FSBO...What's a fair co-broke?

3%

2.5-3%..under that, and broker will be incentivized to push a different property that pays out a higher commission. sad but true part of this business. now, many brokers actually dont think that way and just want their clients happy and will do what they have to do and take what they can take...but others get real nutz when it comes to taking a discount on their commission...

3% is fair. However, as an experienced FSBO, I should warn you - the broker is probably not looking to seriously show your place. He is looking for an opportunity to pitch you to list with him. Alternatively, he may simply list your place on his website without your permission to attract leads - most of which he will not then bring to see your apartment.

We even caught one broker taking his own photos during an Open House and listing them on his site. Others scraped our photos - without ever even speaking to us - and listed our apartment on their site. Of course we had friends inquire about the listings and each time, the broker tried to steer them to comparable apartments.

Good luck!

GG: Here is a new product I am offering, I think it makes a lot of sense for FSBO's in NYC. (I know some of you SE regulars are getting tired of me beating this drum. But its not easy instituting change...)

http://nycrentrant.blogspot.com/

Keith (Broker)

"Fair" is not the goal. "Effective" is the goal. You need to offer 3 percent to expect serious broker involvement below $1 mill, although even then, some brokers avoid FSBOs except for the purposes scoots describes. It's a lot more secure and less hassle for a broker to work with another broker, unfortunately.

We are currently marketing our condo as a FSBO listing. We even expressed in our ads and directly to brokers that we are willing to pay a 3% commission (typically the max they get on a co-broke). However, they won't touch us and in fact we've heard some dissuade their buyers about our property even though their buyers have expressed interest. We would like to legitimize this by using REBNY's RLS system. However, we don't have access. We want to avoid doing an exlusive listing because saving 2-3%(ie. paying a total of 5-6%) gives us more negotiation room on our offer price.