{"id":101960,"date":"2025-02-21T18:42:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T18:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/real-estate\/faira-beware-the-free-lunch-unfaira\/"},"modified":"2025-02-21T18:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T18:42:22","slug":"faira-beware-the-free-lunch-unfaira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=101960","title":{"rendered":"Faira: Beware the Free Lunch (Unfaira?)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

This is Craig\u2019s\u00a0blog series\u00a0(see\u00a0Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a>) exploring why and how\u00a0most realtors don\u2019t talk openly and frankly about the fees they charge. The third and final\u00a0installment:<\/p>\n

Seattle is Ground Zero for innovation in the real estate industry. WaLaw Realty<\/a>, Redfin<\/a>, and of course Added Equity all offer consumers an improvement on the traditional experience (whether cost, or service, or both). And many other alternative models have come and gone over the last decade or two (such as Quill Realty and Rebls).<\/p>\n

The most promising model today seems to be Faira<\/a>. With ads on buses and in the media, Faira is getting some traction. It is also getting\u00a0news coverage, most recently this piece from KIRO 7<\/a>\u00a0last month.\u00a0And why not? Faira\u2019s\u00a0marketing pitch is remarkable:<\/p>\n

\"Faira<\/a><\/p>\n

Yep. Free. F-R-E-E. Nada. Zilch. Nothin\u2019. You pay them zero and Faira\u00a0helps you sell your home. Wow. That is a really good deal. Honestly,\u00a0it sounds like a deal too good to be true.<\/p>\n

Which is exactly right. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Sellers pay for Faira\u2019s services, and they aren\u2019t \u201cfree.\u201d Faira doesn\u2019t give away its \u201csecret sauce recipe\u201d easily, though.\u00a0The Faira Listing Agreement<\/a>\u00a0is convoluted and confusing, but two parts really stand out.<\/p>\n

Faira Services are FREE to the Seller<\/h2>\n

Paragraph 2: \u201cFees<\/span>: Free.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, simple enough. Not to wordy, gets the message across nicely.<\/p>\n

Except They Aren\u2019t. Seller Pays .5%<\/h2>\n

Paragraph 8: \u201cThere can be two separate list prices on the Faira platform, one for the buyers who are not represented by the agents, therefore saving the Sellers from paying the buyer\u2019s agent fees, and the other for the buyers who utilize the buyer\u2019s agents. Sellers understand that this can be perceived that the buyers are effectively paying for their own agent. Further, Sellers agree to include Faira fees in both the list prices. The actual purchase price of the property is 99.5% of the agreed offer between the Buyers and the Sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoa. Wait. What was that last part again???<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual purchase price of the property is 99.5% of the agreed offer between the Buyers and the Sellers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

So the buyer and the seller agree on the price, and then .5% of that amount is paid to Faira. That isn\u2019t \u201cfree\u201d to the seller. Obviously Faira charges the seller a half percent. A fact that isn\u2019t changed by\u00a0a poorly written paragraph of \u201clegalese.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or more accurately, if this\u00a0is free, then EVERY SINGLE REAL ESTATE BROKER is free to the seller. Hire Windermere? It\u2019s FREE \u2013 you get 94% of the sale price. Redfin? Yup, it\u2019s free too, you get 96% of the sale price. Amazing what can be achieved with rhetorical gymnastics. Something is reduced to nothing\u2026.<\/p>\n

Added Equity<\/a> was built on the notion that real estate could be much, much simpler. Are we concerned about Faira\u2019s success as a competitor? Not in the least. Quite simply, Faira takes a very different approach towards being successful in real estate \u2013 ultimately an approach that doesn\u2019t differ much from the traditional model. And we have that beat hands down.<\/p>\n

Added Equity\u00a0charges a real estate agent commission of\u00a01%<\/a>\u00a0to list and sell a home. Total. Sellers save a ton of money<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 follow that link to find out exactly how much.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Craig\u2019s\u00a0blog series\u00a0(see\u00a0Part 1 and Part 2) exploring why and how\u00a0most realtors don\u2019t talk openly and frankly about the fees they charge. The third and final\u00a0installment: Seattle is Ground Zero for innovation in the real estate industry. WaLaw Realty, Redfin, and of course Added Equity all offer consumers an improvement on the traditional experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[6550,47277,807,1066,47278],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-101960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate","tag-beware","tag-faira","tag-free","tag-lunch","tag-unfaira"],"yoast_head":"\nFaira: Beware the Free Lunch (Unfaira?) - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=101960\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faira: Beware the Free Lunch (Unfaira?) - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is Craig\u2019s\u00a0blog series\u00a0(see\u00a0Part 1 and Part 2) exploring why and how\u00a0most realtors don\u2019t talk openly and frankly about the fees they charge. 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