Flat Fee Brokers:Will local agents boycott on MLS with 2.5 broker cooperation? (Bell: sales, broker)

[jhtread]

yes this is the biggest problem. its not that there is no value in a real estate agent. its just after a certain price point the level of work does not scale with their percentage based compensation. Its not that difficult to learn the skills needed to buy and sell a home. so sure for 3-6k in commission maybe its not worth learning. but how about 20k? you can see now the industry is slowly changing though with all the information online and all the flat fee brokerages coming out.

[bmw335xi]

With that being said most realtors are not high earners, in many regards when it’s all said and done, they are not getting paid a lot per hour (for most)... the amount of work that goes into getting a client is a lot, plus all the back end stuff is many hours that the buyer or seller never sees, not to mention realtors basically have no nights and weekends where they aren’t on call. My point being a realtor isn’t an easy bring home the bacon job, if so, try it out and you’ll see how you can end up working 20 hours and then the client no longer wants to buy a house or no longer wants to sell. On top of that, you have mileage on car, marketing costs, brokerage costs, insurance costs etc.

[FLKitties]

Not being a high earner shouldn't justify a huge commission for little work in most cases. The only time I bought/sold where I felt the agent really earned it was when we moved cross-country and our agent's office handled EVERYTHING. She showed us 15 houses over a 2-day house hunting trip, gave us valuable information about the area, etc. Between she and her assistant, they got us quotes for insurance, acted as our stand-in for the inspection, etc. 100% service. She was phenomenal and went above and beyond what most agents do.

I understand that they incur a lot of expenses advertising, driving people around, have to work night/weekends, etc. but at the same time, that's what they chose to do. They wanted to be able to write their own ticket or be their own boss for the most part. I think the problem in this day and age, though, is that people have access to the Internet and can find their own properties and also most listing agents just throw a lockbox on the house and aren't showing up to open the door for buyer's agents and personally giving them the lowdown on the property, instead making them read the very limited amount of characters allowed on the MLS for a listing description. That's why a lot of people are questioning why each party should be getting as much as 3% each of the purchase price, which could amount to tens of thousands of dollars, when agents on both sides are doing less than when that 6% total standard was introduced all those years ago. And that draw of $$$ for what could amount to easy work in many cases is why you have so many people flocking to get licensed (which everyone points out is pretty easy here) and you end up with so many crappy agents and dissatisfied consumers.

For example, I saw one broker posting on a FB board advertising a meeting about selling new construction and referring to it as "the easiest sale you'll ever make" which is really sad because there are some buyer's agents out there who go above and beyond for their clients and will actually go and take pictures and/or video of the client's home throughout the construction process (and some that actually have construction experience and can tell whether or not something is not being done correctly) and provide updates while others just show up on closing day to collect their checks. That's why people going with an agent should make sure that they're selecting someone who is going to go the extra mile for them, not just collect a check at the end.

[Axxlrod]

I would pass on the OP's house for the reason that I wouldn't want to deal with them during the transaction. It seems they would be "difficult" to deal with. FSBOs usually are because they're too cheap to hire a full-service agent. Plus the description of how they arrived at the asking price demonstrates they don't know what they're doing. What they paid for the house 9 years ago is irrelevant. Plus 5 year old carpeting is plus? I'm willing to bet this house is priced too high.

OP, is your area serviced by Redfin? They will list it for 1%.

[jhtread]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

I would pass on the OP's house for the reason that I wouldn't want to deal with them during the transaction. It seems they would be "difficult" to deal with. FSBOs usually are because they're too cheap to hire a full-service agent. Plus the description of how they arrived at the asking price demonstrates they don't know what they're doing. What they paid for the house 9 years ago is irrelevant. Plus 5 year old carpeting is plus? I'm willing to bet this house is priced too high.

OP, is your area serviced by Redfin? They will list it for 1%.

"too cheap to hire a full service agent"


this isnt a valid argument. the others maybe. but i wouldnt consider not wanting to spend thousands or tens of thousands on a "full service" listing agent being cheap. especially considering when you break down what the "full service" includes. nothing that cant be learned from a few hours on google.

[FireStation46]

I have built three homes, bought three existing homes. I use a real estate agent each time. Only ran into one poor seller agent and I had him realize he needed to accept my proposal that he was fired.

I just would not want to deal with FSBO and the newer style agents will take time to be true market disrupters IMHO.

Good thing about the USA, we have freedom of choice in things like this

[lovetotravel15]

Originally Posted by Bellamouse

Yes, the appraiser has to ask what the purpose of the appraisal is and write that purpose in the report. And the appraisal is by law, only good for that purpose. It cannot be used again for any other purpose (ie, the buyer cannot use it to give to their bank for purposes of getting the loan, etc).

We have the appraisal in place. Within 2 weeks, he committed for us to have the report. If we have to list with a full service agent in our area, will be great information to have before we list. We will see.

[lovetotravel15]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

I would pass on the OP's house for the reason that I wouldn't want to deal with them during the transaction. It seems they would be "difficult" to deal with. FSBOs usually are because they're too cheap to hire a full-service agent. Plus the description of how they arrived at the asking price demonstrates they don't know what they're doing. What they paid for the house 9 years ago is irrelevant. Plus 5 year old carpeting is plus? I'm willing to bet this house is priced too high.

OP, is your area serviced by Redfin? They will list it for 1%.

I will bet with our appraisal coming up, that we are at MOST $10K high. New HVAC systems, New Insulated Pella Garage Doors...Our suspicion still exists that local realtors are boycotting waiting for the full service listing, want their profession to get "both sides".

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by lovetotravel15

...Our suspicion still exists that local realtors are boycotting waiting for the full service listing, want their profession to get "both sides".

I sold FSBO and listed in MLS via a flat fee listing. Local realtors didn't boycott the home. Didn't get many showings until a big price drop. Then many showings. Price matters.

Over pricing results in ....crickets.

[beach43ofus]

Our last 3 transactions:

Sold a home FSBO by placing a sign in the front (agents protected) yard w/in 24 hours, paid the buyer broker 3%

Bought a home directly from the listing agent w/o any buyers agent. Got the listing agent to give up nearly 1/2 of her commissions to make the deal work, plus got entire interior of 5,000 sq ft home repainted.

Sold the same home above through discount flat fee broker for $300 up front and .0025. Saved us $17,000

We saved tens of Thousands of Dollars on these 3 transactions by doing some of it ourselves. On the 2 sales, we hired a pro photographer, and a real estate attorney.

We'll go flat fee discounter for all future listings. We'll contine to buy w/o Buyers Broker. I would not recommend our strategy to 1st of even 2nd time home buyers/sellers. It takes a few real estate transactions to know the ropes. Even then, a real estate attorney is too important to pass on. For most, an Appraiser should also be utilized.