{"id":2049,"date":"2007-10-14T23:46:25","date_gmt":"2007-10-15T06:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2049"},"modified":"2007-10-15T02:51:27","modified_gmt":"2007-10-15T09:51:27","slug":"relax-the-department-of-justice-is-solving-the-real-estate-commission-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2049\/relax-the-department-of-justice-is-solving-the-real-estate-commission-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Relax, The Department of Justice is solving the real estate commission problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Wednesday the citizens of the United States became a lot better off. I was surprised that no one publicly popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. This is not some small thing, it is exciting news. The Department of Justice, Anti-Trust Division<\/a> launched a website that is going to make the world a better place<\/a>. The nice lawyers who worked on the research for the site and wrote the copy spent considerable time compiling the information.<\/p>\n

This is my favorite page on the site<\/a>. I liked it a lot because the page it linked from<\/a> had this quote:<\/p>\n

“Brokers typically charge a commission based on a percentage of the home\u2019s sale price. Over the past decade the average commission rate has remained relatively steady between 5.0 and 5.5 percent. As a result, the actual median commission paid by consumers rose sharply along with the run-up in home prices. <\/em><\/p>\n

Unless broker costs<\/strong> were also rising sharply during this period of time, competition among brokers should have held commissions in check even as home prices were rising.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The word, “costs<\/strong>” was bold on their site, as well. Unless broker costs also went up (where the brokers could actually prove<\/u> they had to spend more) competition SHOULD have held commissions in check.\u00a0My costs have gone up in the past nine years.\u00a0 Way up.\u00a0 My\u00a0acquistion cost per listing and my costs to service each listing has gone up, as well.\u00a0What they may be shooting for is the correct amount of profit a Realtor should be making.\u00a0 I wonder if they plan to subsidize those agents and companies who can prove they are making less (like Foxtons)?<\/p>\n

I’ve included a link here for any stray DOJ lawyers reading this post to help them. There are many calculator sites on the internet, I choose this one<\/a> because it came up first when I did a Google search for “consumer price index calculator”. Try it. Type in 1998 = $1.00 and then put 2007 in the year you want to check. I got $1.26. I think you will too.<\/p>\n

If you are a Realtor going to a grocery store or a Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Wednesday the citizens of the United States became a lot better off. I was surprised that no one publicly popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. This is not some small thing, it is exciting news. The Department of Justice, Anti-Trust Division launched a website that is going to make the world a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"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":[4,6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-realty-reality","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1489,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1489\/tennessee-commission-rebate-ban-signed-into-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":0},"title":"Tennessee commission rebate ban signed into law","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From the the Nashville Tennessean:Gov. Phil Bredesen has signed a bill reinstating a ban on cash rebates for home sales and other real estate transactions, despite opposition from consumer advocates and federal antitrust officials. The bill signed late Wednesday reverses a decision made earlier this month by state regulators to\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":980,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/980\/980\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":1},"title":"If there is no Realtor monopoly — then what explains the commission structure?","author":"Cooksquared","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I asked people to humor me, I have been getting a lot of comments on the issue of monopoly. Brian Brady mentions: \"I think you're losing me a bit Michael. How are 3 million licensees in a nation of 300 million a monopoly?\" The issue is how 3\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Enduring Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1435,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1435\/ftc-to-ncrc-regarding-zillowcom-what-price-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":2},"title":"FTC to NCRC regarding Zillow.com: What price justice?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The attempted shakedown of Zillow.com that began last October -- when The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaining that the nascent Seattle-based Automated Valuation Model (AVM) was misleading minority homeowners about the value of their homes -- has come to stunningly\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":3061,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3061\/the-war-against-the-mls-continues-the-mls-must-fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":3},"title":"The War Against The MLS Continues | The MLS Must Fall!","author":"Barry Cunningham","date":"May 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 As the real estate industry awaits the long anticipated trial pitting the Department of Justice vs. The National Association of Realtors, another Multiple Listing Service has been targeted by the DOJ. On May 2, 2008, the DOJ filed suit against the Consolidated Multiple Listing Service (CMLS) of Columbia, South\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Department of Justice Sues the MLS | CMLS","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.realestateradiousa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/crosshairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":896,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/896\/nar-doj-russ-russell-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":4},"title":"NAR & DOJ – Russ & Russell Part 1","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"January 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Russ Cofano responded: Hi Russell, Happy to add some background here. You ask, \"But aren't the \"anti-competitive policies\" basically who has the right to decide how and where listings will be displayed?\" Kinda. The initial DOJ complaint against NAR revolved around NAR's initial Virtual Office Website (VOW) policy that allowed\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":2258,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2258\/real-estate-representation-has-never-been-about-information-brokerage\/","url_meta":{"origin":2049,"position":5},"title":"Real estate representation has never been about information brokerage","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm behind on these, but this is a good time to catch up. This is my column from the Arizona Republic from last week. \u00a0Real estate representation has never been about information brokerage As I write this, the National Association of Realtors is holding its annual convention at the Venetian\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}