Please get over “the threshold” issue in a real estate transaction!
Realtors are independent contractors and very competitive among themselves. Yes, we may work for the same brokerage, but we’re all self-employed.
A misunderstood concept in real estate is that the Realtor who took the home buyers across the threshold of a home for sale are entitled to the commission should these Buyers purchase that home.
Balderdash! The Realtor entitled to the commission is the one who can demonstrate procuring cause. The legal definition of procuring cause would be “the cause that results in the attainment of a stated goal”. In real estate it would mean that the Realtor who, by their actions in producing a buyer, brought about the sale of a property.
In my books, that means that the Realtor who has the signed Buyers Broker agreement and/or the Realtor who wrote the contract claims procuring cause in a real estate transaction – not necessarily the Realtor who took prospective Buyers across the threshold.
And seriously, Realtors, if you are showing your Sellers’ home to prospective Buyers, you are doing what the Sellers paid you to do. If you happen to be on both sides of the transaction, representing both the Seller and Buyer, that’s great. But if another Realtor winds up representing the Buyers and brings you a contract, be grateful and proud that you serviced your Sellers well.
The only threshold rule I recognize is the one on a couple’s wedding night. It is believed in some cultures that a marriage will be blessed if the bride does not trip or fall while entering her new home – hence, one reason the groom carries his bride over the threshold.
Home buyers are more savvy today and educate themselves well on the internet – many understand that they have a right to their own representation in a real estate transaction. So, get over the abandoned threshold debate and work towards a smooth transaction for all parties involved.
