Question about Real Estate Agents in Charleston

[Theresejenkins]

I believe it is the agent, and not the company, that does the job. I personally feel that the smaller the firm, the more "special" attention is given to your listings from all involved, and I'd rather have a small firm of 5-10 ALL selling your listings, than a large firm where it gets glossed over....so keep your agent, if you have used him in the past - I believe you would be doing him an injustice to switch unless you have a meeting with him first - it's very frustrating as a seller, I understand. Your price point is also very difficult, most solds are either under $300, or over $1M where financing is not a big deal. Best of luck! We are all pulling for you so that the market begins to rebound and we can all feel secure again!

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by grace12100

Thank you so much for all the info and advice. You all have brought up some valid points and great questions for me to ask my realtor.

He is offering 2.5% to the buyers agent and he will take 2%. This is not the first time we have used him and in the past we have had a great experience, but in this market we just want to be sure that we are doing all we can to get the house sold.

Our home is 2 years old, custom built, marsh front and priced over $530, so I guess we are in even a worse market than many. We haven't had a showing in over 2 months and we are getting concerned & wondering if moving from a very small real estate company to a very large one would help in exposure?

I know we have a great listing on realtor.com with multiple pictures and I know he advertises in the local real estate books, but that is all I know. I will ask him about history showings on comparable properties.

Is there a big advantage in listing your home with a company that has lots of its own agents?

I realize this is a terrible market for sellers and agents and I want to do what is fair.

Thanks again so much for your help!

Do you have a virtual tour? Even if your agent was only getting 1.5%, that is still nearly $8k and even if he was having to split it, $4k should be MORE than enough to spring for a Virtual tour which you can get done for less than $200. I know. I sold my house without a listing agent and got a v-tour done for my house.

An agent I had used in the past did hardly anything except show the house, considering all the money I paid him as a commission, when I used him the year before --AND he didn't even spring for a virtual tour. The second time (when i sold the property myself) I got an MLS package for $500 or so, so the house had as much exposure as it would have had I listed it with a realtor on MLS, realtor.com, MSN and Yahoo, but I posted more pictures and did the extras --the realtor I paid the big commission to SHOULD have done the year before but didn't. I did a much more thorough job than any realtor I'd hired before (if I do say so myself)and did a better job negotiating the sales price than the realtor I'd hired (who wanted me to take less than the buyer eventually agreed to).

So paying bigger commissions isn't always proportionate to the exposure you get or the work the realtor does. It depends on how hard the realtor is willing to work (and what you have your house listed at as compared to other comparables).

I had done a written comparison of sold properties in my neighborhood which MORE than justified my asking price and clearly made my house look like the best deal of any remotely comparable property that I left for buyers and their realtors along with brochures I had put together and descriptions etc when they toured the house. I of course was not there during the showings but left a written "walking tour" which pointed out the selling points of each room. I'd never seen another real estate agent or agency prepare anything like that on any property I'd ever looked at and I thought it helped a lot.

[USCJoe]

Emilybh makes some valid points and certainly appears to have done a great job in marketing his/her home. Paying a higher commission to a listing or selling agent certainly does not necessarily translate into or result in getting better market exposure for your home. It does depend a great deal as to how hard your Realtor works and how they market your home in addition to pricing your home correctly in this slow real estate market. This being said, I would like to address what often appears to be a misconception that a Realtor makes a lot of money for little work in terms of effort and time. The real estate business is somewhat unique in that it is one of the few occupations that a person may put in hundreds of hours of work into their job and not have a dollar to show for their efforts. A Realtor only gets paid if a potential buyer purchases a home or if their listing sells. I and I suspect most Realtors show many many potential buyers homes in the Charleston area who never purchase a home for one reason or another. They can't sell their home, they decide not to move or relocate to the Charleston area, they are just previewing the Charleston area to see if they might want to relocate here when they retire or they do not get the job they interviewed for. There are many reasons why hours of work devoted to a client or potential client fails to result in a pay check. As an example, I will use mls statistics relating to a large Charleston area real estate office that has 107 licensed Realtors. Since the start of 2008 only 45 of the 107 Realtors has had one or more closings. 62 had none. Of the 45 Realtors who had at least one closing, 31 sold less than $1,000,000 in real estate for the year. Assuming that the co-brokerage commission was 3%, those Realtors have grossed less than $15,000 before their expenses so far this year. The majority of those Realtors had only one or two transactions resulting in a gross income of substantially less than $15,000. I wonder how many non Realtor workers would put in 40 plus hour work weeks without any employee benefits when they would make nothing or have very little to show for their efforts. Certainly there are Realtors who's lack of financial success can be attributed to not putting the time in that is required to have success or are for the lack of better words are less than fully competent. However, in many instances a home does not sell because there is just not a buyer for the home, the homeowner decides to take their home off the market, decides to rent it out or gets frustrated and decides to list the home with another Realtor. The end result is a lot of hard work by the Realtor with nothing to show for it.

[emilybh]

Wow. When you put it that way I can see why they don't spring for a virtual tour. Commissions from one sale a year isn't much to live on. But still, as a seller, you want to sell the home and the agent to work hard at it and also do a good job of setting a price. To a seller, tens of thousands of dollars commissions is a lot of money! I went to the seasoned professionals, (biggest producers in Newport, Rhode Island) and although I always had tons if showings and good feedback, I didnt get an offer until I way underpriced the properties and by that time, the market had become a buyers market. If the agents had initially suggested pricing them for a little less, I could have capitalized on what was left of a seller's market.

If your house is in a good location, you have it staged properly, have done your homework, KNOW it is priced right, can write good copy for brochures, are willing to take or have taken fantastic pictures and a virtual tour, build a separate website with more pictures and downloadable documents and have a good attorney to look over the paperwork who won't try to gouge you and you are outgoing, with perhaps a sales background and are ready to do a lot of work, I'd sell the house yourself.

If it is in an unusual or remote location and if it has an odd layout or some other issues, I'd hire an agent.

[rangeela78]

Hi, Can you please give me info on the realtor that is providing full service for 4.5%.

Thanks

Originally Posted by grace12100

Hi, we currently have our Charleston home on the market and are thinking about switching real estate firms in hopes we will be happier. Can most or all realtors negotiate commission fees? Do all brokers allow it? We currently have an agent providing full service for 4.5% and we don't want to switch and pay the full 6%. We want to be focused on listing our home at a reasonable price and the 4.5 or 5% fees would allow us to do that.

Thanks so much for any info you can provide!

[Theresejenkins]

I know of an agent that can do full service for 4.5% -

[USCJoe]

As all real estate commissions are negotiable, a seller should be able to find many Realtors willing to list a home for less than others. One thing a seller should ask any Realtor under consideration is what services are provided in their "full service" package and what does each specific service include, ie advertising, true internet exposure, price negotiation experience, availability of the agent, experience in handling selling agent and buying client objections, negotiation of the repair addendum, ability and authority for the listing agent to compromise on the listing commission if necessary to make a deal work and many other services not readily apparent to most home owners when they see the term "full service." A Realtor offering "full service for what appears to be a high commission, may in the long run be a bargain compared to working with a "full service" Realtor for a lower commission. The saying "you get what you pay for" is not always but often times quite appropriate and true when one selects their Realtor to market their home. Commission rate should be only one of many factors that a seller should take in consideration when entrusting the sale of their home to a Realtor. I wonder how many consumers would look for the least expensive doctor, attorney, school tuition, baby sitter, caregiver, mechanic or builder when selecting someone to handle their personal affairs or property.

[angieduncan]

I am Realtor as well, and I think that in this market you really need to look at your price. The market is just too saturated. I mean, the bottom line is the price sells your house! And unfortunately, it may not be the right time for you to sell it.
I do not think it matters one bit whether you use a small real estate company or large, they all have the same capabilities. I have listings that just won't show, I have done open houses, realtor open houses and luncheons, internet advertising, print advertising, etc. etc. None of this will truly sell your home....it just gets it out there to be viewed. I do suggest putting it on craig's list though, I have got some calls from that!!!!
good luck.