{"id":555,"date":"2006-10-19T17:50:23","date_gmt":"2006-10-20T00:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=555"},"modified":"2007-07-16T21:10:24","modified_gmt":"2007-07-17T04:10:24","slug":"defining-the-divorced-commission-a-short-hand-term-for-understanding-alternative-real-estate-compensation-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/555\/defining-the-divorced-commission-a-short-hand-term-for-understanding-alternative-real-estate-compensation-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining the Divorced Commission: A short-hand term for understanding alternative real estate compensation models . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I just spent a very informative hour on the phone with <a href=\"http:\/\/bawldguy.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jeff Brown<\/a>, and I want to summarize what I took away from our conversation.<\/p>\n<p>First, Jeff has a very different understanding of the term &#8220;co-broke&#8221; compared to the way it is used in Arizona. When we went to essentially 100% buyer-brokerage for residential real estate, we kept the term &#8220;co-broke&#8221; to mean the compensation that would be paid to the buyer&#8217;s broker &#8212; even though the buyer&#8217;s broker is never a sub-agent of the listing broker or the seller and represents only the buyer.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff writes explicit contract language to make pellucid his exclusive buyer&#8217;s agency and is also taking his compensation from the buyer. What the listing agent chooses to do about the portion of the sales commission set aside for any cooperating broker is between the listing agent and the seller.<\/p>\n<p>I would describe that as an instance of what I want to call Divorced Commissions. The lingering idea of subordination &#8212; seller oversees listing broker who oversees cooperating broker &#8212; is completely eliminated, at least from the buyer&#8217;s side of the ledger. The buyer contracts for and compensates his own representative.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=296\" target=\"_blank\">writing the listing agreement to concede any shared sales commission directly to the buyer<\/a> effects the same sort of divorce. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=530\" target=\"_blank\">We are doing this with one listing right now<\/a>, and I gather that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.raincityguide.com\/2006\/10\/17\/woohoo-mervs-got-it-down\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ardell has just done something similar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This again is a form of Divorced Commissions. Even though in this instance any buyer&#8217;s agent&#8217;s commission is originating in the listing agreement, neither the lister nor the seller are attempting to use these funds to advance the seller&#8217;s interests at the expense of the buyer&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><i>Nota bene:<\/i> The original purpose of encapsulating the cooperating broker&#8217;s commission within the listing broker&#8217;s commission was to align everyone&#8217;s interests <i>with<\/i> the seller&#8217;s interests and <i>against<\/i> the buyer&#8217;s interests. The cooperating broker working with the buyer was compensated for introducing the buyer to the seller and for actively working against the buyer&#8217;s interests in the seller&#8217;s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>You might argue that, at least in Arizona, where sub-agency is no longer practiced for residential real estate, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/555\/defining-the-divorced-commission-a-short-hand-term-for-understanding-alternative-real-estate-compensation-models\/#more-555\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just spent a very informative hour on the phone with Jeff Brown, and I want to summarize what I took away from our conversation. First, Jeff has a very different understanding of the term &#8220;co-broke&#8221; compared to the way it is used in Arizona. When we went to essentially 100% buyer-brokerage for residential real [&hellip;]<\/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":[3,4,11,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-disintermediation","8":"category-dual-agency","9":"category-marketing","10":"category-real-estate","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":519,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/519\/the-seller-really-pays-for-the-buyers-agent-definitely-not-when-the-buyer-pays-out-of-pocket-but-what-if-the-buyer-really-did-pay-for-the-buyers-agent-from-the-buyers-side-of-the-hud-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":0},"title":"The seller really pays for the buyer&#8217;s agent? Definitely not when the buyer pays out of pocket. But what if the buyer really did pay for the buyer&#8217;s agent from the buyer&#8217;s side of the HUD-1?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of discussion of Buyer Broker compensation going on around the RE.net, and I want to draw attention to it while I can. I have some further thoughts of my own, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to them today. It's Saturday, after all. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2179,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2179\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-why-buyers-and-sellers-each-paying-for-their-own-representation-is-the-most-significant-reform-that-can-be-made-today-in-residential-real-estat\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":1},"title":"A consumer&#8217;s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Why buyers and sellers each paying for their own representation is the most significant reform that can be made today in residential real estate","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part I: How we got into this mess in the first place Can we be straight with each other? I'm not a soft and subtle kind of guy, and my working assumption is that you are sick to death of being hustled -- handled -- lied to. We yammer all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":296,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/296\/securing-the-home-buyers-place-at-the-table-how-two-simple-reforms-can-finally-result-in-a-full-uncompromised-form-of-buyer-representation\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":2},"title":"Securing the home-buyer&#8217;s place at the table: How two simple reforms can finally result in a full, uncompromised form of buyer representation . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Executive summary: This is long, and it's written (I hope!) for ordinary people, not real estate professionals. But I want for real estate professionals to be aware of this argument, because I think it solves several of the knottier problems affecting our industry. Here's a quick summary of the essay:Buyers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Enduring Interest&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1444,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1444\/by-withholding-the-secrets-of-the-mystical-mls-system-are-we-betraying-the-home-buyers-interests\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":3},"title":"By withholding the secrets of the mystical MLS system are we betraying the home-buyer&#8217;s interests?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In all my spare time, I've been working over the past few days on a real estate porn movie. The film features pictures from hundreds of homes, with loads of juicy details. We took the photos over the course of years, so it's entirely possible that some of those homes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Enduring Interest&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/550\/smashing-the-idols-understanding-market-value-in-full-context\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":4},"title":"Smashing the idols: Understanding market value in full context . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Nominate me Ikonoklastes, for I am come to raze this temple of half-baked ideas. I want to come back to the MLS later in the week, and I have a deep need to expose the motivations of brokers, as these are distinguished from the motivations of lesser licensees. But for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blogging&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2202\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-cataloging-benefits-starting-with-a-complete-catalog-of-available-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":555,"position":5},"title":"A consumer&#8217;s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Cataloging benefits &#8212; starting with a complete catalog of available homes","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part IV: Divorcing the real estate commissions will result in benefits not just for buyers but also for their agents and for the real estate market as a whole The National Association of Realtors is embroiled right now in a protracted anti-trust suit brought by the United States Department of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","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=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}