like i said before this is the reality of that 30k...... 500k x's 6% = like you said 30k 2 agents = 15k/15k agents split with their broker = 7.5k each so that 30k just shrunk down to 7.5k yea the seller still pays the same amount, but that agent sure isnt seeing close to that full amount, they usually see 1.5% 7.5k sure isnt bad, but thats also on a half million dollar home
You know the other thing people have not considered is the following. What would you pay someone to sell your house. What you pay someone to review the paperwork How much would you spend to advertise How about help you stage it How about help you price it How about help you negotiate How about show it or provide for showing and feedback Also suppose you were new to an area. Would you want to have an agent help you find a good home in a good area. what you you pay that person for their time. How about all the people who do not sell or buy. What is that opportunity cost. The 3% to each side is set up as compensation of the times when houses do not sell and set up for when buyers do not buy. Many agents would have not problem getting paid by the hour. (jdez) mailbox has been partially cleared.
I am curious ... to what extent R.E. agents "gloss up or confuse the facts on their listings? for example ... on more than one occasion I have seen listings in my area that say "with doorman" when I know for a fact there is no doorman in the building listed in my area also things like subtracting or adding floors to the actual number of floors in apartment buildings ... I saw this in a local newspaper recently ... and thought ... who makes this stuff up ? ( I live in manhattan )
I put my house on ByOwner.com and it had a contract on it within one day with back up offers calling on a daily basis. I was out of pocket $1000 on a 300k sale. In a sellers market you don't need to pay those commissions. But in a buyers market appraised value minus 6% is better than no offers at all.
Midas we have spoken. (By the way lots in my area are just to0 expensive right now for building homes in the range I wanted to hit. I am going to have to explore other areas.) But in a sellers market I agree -- you may not need an agent. And I suspect you are a professional. But I am sure you are familiar with the pricing pyramid. That says 1 percent of buyers will pay 20% too much 10% may pay 10% too much etc. How do you know you could not have gotten a significantly higher price. I am not selling you could have, but if stats have it correct and buyers work with agents in the overwhelming majority of the transactions. How do you know they would not have produced a buyer willing to pay more. Or were you cooperating with buyers agents. In which case -- what you really did was save the listing side commission. And in my mind in a sellers market that is a very negotiable need. again I think a listing agent must be able to justify his or her commission. And that is why in a sellers market, I am going to market to the high end of the market place where they need all the marketing they can get to move 2 -18 million dollar houses.
I have had both good and bad experiences with realtors...... these transactions and results happened in two distinct areas of the country...I have had commissions from as little as 5% (residential)to as high as 15% (commercial property)....the RE boards do NOT require enough training...I had one realtor (helping w/purchase) that I paid for home inspection that was never done...guess who got the shaft and who got the gold mine! That lady should have been put behind bars. I have also had a realtor helping with purchase that truly earned every dime he was paid and saved me a tremendous amount of money and time. I was so impressed with his service that I wanted to give him a gratuity but he was not allowed to accept it. It is most unfortunate that he is no longer in the business. I have learned the hard way and am extremely skeptical of all realtors...if they say one thing that does not ring true, I will drop them in a moment
Maybe the broker is taking too much and that is where the cuts can come. I just sold a property in 6 days in Boston and have to pay close to 40 grand in commission (5%). The Realtor, while valuable, didn't do much beyond fill out the forms, put it in the computer, and spend two hours at an open house. $6,000+ per day for this?
Jem, I agree with you. I was suggesting that the market is not "fixed". There are many options out there for the do it your self crowd. It is a great business to be in these days....