Question: How can I, as the listing agent, avoid paying the “cooperative compensation” twice if I offer compensation to both sub-agents and buyer agents (or three times if I offer cooperative compensation to sub-agents, buyer agents and non-agents)?

Answer: This is a growing myth we are trying to debunk. A listing agent does not have to pay a cooperative compensation to more than one cooperating firm. Offers of cooperative compensation created within MRIS are unilateral in nature. Entitlement to compensation is determined by performance. Therefore, a firm that procures cause of a sale is entitled to the cooperative compensation for a property listed within MRIS, while other firms are not, because they do not procure the buyer. The amounts in the buyer-agency, sub-agency and non-agency fields simply determine how much a cooperating broker receive if he or she procures cause.