Articles

60 Minutes - May 13, 2007: Chipping Away At Realtors' Six Percent
Lesley Stahl Reports How Realtors' Commission Fees Are Under Assault (video)

DOJ launches real estate competition Web site
New U.S. Department of Justice web site features commission charts, maps, agency reports and more, that make it clear that commission agents are overpaid. The Federal Government is obviously in favor of what FlatFeeListing.com is doing!

The Realtor Racket
Wall Street Journal article about how the Real Estate industry has been keeping real estate commissions up, limiting consumer choices, and influencing legislation to help its cause and force consumers to pay more for real estate services.

Realtors can't turn back the clock
Brief article about how the real estate industry is changing, and how the trade associations are promoting legislation to prevent innovation and competition at the expense of consumers.

Four Steps to Selling Your Home for Top Dollar
Various tips on selling your house by author David Bach.

Tax relief granted for forgiven debt, private mortgage insurance
IRS won't count as income debt forgiven by lenders when troubled borrowers negotiate short sales or workouts on their primary residence that involve forgiveness of part of their debt.

Fraud and corruption by Realtor Trade Associations
Report submitted to the FTC and Dept of Justice by one of the nation's top antitrust lawyers, David Barry.

Flat-fee brokers may put pressure on traditional commissions
Researcher finds that "full-service" 6% listings don't sell faster or for more money than flat-fee listings; and that Realtors are more interested in their commissions than in getting their sellers the best prices.

Real estate fees inflated by $30 billion
AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies suggests that consumers would benefit most from fee-for-service real estate companies that base compensation on flat fees, hourly fees and other specific payments for services rather than relying on a commission rate that is based on a percentage of the sale price of a home.

Unbundling the Real Estate Transaction: Providing fee-based services as a real estate consultant
by Julie Garton-Good, DREI, GRI
An excellent article intended for real estate agents, explaining why the commission system of charging for services is out-dated, and how the industry is changing and giving buyers and sellers more options.

Cut-rate realty: Commissions pressured beyond discounting
How Savvy buyers & sellers tap new business models for more savings on real estate commisssions.