What Happened to My Commission Check?

Is really stinks to go through a short sale only to have your commission cut at the last minute. It happens all of the time and when you read further you'll find out the secret to keeping all of your commissions. How is it that the banks don't see how hard you are working? There are months of work, managing your clients, your expertise and in the end they want you to do it for free. How do you protect your commissions?

Let's say you are the listing agent and your seller has agreed to pay you 6 'apples' to sell their home. Those 'apples' are coming from the proceeds of the sale and if you have negotiated short sales you may have heard from the bank 'the most we will pay is 5 'apples'. 'We did not agree to pay you 6 'apples' the seller did, get the rest of the money from the seller.' So what do you do? First keep your calm and confidence. There are plenty of scripts you could scream out at them about how hard everyone is working. Let me save you the time, they really don't care.

The negotiator's job is to get as much money as they can and they are counting on you giving in. They might say 'well it's better than getting nothing and oh, you better take the 5 'apples' because our new policy will be dropping that to 4 'apples'. If you are panicking about getting paid you will become a victim to the pressure from the bank. If you are a professional you know that at times it is actually better to say no and cut your losses (and mean it!).

So what would I do? Well why not ask the seller if they have the difference? My first goal is to keep the seller from having to pay any money, they need it for their next move. But I will ask if it comes down to it. Many sellers can see that for such a small amount of money they will be able to get away from a huge debt, not too bad at all. But we really don't want to do this do we? No. And we aren't going to short change the buyer agent are we? NO!!! Do this even once and good luck getting that buyer agent or others to write offers on your other short sales.

Here is exactly what we did recently when the bank gave us the 'take the 5 'apples' because if you don't the new policy will only pay you 4 'apples'. We thanked the big old bank for all of their help and time, told the negotiator how great it was to work with such a professional. And guess what? We meant it. Then we asked them to send over the approval letter with the 5 'apples' listed. Once the letter arrived we contacted the seller and had them hand write a letter thanking the bank for their help with their short sale. The letter continued and then referenced the fact that because the bank would only pay 5 'apples' and 6 were promised that the seller's themselves would have to come up with the 6th 'apple' and they did not have it to give. The letter continued to state that due the the fact that the terms of the approval would not work for the sellers that if the bank could not approve 6 'apples' they would need to void the offer. This letter from the seller along with the original approval letter from the bank corrected to match the 6 'apples' was sent back to the negotiator. Four hours later the commissions were approved at the 6 'apples'.

The key to negotiating is staying calm, thinking clearly and doing your best to make all sides feel as though they are winning in some way.

One last comment about saving commissions - Just Say No! It is just like doing a listing appointment and the seller asks you to do it for less. You tell them no and move on to the next appointment. This is absolutely no different, say no. Push back but in the nicest way possible of course :)