Operator of Salt Lake City Papers Starts Real Estate Brokerage Firm

By: E&P Staff The company that operates The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News has formed a real estate brokerage firm dedicated to sellers.

MediaOne Real Estate will act as a full-fledged real estate firm charging a flat fee of $2,000 instead of a typical commission of 3%, reported Lesley Mitchell in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Area real estate firms are none too pleased by the move, despite the fact that if a buyer contacts MediaOne Real Estate they will be referred to another broker. "The frustrating thing is that we're now competing with a company that we're paying to advertise with," Ryan Kirkham, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, told Mitchell, adding he expects some realtors to pull advertising from the papers.

To which Brent Low, CEO and president of MediaOne, the joint operating agency of the two papers, responded that not many brokers are advertising in the newspapers anyway.

MediaOne Real Estate will help sellers promote their properties and give them exposure in the daily papers.