Half a month to talk about commentator Mao Zhenhua

　　From multi-school planning to try to break the ice in the school district, to eight departments jointly issuing documents to rectify and standardize the market order, recent heavy-duty policies in the real estate market have been frequently implemented to further implement the "housing and housing not speculation" to stabilize market expectations.

At the same time, many people have called for the time to change the charging mode of real estate agency fees that has been almost unchanged for many years.

A more refined and reasonably priced charging model is not only in line with the objective laws of the market economy, but also can effectively reduce the burden of the masses on buying houses, and it is a beneficial move to reflect the labor value of real estate agents.

　　Buying a house is a consumption expenditure for most urban households to exhaust most of their income.

Because of this, in the entire process of buying a house, every expenditure must be carefully calculated, and the real estate agency fee of tens of thousands of yuan should not be underestimated.

　　For real estate agents who are time-consuming and laborious to provide various services such as finding houses, showing houses, and handling transfers, the charges are naturally understandable.

Service itself is a commodity, and high-quality service can bring convenience and comfort to customers, and it is naturally worthy of higher charges.

It is not the real estate agency fee itself that has been criticized for a long time, but the "one size fits all" proportional charge.

　　Looking at the entire real estate intermediary industry, the intermediary fee collection standard is mostly concentrated between 0.5% and 2.5% of the housing transaction price.

According to statistics from the Beijing Central Plains Market Research Department, in the first half of 2021, the average reference price of second-hand residential transactions in Beijing was 60,900 yuan per square meter.

Taking the purchase of a 60-square-meter second-hand house in Beijing with a 2% intermediary fee as an example, the real estate intermediary fee required is as high as 70,000 yuan.

In reality, the total housing prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and new first-tier cities exceed 3 million yuan. The intermediary fees of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands or more than 200,000 yuan make many people feel pressured.

　　"Why can't you charge for the different services provided each time?" "The total transaction price of 5 million yuan does not increase the service content of the house of 4 million yuan. Why is the agency fee more than tens of thousands of yuan?"... Around the real estate Intermediary fees, the focus of the masses' complaints is that no matter what the transaction price of the house is, the service content provided by the broker is roughly the same, but the intermediary fee varies greatly due to the different transaction prices, and the difference is several times.

A deal in a Beijing courtyard house is tantamount to "a pie in the sky."

In many cases, high-priced housing is not necessarily more difficult to sell.

In fact, school district houses with higher prices in the same area are often easier to deal with, but the intermediary fee will not be reduced due to the reduced difficulty of the deal.

　　There are many controversies of this kind.

What is puzzling is that this "one-size-fits-all" charging model has been going on for many years. Except for occasional discounts, there is almost no obvious sign of loosening.

　　In the face of high-priced real estate agency fees, the masses do not buy it but trade privately, or change preferential intermediaries to "jump orders" frequently.

Not long ago, a piece of news appeared on the hot search: Ms. Zhang was anxious to buy a house, and the agent went to see 38 suites in the rain. She took a fancy to a suitable house, paid the purchase deposit, and negotiated the intermediary fee. Ms. Zhang turned around and looked for it. Another intermediary company with a lower intermediary fee signed a house purchase contract.

In the end, the original intermediary took Ms. Zhang to court, and the claim for compensation was supported by the court.

　　Using "jumping list" as a key word, a search on China Judgment Document Network found that there were more than 1,500 relevant search records, of which a considerable number were related to the sale of second-hand houses.

In the above case, Ms. Zhang obviously has to pay for her behavior that violates the principle of good faith, but it reflects that the problem of high real estate agency fees is also worthy of attention.

　　For real estate speculators, the high intermediary fee is like an invisible threshold, which forces them to reduce the frequency of transactions and reduce speculative returns, which is of great benefit to maintaining the normal order of the market.

However, for the vast majority of home buyers for the purpose of living, excessive intermediary fees will increase the burden, affect the quality of life, and increase the risk of transaction disputes.

　　Intermediary service itself is a product. To achieve higher returns, improving service value is the key.

Real estate agency fees should gradually abandon the simple and rude model of charging in proportion to the transaction price, and change from extensive to refined, and shift to a more open and transparent order-based fee model-the real estate agency shall issue a clear and clear list of charges in advance before providing services. List the charging items and prices, and carry out the service when confirmed.

　　In general, the collection of real estate agency fees should be based on the principle of more work, more rewards, and act in accordance with the laws of market economy.

Services that are not provided must not be charged randomly, with less overlord clauses on charges, and more refined services.

Take house inspections as an example, you can promote a fee-per-view fee based on the actual number of house inspections. This in itself is also a respect for the labor value of the broker, and there is less risk of "jumping the order" after the basket is empty.

　　Changing the fee model does not mean that real estate agencies will have no room for profit growth, and brokers will not be able to earn more commissions.

In the client’s photo, after initially knowing the homeowner’s real hope for the sale price, backed by a credible intermediary, the broker can give full play to his strengths, relying on accurate judgments of the market situation and careful comparison of surrounding prices. With peer-to-peer high-quality services, we strive to persuade homeowners to lower the selling price and help customers save more money.

The resulting housing price difference is precisely the part of the intermediary's value-added services, which can completely charge service fees in proportion.

　　This part of the value-added income is mainly realized by the efforts of the brokers. The real estate agency can extract a larger proportion of it and return it to the brokers, forming a positive incentive, stimulating the learning and service enthusiasm of the brokers, and encouraging more expert brokers to grow up.

In this context, if homeowners are encouraged to raise prices in order to earn more commissions and other misdeeds that disrupt the market, there is no room for survival.

　　Of course, relevant industry organizations and government regulatory agencies should also start from the perspective of the healthy development of the industry, plan for the long-term, earnestly study the high intermediary fees reported by the masses, analyze the necessity and feasibility of the adjustment of the fee model, and help and guide market entities to accelerate reforms pace.