Saxon Realty Group LLC

A new Norman-based realty group offers sellers a flat listing fee

BY: Roxanne Avery

A husband-wife duo of veteran realtors, Terry & Jackie Saxon, are opening a new real estate company offering sellers a flat fee option to sell their home.

Commissions have been the standard way of doing business in real estate for years. Since the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission does not regulate commission fees, that process is negotiable between realtors and sellers. The Saxon’s are now offering sellers another option.

“In our opinion, why pay thousands of dollars from your equity when the internet does the majority of the work selling your home? Nowadays, that just doesn’t make sense,” Terry said. “Over the years, when a seller listed a house, there is generally a six percent fee. Three percent went to us, as the listing agent, and three percent goes to the buying agent.

“Now what we’re offering is to list your home for only $899, no matter the price of the home we are listing.”

The Saxons have been in real estate for more than two decades and Terry has been a broker for 14 years. They believe that the real estate industry is evolving and they plan to evolve with it.

“The real estate industry has been evolving for several years,” he explained. “The most significant change is public access to the multiple listing service (MLS).”

For years, realtors held exclusive access to the MLS, the most powerful marketing tool in the business. However, companies like Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia and other real estate-based companies now offer public listing and buying access.

“We always offer to pay the buying agent three percent but now we’re saving people thousands of dollars on the listing side. For example, on a $200,000 home, the seller was paying $12,000 in realtor commissions. Now, with what we’re offering, we would be cutting that $6,000 listing commission to $899. That’s a savings of over $5,000.”

Terry cautions sellers against trying to sell their home on their own.

“Don’t make the mistake and think you don’t need a licensed realtor and their expert skills and knowledge,” he said. “We wouldn’t recommend trying to sell your home on your own. That’s way too risky, and leaves you at a big disadvantage.”

Backed by twenty years of experience, the Saxons will help sellers navigate real estate rules and regulations, as well as all the negotiations that go on during a transaction.

“Our main goal is to save sellers money. Just because we are giving a big discount doesn’t mean we cut you short on service. We are not an MLS entry-only company. We’ll get you from listing to closing and everything in between,” assured Terry. “And if you’re looking for a replacement home, we can definitely help people buy homes as well.”

Terry & Jackie want to save people money because they know it’s needed for other important expenditures.

“The money we’re saving them will help them do so many other things they need to do like putting more money down on their next house, put it in their kids’ college fund, remodel or just put the money in their pocket,” he said.

The Saxon Realty Group is a full-service real estate office assisting both buyers and sellers, and for a low flat fee they will help sellers list and sell their property. In order to get the word out to the public effectively, the Saxons opened their own brokerage firm June 1, and in the month prior to their opening, they had already saved sellers over $48,000 in listing commissions.

Born and raised in Norman, Terry and Jackie have been married for nearly 40 years. They went to Wilson Elementary School together in second grade and were married their senior summer in 1981. Together they raised two kids and have five grandkids.

The Saxons lived outside of Norman for a few years when their children were young.

“In 1987, we decided we wanted to get out of Norman,” Terry remembered. “The truth is, one night while watching TV, a commercial came on for the Marine Corp. I had no money saved for college and the commercial said the Marine Corp would pay for college. I enlisted and eight years later after being in Desert Shield and Desert Storm and traveling all over the world, and earning a college degree after, we realized our hearts were in Norman.

“Our time away made us realize we needed to come back to Norman to raise our kids, and live in a city that offers so much more than it did when we left. And what we are offering, we thought it was a win-win for both parties, and a great way to give back to this community.”. – BSM