{"id":15417,"date":"2011-12-05T17:00:59","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=15417"},"modified":"2011-12-05T17:01:12","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T00:01:12","slug":"hey-california-realtors-are-you-making-minimum-wage-for-your-efforts-if-not-your-broker-just-went-into-cardiac-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15417\/hey-california-realtors-are-you-making-minimum-wage-for-your-efforts-if-not-your-broker-just-went-into-cardiac-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, California Realtors: Are you making minimum wage for your efforts? If not, your broker just went into cardiac arrest."},"content":{"rendered":"

Teri Lussier pointed this out to me last week, and I’ve been waiting since then for someone to plumb the implications. Ah, well, when there’s constabulary work to be done…<\/p>\n

Here’s the news: The state of California is making ZipRealty pay it agents minimum wage for their time.<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s huge. It’s just the thin edge of the wedge, for now, but the implication is that the real estate broker’s “safe harbor” exclusion from employment laws is about to be flushed into the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

The “safe harbor” argument is that real estate salespeople are independent contractors, and that brokers are not obliged to pay them any wages, nor to provide any benefits.<\/a><\/p>\n

This is why brokers pile on as many hopeless, helpless, hapless idiots as they can: Virtually everyone has at least one transaction in him, and the cost to the broker for the eventual failure of 85%+ of the new “hires” is nothing.<\/p>\n

I don’t want to seem to praise employment laws, since their sole effect is to destroy jobs. But no other business would — or even could<\/em> — be as wasteful of human capital as virtually every real estate brokerage is.<\/p>\n

Could that be changing in California? Take note of this:<\/p>\n

“Employers who previously were not concerned with minimum wage issues are now put on notice to ensure they are providing those basic protections to workers.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

After learning of the Bakersfield cases, California State Labor Commissioner Julie Su in September filed a $17 million lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of hundreds of other ZipRealty employees statewide. That lawsuit is pending.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brokerages like Zip (and Redfin, etc.) have a greater exposure, because they operate too much like real businesses. But I can’t imagine what the 25,000 or so starving California Realtors might be thinking just now.<\/p>\n

But I think I have a fair idea what their brokers are thinking…<\/p>\n

The National Association of Realtors is propped up on three flimsy stilts: The real estate licensing laws<\/a>, the “co-broke”<\/a> — the cooperating brokerage fee behind the MLS system — and the IRS-sanctioned independent contractor “safe-harbor.”<\/p>\n

Unheralded by anyone who knows why it matters, the “safe-harbor” took the first Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teri Lussier pointed this out to me last week, and I’ve been waiting since then for someone to plumb the implications. Ah, well, when there’s constabulary work to be done… Here’s the news: The state of California is making ZipRealty pay it agents minimum wage for their time. That’s huge. It’s just the thin edge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,29,30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-group-therapy","8":"category-supplanting-the-nar","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/542\/when-real-estate-brokers-face-a-substantial-cost-for-head-count-only-the-most-profitable-heads-will-survive-unsevered\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":0},"title":"When real estate brokers face a substantial cost for head-count, only the most profitable heads will survive unsevered . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Nadel\u2019s white paper on real estate commissions is very thoroughgoing, rich in detail and a rational understanding of human motivation -- without slipping over to the hyperbole that afflicts much criticism of the residential real estate industry. But Nadel is an outsider, so, while his diagnosis of what ails\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1040,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1040\/hillary-clinton-and-rotarian-socialism-whats-wrong-with-the-nar\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":1},"title":"Hillary Clinton and Rotarian Socialism: What’s wrong with the NAR?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Business Week's Hot Property wrote yesterday about the NAR's having gotten into bed with Hillary Clinton -- who is \"sponsoring a bill that bars commercial banks from hiring real estate brokers\/agents\" -- but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The National Association of Realtor is routinely, habitually, congenitally anti-free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":570,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/570\/starving-realtors-want-to-know-how-do-you-charge-a-premium-price-for-a-commodity-that-is-not-in-short-supply\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":2},"title":"Starving Realtors want to know: How do you charge a premium price for a commodity that is not in short supply?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I love it! Inman Blog cites an amazing open letter from the Minnesota Association of Realtors to its membership. The gist: Real estate brokers are retards but it's not their fault! Wait, that's not right. What it says is, if you're not making money as a Realtor, you should probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2057,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2057\/dont-live-in-fear-of-the-nar-or-your-broker-disintermediate-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":3},"title":"Don’t live in fear of the NAR or your broker — disintermediate them!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The stakes are high, as Brian has pointed out. You yourself have been smart enough to build a Web 2.0 marketing strategy, but now you're faced with the possibility that your broker, with or without the help of the brokers' cartel, the National Association of Realtors, may try to take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3752,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3752\/another-real-estate-model-a-less-radical-variation-on-a-current-theme-that-can-work-within-the-present-regulatory-context-a-national-franchise-of-real-estate-franchisors-each-of-whom-is-committed-t\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":4},"title":"Another real estate model, a less-radical variation on a current theme that can work within the present regulatory context: A national franchise of real estate franchisors, each of whom is committed to sustaining the value of the brand","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I read Rob Hahn's ideas about brokerage-as-law-firm last week. I thought that much was kind of naive -- a reflection of a lack of understanding the legal realities of real estate brokerage -- but I didn't jump in because I thought some of his other ideas were interesting. Here's the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15293,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15293\/hey-ron-phipps-i-say-the-national-association-of-realtors-is-a-rent-seeking-rotarian-socialist-conspiracy-against-the-american-consumer-can-you-offer-even-one-argument-to-refute-that-claim\/","url_meta":{"origin":15417,"position":5},"title":"Hey, Ron Phipps: I say the National Association of Realtors is a rent-seeking Rotarian Socialist conspiracy against the American consumer. Can you offer even one argument to refute that claim?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend and partner, the ever-more-Unchained Brian Brady, posted a Facebook link to a Wall Street Journal article on the current push by the National Association of Realtors for extended loan subsidies for the rich:To understand why 90% of U.S. mortgages are still underwritten by taxpayers, look no further than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15418,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15417\/revisions\/15418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}