Who's Up for a 3-Way?

Now that I have your attention I would like to shed a little light on what I consider an unsavory practice that some Douglasville real estate agents have been known to participate in. I checked into it and apparently it is perfectly legal, most things are when written into a contract properly. Ethical is another matter, as this practice is frowned upon by every agent that I know of except the two that started it.

Two agents working exclusively for a Douglasville builder found a way to actually co-opt the sale of these new homes three ways! I learned of this practice the hard way as I brought a client to this new subdivision and sold her a home there. The onsite agent working for the builder prepared the contract as is typical with new construction in the Douglasville real estate market. When the instructions to the closing attorney arrived I found that this three-way commission split between myself and the two onsite agents existed. Questioning the lead agent about this I was told that there were three agents involved and she acted as if this was standard practice. It certainly is not standard and I could not believe their audacity. I suppose that if there 6 onsite agents we would have split it 7 ways? I only worked with one agent on this deal anyway, the other was never seen or heard from and neither even attended the closing.

This builder already had a bad reputation in the area and I had originally tried to get my client to purchase a nearly identical lower priced home in a nearby new subdivision, but she had her heart set on this home and could not be swayed. We even had to purchase our own 2/10 warranty since this non-certified Georgia builder could not supply one. The combination of the builder aleady having a bad reputation in the area and this 3-way commission scheme has now led to a situation where there is so little traffic in the development that there are no onsite agents at all, nothing has sold, and no new starts have begun. This is the same situation with other builders in the Douglasville real estate market right now as well but I can't help but think this development did it to themselves. A reputation for dealing fairly with other agents is important if you expect others to work in good faith with you.

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