It looks like the battle over commissions, rebates, full service real estate agents and the federal Department of Justice is still going strong. The real estate lobby has been working state houses across the country to get them to enact legislation banning commission rebates or creating minimum service legislation.
The Department of Justice has been doggedly trying to counteract these laws from coming to fruition as the legal battles are expensive have been consistantly won by the government allowing rebates and different levels of service on antitrust grounds.
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division sent a letter to the Tennessee House of Representatives indicating that House Bill 2095, would deny Tennesseans the opportunity of receiving cash rebates from real estate brokers when they buy and sell their homes. The Department said that if enacted, the legislation would impede real estate brokers from competing on price and force Tennesseans to pay more in real estate commissions. The Department also noted that the amended legislation would effectively override recent actions of the Tennessee Real Estate Commission that enable brokers to provide cash rebates.via PR Newswire.
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I’m not sure I understand how a licensed profession could NOT have a minimum service standard.
The rebate issue is a different kettle of fish. That one goes round and round it seems.
True (commission) Rebates are flourishing in Texas and rewarding saavy buyers both for new homes and resale homes. They are most prevelant in the new home market and can be a real stepping stone for the buyer that can get all or most of his closing costs paid by the rebate in conjunction with Builder contributions. The Texas Real Estate Commission reaffirmed the commission rebate in the December 2006 TREC Adviser defining what a rebate is and who can receive it and under what conditions. Like I said, savvy buyers are doing well in this environment. There are still many buyers that have no idea of this provision in the market place and worse yet many buyers that think it is illegal, unethical or "too good to be true" and ignore it. Too bad.
Great information about home buyer rebates; they are very beneficial to home buyers.
In addition to the rebate, a buyer should seek out a good buyer’s agent who is focused on saving the buyer money through strong negotiations throughout the entire transaction.
There is no reason to limit or restrict broker rebates to real estate home buyers as it is the principal method by which a buyer broker can discount or negotiate their fees. Real estate fees and commissions should not be fixed by state law.