It’s going to be a new world in homebuying
The recent deal struck by the National Association of Realtors in a Kansas City, Mo., courtroom is just beginning to rumble through the country. This is the big one. The San Andreas quake that could shake down a powerful industry. Especially in Santa Fe.
A column on the front page of a real estate section should weigh in, and opinions on the industry’s future are welcome from scores of brokers known over the years, but this first one is about a brief flirtation as a Santa Fe real estate agent 20 years ago.
I became an agent because I was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore. The last straw was seeing tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid buyer’s side commissions going to sellers of a 17 spec-home subdivision by Frenchy’s Field Park where I was the on-site construction superintendent.
Because the sales office for the publicly traded megabuilder was across town in Tierra Contenta, that’s where potential buyers who wandered into my construction site were sent. After they’d spent some time with me.
As the only representative of the company on-site, and frequently bored watching subcontractors do their jobs, I engaged in something that wasn’t my job — taking people around and explaining construction details and the features of the homes under construction.
Other superintendents in the company on other job sites around the state with on-site sales offices never talked to prospective buyers. Being the garrulous type, with a couple hundred new-home final walk-throughs under my belt, it was easy. I enjoyed it.
Sometimes prospects came with a buyer’s agent who was more than happy to walk along and listen to my pitch. Sometimes they showed up on their own with no agents and closed deals directly with the seller, meaning the seller kept 3% commissions it was prepared to pay and was factored into the project’s pro forma. Pure profit.
I was laid off after six months because the company decided one superintendent for 17 homes was less than half of what was expected of the position. During that time, nine buyers, whose first contact was with me, signed purchase agreements and closed on homes. The sales agent in Tierra Contenta, who I considered a buddy, was thrilled.
The homes sold for three times what homes in Tierra
Contenta were selling for. I asked Bill what the company policy was on paying finder’s fees. He said it was against company policy and New Mexico real estate agents could only pay finder’s fees to licensed Realtors. He did take me out to lunch a couple times and suggested I get a license. Gee, thanks for the tip.
The company gave three months’ severance pay for the layoff, which happened to coincide with slow winter construction months, so I enrolled in a real estate education course held under the auspices of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors. I passed the test and got licensed.
It may have been the smartest financial move I ever made, even though in six years keeping my license active I never had a listing or represented a buyer. With new license in hand, I convinced a local developer of another infill subdivision of 28 lots that I could manage all construction activity and sell houses.
As a licensed broker, he knew that as a twofer I brought a lot to the table. I was involved in the sale of every home. My salary doubled over what the mega-builder had paid. Meanwhile, remaining homes near Frenchy’s Field languished unsold until dropping to fire-sale prices. It only cost them a half-million dollars to lay me off.