Discount residential broker launches online

[FarCenter]

CondoDomain will charge half the normal commission and then hand 20% of that over to the buyer; Seattle-based firm also eying Manhattan market.

By Amanda Fung
Spring is here, and residential real estate brokers are beginning to proliferate in Manhattan's rich market. CondoDomain.com, an online real estate brokerage, announced Tuesday that is has entered the Manhattan condo sales market, just as another Web-based broker said it will likely follow suit soon.

Founded in 2005, CondoDomain, hopes to lure customers away from traditional brokerages with cheaper fees. Firms like CondoDomain have become increasingly common in other cities, where apartment listings have been fairly open to the public. It wasn't until earlier this year that New York brokerages began to embrace the idea of posting rival brokers' property listings on their own Web sites and launching what has become known as virtual office Web sites, or VOWs.


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Known as a discount real estate brokerage, CondoDomain does not charge the 6% commission fee that traditional brokerages do. Instead, CondoDomain takes half that amount and then shares the wealth with the buyers, giving them 20% of what CondoDomain takes in, according to Mr. Longo. For instance, if a buyer closed on a $1 million one-bedroom condo in Manhattan, CondoDomain would get $30,000 and then hand $6,000 of that sum back to the buyer. Because it's Web based—and avoids the necessity of pricey storefronts—the brokerage boasts a low overheard. The firm, which operates in 30 metropolitan markets across the nation, currently has two agents dedicated to Manhattan.

<SNIP>http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100323/REAL_ESTATE/100329968

[louis-t]

1. Hmm, handing part of the commission back to the buyer is illegal.

A broker cannot pay a referral fee or commission to anyone who is not licensed. They will have to use some kind of trickery to get awat with it. If I were to buy a million plus dollar condo, I sure wouldn't use a discount broker.

[FarCenter]

2. Note in New Jersey

http://www.condodomain.com/blog/the-latest-on-nj-real-estate-commission-rebates/

Comments also indicate that they have been giving rebates in Indianapolis for 10 years.

[louis-t]

3. Wow, thanks for the link.

Very interesting.