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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

#121

Post by b20000 »

when i came to the US the idea of a person making a commission on the sale of real estate was foreign to me.

in my home country most ppl sell and buy real estate themselves. agents are used for special situations.

when i tried to call an owner in the bay area to buy from them directly and offered to pay for any lawyer of their choice to have paperwork drafted and reviewed they pooped their pants. i never understood why a well educated person cannot handle this here in CA themselves.

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

#122

Post by b20000 »

pradn wrote: 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…

in my experience buy side realtors are really on the selling side team. each time i wanted to offer below asking they refused and never presented my offer. there was no negotiation and i had to arm wrestle to see documents before making an offer. one realtor wanted a BLANKET SIGNED offer form. “i’ll fill it out for you”. no thanks.

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

#123

Post by comechao »

Nursie wrote: post #56

6%! That's a huge amount on a house sale. In the UK your estate agent (seller's agent) usually takes 1-2%, and there are cheaper ways to do it like self-listing. You then get a conveyancer (a lawyer) on each side to actually do the work, and they usually work for a fixed fee. 6% is huge.

In Brazil, it is also 6%. It's ridiculous, 6% on top of what families spend decades saving for a limited amount of hours of _consulting_. A home is probably the most expensive thing a family will ever buy.

Unfortunately, they don't get money if they don't sell, even if they spend hours helping a customer. IMHO, this is bad. A buyer will pay for all the deals that weren't closed.

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

#124

Post by djha-skin »

This article reads as if hiring a person to help broker a deal worth several hundred thousand dollars on something as intimate as a house is silly when it's not.

I don't use a travel agent to buy a $250 plane ticket because I know exactly what I want and I know exactly what I'm getting and there's not a third party involved (there's no seller of the seat, just the airline.)

The realtor isn't there because you don't have information, like a travel agent would be. The realtor is there to broker a deal between two parties that really don't like each other and are trying to hose each other.

I paid the full 6% when I sold my house. Worth the money.

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

#125

Post by manicennui »

Nursie wrote: post #56

6%! That's a huge amount on a house sale. In the UK your estate agent (seller's agent) usually takes 1-2%, and there are cheaper ways to do it like self-listing. You then get a conveyancer (a lawyer) on each side to actually do the work, and they usually work for a fixed fee. 6% is huge.

Great news! You also pay a lawyer at closing in the US. They are far, far cheaper than realtors but have much more liability.

You can list your home and refuse to pay buyers' agents, but it generally takes much longer to sell a home that way. Not uncommon for a home for sale by owner to later be listed by a realtor when the owner loses patience. As you can read elsewhere in this discussion, real estate agents hate homes for sale by owners because those people generally don't want to pay their commission.

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

#126

Post by chubot »

bmitc wrote: post #9
sidlls wrote: post #2

Real estate sales is an industry rife with anti-competitive and corrupt practices. Appraisals, home inspections, lending, and sales are all in it together on this. I absolutely loathe them.

I find that it's very similar to mob tactics. Prospective homeowners just get passed and funneled from person to person that they effectively have no choice but to interact with. And each of those people take a piece of the pie.

Yeah I saw this a lot -- real estate people would recommend someone for some kind of independent opinion, but that person has a long-term relationship with them (passing referrals), but no relationship with you

The problem is inherently that most people are buying a home for the first time. Or they buy maybe 3 to 5 homes in their life.

So it's very easy to build up an information asymmetry / cartel there

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

#127

Post by djha-skin »

pradn wrote: 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…

People who routinely paid 20% to tip a waitress for a meal but don't want to pay a tip for someone who hugely affect the largest investment people make, This is just being cheap and rather foolish.

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

#128

Post by massysett »

Auracle wrote: post #87
khazhoux wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Redfin does fantastic photos. As a buyer I looked at their listings first because I knew they wouldn’t have a bunch of miserable photos.

They also charge lower listing fees.

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

#130

Post by evancox100 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #117
pradn wrote: 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…

Aren't fees in most countries higher than they are in the US? I know there are many countries with lower fees - but my understanding is that realtors in the US aren't exactly highway robbers, comparatively speaking...

No, and this was evidence used in the trial I believe. Commissions in peer countries have gone way down since the introduction of the internet to the process. Not so in the US.
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