A free market we don’t have. Forces abound that motivate selling and buying behaviors which don’t occur in free markets. In a free market, sellers are free to sell without being forced to answer to the State when escrow opens and closes. Buyers are free to buy a house without being forced to meet a lender’s checklist of tasks and deliverables. Home owners aren’t “chased” out of the state. Home buyers aren’t in fear of missing out.

There are a myriad of forces that surround our real estate market: rates, employment, regulation, taxes and safety are just a handful. The cost of money is critical to buyers who aren’t flush with cash. Good jobs are important to the health of the market and the ongoing concern called “ownership”. Legislators continue to show their ignorance by creating “point of sale” fees and regulations that impede timely success. And taxes, they get you coming and going. Likewise, increases in crime, without the desired increase in policing, are aiding in the erosion of allure in many local zip codes. Sellers are leaving the downtown areas. But gas prices are bringing sellers closer to their workplaces — IF they go to a workplace any more.

In comes a hoard of lawyers who think I have been participating in anti-trust behavior. They really can’t tell me why it’s anti-trust when most agents explain the math to their clients. Commission has become a dirty word. It wasn’t, and shouldn’t be, such a critical forethought in our market. Now a fiduciary has to violate their duties and make their compensation AS IMPORTANT as their client’s success. To clarify a commission before an offer is submitted is, in my opinion, a deviation from professionalism.

But one thing is for sure, the lawyers got paid. (They don’t work on commission — they get paid, success or not.)