Scary Ballot Initiative

There are some Special Interest Groups that would like to see real estate take a plummet. They would like to see deflation as the order of the day and possibly undermine the health and wealth of our state. Or they have a poor basic understanding of what Realtors do on a daily basis. Realtors have individual businesses with individual expenses and overheard. Great Realtors absorb expenses for web sites, written advertising, staff, gas etc on the success of a sale in the future. A lot of risk is taken on our part. If an initiative like this gets any traction then sellers and buyers will need to be ready to get their check books out to pay hourly rates plus itemized expenses. It also seems crazy that someone with a higher priced home in this initiative will have to pay less than someone who owns a lower priced home. It leads me to believe that the people behind this measure own a home higher than $500,000.00 .

If the general trend is still to believe that Realtors get paid to much...then maybe those folks should get there license and start selling!

Ballot Initiative Update
There are now three active initiatives that have been filed which address real estate transfer taxes – all brought forward by the same groups. To address flaws existing in the current initiative, the proponents submitted the two additional proposals this week. CAR remains actively engaged in this process and will continue to intervene on behalf of REALTOR® interests.

In addition to the transfer tax proposals, initiative #109 was filed this week concerning the restriction of earned real estate broker fees. In a nutshell, a six percent cap would be placed on transactions up to $250,000; three percent for $250,000 – $500,000; and one percent for transactions above $500,000 (but no more than $500 per hour).

In reaction to initiative #109, CAR has released the following press statement:

First the Colorado Association of REALTORS® believes the ballot initiative process is an unproductive way to deal with consumer and business issues. Second we believe this proposed ballot initiative specifically is bad for consumers. It changes the relationship between the consumer and the real estate agent/REALTOR® by mandating a fixed price whereas, current commission rates are negotiable regardless of the selling price of a property.
The sliding scale is patently unfair, particularly to the majority of buyers who are purchasing homes on the lower dollar value of this scale. For example, using the proposed ballot initiative scale, a family purchasing a $200,000 home would be required to pay a $12,000 commission. A family purchasing a $500,000 home would only pay a $5,000 commission based on the 1 percent mandated rate.
Our current system encourages innovative business models that clearly benefit the consumer. As an association, our desire is to encourage and support our varied professionals in being creative for the consumer and providing diverse solutions to their real estate needs.