I was reading an article over at Search Factory that discusses the situation with the gas shortages and the high price of gas nowadays. It got me thinking about how real estate agents in today’s market are handling these types of dilemmas. I remember when (and I am sure it still happens today) real estate agents would drive potential buyers around for hours, sometimes even days in hopes of a contract on a property. It wasn’t a big deal if you didn’t get a buyer’s agency agreement signed before hand, or even to have someone get prequalified or preapproved before stepping foot in your car. With the price of gas in today’s market I do wonder how many agents still live by these rules. Especially, with the problems going on with the banks and the credit crunch some may not be able to get the financing that they could have earlier.
Now, with the post I read at Search Factory it does make sense to charge retainer fees, or charge for services rendered. Coming up with the compensation plan might be the difficult part. I have heard of a number of buyer agents that have a menu like form set up to layout the different services offered and the fees for such services. But, the other side to this would be that there are a number of people (at least in my area) that are looking 6 months to 2 years out for purchasing property. This happens more for retirement purchases. With that I don’t feel that someone would be willing to pay for services that might last for up to 2 years. Now, if their timeframe was shorter I do feel that buyer agent fees upfront would be more beneficial to the buyers. What do you think? Are times changing?
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