Denver brokerage touts money-saving flat fee: former RE/MAX agent expects resistance to market alternative.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP

JOSHUA HUNT INTENDS TO SHAKE UP the real estate industry with a flat-fee structure for sellers designed to cut thousands off the standard commission.

Denver-based TRELORA charges clients $1,700 to list a home and allows them to choose a flat fee co-op, commonly $3,000, for the buyer's agent. Thus, on a $450,000 sale a TRELORA client would pay a total of $4,700, whereas the tab on a 5.8 percent commission would come to $25,200.

The flat-fee concept is not new, but Hunt, 37, says he's offering something better by combining the flat fee with full services that include a team of professionals handling every aspect of the transaction, from pricing to staging to marketing to closing.

Hunt, a former standout agent with RE/MAX and later a recruiter and trainer for Keller Williams, launched TRELORA--derived from the letters in "Realtor"--in 2011. All 24 team members in his initial office--including 14 licensed agents--are employees, not independent contractors as agents are with most brokerages.

"Our number one attractor is we pay a base salary--a pretty substantial one," says Hunt, a self-described high school dropout who entered real estate sales at age 20. Salaries at TRELORA range from $28,000 a year to $75,000, and the team receives bonuses for each closing.

Hunt says he expects ridicule from the real estate establishment for seeking to upend the traditional model of agent compensation. And he openly tells sellers to expect a 30 percent to 40 percent decrease in traffic from buyer agents who refuse to show clients houses with a substandard flat-fee co-op; that's why TRELORA leaves...