Is your real estate agent trying to charge you junk or garbage fees?
Unfortunately, Junk and or Garbage Fees in real estate sales & purchases are something consumers need to watch out for heading into 2024. So I wanted to create a quick blog post to let consumers know about the 2 main garbage or junk fees in to watch out for and where you can find them.
The first junk fee is the TC Fee or Transaction Coordinator fee. A TC helps a realtor with the paperwork and disclosures during a home sale, they are actually very useful, however, if an agent wants to use a TC they should pay them out of their commission and not charge you the client for this service.
The second junk fee I have noticed is a Real Estate Agent Admin Fee. This is literally just a made up fee, and the most irritating thing about it, is some of the top agents are adding it to their home sales & purchase transactions. Worst of all, I have even seen this Admin fee with a friends and family “DISCOUNT” listed underneath it. It’s pretty ironic because if you are working with your friends and family why would you charge them a made up fee in the first place.
Now you can find these fees listed in either your purchase contract or on your closing disclosure, and I would advise telling your agent ahead of time that you aren’t planning on paying any junk fees, and if they don’t like it then you can always find another agent.