Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think one better way to handle commissions for home sales is to have no commission for the first $x of the price. X being a price that it would be very easy to sell at, a price low enough that the property would just immediately sell without much effort because it is too low. Then apply a much larger commission percentage to the amount it sells for above that "easy sale" price. That way, the seller and the agent ac…
Have you negotiated this? Or have you ever seen an agent offer this? To explain the issue in detail for others that don’t understand the dynamics: A flat percentage is the standard where I live. Selling agents are only incentivised to get as many sales through as quickly as possible, and the agent will deceive and cheat to achieve that goal. Selling 20 homes at 5% discount is almost double the earnings (commissions)…
Yes it is an exaggeration at 1%, but not such an exaggeration when you consider that 3% is a realistic amount extra that a real estate agent can get if motivated. https://financialpost.com/real-estate/the-realtor-client-dil... - “a real-estate agent keeps her own home on the market an average of ten days longer and sells it for an extra 3-plus per cent, or $10,000 on a $300,000 house.”
When I wrote it I was specifically thinking of low paid friends who missed out on about 5% when selling their home due to poor advice from the agent during a hot market (my friends also failed to think straight because they don’t work in negotiation jobs, and they struggle with emotions involved with the amount involved). The reduction in principal will translate to requiring a total of ~10% extra over the lifetime of the new mortgage (extra interest = ~5%). I imagined how that would translate to extra years of work for them when they should be retiring. I also thought that the story of my friends happens to many, because many people are not used to negotiating sales for $x00,000 and have little financial experience to understand the impacts of their decisions.