Centrum Properties is currently offering real estate agents an “Affinity Reward Program,” that’s akin, in the developer’s own words, to a “frequent flyer program.” In January, Centrum issued a press release saying that the program would focus on “pampering realty brokers and sales agents in 2007.” Most of the incentives involve giving buyer’s agents who sell the most properties first dibs on seeing new Centrum projects. The highest performing agents also receive cash bonuses. Those who sell between six and 15 properties receive an additional 1 percent sales commission on top of the base commission. Agents who nail between 16 and 49 sales receive an additional 2 percent sales commission, and the real high-fliers – those who sell 50 or more properties – receive a $100,000 cash bonus and an additional 2 percent commission on the base.
In Chicago, Centrum is selling The Lofts at Roosevelt Collection, The Fairbanks and The St Clair at CityFront Plaza and The Residences of Bradley Place 2.
Centrum is by no means the only developer to offer incentives to agents; in a buyer’s market, such deals are particularly prolific. In general, buyers should perhaps ask why their agents are steering them toward certain developments.