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.
I am in that younger scene and I would never have done it on my own. Even with the interent and social networking and such, the only people that really have access to all the information needed (comparables, realtor access to MLS ect) are the realtors.
I never would have found half of the information that my realtor had...and those in the generation after mine (those still in grade school) are much lazier as a whole and are I would bet are going to be willing to pay a premium in order to have someone else do much of the work.
exactly. i'm tech geek all the way, 29 years old, and i wouldn't have considered for a second not using a realtor to buy. and when i sell, i'll use a realtor for that as well.
There is already so much more information online than there used to be, and that is only going to increase as time goes on. For example, sales data/comps. There is a bit of a lag now, and that is to the realtors' advantage, but that will get faster and faster as everything becomes more automated.
On the buyers side, people are already using the internet to narrow down what towns they are interested in (like this site), school data is all online. People are using the internet to pick and choose what houses they want to see. You can do so much research even just using map programs. This is all stuff that used to be part of the buyers' agent job. By the time a buyer even gets out to actually see a house, much of the decision has already been made.
On the sellers' side, sellers are more than capable of taking their own pictures and writing their own blurbs. You can show your own house too, that's not a problem. You can obtain a standard contract as a starting point when you find a buyer, and from that point on, it becomes a back and forth with the attorneys, even today with all the agents involved.
It will be interesting!
P.S. I also disagree that kids are lazier today.
on the buyer side, i used the internet to research towns, but my realtor introduced me to other towns, one of which i ended up buying in, that i didn't even think to look into. he knew the area really well, and used his knowledge to show me similar homes in similar neighborhoods, but better towns (for various subjective reasons of course - but he got a sense of what i wanted).
on the seller's side...as an amateur photographer, i've looked at listings online where the crappy photo-taking skills of a DIYer are OBVIOUS, and it turned me off to the home.
showing your own home takes a lot of time and vacation days. if that's how you want to spend your time, it's completely doable.
as for the contract, i don't need a realtor for that part at all now. that's hardly the part i feel i'm paying for. lol
i think this will always exist as a niche, but will never become the norm. even in the internet generation, people don't want to take the time that is necessary to stage and show a house. when selling is easy, FSBO will be more popular because less work is required. but in a state where people won't even cut their own grass (more often than not, from what i see in various towns)....i can't imagine people will ever put the work in required to sell a house!
What realtor stages the house for you? Do they declutter it? Do they do all of the little maintenance things that have to be done before you show a home. Do they make sure it stays clean and do the tidy and quick cleaning before every showing? No.
on the buyer side, i used the internet to research towns, but my realtor introduced me to other towns, one of which i ended up buying in, that i didn't even think to look into. he knew the area really well, and used his knowledge to show me similar homes in similar neighborhoods, but better towns (for various subjective reasons of course - but he got a sense of what i wanted).
on the seller's side...as an amateur photographer, i've looked at listings online where the crappy photo-taking skills of a DIYer are OBVIOUS, and it turned me off to the home.
showing your own home takes a lot of time and vacation days. if that's how you want to spend your time, it's completely doable.
as for the contract, i don't need a realtor for that part at all now. that's hardly the part i feel i'm paying for. lol
Realtors have to be very careful about how they steer buyers. You probably get better information on here about towns than from an agent, as a buyer.
I've seen a lot of crap photos taken by realtors too. If you have a decent camera, you can take your own pictures. Or heck, you could probably hire a photographer if you really wanted great pictures.
Showing your home does take a lot of time, but the really time-consuming part is keeping it clean enough to be in showing condition, which the realtor doesn't do. The actual showing doesn't take that long.
The reason people use a listing agent is to get access to the buyers. Since it doesn't cost buyers anything to use an agent, there is no reason for buyers not to use one.
I don't know JCK, like I said we found the house, and the only thing OUR buyers realtor did was open the door to show it to us. They also had to do the same for inspection. So they had to show up to the house 2X for a few hours. I think they also told us to offer more money than we should have (obviously higher bid = more likely to be accepted).
almost everything is on the internet. The data is better organized and easier to get ahold of for realtors. Like comps, solds, taxes, or even just the address of a home with no address (seems that the newer trend is to just give the full address, where as they used to not tell you...)
after we talked to a realtor about selling our home, i was looking at some of their listings online and they had taken some pictures that I truly believe were worse than just not having any picture at all.
Isn't there a way to get your home on the MLS as a FSBO? How do you do that?
I do agree though, that you don't want to be physically present when someone comes to see your house.
What realtor stages the house for you? Do they declutter it? Do they do all of the little maintenance things that have to be done before you show a home. Do they make sure it stays clean and do the tidy and quick cleaning before every showing? No.
Sure, they open the door and let the people in.
Actually yes. I hire a professional stager who is also an interior decorator. She goes through the house with a fine-tooth comb and provides a complete written report on what must be done. I do the same thing myself as a second opinion. And, on most homes over $400,000, I pay for a cleaning service to come in before the showing.
I don't know JCK, like I said we found the house, and the only thing OUR buyers realtor did was open the door to show it to us. They also had to do the same for inspection. So they had to show up to the house 2X for a few hours. I think they also told us to offer more money than we should have (obviously higher bid = more likely to be accepted).
almost everything is on the internet. The data is better organized and easier to get ahold of for realtors. Like comps, solds, taxes, or even just the address of a home with no address (seems that the newer trend is to just give the full address, where as they used to not tell you...)
after we talked to a realtor about selling our home, i was looking at some of their listings online and they had taken some pictures that I truly believe were worse than just not having any picture at all.
Isn't there a way to get your home on the MLS as a FSBO? How do you do that?
I do agree though, that you don't want to be physically present when someone comes to see your house.
Yes. I think if you search for "flat fee mls listing" you can find it. $299 was the price I found.
Yes. I think if you search for "flat fee mls listing" you can find it. $299 was the price I found.
Keep in mind that the "flat fee" does not include the commission you need to pay the buyer's agents, and any advertising and marketing expenses you incur through advertising properly. It's not the "deal" it seems to be. However, it can be an option if you really know what you are doing and have the knowledge and expertise to present your home properly. In that case you are basically paying yourself the commission for listing instead of to an agent.
Keep in mind that the "flat fee" does not include the commission you need to pay the buyer's agents, and any advertising and marketing expenses you incur through advertising properly. It's not the "deal" it seems to be. However, it can be an option if you really know what you are doing and have the knowledge and expertise to present your home properly. In that case you are basically paying yourself the commission for listing instead of to an agent.
Right.
Question though...let's say you offer 2.5% to a buyers agent..
Will a buyers agent bring buyers, or do they just ignore those listings? I remember when we were buying this house there was one self-listed one, and we asked about it, and our buyers agent sort of brushed it off, I forget exactly what she said.
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.
