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I would think in today's market a higher commission would be in order compared to what it was like. Obviously the longer it takes a house to sell the more expense a broker has. More advertising. More of their time. When houses were selling quickly that is when a high commission didn't make sense to me.
If the agent is willing to give away thier own money, how do you think they will negotiate for you?
Very valid point. In the state of NJ the commission is negoitable but as many have said, you get what you pay for. I range from 6% - 8% depending on the listing. I know a few local agents that get 7% all day long, but again you are getting what you pay for and they are good, just as well as I like to think I am and my track record explains.
This stategy leaves a gap in the loop. i.e. if you list your home for say, 4% and the split is 2% out to BB, then, you offer $ 1,500 bonus on a house that the owner lists for $500,000, If my client wants to offer $ 450,000, The right thing to do is to present the offer... Will you still pay the $ 1,500 bonus? Now, the negotiation revolves around the bonus and not the home. Your home will receive less attention and sell for less money.
A 6% listing with 3% out to BB is a much more respected and attractive proposition.
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Originally Posted by HalfFull
And a 10% listing with 5% out to BB is an even MORE respected and attractive proposition.... for the AGENTS; doesn't mean it's the "right" number.
Bottom line, it's negotiable. I agree that it's an important service and going to lowest bidder could be foolish, but there's nothing magical about 6%.
Yes but the more the commission offered the more likely your home is to sell quickly. Of course you can give 3% or 4% but in this economy, with all this inventory, the agent is going to show properties with the highest commission first and then show yours. It is not unethical because you are still showing your clients all the properties but many agents just choose the order to show the properties. Do you want to be the seller who is trying to be cheap and end up staying on the market twice as long because you did not want to pay the extra 1% or 2%? During that extra time you are paying taxes, mortgage, insurance, etc. etc. etc. I tend to walk away from listing appointments with clients that try to low ball me on commission because in the end when an offer comes in, they are going to try to get as much as they can and are usually unrealistic. It makes no sense how you think you can get top dollar and offer a miniscule commission.
Personally I would pay $500 bucks to list it on the MLS and have no listing agent at all. Seriously consider if you need them....what are you getting for that 3% that you can't do yourself? I would offer 3% and a $1,500 bonus to an agent bringing an accepted offer (obviously that closes).
Best of luck with this one. Many agents including myself will NEVER show a MLS For Sale By Owner. Why? Because it is a waste of time and requires double the work. As a real estate agent, I am not doing twice the work for half the commission. The sellers on FSBOs usually do not know what they are doing as compared to a sellers agent and as a result I end up representing both sides for a minor commission. Why would I do this, especially with all the inventory on the market??? Chances are if a client of mine is looking in a specific complex, I can find enough units in the complex that are traditionally listed versus the MLS FSBO services. The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful. Oh wait there aren't many! And what happened to the rest of them? They ended up listing with an agent!
Best of luck with this one. Many agents including myself will NEVER show a MLS For Sale By Owner. Why? Because it is a waste of time and requires double the work. As a real estate agent, I am not doing twice the work for half the commission. The sellers on FSBOs usually do not know what they are doing as compared to a sellers agent and as a result I end up representing both sides for a minor commission. Why would I do this, especially with all the inventory on the market??? Chances are if a client of mine is looking in a specific complex, I can find enough units in the complex that are traditionally listed versus the MLS FSBO services. The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful. Oh wait there aren't many! And what happened to the rest of them? They ended up listing with an agent!
I'm glad the buyers of my FSBO house worked with an agent who represented their best interests, and not solely her own. mod cut
Last edited by Viralmd; 12-20-2009 at 12:15 PM..
Reason: Personal attack
Best of luck with this one. Many agents including myself will NEVER show a MLS For Sale By Owner. Why? Because it is a waste of time and requires double the work. As a real estate agent, I am not doing twice the work for half the commission. The sellers on FSBOs usually do not know what they are doing as compared to a sellers agent and as a result I end up representing both sides for a minor commission. Why would I do this, especially with all the inventory on the market??? Chances are if a client of mine is looking in a specific complex, I can find enough units in the complex that are traditionally listed versus the MLS FSBO services. The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful. Oh wait there aren't many! And what happened to the rest of them? They ended up listing with an agent!
Meh. Spoken like a true agent. I'll tell you why you will show my house - because it's listed on the MLS, looks fantastic with wonderful pics and is priced lower than the competition. Your clients will see it on Realtor.com (you don't really think you control what your clients see do you?) and will ask you to show it to them. If you refuse they will come and see it anyway without you (suits me). You have no way of preventing this. I've sold a few houses FSBO by listing them on the MLS myself. Had plenty of agents come though........
Meh. Spoken like a true agent. I'll tell you why you will show my house - because it's listed on the MLS, looks fantastic with wonderful pics and is priced lower than the competition. Your clients will see it on Realtor.com (you don't really think you control what your clients see do you?) and will ask you to show it to them. If you refuse they will come and see it anyway without you (suits me). You have no way of preventing this. I've sold a few houses FSBO by listing them on the MLS myself. Had plenty of agents come though........
Nicely put! In the age of internet, all the agent did for us is open the door to the houses that we asked her to show us after we found them on (MLS, Zillow, ect) Saved time to us and the agent. We only went where we wanted, and she didn't have to waste time looking for listings for us.
Best of luck with this one. Many agents including myself will NEVER show a MLS For Sale By Owner. Why? Because it is a waste of time and requires double the work. As a real estate agent, I am not doing twice the work for half the commission. The sellers on FSBOs usually do not know what they are doing as compared to a sellers agent and as a result I end up representing both sides for a minor commission. Why would I do this, especially with all the inventory on the market??? Chances are if a client of mine is looking in a specific complex, I can find enough units in the complex that are traditionally listed versus the MLS FSBO services. The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful. Oh wait there aren't many! And what happened to the rest of them? They ended up listing with an agent!
QFP
Wow, I'm sure you got some of your peers in the RE game sitting there shaking their heads that you made this post or maybe they are doing this: . Nice to show your true colors and play into the negative stigma a lot of people have about real estate agents.
Did you forget about the one of the basics of RE 101:
Fiduciary Duty?
So what you're trying to say is if I am a potential client looking for a real estate agent to represent me on the buyers side of the transaction that you're "NEVER" going to show or tell me about a MLS FSBO, even though it may fit my needs? All because it's a "waste of time" and "requires double the work"? Even though I can easily find and see the same property you can?
All in the best interests of your commission? Not your clients?
We all know you don't want to work for free. Did you ever think of maybe a custom contract? Something along the lines of if you find a property that "somehow" I cannot find the same one myself and the seller is not offering a commission to the buyer's agent, then we work out a fee or commission %, I pay you for your time and representation? Is that too hard or too much work or something?
Or would rather just try to "hide" it from me, not show it and hope I don't find it?
And a double for admitting the dual agency thing, something 99% of RE agents try to avoid due to conflicts of interest.
And a triple for "The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful."
Wow, way to put down a piece of the industry that is growing MASSIVELY year over year and may have many potential clients that you can work with. Someone may have been misinformed of this big internet thing and some of the industry game changers that are creeping up on your livelyhood.
I sure hope that your future potential clients have no clue of this internet thing and have no clue how to do a simple search ala due diligence on who they may be working with in the future. Considering that your name, website and your bosses brokerage comes up pretty high in the search results, including this very forum.
Pretty sad since you got a lot of helpful and informative people in your industry who come on here with good advice and actually do gain a lot of leads and clients. We already have seen what has happened to those in the past year who choose to blow up their own spots though...
So what you're trying to say is if I am a potential client looking for a real estate agent to represent me on the buyers side of the transaction that you're "NEVER" going to show or tell me about a MLS FSBO, even though it may fit my needs? All because it's a "waste of time" and "requires double the work"? Even though I can easily find and see the same property you can?
All in the best interests of your commission? Not your clients?
And I will stick to my statement, I have NEVER shown a FSBO listing property to a client because of the inventory in this current economic time. The last time I showed a For Sale By Owner was about 4 years ago and that was because the market was hot then and inventory was scarce and even then the client did not want to really see it. I actually pushed it on him!
If I do my job properly I should not need to show a FSBO property. If I am showing 10 properties and the 11th is a FSBO listing, it will be shown last most of the time, and I am not even the one that determines this! I am VERY open with my clients and tell them how For Sale By Owners work and almost always they do not even want to see them. Working with a For Sale By Owner is like working with a Short Sale, no one wants to do it. Things take twice as long, price is usually unrealistic, deals tend to fall apart, and people just drag their feet. If this was not true why is it that I have MANY of my clients telling me they rather not see For Sale By Owners or Short Sales. Ask any agent. I dare you!
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We all know you don't want to work for free. Did you ever think of maybe a custom contract? Something along the lines of if you find a property that "somehow" I cannot find the same one myself and the seller is not offering a commission to the buyer's agent, then we work out a fee or commission %, I pay you for your time and representation? Is that too hard or too much work or something?
Where do you live that something like this would work? Why on earth would a buyer pay a commission to an agent when they can just go and knock on the For Sale By Owner themselves? Let's be honest, many people go to For Sale By Owners to window shop, that is why they are not successful. Very rarely do For Sale By Owners end in a contract between both parties without an agent.
Now back to the original statement, where is the money going to come from to pay me for my "time". Can't come from jumping up the price because then the home most likely won't appraise. Can't come from the sellers because they are not offering a commission. Well I guess it can come from the buyer writting a check to my broker and then I get paid but again I ask, what buyer is going to write a check for 3% or more to pay for my "time" when apparantly they can do it all themselves???
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And a double for admitting the dual agency thing, something 99% of RE agents try to avoid due to conflicts of interest.
Really? Show me 10 agents that will walk away from a deal because they are going to represent both sides. That is a load of BS! Being a good agent I know what I have to do to represent both parties equally. If an agent can not do this properly, then they are definately in the wrong field of work.
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And a triple for "The MLS FSBO service is just a gimmick to get people to think it will work. Go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me how many of those people are actually successful."
Wow, way to put down a piece of the industry that is growing MASSIVELY year over year and may have many potential clients that you can work with. Someone may have been misinformed of this big internet thing and some of the industry game changers that are creeping up on your livelyhood.
I sure hope that your future potential clients have no clue of this internet thing and have no clue how to do a simple search ala due diligence on who they may be working with in the future. Considering that your name, website and your bosses brokerage comes up pretty high in the search results, including this very forum.
Pretty sad since you got a lot of helpful and informative people in your industry who come on here with good advice and actually do gain a lot of leads and clients. We already have seen what has happened to those in the past year who choose to blow up their own spots though
For Sale By Owners as a whole are NOT successful. Wait let me say that again, FSBOs are usually NOT successful! You can cut it anyway you like but that is the truth! Like I told you go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me what you find but apparantly you did not do this so I did it for you. Here are a few links with many different areas so you can't say the data is slanted. Here are the links:
Mod cut: NO links to specific properties.
Why is it that time and time again I see more listings than sales? Why is it that so many of these listings have been on the market for more than 100 or 200 days? Why is it that there are only a few ads with successful sales done by themselves? And why is it that all the time I see these For Sale By Owners eventually listed by a realtor? The links above provide all the data you need for my point.
A LARGE part of my business comes from For Sale By Owners so I am VERY well vested in this market. Many sellers think they can do it themselves but in reality it is not that easy and they get tired of doing it. I can not tell you how many times I have been told this same story or seen sellers that say they will NEVER list with an agent only to end up listing a month later after doing open houses every Saturday and Sunday for a month straight!
Plus how many people in this day and age are going to go onto For Sale By Owner.com, drive by homes and write down the numbers off the sign, or clip newspaper ads to find a home that meets their criteria when they could just call a realtor who will do all the leg work for them? Would you do this? Would your friends do this? I mean, why on earth would you want to do all the leg work when you can hire a realtor that is FREE to you! Like I said before, most of the people visiting For Sale By Owners are people that want to lowball you and think they can get a steal over on you. Believe what you want to believe, because at the end of the day that is human nature, but I have been doing this as my career for years and I know what I am talking about.
For Sale By Owners as a whole are NOT successful. Wait let me say that again, FSBOs are usually NOT successful! You can cut it anyway you like but that is the truth! Like I told you go on For Sale By Owner.com and tell me what you find but apparantly you did not do this so I did it for you. Here are a few links with many different areas so you can't say the data is slanted. Here are the links:
Plus how many people in this day and age are going to go onto For Sale By Owner.com, drive by homes and write down the numbers off the sign, or clip newspaper ads to find a home that meets their criteria when they could just call a realtor who will do all the leg work for them? Would you do this? Would your friends do this? I mean, why on earth would you want to do all the leg work when you can hire a realtor that is FREE to you! Like I said before, most of the people visiting For Sale By Owners are people that want to lowball you and think they can get a steal over on you. Believe what you want to believe, because at the end of the day that is human nature, but I have been doing this as my career for years and I know what I am talking about.
Why do you keep going on and on about For Sale By Owner.com and the like? We are not talking about that...we are talking about listing on the MLS, the very same place you list your houses that are for sale. There is no difference to a customer. Really there is no difference to you, an agent, if the seller is offering a 3% commission. You make the same amount of money. You just have to deal with my (the sellers) attorney instead of another agent. You just don't like the thought of an agent being cut out.
Why don't you tell the truth...which is - you won't show FSBO properties because you recognize it is the start of the "end of the line" for the current way Realtors work. Once that MLS listing for $500 became available...the game changed and you know it.
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Saved time to us and the agent. We only went where we wanted, and she didn't have to waste time looking for listings for us.
. Nice to show your true colors and play into the negative stigma a lot of people have about real estate agents. 
