The owner of this website might get paid a referral fee if you choose to work with an Excellent Agent in our network—but you agree that we’re not liable if for some reason you didn’t think they were excellent.

 

Now for the explanation lines:

 

Does this mean you’ll pay us directly for our referral service?

 

No. We get paid from our referral partners (as you might have guessed, we call them Excellent Agents).

 

But it’s fair to say that you pay us indirectly through the commission your chosen Excellent Agent earns.

 

Our referral fee is one-fourth (1/4th) of the commission that your Excellent Agent’s brokerage receives at closing (then the brokerage splits the remaining portion with the agent).

 

We only get paid if you close on a property AND if your chosen agent was one whose brokerage agreed beforehand to send us a referral fee.

 

By definition, any fee earned for assisting in a home sale becomes a real estate commission when it 1) involves activity that requires a license and 2) is conditioned on a successful closing (close of escrow or settlement).

 

By rule, a real estate commission can only be paid to a person (licensee) or entity (brokerage) with an active real estate license.

 

Jerry Melchisedeck is licensed at My Home Group in Arizona (SA685609000), specializing in the Greater Phoenix area. He can represent you in a home purchase or sale if you sign a separate agreement to work with him. Otherwise, you can choose to work with someone else in the area or elsewhere.

 

Our referral partners are licensed to sell real estate in their respective states through various brokerages—some nationally owned and others independent—most with brand names you likely already recognize.

 

If you’re not the one paying the referral fee, then how could it affect you?

 

Most agents don’t charge a higher commission if a referral fee is involved—they view it as part of their lead generation budget that is a normal cost of doing business. 

 

But we have no control over their commission rates. You do.

 

Through antitrust laws that protect consumers, the Federal Trade Commission promotes competition in business and prohibits “price fixing” between companies, as well as other anti-competitive practices that could lead to higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation.

 

We NEVER tell another business what price to set for their products or services. The competitive market does.

 

Real estate commissions are ALWAYS negotiable and are mutually agreed upon when you hire an agent.

 

Just like when shopping for homes, deciding on an agent compels you to do your own research and compare not only prices, but the value of the service you’ll receive in exchange for your money.

 

Excellent Agents are not just licensees, but also members of the National Association of REALTORS^® and have been pre-screened by completing our separate proprietary real estate course—in addition to their state-required continuing education classes and background checks to keep their license in good standing.

 

If they passed our course, we are confident they are among the very best in the profession. They have the knowledge, experience, care, and ethics to represent your best interests—and are the least likely to make a wrong judgment call or ever miss something important.

 

But they are human. And that’s a good thing. There is no algorithm or A.I. bot that gets a gut feel when they lay eyes on a property based on their tangible track record. 

 

Do you remember when Zillow’s algorithm calculated that its co-founder’s home was worth 40% more than it would realistically sell for—and their incorrect high Zestimate™ was automatically published even AFTER it sold for 40% less? We remember. 

 

By our calculations, you’re making the very best calculated risk when choosing an Excellent Agent—because they are the very best at helping you make the very best calculated risk when entering into a real estate transaction. 

 

 

If you’re a seller, commissions for your listing agent AND the buyer’s agent historically were paid by you—two separate line items BOTH in your debit column on the settlement statement.

 

This is because it was common in the industry for your listing agent to advertise in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that they would pay a percentage of the TOTAL commission (called a cooperative commission, “co-op” or "co-broke(r)" split) to any member agent who procured the buyer who purchased your home.

 

As a buyer, being exclusively represented by your own agent who gets paid by someone else sounds like a sweet deal. And it is, because then you’re not required to dig deeper into your liquid funds to wire that additional amount for closing—which could impact your loan qualification.

 

It’s just that some agents unintentionally or unethically caused confusion due to the fact that the co-op commission advertised to agents within the MLS was not typically publicly-available knowledge.

 

In other words, an ignorant or misleading buyer’s agent might mistakenly characterize their representation service as “free to the buyer”—even though commissions were technically built in to the purchase price to pay the agent(s) involved (and financed over the term of the mortgage if the buyer obtained a loan).

 

Or, an unscrupulous buyer’s agent might be accustomed to making “X%” and not tell a buyer they skipped over the listings that offered less. Not cool, not ethical.

 

Regardless of the class action lawsuit against the National Association of REALTORS® that implemented necessary changes in 2024, it was ALWAYS the policy of Excellent Agents to state upfront exactly how much commission was being offered inside the MLS, or outside from a builder or a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) seller, for example. 

 

Plus, we’ve always required that ALL properties that meet a buyer’s criteria be shown to them regardless of the amount of commission being offered by the seller or listing brokerage.

 

Now that a co-op commission will not be published in the MLS, it will simply be a point of negotiation whether the owner of each home for sale will pay the commission of a buyer’s agent. 

 

But what if the negotiated commission is lower than what the buyer’s agent wants or needs to operate their business?

 

As a buyer, when you agree to your agent’s commission rate upfront on the required form, you’re agreeing to make up any shortfall at closing that is not paid by the seller—unless you renegotiate with YOUR agent.

 

Keep in mind, however, it is often a violation for a buyer or their agent to attempt to interfere with the commission rate that the seller has agreed to pay their chosen listing brokerage. That’s between them.

 

Finally, obtaining a mortgage is the most common way to purchase a home. This requires the buyer to come up with a down payment, as well as closing costs and prepaid expenses. Therefore…

 

 

That’s all we can think of for now. If you haven’t already, check out the other pages on this website to learn more about who we are, understand why we started Excellent Agents, and why we believe you’ll love your experience working with us and our referral partners.