How are realtors still a thing?

[guroo270]

Nope. Because we thought we were moving 6 months earlier and listed it and took it down same day when the house we wanted sold in a day. Came back and priced it 18% higher and still got the bidding war. Couldn't justify a list any higher due to comps. Eventual buyer even paid the premium over appraisal to bring it up to his purchase price.



What part? Are they in Atlanta as in "in-town"? We're in Buckhead and there's nothing available in the 3-4bd market between 550k and $1.5M.

2 bed 1 bath in the old hood went for 545k in a day. Insane.

Evidently his house is in Jonesboro.

[Buster Highmen]

As someone in one of the most shit-upon professions, I get it.

I lost a lot of money, like well over 6 figures, in the stock market after the subprime crash and some of it could have been avoided if we'd had a good rep.

So now I'm as out of it as I can be.

I understand that there's good guys out there, but it fucking bugs me that when they lose a ton of your money, they have no responsibility. Reading about the sub prime runup and crash has made us avoid that kind of investing.

I code for a living and yes, there's bugs in my shit and all the shit that comes out of here, but it at least does something and works for most situations.

We all suffer from the bad rep our trades/professions generate.

[PNWbrit]

As someone in one of the most shit-upon professions.

Proctologist?

[XXX-er]

where ever you are can't be as bad as Vancover they got some crazy shit going on

[char_]

I'm shocked that there are people out there not living up to their fiduciary duties. Shocked.

[Name Redacted]

Evidently his house is in Jonesboro.

Umm, yeah, not even inside the perimeter. Nowhere near ATL and certainly not a comparable market to Buckhead.

[Kenny Satch]

Negotiation is the one of the best reasons to use a Realtor.

Anyone can market a home but when it comes to making a deal, private Sellers and Buyers can rarely agree. Buyers like to low-ball and Sellers want the same price if listed on MLS.

A middleman/woman can be yelled at and called every name in the book but private Buyers and Sellers would never tolerate that.

here is another reason why

[narc]

Everyone can rattle on about shitty contractors, shitty real estate agents, shitty clients, shitty coders, etc. Sometimes, yeah, it's deserved, sometimes not. I'm usually on the side of getting it that I don't know what another person is going through, I don't know what they do really. But in some situations, I have had enough experience to know whether somebody blows or not. I fire the people who suck and try to keep my mouth shut about it. But the people who do well, I try to give the love.

Even if shitty many of these other professions still actually produce something for their money, real estate agents much like recruitment agents are parasitical.

[Timberridge]

Is there a law that says you have to use a real estate agent? If you think they're a waste of time and money just don't use one. They'll eventually go find other work and the world will be rid of them. Economic Darwinism.

Like any profession, if you think your auto mechanic, accountant, lawyer, dentist charges too much, you have the option to do the work yourself.

[Buster Highmen]

Even if shitty many of these other professions still actually produce something for their money, real estate agents much like recruitment agents are parasitical.

Not true in general.
I used to think more that way since I've been in the position of trying to builds products people use. Actually make something.

But there are situations in which having a representative is a good idea. They can see things I can't because of their experience and their detachment. That's what good realtors/lawyers/contractors do.

[XXX-er]

How is this still a thing? Well other than that the realtors association has lobbied to minimize competition and block alternative methods. Biggest ripoff that most people go through IMO.

you don't need to use an agent to buy a house, nobody is holding a gun to the vendors head, an RE agent is basicly as good as his last sale so if they have become redundant wouldn't you just see your last RE agent behind the counter at 7-11?

[The AD]

In defensive of there commissions, it is a very cyclical business and it is hard to make money when there are no commissions.

Definitely. It's feast or famine. I wouldn't want a job like that. And I think it would be a shitty job even in the up cycles. You'd have people calling you and demanding your time constantly and at their whim.

[Kenny Satch]

But there are situations in which having a representative is a good idea. They can see things I can't because of their experience and their detachment. That's what good realtors/lawyers/contractors do.

^^^^ this is so true
people fail to see Realtors as professionals and this can save themselves a lot of trouble and MONEY

[frorider]

IME it's not hard to ask around & eventually find an agent who knows what the fuck they're doing.

We had a buying agent when I was new to the area who worked hard for the money. The selling agent was an old school fucktard with shit communication skills. He somehow managed to fuck up most of the communication on behalf of his client. Fortunately our agent was patient enough to work through all that.

In some markets a newish home pretty much sells itself. Perhaps the fee involved should take that into account. If a house gets listed, sells after 3 buyers have seen it with no issues, the std fee looks ridiculous.

[frorider]

I'm not particularly violent but if I had a chance to punch that selling agent in the face, it would've been tempting. Kinda like an auto mechanic fucking up your car during a routine service. Why are you even in a profession for which you lack the basic skills?

[Viva]

... as if "asking price" was some magic number that meant something.

Of course it's not "magic", but it's a starting point. I've seen where starting too high keeps potential buyers away.

[Danno]

In some markets a newish home pretty much sells itself. Perhaps the fee involved should take that into account. If a house gets listed, sells after 3 buyers have seen it with no issues, the std fee looks ridiculous.

yeah, but it's those houses that make up for the pieces of shit that never sell, or the shitty sellers that make their lives hell, or the buyers who make them show 15 houses and never buy (I was one of those once).

[Danno]

Of course it's not "magic", but it's a starting point. I've seen where starting too high keeps potential buyers away.

Oh, I get that. And I didn't mean to imply that the asking price isn't important. It's HUDGELY important in one's strategic thinking about how to sell a home. I just meant that to say "this house went for $30k over asking" and "that house went for $10k under asking" doesn't really tell you about which house is nicer or worth more, which realtor is better, which house was priced better, etc. Yet I hear people use it for that all the time.

[Viva]

IME it's not hard to ask around & eventually find an agent who knows what the fuck they're doing.

Yes. And agents can be fired, too.

[smitchell333]

Has anyone ever paid their realtor commission and thought, well that was well worth it?

Even if shitty many of these other professions still actually produce something for their money, real estate agents much like recruitment agents are parasitical.

Then don't use one of us. Its a free country. If you think that you can effectively price, market, negotiate, and close a deal on your own, then go ahead. Have fun with the 100 calls from agents on your For Sale By Owner and I hope everything is smooth for you.

It is not so much the service they provide, it is the price of the service and the fact that the price (percentage) is generally fixed.
There service is entirely too expensive.

No - commissions are actually not fixed. Like everything it's negotiable. Some brokers may say that they won't negotiate, but that's their choice. You can offer an electrician $500 when he quotes $1000, just the same as you could tell a broker what % you'd pay to sell your house.

Sometimes transactions are simple and in a hot market you could sell it yourself but what to do when their are hitches, bullshit, and 'what do we do from here?'s.

I'll give you a recent example of how my services helped a client more than pay for my commissions and the buyers. Hot product in hot area. We received 10+ offers. The highest at 10% over the asking price. Client accepted - moved out of town - two weeks later the appraisal came back WAY under the contract price. I wrote up a formal request for reconsideration of value listing off 7 or 8 specific points with evidence where value should have been added in to the subject appraisal vs the comparable sales. Appraisal reconsideration came back 7% higher than the original. More than paid for the 5% total commission I was charging and 75% increase in her net proceeds. Client was ecstatic that a couple hours of my work produced such a change in her bottom line.

[Kenny Satch]

I'm not particularly violent but if I had a chance to punch that selling agent in the face, it would've been tempting. Kinda like an auto mechanic fucking up your car during a routine service. Why are you even in a profession for which you lack the basic skills?

its always the few "facktards" in any industry that give the rest a bad name.
IMO the few bad ones are Re/Max agents.

[BmillsSkier]

Evidently his house is in Jonesboro.

Umm, yeah, not even inside the perimeter. Nowhere near ATL and certainly not a comparable market to Buckhead.

Beat me to it. Not shitting on your friend at all Guroo, but Jonesboro may as well be in another state in reference to Atlanta. 45 minutes south of where I am in-town on a good traffic day. And as mentioned, way outside the perimeter as well as south OTP.

[esseff]

What do you call a stock broker, a Realtor & a lawyer at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.

First, the real estate brokerage business is line the majority of other professions; 70/30 rule (or, maybe 75/25). We have 30% of the agents doing 70% of the deal flow. There is a lot of chaff, and the chaff often times gives lame or unprofessional service.

If you're selling, then you really don't need an agent- the title and escrow people do all that paperwork anyway. .

On to "opinions." First, this is such a highly uninformed comment its absurd. Escrow officers only follow instructions. They have zero input on contracts.

Second, where I live (SF, CA), my six year old can hand out flyers and get a property marketed & sold. But, if a seller wants a premium, get a decent agent to accomplish that.

Third, although the commission is paid out of the sellers proceeds, the BUYER always pays (just like the premium auction business). If a seller needs to walk with $1M, I need to list his property at $1,050M (5% commission). In a sellers market, this not terribly important as the property will likely sell for more than asking. But, in a buyers market, you see this more relevant.

Good agents are well worth their commission, lame agents generally cost their clients $. Select your agent carefully.

[ski-wpk]

All of this is situation dependent. In some cases a broker can create huge value for you (and is worth every penny) and other cases the buy or sell is more transactional and the value isn't there.

I'm in Boulder, definitely a sellers market, and even so, I use my broker every sale. Best 2% I could ever spend.

Speaking of, if there are Boulder and Denver area broker mags, PM me if you are interested in a transactional buy arrangement. I'm looking for someone I can pay a fixed fee per contract to paper offers and answer a few questions. I'm looking for every edge I can get in a competitive market, and waiving the buyer's broker fee has piqued seller interest lately.

[Gman]

I think it depends on how complex on a situation you have. My wife and I recently started looking at condos, for the most part we've gone through open houses without our agent. She did take us to private showing where it was fsbo and she asked a bunch of questions we didn't think to ask. She also picked up on some small changes/things that needed to be fixed that would affect the purchase price. The seller was kind of a prick and made a few comments in front of her about how realtors suck so maybe he was a mag. If I had a place for sell right now in metro Boston, the value of an agent would be to sift through all the bs and questions from moron buyers. My wife and I both work full time and I'm not in a position where I could spend a bunch of times running a sale of a condo/home.