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

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81–90 of 220 posts

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

#81
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…

[flagged]

@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.

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

#82
post #21

A 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…

Still doesn't explain or justify why you're paying for the realtor on the other side.

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

#83

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 di…

The job of the appraiser is to demonstrate to the bank signing a mortgage that the deal isn't a scam.

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

#84
post #21

A 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…

> 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 home prices to keep going up. The cost of selling a home and buying another one also makes the labor market less dynamic - people find it harder to move to where there's better opportunities.

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

#85

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,…

How many of those issues are created by a poor system, perpetuated by realtors though?

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

#86
post #22

Earlier 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.

Technically no. But it's an uphill battle. Technically you can sell your own house without an agent.

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

#87
post #4

swwwwweeeeeeeet. 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 real estate photography for a bit. It wasn’t worth it because realtors are terrible penny pinchers.

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

#88
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Plenty do. I and many friends do RE transactions with agents who are not “realtors”

That's all good and possible but not quite mainstream yet.

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

#89
There's an article I've been meaning to write for a while called Death to the Salesmen.

I'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

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

@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.

Users flag comments, dang with usually reply if there is a legit issue. But mostly like the rule about taking a commentors best intended meaning rather than their unintended easy to refute meaning.
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