Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey, has anyone recently sold their house on LI? If so, what percent did you pay for the RE commision? Did you negotiate the rate? The idea of coughing up 20K+ to someone makes me want to vomit in my mouth and was just wondering what others experiences have been.
Hey, has anyone recently sold their house on LI? If so, what percent did you pay for the RE commision? Did you negotiate the rate? The idea of coughing up 20K+ to someone makes me want to vomit in my mouth and was just wondering what others experiences have been.
In NYS all real estate commissions are, by law, negotiable. That being said, you should focus more on the skill of the agent then on the commission charged. Selling a home in today's market is not an easy thing. You may find that the extra money that you pay for a great agent will pay for itself many times over.
I tried to sell a couple years ago in Putnam County, so we could come back to LI. At the time we were also working with an agent on LI who was helping us to find a house. I know the idea of them getting all that money is tough to swallow (esp. if you've puked in your mouth already ) but keep in mind a couple things: the agent won't get all the $$ if he/she works for Century 21 or similar- they'll get a cut and if an agent who sells your house isn't the one who listed it, they split the commission.
IMO a good agent's worth every penny. The guy we worked with on LI knew his stuff and was very professional. He would have earned it, had we been able to buy and I felt terrible that he put so much time in, taking us out, emailing listings, etc and then we could not sell our house. He also knew the area and the ins and outs of the houses we saw (mostly all Levitts).
The agent who listed our house was another story. Hate to say it, but for this reason I will never again use an agent who kind of does real estate on the side or for something to do (our agent didn't really *need* from a fiscal pov, to sell our house). She didn't do much at all- didn't want to take my suggestions about which pics to take (we had a brand spanking new bathroom and she didn't think a pic was needed) and in the end it WOULD have made me sick to have paid her anything- we were going to give her 6%!
So do your HW and find someone really good- they are out there.
its been said before -be careful of the split of the selling and listing agent-if a selling agent out there has a 600k buyer, i think most time they will lean towards the house that they are getting 2.5% over !%-good luck-
Hey, has anyone recently sold their house on LI? If so, what percent did you pay for the RE commision? Did you negotiate the rate? The idea of coughing up 20K+ to someone makes me want to vomit in my mouth and was just wondering what others experiences have been.
Well first off a house is a big ticket item. So if you are going to hire someone to sell it on a commission basis, the commission is going to look big. Just remember it's not like you are selling a car or something.
This might make it a little more palatable: it is not like you are handing someone $20K and s/he gets to keep all of it. That very rarely happens and only happens if the person you hire has his/her own broker's license and works totally alone and sells your house themselves. Most of the time it is a team effort: your listing RE salesperson works for a broker; they generally put it on MLS and then there are literally thousands of other salespeople who can sell your house and most of them work for brokers. Brokers pay all the expenses to run an office, including support staff that have to be paid. So really it's not like some guy puts an ad in the paper, your house sells, and you have to give him $20K. Not that easy! Also many times real estate salespeople put a lot of effort into deals and they don't happen and they get paid nothing, so the deals that do work out cannot be for pennies or they couldn't afford to be real estate salespeople at all.
You can also go FSBO. Put your own ad in Newsday. Join one of those FSBO websites. You don't have to hire anyone if you don't want to. However, I think a good real estate salesperson is worth it, and take it from me, my philosophy is "I work really hard for my money so if you want to get it from me, you will have to work even harder" so I generally will NOT spend money hiring various people and will do it myself if I can ... and even I think good real estate salespeople are worth it.
Well first off a house is a big ticket item. So if you are going to hire someone to sell it on a commission basis, the commission is going to look big. Just remember it's not like you are selling a car or something.
This might make it a little more palatable: it is not like you are handing someone $20K and s/he gets to keep all of it. That very rarely happens and only happens if the person you hire has his/her own broker's license and works totally alone and sells your house themselves. Most of the time it is a team effort: your listing RE salesperson works for a broker; they generally put it on MLS and then there are literally thousands of other salespeople who can sell your house and most of them work for brokers. Brokers pay all the expenses to run an office, including support staff that have to be paid. So really it's not like some guy puts an ad in the paper, your house sells, and you have to give him $20K. Not that easy! Also many times real estate salespeople put a lot of effort into deals and they don't happen and they get paid nothing, so the deals that do work out cannot be for pennies or they couldn't afford to be real estate salespeople at all.
Oh I totally understand where it goes and why, it's part of the reason why Tylenol costs $4 in a hospital. I honestly don't care where it goes all I care about is that it's leaving my pocket.
You can also go FSBO. Put your own ad in Newsday. Join one of those FSBO websites. You don't have to hire anyone if you don't want to. However, I think a good real estate salesperson is worth it, and take it from me, my philosophy is "I work really hard for my money so if you want to get it from me, you will have to work even harder" so I generally will NOT spend money hiring various people and will do it myself if I can ... and even I think good real estate salespeople are worth it.
Always an option. I was just wondering if anyone here has negotiated their commision successfully and what the experience was like. I bought the house so I know how it works fee wise and the justification for it, that was never a question. Thank you for responding though, I think we're the same type of person when it comes to this stuff.
We are looking to sell and I agree about throwing up a little in your mouth. However, I also agree with the poster who said find someone who doesn't do this as a little side business while the kids are in school is a good idea. You want someone who makes their living selling houses.
We've considered doing it ourselves but honestly, I'm not interested in negotiatiing with people my self. Houses are emotional and BIG investments. I don't want emotions to take over. Also in this market I think an agent has a much better shot at getting a person's true financial picture than I do. Finally with 3 small children, all their activities and no one to watch them, hosting open houses and scheduling appointments is going to be very difficult. PLus I think an agent with a brick-and-mortar presence is much more likely to get the business of people who are possibly relocating and therefore short on time.
We are looking to sell and I agree about throwing up a little in your mouth. However, I also agree with the poster who said find someone who doesn't do this as a little side business while the kids are in school is a good idea. You want someone who makes their living selling houses.
We've considered doing it ourselves but honestly, I'm not interested in negotiatiing with people my self. Houses are emotional and BIG investments. I don't want emotions to take over. Also in this market I think an agent has a much better shot at getting a person's true financial picture than I do. Finally with 3 small children, all their activities and no one to watch them, hosting open houses and scheduling appointments is going to be very difficult. PLus I think an agent with a brick-and-mortar presence is much more likely to get the business of people who are possibly relocating and therefore short on time.
Good luck.
Thanks for your post!
Nice to hear someone not in "the business" validate that we provide a worthwhile service
And as I-Love-LI already pointed out, that "big" commission check gets split--usually four ways Listing broker and their agent and Selling broker and their agent. How I wish I could get the whole enchilada
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) but keep in mind a couple things: the agent won't get all the $$ if he/she works for Century 21 or similar- they'll get a cut and if an agent who sells your house isn't the one who listed it, they split the commission.
Listing broker and their agent and Selling broker and their agent. How I wish I could get the whole enchilada 
