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I think we need to rename the post to education on real estate agent postion.
what the career is real about. Such as the insurance we carry. and thing we do and can't do. full time vs part time agents . new vs older agents. Educated consumer is you best customer.
Last edited by judithexit; 02-15-2008 at 07:09 PM..
Reason: oops
( However, as market value is dropping at half a percentage point per month,) This is truly amazing that you realtors are not on the same page. I posted on another thread where 10 realtors said buy , buy, but NOW IS THE TIME. Now you who SHE SELLSNJ. is telling us that the market is dropping 1/2 percent a month equals 6 percent a year. Why the heck would I buy now. This is your own words. So pass it on to the other realtors that say BUY,BUY,BUY.
The reason anyone would buy now is because they plan on staying in the home. A home should be used for its true purpose...a place to live. If agents want to be cheerleaders, that's fine for them, not for me. If you NEED or truly WANT to buy now, and you're in a FINANCIAL POSITION to do so (great credit rating, down payment ready), a savvy realtor who knows how to negotiate (and wants to negotiate) can put together a contract that reflects today's realities. It is NOT a good time to buy for EVERYONE. As with many major decisions, there is a lot that comes to play into the decision to buy a home. It's not a frivolous move, by any means.
The reason anyone would buy now is because they plan on staying in the home. A home should be used for its true purpose...a place to live. If agents want to be cheerleaders, that's fine for them, not for me. If you NEED or truly WANT to buy now, and you're in a FINANCIAL POSITION to do so (great credit rating, down payment ready), a savvy realtor who knows how to negotiate (and wants to negotiate) can put together a contract that reflects today's realities. It is NOT a good time to buy for EVERYONE. As with many major decisions, there is a lot that comes to play into the decision to buy a home. It's not a frivolous move, by any means.
Thanks for your honesty and being real about todays market. Rep points for you. JM
Or you could have an agent who has 15-20+ listings and doesn't really give a damn about you and gives you nothing but lipservce and open houses - which are a crock. Now I know there are good agents but......I fired two agents did FSBO.com put together a killer MLS, purchased extra pics on realtor.com, emailed realtors from prior showings and got a contract within 3 months of doing it myself. And I saved $17K to boot. FSBO isn't for everybody but for someone like me it was perfect.
I have an agent exactly like that in my town. That's a whole 'nother can of worms. Now there's another agent in Morris County who is HUGE, but she and her team do an effective job of marketing and selling.
Great job selling your own house; you knew what you were doing and had the time to devote to do the job correctly. Not everyone does, and those that don't know what they're doing are the ones that benefit most from a great realtor who CARES about the job they're entrusted with.
I dont know how paying your realtor "less" makes them work their rear end off for you. How would you like your boss to say " I want you to work harder than ever, but Im going to pay you less then usual." Would you work harder? Probably not. It's just not a good philosophy.....Pay a 6% commission, split it evenly, then the selling agent will work hard for you and buyers agents are sure to bring their buyers through your home.
well then Dodge I guess I am the only one who walked away with OVER my asking price and still only paid 3 1/2% commission. Trust me I was smiling all the way to the bank!
I sold my house 20 months ago, just as the market was heading down. I used a flat-rate broker, who listed it on MLS for $500, but did no other work. I promised a buyer's broker a commission of 2.5%. I had a contract within 3 months of listing; I had lowered my asking price by 3.5% after six weeks of no offers. I saved most of the seller's broker's commission, but i had to do a fair amount of work myself: photos, listing text, open houses, tours, negotiations, etc. I engaged an attorney, but i would have done that anyway. I'd guess that it amounted to about 40 hours of work. Savings: $25,000. Not a bad return on my time. Reinforced my feeling that seller's brokers are vastly overpaid. Or, put another way, of the 5-6% standard commission, the seller's broker doesn't deserve half. One of these days, the professional real estate community will wake up to that reality.
I used to think that advertising (paper and internet) was what sold a house. After my personal experience, i'm convinced that what sells a house in this market is price, followed by all the other things that make a house attractive: location, schools, floor plan, general condition of the house, etc. But advertising isn't really going to matter, as long as it's listed on the MLS and the buyer's broker's promised commission is competitive (at least 2.5%, if not 3% or 3.5%). There are a lot of "bottom-feeders" out there; if the price isn't super-attractive, they can and will go on to the next house. Sooner or later, they will find someone who is willing to lower their price. There is a LOT of inventory on the market, and some sellers need to sell.
Foxton's failed because they didn't offer an attractive commission to buyer's brokers, thus buyer's brokers didn't bring their clients to Foxton's-listed houses. Plus, their telemarketers soliciting listings were really annoying.
That was a very popular way of selling back when the market was hot. Real estate agencies could make a quick buck by just listing the property and not having to do anything. Unfortuantely no a days it does not work well just like FSBOs.
You see houses on the internet with one pic and no description because either 1) the agent is too lazy to do otherwise or 2) the agent doesn't know how to do otherwise. Either way, it's pathetic on the part of the agent and another reason why homeowners need to be involved in the marketing process. You, the homeowner, do NOT pay extra for more pictures. I typically take 75+ pics of a house and use the best. A realtor would pay extra to get the enhanced version of realtor.com which is worth every dime in my opinion. Realtor.com now allows you to upload 25 pictures. A realtor can post a description of up to 2000 words. I take advantage especially of the description portion. It's a fantastic edge.
These days trying to sell by owner is such a losing game. And I'm not saying that because I'm a realtor. I have plenty of business not to care how anyone chooses to sell, or not. However, as market value is dropping at half a percentage point per month, comparable homes are selling for less and time is the essence, why would someone risk less than optimum market exposure? Every other home on the market that is comparable in their town may sell before theirs, leaving them to linger on the market longer and longer and longer...whatever. Got off the subject. Hope I answered your question.
That I will never understand. I just do not know why agents are so lazy sometimes! I mean, what can someone get from one picture?
Ahhh....now I know where all the realtors went...was wondering why there were no posts from realtors in the other threads for the past few days - too busy defending themselves to eachother in this thread..lol : )) By the way, I love my realtor and she works hard - she deserves every penny!
I dont know how paying your realtor "less" makes them work their rear end off for you. How would you like your boss to say " I want you to work harder than ever, but Im going to pay you less then usual." Would you work harder? Probably not. It's just not a good philosophy.....Pay a 6% commission, split it evenly, then the selling agent will work hard for you and buyers agents are sure to bring their buyers through your home.
That's true. But comission is not salary. "Comission" by definition is what what you get based on performance. When you're in sales, you don't perform, you don't get commision. It's that simple. The fact that listing agents get paid regardless of how much or how little they do is beyond ridiculous. Especially these days, when internet makes things so much easier and cheaper to do. Most of the so-called marketing that agents are doing is costing them nothing or close to nothing.
Just think about it: listing a property on MLS is probably couple of hundred bucks, listing it on the website is pretty much free, so is displaying it in the in the window. Putting an ad in the local paper is very inexpensive. What else is there? Making phone calls? Please...that's not worth 2%
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