Real Estate Agents... Who Needs Them??!!

[Kid_Icarus 0]

Will someone tell me why a house is the only thing that is so difficult to buy we need a 3rd party to help decipher the mysterious code of homes? I mean really, why are they entitled to 3-7%? What do they do for us? And what communist party thought up the MLS? I mean talk a bout a monopoly. I just need clarification on why. Thanks.

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"What What.....

[sistaluv 0]

Well it's funny you post this.... I'm interested in taking a course in restate and in my opinion I thought I would be helping the people who don't have much time or patients to find them a house or whatever they desire. In return I should get paid some how! Not sure the exact figures but if its salary it better be good see that you might not sell a house every day at the begining. And on the other hand there's many houses for sale privately you just got to find them. I guess I should prepare myself for peeps like you that get pissed at peeps like them!?! In my opinion there not that bad Maybe your just having a bad day Good Luck!

Blue Skies and Terminal Memories 4 Life

[dixieskydiver 0]

I'm taking a real estate course this fall. It's a few weeks and you'll save enough money when you sell your house to buy a car! OC that depends on how much your house is worth, but whatever. Once you get Broker status you get that whole percentage, the agent only gets like 3 percent.

Dixie
HISPA #56 Facil Rodriguez
"Scientific research has shown that 60% of the time, it works every time."

[cocheese 0]

They get you more $ for your home than you would by yourself.
They sell it quicker than you can.
They keep you out of court and dealing with looney toons.
They work hard so you don't have to.
They know a lot of things you may not even know you don't know.

[CSpenceFLY 1]

I do.Mine pays half of the bills.Think about how fucked up it would be sifting through the classified ads looking for the house you wanted.

[Bodyflight.Net 0]

RE Agents protect the seller
Buyers Agents protect the buyer

if you choose the correct type for your transaction, they are WELL worth the extra money

Finding a house is the easy part... realtor.com, homesandland.com & your local RE office website MLS lookup.. cross referencing all three gives you the 'full' scoop, and saves lotsa driving..

[misskriss 0]

It depends on the market and the area you live I think... I sold my house this summer without an agent in three days. Other agents did want to bring people to look at the house which was fine but I told them they needed to add their fee to the price of my house. Ended up selling to a guy without an agent. I did the research to see what the houses were going for in my area, price per sqrft, etc.. hired an attorney for a small fee and they represented both me and the buyer... Made a killing.

[thegreekone 0]

I am selling a beautiful home right now, that unfortunately, came on the market at the worst time of the year........after they tried to sell it on their own for 3 months. They probably lost 15k AND are carrying two mortgages until it sells. Not only did they overprice it, they didn't know how to market th home, stage it, or pretty much anything else.

But, selling and buying homes is easy once you get the pricing, marketing, liability, and financial stuff down...it's no big woop. I mean, it is only most people's biggest and most important investment. By all means do NOT use a professional, "handle it on your own".

THAT SAID....I will be the first to admit that there are unscrupulous people out there who could really care less about people and their situations. That, my friends, is a shame.

[TrophyHusband 0]

we just sold a house in biloxi without an agent. it was horrible. there are many people involved (mortgage companies, title companies, inspectors). there ase certain things that need to be done in a certain order and without a knowledgeable person to coordinate it all, it took an extra month to close.

we just bought a house in idaho. because of our agent, it went like clockwork. never again will i do it without one.

if you don't need the advertising aspect of it, you can hire one just for the paperwork when you get to that point for a reduced cost.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[narcimund 0]

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They get you more $ for your home than you would by yourself.

They sell it quicker than you can.

They keep you out of court and dealing with looney toons.

They work hard so you don't have to.

They know a lot of things you may not even know you don't know.

Not in my experience. I just sold my own house this summer.

The real estate agents I interviewed did comps and came up with very nearly the same recommended prices. Three weeks later I sold it without an agent for 115% of that price and didn't pay commission. After paying off all the loans, etc, I'm coming out with more than TWICE as much net as I would have.

And it was very little work.

It's a good market for sellers now.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[flyangel2 2]

Well JP Kelly is a Real Estate Agent, and I'd "use" him

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[jumpwally 0]

Geezzz ,,!!! Why go to the Dentist? pull your own teeth !! Better yet,why give your rigger the few bucks,,! Do it your self.... and what do you do for a living? I'll bet we could do without it...

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[Kid_Icarus 0]

I never meant this as an attack against people, just the concept. I just don't get why we need to go through them, the MLS, brokers.... blah blah blah. I'm not even in the market for a house, I just was thinking. Yes, many people try and save money by doing it themselves. I kinda feel the same way about lawyers. Again no offense to them, it's the law that became so murky that the average american citizen can't understand it without an interpreter, which is bullshit. Done.

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"What What.....

[narcimund 0]

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I just don't get why we need to go through them

You DON'T have to go through them!

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[freeflir29 0]

I need one. I'm about to buy another house. I'm in Iraq so it'd be kinda tough to do all by myself.

[tigra 0]

Actually, the MLS is a good thing because all the listings are shared. Before the MLS, they weren't. The people with the monopoly were the brokers who got the listings. Bad for the seller because it limits the amount of people who can see their home, bad for the buyers because they can't have one agent dedicated to them. Where I live, the commission is 100% paid by the seller at closing (split between his listing broker and your selling broker) so as a buyer you can use your own agent/ broker and he or she will (or should) bust his ass for you. I probably looked at 100 properties and "fired" my first agent! My agent wrote up my contract and presented my offer. She negotiated with the other agent when there were mold issues, she even made herself available for the inspections when I couldn't get off work. She did all that work FOR me and I didn't pay her a dime! Both the seller and I also had attorneys, but most of the communication was done through the agents. There is no way our attorneys had time for all of that day to day stuff!

And yes, in today's society, there are so many legal issues that you really do need specialists watching your back.

Add to that the fact that houses are very personal and emotions can run high- it really helps to have a 3rd party involved to keep things in perspective.

[tigra 0]

That's absolutely true, you really don't HAVE to go through them but depending on the market and how much time and expertise you have to dedicate to the process, they can make things a lot easier. (as a buyer in my area, its an especially good deal, since your agent ends up getting paid by the seller!)

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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They get you more $ for your home than you would by yourself.

My wife sold a home at the appraised value.

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They sell it quicker than you can.

In a couple of months.

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They keep you out of court and dealing with looney toons.

She hired a real-estate lawyer for a few hundred dollars to handle the legal end of things .

While dealing with looney toons is a bit aggravating avoidng them isn't worth $5-$15K+ (like getting a $7K - $25K bonus at work which you had to pay taxes on).

A $100 listing service provided the lock box combination to agents who let themselves in. She had to be there for the few un-represented buyers. All of that wasn't worth a Realtor(TM)'s markup either.

She had an MLS listing but got little traffic and no offers off it. Lots of people came through with their agents that were in the neighborhood for other properties.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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That's absolutely true, you really don't HAVE to go through them but depending on the market and how much time and expertise you have to dedicate to the process, they can make things a lot easier. (as a buyer in my area, its an especially good deal, since your agent ends up getting paid by the seller!)

The seller pays the entire comission to his agent. That agent then splits it with the buyer's agent. The split is listed in the MLS. Presumably when it's not big enough your agent doesn't show you the property.

If you go into a FSBO situation without an agent the owner can give you the commision which they would have paid to a buyer's agent. You can take that as a price reduction, to offset the down payment, to roll upgrades into your mortgage, etc.

We'll definately buy our next property without an agent.

[tigra 0]

It really does depend on the market and how much time and knowledge you have. Even with a good RE attorney, its a lot to take on yourself, but for some people, it might be worth it.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Geezzz ,,!!! Why go to the Dentist? pull your own teeth !! Better yet,why give your rigger the few bucks,,! Do it your self.... and what do you do for a living? I'll bet we could do without it...

Parachute rigging is a bargain at $25/hour; I'd jump all over it if I didn't want to I&R my own reserves because I trust myself more and could use the experience.

I'd rather pay my accountant $70/hour than do my own taxes.

My last real estate agent made about $1200/hour to mostly drive arround; 10X what I paid to rent a 10 passenger stretch limo. I could even throw in a few bottles of Cristal for the price difference. For the important work that's still 6X the $200/hour I pay to my lawyer. Realtors(TM) are a lousy value.

[tigra 0]

The standard split is 50/50, although some listing brokers also tack on a processing fee and of course, special arrangements can be negotiated. But 50/50 is pretty standard in my area for residential properties. Commercial is a whole different ballgame!

In my case, my search lasted several months and I looked at a lot of properties. I found a good number of them myself through an online service, but I still couldn't get in to see them without an agent so there was no good reason NOT to have my own representing my interests and not the seller's. And as I said, the agent I closed with did an awful lot for me. I had to fire my first agent because she wasn't finding me new listings or getting me appointments to see the listings I found myself and as a result, I missed out on some opportunities.

Under the right circumstances, I'd still consider buying without an agent- especially if I knew the neighborhood and the market really well. But when you go outside the MLS, you really are limiting your options. Kudos to you if you can make it work for you, but it does take a lot of time and some basic knowledge.

[thegreekone 0]

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Not in my experience. I just sold my own house this summer.

Glad it worked out like that. That said, you are, without question, an exception to the rule. Realtors are invloved in 89% of the transactions nationwide.

Finally, markets differ as well. Where I live is now a buyer's market, unlike mar, apr, may, june...etc.

[thegreekone 0]

If you go into a FSBO situation without an agent the owner can give you the commision which they would have paid to a buyer's agent. You can take that as a price reduction, to offset the down payment, to roll upgrades into your mortgage, etc.

Sure, if you want to be relegated to FSBOs. And you are dreaming if you think someone will throw away that X% if a realtor isn't involved. They could always say, "oh, we always stipulated that buyer's with agents would have to cover their agent's commission.

We'll definately buy our next property without an agent.

[Deuce 1]

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I need one. I'm about to buy another house. I'm in Iraq so it'd be kinda tough to do all by myself.

OK, Ms.Santangelo, I owe you a blowjob.

Icarus, it really depends on the market. If it is a hard-core seller's market, it's honestly pretty easy to do a "FISBO" (for sale by owner).

Go for it!

What typically happens is that pricing and market analysis is the challenge for sellers, and Realtors can help with that.

Out here, in Cali, prices are inflated and people aren't considering their equity on investment, but what they greedily assume they can get. "If doofus' house sold for $650,000, mine must be worth $700,000!". This doesn't take into consideration the fact that doofus might have lied about what he sold his house for, or what comps he offered.

There are, like in any profession, crappy realtors out there. INTERVIEW THEM! You are hiring somebody for money! BIG money. A good realtor can make you money, and a bad realtor who lets you think your house is the high price point for your market can cost you big.

I spent a whole lot of my time in life as a government beareaucrat trying to help people within the system. I am having a great time now guiding people through the escrow process and making money buying and selling real estate. For me and my clients.

Interview some agents about marketing and pricing. You don't have to hire them.

A good one, like me, will convince you, truthfully, that they can make you more money, even paying a commission.

(Thanks Mary)

PS: I am a badass, no-busted-points-at-Nationals camera flier.

Hear me roar.