Finally, flat-fee realtors!

If your house sold for $500,000 or $1 million, would you enjoy paying the real estate agents involved in the transaction $30,000 or $60,000 in commission?

I guess not... Even though I tried briefly, decades ago, to join this shady profession and quit a year later because I found it particularly unethical, I've always considered its selling commission structure like highway robbery.

In a 2015 Gallup survey, real estate agents ranked below lawyers and used-car salesmen for trustworthiness with a dismal 20% rating! In spite of it, this strange system has held-up because it was a de facto monopoly and had the support of one of the strongest lobby in America.

Yet, today, we're starting to see some erosion in that outrageous commission scheme and it's a good sign. So, with this in mind, just bear with me, as I try to explain. A traditional listing agent typically charges 3% commission for listing a property and that's where a flat fee of say $3,000 charged by Redefy compares to the $15,000 or $30,000 portion of the commission mentioned in the above example.

The seller will still have to fork up the remaining 3% that goes to the selling agent, but instead of paying respectively $30,000 or $60,000 in total commissions, the amount will drop to $18,000 and $33,000 respectively.

Purplebricks is another company (from the UK) that offers a similar business model at $3,200 per listing and there are plenty of others outfits like Homie, that seem intent to making a dent into the cost of selling and buying a home.

I just hope these alternative solutions make it, spread like wildfire and are not thwarted by that nefarious and powerful monopoly, called National Association of Realtors.