Posted on 01/02/2006 9:48:23 PM PST by ncountylee
Actually, you are paying the listing agent, too. Normally that 3% is split between the agency and the broker. Splits vary, depending on whether the agent or the broker pays for office rent, phones, advertising, etc. Some very successful agents have negotiated as much as 90% + of that 3 per cent, and some have as low as 40% (or less) of that 3 per cent.
The other 3% goes to the "selling" brokerage, which also splits the commission with its agent, depending on production, who absorbs what cost, etc.
Oh, yeah. Those pure-hearted liberals, they don't care about money at all. I'll bet they're giving all their profits to Save the Armadillos or something.
Works the other way too. I tried buying a home using a 1% commission realtor (he was supposed to get his 3% cut and rebate 2% to me.) The listing agents barely gave him the time of day.
Private replying...
What about mortgage brokers?
Private replying...
I thought realtors were the offspring of lawyers and car salesman.
I wish I had used eBay to sell my parents excess possessions and antiques, etc., instead of using an "Estate" sales agent who charged too much commission and probably cheated me by "buying in" and later reselling the items.
Antique appraisals is another racket you have to be very careful with. Nobody knows the value of antiques more that the market that will actually plunk down the money for it. Antique dealers and auctioneer houses appraisals should be taken with a grain of salt. A lot of appraisals are simply made up depending on what side of the bed the appraiser got up on that morning.
We sold our house through a local licensed RE agency that only charged us $500 to get on the multilist/internet and we also got a sign. It took 10 days.
I used the same guy when buying my townhouse, his agents split the commision with you after closing. I got a check back for around $1700.
www.mydogtess.com
I haven't had trouble with the bank yet, but the last several houses I dealt with were a nightmare. The seller had a disclosure statement where he lied about everything. The realtor pressed for an offer beofre the house inspection. After the house inspection, we backed out and wanted the earnest money back. We had to go to court to get the money back. The realtor could have released the earnest money but refused to do so, since it would jepordize a sale.
Me too. We'll be looking at selling in a few more years.
Ebay fee $100. No realtor. Sold the house sight unseen, never showed it even once.
This I like. Is there someplace on the web where more information can be found? Not the eBay part, the legalities and endless requirements part.
I wasn't proposing that I or any other should be permitted to post on real estate websites or use a virtual tour-creating company for free! I'd expect to pay for it at the same rate the licensed real estate agents do. But I guess the real estate agents do need something, some special service, so that people will want their services even in a hot market.
I know. I am such a believer in freedom that I think that people who MARKET to realtors should be able to sell exclusively to the people who have traditionally paid them... i.e., the realtors. The really great and really scary thing about the internet is that it promotes the breakup of alot of traditional power structures, including the marketing structures of financial services, like brokerages. When someone figures out that there is money to be made running alternative real estate websites, or shooting non-realtor virtual tours for those websites, some enterprising soul will do it, and God bless em.
Either that, or we can join the usual Freeper wails about how the "free market" just supports the big fatcats who have stacked the deck against the little guy blah blah blah (yawn).
FSBO works easily in great in sellers markets.. when its a buyers market, a FSBO usually sits.
Granted most realtors are not go getters, part timers, only interested in listing and don't know jack about selling.
However a GOOD realtor... and they are hard to find, but a good realtor is worth their weight in gold.
Joesbucks, sorry it took me so long to respond, but there are a number of steps that agents should be preparing themselves for. Althought NAR is fighting to keep the industry as-is, they cannot hold back the tide of changes that are coming. The banking industry is working hard to get into the industry and you are seeing more and more service oriented an discount brokers emerge successfully.
We have worked with several of the state-wide discount brokers and although they get shunned by fellow Realtors, they are soaking up a ton of money and listings. Bottom line is that consumers are not willing to spend 6%, or 7% in some regions, to sell their home when home values are so high. Back in the days when a 150K house was top of the line, people didn't mind paying 6% to sell, but with homes in the 300-500K price range becoming middle class housing, and with the advent of the Internet search - agents are no longer worth $25K or $30K.
Agents who want to succeed will see the future trends and realize that the consumer is looking for alternatives. If you continue to ask your customers to pay 6%, then the home sells in a couple of days without a single ad being run, etc., they will feel ripped off. Even though you didn't do anything wrong, in their mind you didn't earn that money. As more and more consumers learn of low-cost alternatives or fee-for-service sales agencies, they will increasingly see 6% brokers/agents as a rip-off. Eventually, you will chase off all of your potential clients.
However, if you get ahead of the curve and create an alternative for your customers, you will be seen as a "find" for your customers - one that they will share with friends and colleagues. You will be seen as giving value rather than just services. Be warned, your peers will not like you and they will blacklist some of your listings, but you will make more money during the transition and you will be positioned for the future. See the future of your industry, and your local consumers, and develop a business plan.
Whether you decide to offer fee-for-services such as x dollars for sign in the yard, listing in the mls, 3 open houses, etc (create packages for a flat fee or small percentage and flat fee) OR if you decide to offer the tradiitional services for a lower 4%, you will be a leader and you will succeed.
I have a friend trying to get started in real estate.
The 6 percent is split between the buyers agent and the sellers agent.
You can work many days for nothing.
A few people make really big bucks. Everybody else just makes a living.
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