The Consumer Federation of America released a report on Monday saying that real estate brokerage firms band together to set prices.

Roy DeLoach, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, called the report's findings as a restating of the facts on how traditional real estate brokers are compensated.

Consumer Federation reported that consumers can protect themselves by negotiating more forcefully with brokers, and asking for oral and written disclosures of the party the broker represents. Brokers who function as facilitators, transactional brokers or dual agents are not allowed to represent the financial interests of clients.

On the other hand, the federation also mentioned that traditional brokers who work with both buyer and seller in a home sale nearly always function as facilitators even though consumers often believe they are functioning as fiduciary agents.

If they are sellers, asking brokers who are fiduciary agents to reduce the standard commission of 6% to 7% by a percentage point, and brokers who are facilitators to cut it by at least 2 percentage points.

By M. Sese
http://realestatepress.org