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…
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After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
81–90 of 220 posts
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#82A good realtor can guide you through the market, inspections, and negotiation - all of which hugely affect the largest investment most people make. But that's no reason for them to demand a PERCENTAGE off the sale of the home! Closing fees plus realtor fees are a big reason why it takes so long for a home to break even for most people - something like 7 years in NYC. And one reason why there's so much pressure for ho…
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#83Now 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 di…
If a house would reasonably be sold for $250k, but the buyer is buying at $2 million, there's probably some very good questions that need to be asked about where the money is going.
On the other hand, if an appraiser can demonstrate that:
- properties with similar features have been sold in a similar price range in somewhat recent time frame
- if no close match exists, then identifying the price differential from past sales might justify a good guess
Generally speaking, if someone is making an offer, then they are participating in the market and setting the fair market value of the home. IME yes, appraisers DO know the offer that is being made, and they'll come up with a similar number if they don't have reason to believe that the buyer and seller are doing something shady.Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#84A good realtor can guide you through the market, inspections, and negotiation - all of which hugely affect the largest investment most people make. But that's no reason for them to demand a PERCENTAGE off the sale of the home! Closing fees plus realtor fees are a big reason why it takes so long for a home to break even for most people - something like 7 years in NYC. And one reason why there's so much pressure for ho…
I 1000% agree with this. I finally bought a house just under a month ago, but I would have done this years ago if the transaction costs weren't so stupid high (because I was never 100% sure I would be staying in the same area for a while).
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#85Lots 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,…
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's mostly due to the fact that in order to list a house or find a house you need to use a system called MLS. In order to use the system you need to be a realtor. It's quite simple actually
Technically, you don’t need to use MLS. You can put your house up on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, make your own website, put a sign on your front lawn, etc. But most people predict they will earn per time they invest in selling by going with MLS, where the home buying audience is largest.
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#87swwwwweeeeeeeet. But who's going to fill in the address on the boiler plate purchase agreement?
They'll just have to find a way to do that after they've finished taking 10 photos at 320x240 resolution (of which the last four are of the same room).
I did quite a few homes directly for sellers because their realtor’s photos were absolutely terrible. It looked like they took 2 minutes to zoom around the house, only putting their arm through doorways, taking everything vertically and tilted.
For what it’s worth at least at the time the MLS had a pretty low max resolution.
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#88Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#89I've spent a large part of my career working on products for insurance agents, real estate agents, and car salesmen.
My experience has left me with one conclusion: we should eliminate most of these jobs. They're about as predatory toward the customer as they come, adding little value in most cases.
There are certainly cases where they do add a lot of value but mostly because of government regulations, cartels, and monopolies they have a much bigger footprint than they should have in anything resembling a just world.
Re: After a $1.8B verdict, the clock is ticking on the 6% realtor commission
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
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@dang: Not sure what guideline I broke with my previous comment that was flagged, but I would love to learn so I don't repeat offend.