working selling duplexes and homes for more than two years.

Realtors who’ve been in the business two years or less earned, on average, $8900.

Out of that income, Realtors pay for gas, car insurance, desk fees, errors and omissions insurance, marketing of their listed properties, mandatory continuing education, MLS dues, cell phone and Internet bills, open house signs, the installation of signs in yards, and a thousand other expenses associated with running a business.

All of this in the worst housing market in decades.

I absolutely love what I do. And I am happy to work long hours for clients who see the value in what I do; whether it be finding them a non-MLS duplex that suits their needs, or guiding them through the complicated process of a short sale.

But unfortunately, Duplex Chicks have bills to pay too.