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Collusion on real estate commissions |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 17 December 2006 |
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Greg Hackman, a Roscoe real estate broker claims that his company went bankrupt when realtors and some of the Rock River Valley’s largest real estate companies intimidated him into increasing his real estate commission to 7 percent.
When he refused to increase his 5 percent real estate commission, he allegedly experienced constant harassment from several real estate firms. He said that several companies would not allow him or his agents to show client listings. He added that they regularly spoke ill of his business practices, refused to present offers from his clients to their home owners and filed false ethics charges against him.
On November 30, Hackman filed a case against Rockford Area Association of Realtors, the Illinois Association of Realtors, Dickerson & Nieman Realtors, Whitehead Realtors Inc., Coldwell Banker Premier, Century 21 Country North, Tom McKiski Realtors and Prudential Crosby Realtors, including seven individual Realtors, namely, Dickerson & Nieman general manager Mike Dunn.
According to General Counsel for the National Association of Realtors, Laurie Janik, this is not the first time such a complaint had been filed. In places like El Paso, Texas; Ogden, Utah; Milwaukee and Quincy, there had been several anti-trust lawsuits filed alleging collusion on real estate commissions.
“To my knowledge, none were successful,” Janik said. “The El Paso case, the plaintiff won at trial, but it was overturned on appeal. The plaintiff always has problems proving there was any kind of agreement.”
A West Chicago attorney David G Sigale commented on the importance of the case.
“We appreciate the fact that these allegations are serious, and we appreciate the fact that these allegations weren’t going to remain quiet and that people in the industry (in Rockford) would know about them,” Sigale said. “This decision wasn’t taken lightly and after a lot of consideration.”
If Hackman’s allegations are true, then he would have just been exposed to a dash of bad luck.
According to Vic Nafranowicz, owner of Homeowners Concept of Rockford, he offers a flat fee of 3 percent commission to market the homes. He said that he did not encounter any difficulty from the major real estate companies over his offer of lower commissions.
“They’ve always cooperated with us,” he said. “I can’t think of one office that hasn’t shown our properties.”
Ma. Roma C. Agsalud
Miami Real Estate Inc
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