I agree, realtors are such a joke! The only thing worse than those parasitic whores is stock brokers - churn, churn, churn baby! You know, I'm still trying to figure out why there is a real estate company on every corner, who uses them? Now that we have zillow we can do it ourselves!! The only thing anyone used those whores for before is to price the properties out, but now there's zillow and its getting better every day. I can't wait until those whores have to trade in their bmw 7's for little hondas because everyone no longer needs the services of a third party agency. Jeez, I can't stand people who make a living off the buying/selling/trading of others.
I've had properties where people attempted this ... we had a property in a prime area that we decided to sell ourselves ... I put a 24 hour a day camera on the property and when it caught a local high-flying realtor destroying a sign and trespassing I had him hauled into jail ..... So, I agree that there is a low bar to entry into the real estate game ... I think If you are going to go against a monopoly - even in a small potatoes transaction - you need to be prepared for the shenanigans that these types will attempt. As to the poster regarding laguna hills..... this type of stuff goes on all the time in orange county - especially south county. In the south county I found really no need for third parties if you were plugged into the local social networks .... You could bypass the realtors attempted monopoly by simply discreetly letting the word out that a property was coming onto the market.... I suspect that you can do the same elsewhere if you have a good property that you wish to transact.
Some people just do not uderstand the market. Let me see - if you spent thousands of dollars advertising in local papers, or the same using pay per click methods on the internet and time educating the consumer as to the areas they may be interested in, you would then bring them to an owners house for free. That is about as silly a comment as I have ever seen. IMO you may argue that a listing agent's commission is way too high. But in a buyers market an agent working with a buyer who is interested in paying good money for your house is worth his weight in gold. You may even receive a higher net because of it. Afterall no one is causing you to list your house on the MLS. Just sell it fsbo and see what you net and how long it takes. It is all a statiscal crap shoot. But for my money (and even though I am an agent) I have posted one of my houses on the MLS and I am offering 4% to the buyers side. Now if I find my own buyer through open houses and advertising in the meantime good for me. I will save 4%. By I will happily pay an agent 4% for bring a ready willing and able buyer to the table. By the way the look into the way commercial agents are paid. If brokers are so parasitic how come very sophisticated business men use them and pay them well to bring deals to the table.
Zillow has overpriced my neighborhood by $100,000 per house but thats California. The guy next door tried to sell it for Zillow prices and gave up. Its a rental now.
jem, you ought ashamed of yourself...Immmediatley start showing those properties from discount RE agent schemes....Your making far too much money for too little work.... The answer is as there have not been many choiced thus far.... By the way the look into the way commercial agents are paid. If brokers are so parasitic how come very sophisticated business men use them and pay them well to bring deals to the table.
Uhmm ... Sold more than one last year ... word of mouth only, received above market on two, no comissions paid to anyone, arranged all the paperwork myself. Used an agent on only one other.... got a worse deal than I could have generated myself ..... Infact over the years I have never had an agent do anything I could not have done myself, had I the bandwidth ... I've used them only in situations where we deemed it useful to have help .... and that is very rarely. We never use them on commercial property transactions . Period. Agents are really only necessary if you dont know what you are doing or are very time and contact challenged .... In the first case you probably shouldn't be in the property game anyway except for your principal residence. ...
A couple of points. Some states are "non-disclosure" and the sales price is not public record. These would be Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. The decade long boom in real estate has attracted a lot of very slimy, unethical people; agents, loan officers and even appraisers. The whole industry is infected. Just do a google serach on "mortgage fraud" and read some of the stories.
I agree...loan brokering has no benefits for example...they take any benefit from you ...and realize it instead of passing it along to you...
I agree in a sellers market you do not need an agent. I specifically said in a buyers market. I also agree with the rest of what you say. You do not need a lawyer or a mechanic a plumber, a builder etc... it is a question of division of labor. If you think your time is more valuable than doing it yourself hire the them if not do it yourself.