Do I really need a real estate agent? (short sales, insurance)

[DMenscha]

Sure you can do it without us, happens all the time. That being said, there's a lot of information on the internet but you can't get a lot of quality information from most of them. I've always thought the intermediary part of the agents role was important. not having to have a direct conversation with the other party makes a lot more deals come together.

There's a big range of the level of service that agents provide, some are really good and earn their money, and some are really bad and don't deserve the money they make. A lot of people don't see the work that happens behind the scene.

Good Luck to you in your purchase!

[Steve97415]

In between full-bore commission-based realtors and winging it by yourself are real estate consultants. These highly-trained people are members of the local MLS who will help you list your property and do your escrow arrangements and paperwork for either a flat rate or any hourly fee. They can provide you with property locks and yard signs. They have a section in the local paper that you can advertise with. You generally show your house yourself. I think this kind of service will greatly increase in the coming years. At the moment, not every city has them.

I used a real estate consultant to sell my last two houses. The first sold the day I put it on the market and I paid a flat fee of $550 in consultant services. For the second, I paid by the hour and the total bill came to $812 for a $239k sale that was on the market for 10 months.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

I think this kind of service will greatly increase in the coming years.

This is great information. I had never heard of this.

Hopefully the trends will go as you predict above. It seems with the internet, and cookbook forms, a lot of money can be saved using the economized technique as described.

Fortunately for me (and many others who post on City-Data), my two relocations (CA to CO and CO to AL) have been entirely paid for by my employer. But if I were to have to do it myself (not on the boss's dime) I would consider FSBO or look into these consultants - especially if the market was hot.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

In between full-bore commission-based realtors and winging it by yourself are real estate consultants. These highly-trained people are members of the local MLS who will help you list your property and do your escrow arrangements and paperwork for either a flat rate or any hourly fee. They can provide you with property locks and yard signs. They have a section in the local paper that you can advertise with. You generally show your house yourself. I think this kind of service will greatly increase in the coming years. At the moment, not every city has them.

I used a real estate consultant to sell my last two houses. The first sold the day I put it on the market and I paid a flat fee of $550 in consultant services. For the second, I paid by the hour and the total bill came to $812 for a $239k sale that was on the market for 10 months.

In California this is a service provided by a company called Help-U-Sell.

[jaynetarzana]

Then there is Flat Rate Realty which is a bit different. They have agents to supposedly do everything other agents do for a flat fee. It makes sense, but I'm not sure you'd get great service. I interviewed them before to sell my house and they didn't seem extremely professional.

[Charles]

Realtors are abandoning a listing ship - Los Angeles Times

[jaynetarzana]

Thanks for posting that article Charles, it was very interesting and relevent to this conversation. I've been looking at Redfin and considering using their services myself. It makes a ton of sense, especially when you consider that the employees at Redfin are salaried, not commission based so they have no incentive to get you to pay more than you should. This is the wave of the future.

[Huckleberry3911948]

useful if yo wana know what the computer listings show its gota be somebody you trust.
MLS is not available to the public but once and awhile but when it is it gives fantastic leads.

[DMenscha]

There's a lot of postings about discounters and limited service brokers in the Real Estate Forum on CD.

This "wave of the future" talk has been going on since I first got into the business in 1979. The "internet will put realtors out of business" talk has been going on for the past 15 years.

Yesterday, a guy came in and wanted to know why he couldn't find a piece of property out here in the sticks. The mapping software had him about a mile away from where the property was. Not only could I drive him right to it, I knew where the corner pins are, the issues the government might have about building on the site, the names and occupations of the neighbors, and the cost of bringing power to the property. Oh and since he didn't take a shine to the property he was looking at, I suggested a couple of more properties that might fit the bill.

This is still a people serving other people business, computers are nice (and vital) but I really don't think they'll ever replace the human component.

[jaynetarzana]

It all depends on what your needs are. In our experience, we have always been Internet savvy and known exactly what we wanted. So we've always found our houses on our own and then asked an agent to get us in to see it. We've done most of the work, so our transactions have been so easy that the agents have very little time invested.

If there wasn't a greed factor, real estate would be a people serving people business. But many people that I speak to about this feel that their agent didn't have their best interest in mind when they advised them. They wanted the highest paycheck the sale could yield so the buyers end up paying WAY too much for the properties. We happen to live in an area where comps don't really exist, square footage is not a factor in determining price etc... so I think that we are more vulnerable to this scenario.