Real Estate Agent Referral Fees

September 12, 2017 / Lisa Dunn / Comments Off

Does Your Real Estate Agent Get a Referral Fee for Referring You?

I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with you about referrals and referral fees for real estate agents. It is The Change AGEnts Group’s policy to NOT receive referral fees for any business that we refer our clients to. It’s very common for our homeowners who have a house on the market to make use of services to help them sell their home. These may include a handyman, a senior move manager, a painter, a carpenter, a house inspector and even pet sitters. When my team makes referrals for our clients to other businesses we don’t take referral fees. We can’t look out for our client’s best interest if what we are doing is pocketing money each time we refer a resource to our clients. So it’s our policy to simply not take them.

Referral Fees and Senior Housing Communities

I received a call from a senior housing executive that asked about a comment I made on our Facebook page about not taking referral fees. This senior housing executive asked me “Is it ethical for a real estate agent to accept a referral fee for referring a client to a senior housing community?” Certainly, it is OK as long as it is disclosed to the client that the real estate agent took the referral fee. Acceptance of the referral fee is a required disclosure to the client so they are aware their agent is accepting other compensation. However, if my team, The Change AGEnts group makes a referral to a senior housing community, we don’t take a referral fee for that, even though the rules and the law say we can.

Ask Your Agent About Their Policy on Referral Fees

This is a question you may want to ask your real estate agent when you are interviewing. You’ll have an understanding of how they work so you’ll know what to expect. More likely than not you’ll ask your agent for a referral! That’s it for now, Make it a Great Day!