Realtor responses to discount requests

Agents react in different ways and some have a pet response to avoid answering the discount question.

• A few agents will give an arrogant or negative response.

• The snippy agent may quip, “Well those discount agents know what they’re worth.”

• Then there’s the old slam against “those agents” who are so quick to cut their commission that you can just imagine how they wouldn’t waste any time in recommending that you accept any offer that comes along.

• An agent may go into a story about how you and the agent are embarking on a journey and how they need a commission to adequately cover the appropriate costs to ensure a successful venture.

• Some use a pie-chart to show how the commission is split and where all of their share goes: including expenses, the IRS, FICA, office birthday gifts, state taxes, etc.

• An agent could ask you what it is that you would say if your client would ask you to cut the price for services you perform.

• They could also calculate the dollar discount amount and try to convince you that they could increase the sale price of your home by that amount.

Be aware of the agent who offers a lot of resistance to a legitimate request for a lower commission rate. These agents avoid discussion on the rate by stressing that they have superior service or that “they’re worth it.”

Often they’re the ones that will press you to sign the listing agreement. They’ll also push you to drop your price, accept the offer or cave in to inspection demands. Unfortunately, they can’t exert this kind of pressure on the buyers since the only person they’ll be dealing with besides the buyers’ agent is you.