Ken DeLeon, right, shows off the master bedroom to buyer, Jennice Cayne, center, during a visit to a home she and her fiancé plan to bid for in Menlo Park, Calif., on Friday, May 15, 2015. At far left is Kurt Sramek, a construction consultant for DeLeon Realty. DeLeon, 42, is the founder of DeLeon Realty in Palo Alto. He is the top real estate agent in Silicon Valley and ranked as the number one real estate agent in the country.
“Younger, hard-working Realtors will be willing to offer a much lower number because, with home values so high, that’s still a big commission,” said Louis Mirante, a housing policy expert with the pro-business group Bay Area Council. “Agents are really going to have to up their game to showcase their value,” said Ken DeLeon, a Silicon Valley broker specializing in luxury homes.Right now, sellers generally pay both their agent and the buyer’s agent a fee of around 2.5% to 3% of the sale price. For a $1.1 million home — theCritics say the realtors association has conspired to keep fees artificially high by requiring that sellers’ agents advertise buyers’ agent fees alongside listings in the main database of homes for sale.
In the latter case, if the buyer’s agent wants more, the buyer can pay the difference. Otherwise, DeLeon is prepared to represent the buyer for the listing free of charge. Despite the low margins, DeLeon said he’s seeing more than a dozen offers for some properties. “They simply don’t have the cash on hand to compensate their agent, regardless of whether the sale price is lower,” said Oakland agent Felicia Mares.
Parker said he got the idea for the startup after representing a young Silicon Valley couple who seemed to barely need his help finding a home. He’s betting there are a lot more buyers like that out there.