On July 14, 2018 a
Exhibit,Appendix
was filed
involving a dispute between
Ellyn Berk,
Pamela Goldstein,
Paul Benjamin,
Tony Berk,
and
Houlihan Lawrence Inc.,
for Commercial Division
in the District Court of Westchester County.
Preview
FILED: WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLERK 04/22/2024 11:45 PM INDEX NO. 60767/2018
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1916 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/22/2024
EXHIBIT 43
FILED: WESTCHESTER COUNTY CLERK 04/22/2024 11:45 PM INDEX NO. 60767/2018
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 1916 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 04/22/2024
From: Arlt, Lewis
Sent: Fri 5/09/2014 2:28 PM (GMT-04:00)
To: Dalton, Debra
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: in-house bonus
Hi Debbie,
I'm working on the meeting report for our managers.
It occurs to me to confess that I've never been a big fan of the in-house bonus. Despite the argument
that it is an understandable reward for a job well-done, and the in-house nature of it is pure coincidence
and simply a function of our large market share, there is no avoiding the perception from an objective
observer that this is an incentive for agents to push in-house deals. And while working with two HL
agents may in fact help a deal go smoothly because HL agents are generally better and clients benefits
from our existing relationships, there is a self-serving elephant in the room, that clearly compromises
our fiduciary obligation to place clients' interests above our own. If we start revealing to sellers and
buyers that agents get paid more if they do an in-house deal, I think we open a dangerous can of
worms. As heretical as it sounds, I think it could be more risky than simply eliminating the in-house
bonus as a practice.
Is there way these monies can be uncoupled from the individual deal, and restructured similar to
quarterly bonuses? We'd look at overall production and reward it whether it comes from in-house deals
or not.
When the Fee agents first arrived here on 2007, I grappled with Joan, Irene, and others for always
including deal emails to the office which read, "AO, in-house," or "AO, out of office." The clear
unspoken message was, if it was in-house, "stay away from my deal;" or if it was out of office, the
message was "bring your buyers and bump this deal if you can." They would argue that market share
was the only motivating factor, but there's no mistaking what their perception of the in-house deal
was. They all still do it regularly.
Maybe we just lay low and hope this issue doesn't flare. But if we have to print in-house bonus alerts in
our ERSs and ERRs, yikes, I'm afraid we'll invite some very awkward conversations.
Just saying ...
Lewis Arlt
Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker
Brokerage Manager
Houlihan Lawrence
32 Popham Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
Office 914-723-8877
Cell 914-309-5766
CONFIDENTIAL HL00150293
Document Filed Date
April 22, 2024
Case Filing Date
July 14, 2018
Category
Commercial Division
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