The Des Moines Register today reported on a new policy put in place by Iowa Realty. You can read the article here.
In summary, Iowa Realty has decided to not pay agents of two Des Moines firms, Exit Realty and Keller Williams Realty, when agents of those firms represent buyers who purchase Iowa Realty listings.
Typically, a company lists a property and charges a commission of 6 or 7 percent.
That commission is then split 50/50 between the agent who represents the seller and the agent who represents the buyer.
In this particular instance, it seems Iowa Realty is keeping all of the commission to themselves when an agent of one of those two companies represents the buyer.
Why would they do that? I honestly have no idea.
In the end, it seems to hurt the seller, because it makes agents of those two companies much less likely to want to show Iowa Realty listings, and the goal of any listing company should be maximum exposure of a property. This would seem to be in opposition of this.
It should be noted that Iowa Realty tried a similar program a few years ago called "Passport" which gave sellers a few more perks to list with Iowa Realty, but the catch was that only other Iowa Realty agents could show those properties. That program quickly went away under a firestorm of criticism.
Will the same thing happen with this new policy? Time will tell.
