Hello, I will be listing our apartment for sale sometime soon and was thinking about offering a referral fee to an individual who brings a buyer that leads to a sale. Has anyone seen or used such a strategy and can comment on how it was implemented and its effectiveness? The referral fee would be: * Paid by me (the seller) to the individual (a non-broker) who introduces me to a buyer. That... [more]
Hello, I will be listing our apartment for sale sometime soon and was thinking about offering a referral fee to an individual who brings a buyer that leads to a sale. Has anyone seen or used such a strategy and can comment on how it was implemented and its effectiveness?
The referral fee would be:
* Paid by me (the seller) to the individual (a non-broker) who introduces me to a buyer. That individual would only make the introduction and not perform any real estate services or represent me or the buyer.
* A percentage of the sale price. The percentage is to be determined but I expect the fee to be about $25,000.
* Paid only if the buyer is not represented by a broker. If the buyer has a broker, then no referral fee would be paid. A broker's commission would be paid instead.
What are people's views on such a strategy? Can someone point me to previous discussions or instances of something like this (I could not find any)? What are the legal or financial considerations that I should know about?
I have not decided how I will be listing my apartment. I know that I was very unhappy with the marketing services provided by past brokers and am interested in trying a different approach with my current apartment.
Just curious if a referral fee strategy like this would be effective at marketing a $2 million apartment.
Thank you,
Jon
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