A group of independent title insurance agents in Ohio is suing real estate brokers for steering customers to those firms' own title companies. Here in the Nutmeg State we don't have that exact problem - the lawyers beat us agents to the punch bowl and they select the title company and keep 60% of the commission - but we do have similar things going on, all under the rubric of one-stop shopping: buy a house and use the selling broker's inspection company, lawyer, mortgage company and whatever else these guys dream up (like, in California, where else? - Natural Hazard Disclosure Reports.
Home warranties? Check out this article and this quote from it:
Today, about 90% of the houses have home warranties, and Century 21 and all the Realogy companies now exclusively recommend AHS products, which are branded to each division. And we recommend every agent should advise their clients to obtain a home warranty through our exclusive provider-whether they are buying or selling-AHS is always reporting back to us about how they are taking care of our clients, and I am impressed with how client-oriented they are.
I'm not picking on any one company here - my own firm, Raveis, offers the same services and I'm sure they'd be pleased if I steered business their way. For sure, there are sometimes benefits to using a brokerage firm's other affiliates. I just sent a family member to Raveis Mortgage this week because it has (its own) money to lend, the rates were the best around and from personal experience I know that Mark Hawkins, Raevis Mortgage's Greenwich rep, does fine work. But I always recommend at least three real estate lawyers to buyer-clients and none has any business relationship with Raveis. Nothing against whomever my firm has selected but, after two decades of law practice, I have personal relationships with these guys - I know who the not-so-good lawyers are and I know that the three (or 5, or 10 - it's a pretty big pool) will do an excellent job. Same thing for house inspections, movers, insurance agents, etc.
So my advice to buyers, if any still exist, is to do your own investigation and don't blindly accept being steered to a brokerage's controlled or affiliated service firms. You'll probably get a good product with those companies, and you should certainly compare their charges to those of others, but do look around.
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2 comments:
“…my advice to buyers, if any still exist, is to do your own investigation and don't blindly accept being steered to a brokerage's controlled or affiliated service firms.”
Jeez, Chris, if you continue to give fair-minded, good advice like this you may have to hire a bodyguard to protect you from foaming-at-the-mouth, backstabbing, dishonest brokers in your profession (unfortunately a not so small element from my experiences).
And yes, I am fully aware of the irony of an Investment Banker making the observation. But hey, you can’t blame me for the current mess. I’m old money, made mine in the ‘80’s and retired in the 90’s.
Retired IB’er
'Dishonest Brokers' - In Greenwich. Ct.? Say it ain't so!
Yes - Chris - we can all thank you for your good advice.
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