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I'm thinking of moving 100 miles away to a small town where my daughter and grand-daughters live.
It seems to me that the broker I used to buy this place was a waste of money - I found the condo, and negotiated a deal, including a 4% reduction, not the broker.
The mortgage broker he recommended was terrible. Added a huge fee at the last minute, so I walked out and found a much better deal somewhere else for a lot less money - at least $1K, maybe more. It was a while ago, and I don't remember the details, just that my broker was kind of useless. He even appologized for not being much use.
But in these days of RedFin and Zillow, what good does it to use a licensed professional? Do they get listings those of us using the internet don't get?
It seems like I might want to negotiate directly with the seller. Being able to forego the buyer's agent fee of 3% seems like it might move me to the top of the line when the seller is looking at options, no?
These guys are getting $8 -$10,000 for a few hours' work. There must be something I'm missing here...
I'm thinking of moving 100 miles away to a small town
where my daughter and grand-daughters live.
Can we assume then that you aren't any sort of home buying novice?
Quote:
There must be something I'm missing here...
The more experienced and competent the buyer is... the less help they'll need.
Most of the help the experienced buyer needs is limited to what their lawyer will do.
If yours really only did a few hours of bad work.... then I'd guess they weren't much use at all!
On the other hand, we provide sometimes many months of service from start to finish and beyond for our clients, and most of them have said our work was really helpful at the time... and some of them were actually aware of half of what we did do!
There are a lot of reasons for choosing a good realtor to help assess prospective homes, their experience with the area, climate, soils, terrain, traffic, politics, regulations, crime, etc might be useful in your decisions... But even on the contract, though the buyer ultimately decides the terms of the offer, I would definitely rather sign an offer prepared by my agent, than the agent representing the seller, unless I had a pretty intimate knowledge of the fine print, AND the forms and contingencies that should be included. Seller's broker isn't going to write the offer for your benefit should you choose to change your mind. Your broker will... or should.
All through the contract, there are processes and deadlines and responses and potential obstacles that need to be worked through. Our work is NOT over when the offer is made. It begins then.
That's it for now... I'd write more... but no one will want to read it.
Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 06-09-2018 at 09:39 AM..
I'm thinking of moving 100 miles away to a small town where my daughter and grand-daughters live.
It seems to me that the broker I used to buy this place was a waste of money - I found the condo, and negotiated a deal, including a 4% reduction, not the broker.
The mortgage broker he recommended was terrible. Added a huge fee at the last minute, so I walked out and found a much better deal somewhere else for a lot less money - at least $1K, maybe more. It was a while ago, and I don't remember the details, just that my broker was kind of useless. He even appologized for not being much use.
But in these days of RedFin and Zillow, what good does it to use a licensed professional? Do they get listings those of us using the internet don't get?
It seems like I might want to negotiate directly with the seller. Being able to forego the buyer's agent fee of 3% seems like it might move me to the top of the line when the seller is looking at options, no?
These guys are getting $8 -$10,000 for a few hours' work. There must be something I'm missing here...
Experienced buyers don't really need them.
Comes down to you. I'll walk through a house and know more about it than the buyers agent will, but I know how to build them. At that point, they're just administrative assistants.
The seller has already agreed to pay their agent 6% (usually). If you don't have an agent, they get to keep it all. You can try negotiating a lower price with this in mind but there is no guarantee the seller will agree. In fact, their agent will have to do more work since you don't have an agent. I would NEVER buy without having my own agent to protect MY interests.
Comes down to you. I'll walk through a house and know more about it than the buyers agent will, but I know how to build them. At that point, they're just administrative assistants.
This.
If you're new, then by all means, get one.
If not, call the listing agent directly.
Listing agents are much more motivated to sell a home, and push your offer to the buyer, when they get their full 6% cut.
The buyer NEVER should pay commission. It's normally split 3% between buyer agent and selling agent. If a buyer's agent is trying to charge you, get a new agent.
The seller has already agreed to pay their agent 6% (usually). If you don't have an agent, they get to keep it all. You can try negotiating a lower price with this in mind but there is no guarantee the seller will agree. In fact, their agent will have to do more work since you don't have an agent. I would NEVER buy without having my own agent to protect MY interests.
I had to explain this to my clients last night. We were submitting an offer on a VERY competitive house. I've been working with them for about 3 weeks under verbal buyer agency and told them I had to have a buyer agency agreement in order to submit the offer for them as a buyer's agent on their behalf.
They really didn't want to sign anything but are very nice and said I was incredibly helpful and hardworking so they wanted to make sure I got paid. Husband is an attorney as are BOTH of his parents so they went over 6 page buyer agency agreement with a fine tooth comb and took issue with many aspects of it. They wanted to go to the listing agent and have him agree to pay me as a sub-agent; but if they did that he (and technically I) would only be negotiating on the seller's behalf and they wouldn't have any representation in the transaction.
I'd still get paid the same amount.....they wouldn't have anyone representing them. I told them this was a terrible idea for their sake and my BIC told me to just have them sign a non-exclusive buyer agency agreement which they happily did as an "everyone wins" compromise.
Bottom line..... even a family of attorneys think that it is better to have their own buyer's agent than to work with the seller's agent.
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