Money in the Middle EP 1: Who Gets Paid When You Sell a House?

Hi and welcome to this Rethink Open House series titled Money in the Middle. This is Episode 1 Money in the Middle: Who Gets Paid When You Sell a House?
Let me ask you something. When you sell a house, how many people do you think should get paid? Think about that for a minute. You’ve got somebody who owns a house, and somebody who wants to buy it. They agree on a price, they take care of the necessary paperwork, transfer the title, and the transaction is complete. It can actually be a fairly simple process. So how did something that simple become an enormous industry with so many different businesses making money from it?
That’s what I want to talk about in this series. I call it the Money in the Middle. And my definition is pretty simple. It’s everybody making money from a real estate transaction, or from the business surrounding that transaction, other than the buyer and the seller. Now, that doesn’t mean everybody in the middle is unnecessary. Far from it. Some provide services you need, and others provide services you may want. But there’s a big difference between paying someone for a valuable service and supporting an entire business system you may not need.
Think about staying in a hotel. You can rent a basic room. Maybe the towels aren’t very nice, the bed is nothing special, but you’ve got a place to sleep. Or you can spend more money and get a nicer room, better amenities, maybe breakfast included. And if you really want to spend some money, you can stay in a luxury hotel with full concierge service, where somebody takes care of practically everything for you. Those are choices. You decide what you want, and you decide what you’re willing to pay for it.
Why shouldn’t selling a house work the same way? Maybe you know exactly what you’re doing. Maybe you’ve got a buyer already. Maybe all you need is someone to handle the closing. Or maybe you want professional photography, a walkthrough video, a real estate agent to negotiate for you, or somebody to handle the entire transaction. There’s nothing wrong with any of those choices. The question is, why should you have to buy more than you need?
Now, I’m a real estate broker, and I understand that professional services can be valuable. But I also know how much the industry has grown around something that should have a pretty simple objective. Sell the house. We’ve got the Multiple Listing Service, real estate brokerages, websites like Zillow and Realtor.com, advertising companies, lead-generation businesses, referral networks, and all kinds of technology and services built around real estate listings.
And here’s something I find interesting. A lot of that money isn’t being paid for work directly performed on your particular house. Some of it comes from controlling the information, attracting buyers to websites, or connecting those buyers with agents who may have to pay for the introduction. That may be a profitable business. But is it necessary for you to sell your house? And who’s really benefiting from it?
That’s one of the reasons I created Rethink Open House. I wanted a better model that starts with the property, the buyer, and the seller. A place where people can experience a house online, see professional photos and real walkthrough videos, get useful information, and contact the people actually involved in selling it. We call it the First Showing Online. And we’re not building a business around selling those buyer inquiries or charging referral fees for the connection.
Throughout this series, we’re going to look at just how simple selling a house can be, the professional services you might want, and how the traditional real estate machine makes money. We’ll also look at how you can approach the process differently, including using Rethink Open House.
Because when you sell your house, the most important number isn’t necessarily the price you sold it for. It’s how much money you have in your pocket when the transaction is finished. And I think buyers and sellers deserve to understand where that money goes. That’s what Money in the Middle is all about.

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