New NJ law would let brokers pay buyers
December 15, 2009 04:30PM
NJ Sen. Nicholas Scutari
The New Jersey State Legislature is toying with a new bill that would allow brokers to cede a portion of their commission to clients in order to close a deal. While New Jersey is one of 11 remaining states in the U.S. to ban the practice, New Jersey Senator Nicholas Scutari said that allowing brokers to pay buyers a part of their earnings could help move sales. "We're trying to help the real estate market and to allow real estate agents and brokers to make deals happen," Scutari said. The bill, which cleared the Senate's Commerce Committee yesterday, is now under review by the Senate as a whole. [NJ.com]
The Real Deal reserves the right to delete any comment it finds to be rude, obscene, racist, sexist, bigoted, irrelevant or repetitive, as well as inappropriate comments about anyone's personal appearance or advertisements. The Real Deal does not endorse any comments posted on its Web site nor does it verify the veracity of comments or the identity of posters.
Comments
Anonymous
I believe the DOJ website indicates that rebates are fine. I believe it is legal for a broker to pay bak some of their commission to an involved party as a rebate. Am I correct?
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 12/15/09
Anonymous
It's legal in most states- NJ was a holdout. It's legal in NY- just has to show on the HUD 1 and be disclosed to ALL parties to the transaction.
Comment #2 Posted By: Anonymous 12/15/09
Anonymous
Yes but DOJ supersedes any state law, i believe....
Comment #3 Posted By: Anonymous 12/15/09
Anonymous
and why not work for free; it's gonna be a mess between brokers competing for the same listing or on an open one... not good news... Law is one thing, turning it to into a professional habit is going to be another.
Comment #4 Posted By: Anonymous 12/15/09
Anonymous
I see nothing wrong with this, it's neither unethical nor counter productive. Sometimes you need an incentive to get a deal closed. I've done it before in NYC, there's no need in making it illegal. "i'll pay you 1,000 to commit yourself to pay 80,000..."
Comment #5 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
What a nice idea! So now at closing brokers will have to fight with clients and their attorneys: be sure that for one reason or the other they will find a way to have money back at the last minute.. now that's legal.. Our profession is already difficult enough.
Comment #6 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
KILL THE BILL!
Comment #7 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
Do they want to eliminate buyer's brokers? If yes they think that seller's brokers will basically work for half commission? They seem to think that the problem in this mess is the broker's commission. Why don't they let the market decide? What do you think of a broker that has to market himself like the one who pays his own clients in order to have clients?
Comment #8 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
Why don't they allow tax payers to have money back from the Government?
Comment #9 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
they should make a list of all the brokers with address and everything and allow clients to go there after closing and just take what they like: cars, tv, furniture, pc, clothes everything. actually also free access to brokers' banking account, why not., after all they are doing this to help the real estate market, right? and what about real estate developers, real estate attorneys, contractors...?
Comment #10 Posted By: Anonymous 12/16/09
Anonymous
It is one thing to pitch in to help with an unforeseen repair which the buyer had not planned on but a kickback to a buyer who would perform anyway is nonsense.
Comment #11 Posted By: Anonymous 12/18/09
Anonymous
The bill is an example of how so few people (including our political representatives) know about what it's like to broker a real estate deal these days. In short, pretty terrible. Most agents could have been slinging diner hash for what they made in the past year -- in once-thriving Essex County, NJ, 49 percent of licensed agents closed three OR LESS deals in 2009. Oh yeah, there's lots of money to return to people who need a service to help them sell but don't want to pay for it.
Comment #12 Posted By: Anonymous 01/07/10
Anonymous
It's common for today's agents to "give back" at closing in NJ anyway. Who wants a deal to fizzle over issues that are resolvable? But who wants to broadcast this? We do what we can do make things work. We don't need the state to mandate that it's necessary to reward buyers or sellers with our commissions, for which, in most cases, we've worked like dogs to get -- and only at closing!
Comment #13 Posted By: Anonymous 01/07/10