Through the traditional Multi Listing Service (MLS) system, buyers’ agents and sellers’ agents are both paid commissions by the home sellers. This arrangement will sometimes benefit the agent over your best interest. For example, through the MLS system, to generate more interest in a property, rather than lower the price of the home, a seller may add a bonus on top of the commission to induce buyer agents—to try harder—to “sell” the listing to their buyer clients. Also, the higher the price paid for a home, the more an agent is compensated, which is an inherent conflict of interest with buyer representation.

At Fifth Broker, we align the incentives between buyers and their agents by providing a performance bonus to our agents based on how much you save relative to the original asking price of the home. Unlike other brokerages that use percentages to compute their fees, our commissions are not guaranteed to increase as the price of the home increases.

Traditional agents generally want to sell your home at the highest price possible for both you and themselves. However, when earning just straight percentage commissions, traditional agents are better off if they can achieve faster closings, even at the expense of a price reduction. To counter that incentive, we provide a bonus to our listing agents based on the net selling price of the house. Using the Fifth Broker compensation formula, the economic incentives are more firmly aligned by making it more profitable for both you and your agent to capture, as close as possible, the full valued market price of your home.

Our commissions are set at very competitive rates. For those buying or selling more expensive homes, the savings are especially large. We do, however, offer an assistance program by offering reduced commission rates for community members who may be faced with economic hardship, including the elderly. Please inquire if you think you may qualify and would like to apply for our assistance program.

Dual agency practiced with one agent representing both buyer and seller is an arrangement that has an inherent conflict of interest and should be avoided. In most circumstances, Fifth Broker will represent a buyer and a seller of the same property only as “designated dual agents”, i.e. two different agents working for the same firm. If an agent is working with a buyer who decides to bid on a home represented by the same agent, that agent must step away from the deal. Two new agents would then be assigned so that privileged information would not be used to give an unfair advantage/disadvantage to either party.