There's a lot of them that just do it semi-part time, or on the side. If you even sell a couple for family/friends in your spare time you can make $20k in commissions for very little time spent.
Fixed real estate commissions look to be "unfixed" by lawsuit settlement
- Thread starter BoxsterCy
- Start date
My parents and sister had a RE business.
There were times they would spend HOURS with a client looking for a home. Gas money, time on the phone, time searching for places to show them. And not all would buy. (We had a realtor friend that did this for three years with a couple looking for a home) Many times "acquaintances" thought they should sell a house without a commission. Then if you're selling a house there's a lot more to it than some people may think. And if a realtor has a storefront, you have that cost plus utilities, insurance, continuing ed costs.
The problem is most American's can't pull comps, are too cheap to get a good attorney, and most American's can't negotiate.
I'm have mixed feelings on this and will be curious how it all unfolds. The real estate industry is probably in the top-5 for hiring employees and have to assume this is going to crush some of these firms.
We used Charter when we sold our last house. They charged a very reasonable flat flee and our Realtor was very helpful.
Also, and SIAP, but could not find anything in the article the says where the 1.8 billion settlement goes. Are they going to reimburse home sellers and buyers for the last 50 years?
Totally agree that the listing agents have it easy.
Mixed bag for buying agents. Some people already know what house they want and make an offer immediately. You can also show two dozen houses over the course of a couple months and they end up never buying. You get nothing from that. There are a lot of terrible agents out there, but a good one earns their money.
Firing a bad buying agent should always remain an option. Being asked to sign an agency agreement to look at houses would have me looking elsewhere. Some places require it, but most of the time they want to make sure they get a chunk of your commission if you go somewhere else regardless of the job they do. I'd prefer to build loyalty both ways an have them earn it.
It's not completely dissimilar from buying and selling cars, but people are way more willing treat their business as something of value and go elsewhere when it's a car.
I think of Realtors the same way I do Project Managers. Most are not worth the money they make, but the ones that are, are worth their weight in gold. The Realtor job is a very important one, of course it was more important before the internet. But most people are not very intelligent and can use all the help they can. (I mean how many people on here can change out a light switch or their own toilet?)
Those of us with experience remodeling, or selling/buying homes, can see a bad realtor instantly. And in my experiences there are WAY TOO MANY of them.
Those of us with experience remodeling, or selling/buying homes, can see a bad realtor instantly. And in my experiences there are WAY TOO MANY of them.
When we sold our home a couple years ago, we talked to several relators, and they were all willing to lower their commission just to get the business. Selling a home in today's market is a guaranteed quick pay day.
Ummm.... say what? This isn't 2 or 3 years ago when houses were selling in a day with multiple offers of 50k to 100k over asking price. Plenty of houses are sitting on the market for 30 days, 60 days, 90+ days without an offer. New construction is king in many areas, so existing home sales are paying the price.
The only positive in this market is low inventory of existing homes, mostly due to people not wanting to trade their 3% mortgage for one in the 6-7% range.
No doubt for some markets. Low inventory and numerous buyers has made the market strong in a good chunk of America
On the flip side, people really struggle with the buying part of it and need a competent realtor.
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All depends what area. Here is Columbus, OH is really tight and it's only dropped a couple %'s off it's high.
New startups are taking a nose dive, again.
I have only gone through the sales cycle 1x but felt there was more value in having a buyers agent. A good buyers agent walks through a lot of houses, knowing what potential homes are a good fit for the buyer and in tip-top condition.
Whereas, its not difficult for a homeowner to sell a house on their own. Marketing a property is easy and cost-effective with FSBO, Zillow, etc. A person can buy for sale signs at big-box home stores. A real estate lawyer can prepare the sale paperwork for a few thousand $ or less. And I didn't mind showing my home, who knew the home better than I.
The last time I used a realtor to buy. I actually showed her the properties I wanted to see while she was showing me properties I had no interest in. It’s pretty easy to put your search parameters in the MLS and find property in your area. That’s exactly what they are doing.
The model is wrong. The realtor should charge to show per hour. Otherwise, the rest of us are picking up the bill. I don't want to pay for cheap people or people that are undecided.
While this is true, many times realtors will have access to properties that are not quite on the market yet and be able to anticipate whether their buyer will be interested.
I found my current house myself on Zillow but my realtor at the time found me a house that was also one I would really have liked, that had not yet come open on the market. We toured both on the same afternoon. Had I not gotten this house I probably would have been in that house
I expect with this ruling realtors will encourage more homeowners to not list immediately so they can sucker what they can off of them.
I can see realtors being useful if you are relocating. Or don’t have time to do the homework yourself. But even for those services they are grossly overcompensated
