Realtors will tell you that sellers without an agent generally lose money despite the 6%. Realtors not only get them better offers, but more exposure and less hassle on the sellers part. Do you really want unqualified slobs lowballing you and demanding that you carry the note?
Pretty much the same way people trade in their cars rather than sell them themselves.
“Do you really want unqualified slobs lowballing you and demanding that you carry the note?”
I bought and sold the same house 10 times and found unqualified slobs accept the price.
Unfortunately, over the last few years there’s as many or more unqualified slobs IN real estate than outside of the trade.
Not an agent, but in a closely related field. In the last 2 years, I’ve seen 2 agents out-bid their clients on houses. Two more aske me to falsify information on federal grant forms and were dense enough to make that request by email while copying the federal office. Another has failed to disclose serious health and environmental issues at several listed properties after both she and her clients were made aware of their presence.
I’ve overheard one agent tell their customer how to avoid paying me and other trades.
Another 4 or 5 have licensed simply because it allows them first shots at properties to flip (another bottom-feeding creature in the RE market), then pass the seconds on to their clients.
Agents may know location, layout, feng shui etc., but most haven’t the slightest clue when it comes to how a house is supposed to function and are 99.7% resistant to learning about it.
Real estate sales has abysmally low barriers to entry and after about 36 hours of “training”, enter the market with not much more than marginal form sense, hoping a boss babe attitude and a tight blouse will overcome all the rest.
At the end of the day, whether it’s the buyer’s slob or the seller’s slob, both have a vested interest in the property selling for the highest price possible.
Realtors will certainly tell you that. I do not believe it is true.
What Real Estate Agents actually do is try to sell a property as quickly as possible with a minimum number of complications. That is what is in their best interests. It is often (but not always) in the best interests of their clients too. It does not mean the agents will get or even try to get the highest possible price. Unless they are selling their own properties, of course.
Realtors not only get them better offers, but more exposure and less hassle on the sellers' part.
A good agent can show a property to better qualified buyers with much less hassle than the average homeowner can do that. The good agent also has a network of lenders and title companies that can make a closing go quickly and without problems. That is definitely service worth paying to receive. Is it worth 6%? Maybe. That should be negotiable for the Seller.
The "buyer's broker" arrangement has only minor beneficial effects, even when there are contractual provisions for such roles. And without such a contract, both agents are always legally agents for the Seller. Either war, the selling agent is going to split the commission with the buyer agent and the incentives for both agents are almost the same. "Make the sale quickly with minimum complications".
The ONLY thing that seller agents do now are:
1. Get the property in the MLS
2. Hire a photographer to take pictures
3. Create a flyer
4. Put a lockbox on the door
5. Dig a hole in the yard and put up a sign.
Agents RARELY do open houses, or agents only open houses anymore. They basically gave up on actively marketing your house about the time the internet came out. They WANT the listing so that they will get the commission, but put in little work.
Buyers agents have the keys to the lockbox, which is usually necessary to show the home. They also have to spend endless hours driving people around to properties. However, when I bought my last house our agent showed us a handful of houses on day 1, and every house after that we found and told the agent we wanted to see it. My wife found our house online, and that started the process. Buyers agents DO seem to do more work tho, and a lot of real estate agents now claim to be seller specialists because they dont want to put in the work.
The seller agent actually tried to submarine our purchase and came out and said he wanted to buy the house himself. Since I was not “allowed” to talk to the seller, I could not warn him of the dirt his agent was doing to him.
Long way of saying, I could have gotten a better price on the house if the seller did not have to pay so much in commission, and I probably would have closed faster.
If you want to sell always ask your neighbors first. See what happens. Especially with land or lots. Don't count anyone out, you may be surprised who wants and is able to buy your property. Maybe a relative or a friend wants to move closer. You just never know.
One of life's biggest lessons is that I should have politely asked a lot more often. What was the worst that could have happened to ask the prettiest girl in school for a date? Why assume the outcome?