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After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

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Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#61
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And title insurance

Of all the scams associated with real estate transactions, title insurance is kind of legitimate. The title chain itself may be recorded, but there may be some lien against the property that was not properly recorded. That’s the situation you protecting against. Now whether that’s worth .5-1% is debatable.

I’m pretty confident that payouts from title insurance don’t even reach 10% of the premiums collected. That’s my definition of a scam.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with that? It is a fact that many homes are sold when their occupants die, and offering your services to a potential customer when the customer likely needs it does not seem out of bounds.

A phone call is a request for the person on the other end to stop what they’re doing and pay attention to the phone conversation. Plenty of people are annoyed when that happens in many contexts, not least of which includes telemarketers. Add on top of that the fact that the advice is to allow 2-3 days’ bereavement before the unsolicited possible annoyance... I genuinely don’t get the question. Be available as a realt…

I did not realize contact meant phone call. It could be as simple as leaving your business card or sending them mail.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#63
post #29
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what's preventing realtors from defecting and offering their services for a lower rate?

The other agent won't bring clients to you if the cut is too low.

This is very true. A home I purchased recently, the sellers had a very new realtor, who was friends with them. She had listed the commissions very low - probably thinking she was doing them a service.

I purchased the home without a realtor, and one of the ways I had a much stronger position was because no one else was being shown the property. (As in, realtors weren’t mentioning it to their clients).

I had a friend of mine who is known locally in the area as one of the best realtors look at the mls and listing, and that was the take I got from him.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#64
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with that? It is a fact that many homes are sold when their occupants die, and offering your services to a potential customer when the customer likely needs it does not seem out of bounds.

But you're not offering your services. You're trying to get a potential customer to pay you for your services. And you're doing this during, presumably, a time of grief when the potential customer already has a lot to deal with physically and emotionally. And you're doing it because of the event that put them in this state. So in that way, it's not so much kind as it is exploitative.

>But you're not offering your services. You're trying to get a potential customer to pay you for your services.

Yes, people usually work in exchange for money.

>And you're doing this during, presumably, a time of grief when the potential customer already has a lot to deal with physically and emotionally. And you're doing it because of the event that put them in this stat

Exactly, a real estate agent can take some of the load off. Keeping a home secure, traveling to it if you live far away, etc are not necessarily easy. People have jobs to get back to, families to attend to that may not be nearby, and things need to happen, regardless of emotional events.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#65

Lots of people hating on realtors here, but my buying realtor: - Put up with me through several offers that fell through due to issues with the house - Met me quickly several times to see houses in a very hot market (covid) - Constantly found me homes that met my criteria - Was able to "get the dirt" on the homes and give me good advice for the homes that fell through, not pressuring me to buy And my selling realtor,…

[flagged]

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#66

Lots of people hating on realtors here, but my buying realtor: - Put up with me through several offers that fell through due to issues with the house - Met me quickly several times to see houses in a very hot market (covid) - Constantly found me homes that met my criteria - Was able to "get the dirt" on the homes and give me good advice for the homes that fell through, not pressuring me to buy And my selling realtor,…

Okay so that's a good service. Is that worth $20,000? $40,000? I'd love to pay by the hour for service. There aren't many such realtors.

Well, you're paying TWO realtors. Buyer and seller, so it's really half that. But yeah, I would say $10k is a pretty sweet deal in a lot of cases.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#67

Lots of people hating on realtors here, but my buying realtor: - Put up with me through several offers that fell through due to issues with the house - Met me quickly several times to see houses in a very hot market (covid) - Constantly found me homes that met my criteria - Was able to "get the dirt" on the homes and give me good advice for the homes that fell through, not pressuring me to buy And my selling realtor,…

What you are saying is that the realtors have created an environment and now some of them (!) have mastered it.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#68
Now we just need an explanation of how the hell appraisers come up with their numbers.

Not only is it functionally useless to ask someone to measure fair market value of an asset that already has someone offering to buy it at a specific price, the appraisals seem to come in ridiculously close to offer price every time.

I've had to deal with around 8 appraisals over the years as buyer or seller, I only had one that didn't come bad within 1% of the sale price. Either markets are impressively efficient and we don't need appraisals, or the appraiser already knows exactly what number to put on it and goes through the motions of finding a few hundred dollars worth of random plumbing and electrical nitpicks and moves on.

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#69
post #16

Ever since I bought my first house I have always hated the concept of realtors. Maybe before the internet it made sense because it wasn't easy finding houses. But what value does a realtor actually bring in the age of Zillow, Redfin, etc... Also - the percent structure has never made sense to me. Why should a realtor make more money just because the house is more expensive? Does a realtor really deserve to make 60k o…

The percentage structure - while I want to agree with you, we can then look to things like ... the struggle now of delivery food percentages and tipping. If I order a $15 pizza and tip $3, I'm tipping 20%, but that is seen as "cheap" for a tip in 2023... yet if I order a $4,000 bottle of wine at dinner, and tip 20%, the staff will enjoy an $800+ tip for that meal. Worth 20% to pop the cork, really?

Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission

#70

swwwwweeeeeeeet. But who's going to fill in the address on the boiler plate purchase agreement?

The next batch of YC startups named things like “Turnkey” and “Realify” will do it for $499

I used to scoff at entrants into the space because I thought something valuable was being disrupted.

Then my agent let me get 90% through a sale before - "surprise" - such and such construction is required prior to closing due to recent statute in this town.

I had to haggle DOWN to 6% to enjoy effectively no representation or understanding of the market I was selling into.

If this industry is disrupted, even if by charlatans, unfortunately it deserves to be - we deserve it - for allowing the status-quo.

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