Compare Rocket Homes and LemonBrew
For Sellers
For Sellers
For Buyers
For Buyers
Answer: Both Rocket Homes and LemonBrew function as a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements.
Buying and Selling with Rocket Homes
WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.
Rocket Homes) is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.
United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.
Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.
Rocket Homes is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to participate.
Rocket Homes operates as a licensed Michigan real estate brokerage Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC License 6505-346028, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when buying or selling real estate in any State.
When consumers submit information to Rocket Homes, this information is simply sold to real estate agents who are willing to pay for it with 25%-40% share of their commission.
Rocket Homes Pricing
Rocket Homes revenue comes from referral fees and sale of user data.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
Rocket Homes Editor's Review:
Rocket Homes is a Michigan real estate broker that collects an undisclosed referral fee (estimated at 25%-40% of agent’s commission) from all real estate agents that participate. This fee makes it hardly a free service for anyone since referral fees are inevitably passed down to consumers.
More importantly, Rocket Homes is a real estate agent that “does not engage in actual real estate broker services.” Rocket Homes systematically applies pay-to-play bias towards all matching results, meaning, only real estate agents that have agreed to pay a referral fee are matched with consumers.
Rocket Homes audits all transactions because it needs to find out how much money real estate agents receive in commissions, inevitably collecting private details of consumer’s agreement for home purchase or sale.
Rocket Homes further claims to match consumers with “top-rated professionals,” but there is absolutely no third-party evidence for this. Rocket Homes Terms of Service directly states that “it does not guarantee or warrant the products or services of other product or service providers to whom it may refer you, including, but not limited to, real estate brokers/agents, lenders and escrow/settlement companies.”
The main qualification for real estate agents who participate with Rocket Homes is their willingness to pay a referral fee. Rocket Homes is an affiliated brokerage of Quicken Loans. Quicken Loans is unable to collect referral fees from real estate agents directly due to rigid RESPA regulations. Instead, Quicken Loans is using Rocket Homes’s license as a loophole to bypass RESPA provisions that were designed to protect consumers from illegal kickbacks between real estate agents and mortgage companies.
Rocket Homes suffers from an incredibly poor Privacy Policy. Company states: “we will share your personal information (such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail) to allow third parties to contact you (even if you are previously listed on any state, federal or corporate do-not-call list) regarding their products or services that include mortgage, moving companies, telephone service providers, internet service providers, cable and satellite television service providers, and real estate agents.”
Rocket Homes plays hidden referral fees down to consumers, but it rigidly locks every participating real estate agent to the back-end of every contract. As a licensed real estate agent that doesn’t perform any real estate services or takes any responsibility for the transaction, it is not entirely clear how Rocket Homes works under the Business and Professions Code and RESPA.
Clearly, real estate agents only sign-up with Rocket Homes because the price of the referral fee can be easily incorporated into their client’s agreement with excessive commissions.
Rocket Homes receives the lowest score because it simply sells user information to third parties without any clear benefit to anyone other than itself. There are exactly zero benefits to consumers when using this referral fee network - the only effects consumers gain with Rocket Homes are hidden fees, privacy concerns and blind matches with agents willing to part with 25%-40% of their commission. This model incorporates in itself everything real estate process shouldn’t be. Rocket Homes must be well aware of these issues but continues to operate on pay-to-play methodology in order to collect fees that needlessly make home buying and selling more expensive.
Where does Rocket Homes operate?
Buying and Selling with LemonBrew
WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.
LemonBrew) is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.
United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.
Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.
LemonBrew is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to pay it. LemonBrew Realty NJ LLC operates as a New Jersey real estate broker under a license number 1863793, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when buying or selling real estate in any State. In exchange for matching you with a LemonBrew Partner Agent, LemonBrew Realty is compensated by the said Partner Agent with an undisclosed percentage of their commission in a process known as a "blind match."
LemonBrew Pricing
LemonBrew revenue comes from undisclosed referral fees. Referral fees set by such networks range anywhere between 25%-40% of the entire agent's commission.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
LemonBrew Editor's Review:
As a home buyer or home seller, LemonBrew is not representing consumers as a real estate agent. Instead, the company shares consumer's information for referral fees with various real estate agents, vendors, advertisers, and other third parties. LemonBrew does not control or supervise any Partner Agents, and LemonBrew is not responsible for their actions.
LemonBrew claims that all conditions between consumers and a real estate professional are governed by a separate legal agreement that does not involve LemonBrew, but we find these claims to be false. Using its website, LemonBrew engages in a process known as price-fixing because it offers consumers a portion of Partner Agent's commission as a cash rebate at closing using the network. For, example, for home buyers, LemonBrew sets a $3,750 buyer's commission rebate amount when buying a home valued at $750,000. This is about a 10% rebate from the typical 2.5%-3% buyer's agent's commission. It is easy to see that while LemonBrew likely collects about 25%-40% in referral fees from the broker's commission, the consumer only receives a 10% rebate. LemonBrew pay-to-play bias doesn't just cost consumers thousands in junk fees, it also results in improperly negotiated commissions.
For purposes of the present discussion, brokerage fees are always negotiable and no broker should set rates and rebates for other brokers. Each firm should establish its own policy as to its fee structure and charges, amount of commissions, and rebates. Price fixing is prohibited by federal antitrust legislation. Individual agents must never discuss, or set rates with brokers outside of their own company.
By setting rates and rebates for Partner Agents across the United States, LemonBrew operates with a sole purpose to collect referral fees, where such service effectively results in lower quality of service, pay-to-play bias, and a "blind match" with agents willing to participate.
Consumers using LemonBrew have zero control over what agents the company shares their information with. Instead of being “sold as leads” consumers looking for a competitive and fair representation can consider negotiating directly with real estate agents, or with help from unbiased consumer-focused online services that do not collect referral fees.