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Hmmm. The charges other than commission for Remax agents is the office bill for ...well, their office. (Used to be all Remax agents kept all their commission but paid the office rental fee which covered utilities and support staff answering phones, bookkeeping, etc. usually in a nice office, nice lobby.
Now it seems there a many Remax agents who are on the usual commission split...what is arranged between realtor and broker/owner...50/50, 60/40, 75/25.
There is also a fee to the Remax corporate office. Can't recall exactly but for things like national advertising.
So may somewhere in there is the excuse for the $495. However, typically anything beyond commission is the cost of doing business as a realtor and shouldn't be forced on a client. Maybe just maybe attempted...but not forced.
I was charged a transaction fee when I bought a house in 2012. I was furious.
The realtor said, "Well, we have to keep the lights on somehow." Other people have told me that their realtor said it was for document storage. I've heard other reasons for it.
People in the USA pay vastly more to sell or buy than most other developed/ industrialized countries.
example my home sale in the EU my fees were.... wait for it.
1.5% or 2.5% if you include the other side of the transaction.
yep of course there were taxes and government fees etc. But the total fee was 1.5% plus a couple of hundred in real documented costs. (the buyer pays for their own attorney)
That includes a real estate attorney too.
my listing agent got .5% (some people pay more like1%)
My attorney got 1% (some people pay a little more or less, I had a costly one , but very good)
so before some nonsense agent pretends it really needs to be 5%...
we do it for much less, provide a full service and closed hundreds of millions of transaction over the decades just like the USA. we have attorneys , titles, insurance... we have staging, and complex mortages. We have trillions of dollars in RE and still manage those transactions in a secure, timely and convinent manner for our clients.
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
in the EU we did not allow a rich and powerful group of cartels take control of the entire industry and let them fix prices like the USA has done.
we did not allow cartels to work to together to fund massive lobbying to avoid competition.
we do not allow it
The people of the USA have allowed vested interests to grab hold of an entire industry and face zero competition. thus the US system has grown fat greedy and is grossly inefficient.
5%-6% vs 1.5% -2.5%
tell me who is getting ripped off, Americans or Europeans...
Some brokerages, in some places, are imposing a transaction fee, above and beyond the commission on sellers and sometimes buyers, too. It typically goes to the brokerage, not the listing agent. I have seen them range between $350-750.
I used to be affiliated with a national brokerage that did so. I ate it and eventually departed for a different brokerage.
Real estate is practiced differently throughout the world and within the US.
In the UK, one does not need a license. Most " estate" agents are low salaried with modest incentive bonus. The agent represents the seller. The buyer is unrepresented. The concept of the MLS and co-op is limited to mostly higher end. The concept of a buyer's agent does not exist and is generally limited to the US and Canada.
Imagine having to search hundreds of websites for a home, assuming the broker has one and then contacting individual agents whose job it is to represent the seller without any pricing transparency.
Hop over to France where about 50% of real estate transactions are FSBO, sold within the family or to business acquaintances. People have a greater tendency to stay put.
Or how about Russia where commissions range 5-10%.
Within the US, the most common regional commissions are 5-6%, split between the listing and selling brokerages and then split again with the listing and selling agents.
Transparency is a huge variable within the US The real estate lobbies in some regions in some regions in some states work to ensure that closed sale prices are not public information.
There is no such thing as a fixed commission in the US.
A retainer for services with an hourly rate is one compensation model. When given a choice, most people opt for a traditional relationship.
And then there is always FSBO or where lawful, limited service flat fee listers.
People in the USA pay vastly more to sell or buy than most other developed/ industrialized countries.
example my home sale in the EU my fees were.... wait for it.
1.5% or 2.5% if you include the other side of the transaction.
yep of course there were taxes and government fees etc. But the total fee was 1.5% plus a couple of hundred in real documented costs. (the buyer pays for their own attorney)
That includes a real estate attorney too.
my listing agent got .5% (some people pay more like1%)
My attorney got 1% (some people pay a little more or less, I had a costly one , but very good)
so before some nonsense agent pretends it really needs to be 5%...
we do it for much less, provide a full service and closed hundreds of millions of transaction over the decades just like the USA. we have attorneys , titles, insurance... we have staging, and complex mortages. We have trillions of dollars in RE and still manage those transactions in a secure, timely and convinent manner for our clients.
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
the only difference between the USA and most of the EU
in the EU we did not allow a rich and powerful group of cartels take control of the entire industry and let them fix prices like the USA has done.
we did not allow cartels to work to together to fund massive lobbying to avoid competition.
we do not allow it
The people of the USA have allowed vested interests to grab hold of an entire industry and face zero competition. thus the US system has grown fat greedy and is grossly inefficient.
5%-6% vs 1.5% -2.5%
tell me who is getting ripped off, Americans or Europeans...
Well thank God you are over in the EU and don't have to worry about being ripped off by our shady real estate industry.
we did not allow cartels to work to together to fund massive lobbying to avoid competition.
There is enormous competition in the real estate business. OP could say 'no thanks' and take his business to another realtor who won't charge that fee.
Recently, buying new construction with a realtor we've used before and liked, we explained that we didn't feel there was as much value in representation on new construction (not that the builder would give us much of a break) and to keep our business, the realtor lowered her commission.
There are lobbying groups on the state level that restrict supply (by adding roadblocks to getting a real estate license, for instance) but even with 'restricted' supply I have never seen a shortage of realtors, or one brokerage dominating a market. There's no 'cartel' nonsense about it. I don't have anything against another country doing it differently, but it sounds like somebody has been drinking the kool-aid.
I questioned the realtor again, asking "What specific service does the brokerage fee cover?"
Reply was "Hey, nothing specific for that fee. Just something we collect."
Yeah...forget it. I'm going with someone else.
EDIT: Forgot to mention they also tried to get me to pay a $350 fee for a buyers agent referral program, above market deed and title, and way above market preinspection "program".
EDIT 2: They're also telling me to list the property for 20% more than everyone else is, and lock me into a 12 month contract with an $800 cancellation fee on a rental property that I would have to carry unoccupied.
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