There seems to be a misunderstanding of what the standard is for "procuring cause" for a real estate agent to be entitled to a commission as a buyer's representative in Vermont. The Vermont Supreme Court has set the standard under Vermont law. Buyers (and sellers) should be aware of this standard when a real estate agent claims that they are [...]
How is it that despite incredible advancements in the technology available to real estate agents and tremendous increases in agent productivity and efficiency is it possible that the commission charged by most firms has not changed in the last 30 years and is still 6% of the sales price? That defies every basic economic principle. I cannot [...]
Most agents that represent buyers require the buyers to pay them a percentage of the purchase price as their fee for assisting in the purchase of a new home. There is an inherent conflict in this [...]
Because of the emotional aspects of homeownership, it is natural when selling a home to believe that your house is better than any other comparable property on the market and as a result is worth more than any other comparable [...]
While the internet has made the process of buying and selling homes much more efficient, there have been a few drawbacks associated with the ability of buyers and sellers to easily access volumes of property information [...]
It has been well documented that our current financial problems and recent financial crisis were the result of the bursting of the housing bubble. Investment banks and others sold bundled mortgaged backed securities and insurance against defaults on the those securities based upon the premise that housing prices would always appreciate. Even [...]
It always amazes me when someone says to me, "well, that is not the way we do it here." The implication, of course, is that their way is correct and my way is incorrect.
While I can respect a person who believes their method is the correct way, people who say, "well, that is not the way we do it here" typically do not respect any other [...]
While many of you may think that this article refers to the classic Seinfeld episode where George Costanza dips a chip, bites it and dips again, it is not. It is however about something equally ridiculous: real estate agents double charging their [...]
A pyramid scheme is a business model that involves promising participants payment for enrolling other people into the scheme rather than really supplying any real value to the public. The business model is unsustainable and eventually collapses when the public realizes that they are not receiving any real value for the amount of money being [...]
You would think that in these challenging economic times that all businesses would be willing to enter into negotiations for the price of goods and services. However, the real estate industry continues to resist attempts by consumers to negotiate their price for [...]