From Susan Plage:

I gulped hard today. I turned down buyers. I had buyers who interviewed several buyer brokers; selected me and asked for an agency agreement. They are dabbling in two market areas here and I made suggestions on how to make that a team effort with another referred broker. They are scouting FSBO's and I mentioned how that would be handled in an agency relationship. We scheduled a meeting to sign the paperwork and in preparation I dropped off the agreements for their review.

Bottomline: they want me to accept a one in three chance that I'll get paid. If they buy in the other market, they want to control that. If they buy a FSBO, they want to control that since "they did all the work." If they buy in my market or "if I find them the perfect house" then they think I should be paid. That's a one in three chance and a lot of time in my car...not to mention the expertise. To me the only way it was a good business decision on my part, as I told them, was to pay a retainer up front for my services (in this three ring circus). They didn't agree and I didn't agree to sign an agency agreement with them. There was exasperation on their side of the phone and a bit of shock. But I did it!

From Deb Orth:

Hi all,

I have a question for anyone who would like to respond. This is in regard to rebating or crediting all or part of the consulting fee. Do you offer to credit a portion, half, or all of the fee if the client converts from the consulting program to a conventional listing? I like the idea of offering a credit because, as Mollie states, it sets us apart from the discount brokers. I'm just curious to what portion you agree to credit and in what circumstances and time frame.

Deb Orth

 Unlike real estate sales, as a consultant, your work with clients and prospects is not limited to just assisting people who are buying or selling a home. Certainly assisting active buyers and sellers will continue to be the majority of your work and with the options that you can now offer, you'll win more buyers and listings than ever.

But the bonus of being an ACRE is the additional income opportunities that you have assisting consumers that aren't buying or selling or, not buying or selling NOW. Think of the range of clients that ACREs are now working with (and getting paid for!) Investors, homeowners, for sale by owners, the mortgage industry... if it has to do with real estate decisions, you can now get paid.

BUT, instead of people making the decision to buy or sell and then contacting an agent, you can become their teammate from the beginning helping to guide them in making the decision.