{"id":4203,"date":"2005-11-08T20:04:46","date_gmt":"2005-11-09T00:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/11\/08\/brokers-commissions-renovatio"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:25","slug":"brokers-commissions-renovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/11\/08\/brokers-commissions-renovations\/","title":{"rendered":"brokers, commissions, renovations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After a day-long symposium on competition among real estate brokers<\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(or the lack thereof), sponsored by the American Antitrust Institute<\/FONT><\/A>, I <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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want to:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(1) remind you once again that realtors and legislators are working to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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put anticompetitive laws on the books that will stifle innovators and <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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price compeition in the real estate brokers’ market (see our prior post<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and WSJ.com<\/EM>, “Some states now limit price rebates to buyers<\/A>,” Aug.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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19, 2005; post-gazette.com<\/EM>, “Realtor commissions face new pressures<\/FONT><\/A>, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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May 10, 2005) — so let your elective leaders know you object.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(2) point to the recent column by WSJ<\/EM>‘s Alan Murray, “Realtors Fiddle as<\/A>  “soldSign”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Real Estate Burns Ever Hotter<\/A>,” Sept. 29, 2005), where Murray notes that <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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commission rates stay stuck around 6% despite soaring house prices <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and great technological changes that make it much easiier for consumers <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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to get housing information and agents to do their jobs.  He is inclined to agree:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“with Eric Danziger, chief executive of Internet home seller ZipRealty Inc. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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We have an industry that truly has not changed since Dwight Eisenhower <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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was President,’ he says. ‘That’s principally because people in the industry <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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don’t want it to’.”<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Murray thinks commissions should go down and the numbers of agents should be <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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reduced, as has happened with stock brokers and travel agents.   He was the Luncheon <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Speaker at today AAI symposium, and I enjoyed the excerpts he read from email <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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responses to this column.  Not surprisingly, real estate agents disagreed and felt <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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that journalists are the ones who are overpaid middlemen.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"wrong It seems to your humble editor that, as with p\/i lawyers and their sticky fee levels, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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there are too many agents overcompeting to attract customers rather than competing <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on price, because they are looking for the big lottery jackpot that goes with selling <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a high-end house.   One speaker today, Larry White of NYU’s Stern School, said<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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there are almost 2 million active real estate agents – 1% of the American work force!<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and (3) present some haiku, which you all deserve; today, from Alice Frampton:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the warmth of his pocket<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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evening shadows<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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                        RENOVATIONS<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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I WORK so he can work.  He buys tools and lumber so they<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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can work.  They buy groceries so she can work.  She takes her <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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children to daycare so I can work.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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renovations …<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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from under the old tub<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a child’s marble  <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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\"butterflyN\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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insomnia
the break-up
moth by moth<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Alice Frampton<\/FONT><\/A><\/DIV>
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“the warmth” & RENOVATIONS (haibun) – Frogpond XXVIII (2005)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“insomnia” – The Heron’s Nest<\/A><\/EM> (Nov. 2003)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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