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I would imagine that figure includes part-time agents as well, right?
My office has more than 100 agents. Some are full time, Most are for all intents and purposes, part time because there is not enough business to sustain the serious hundreds of agents, within the area.
For every agent that hangs up their license, 2 more newby's appear.
My office does a lot of relocation business. That's a 35-40% professional referral fee right off the top, before splits and administrative fees.
Most agents in my office , regardless of the number of years or months of experience, did not cover their costs, last year. It will be a repeat, this year. My office carries the most listings. Neither the broker or the agent gets paid a dime, until closing.
The big box national broker franchises, which sponsor the majority of agent licenses, make more money on less productive agents. " Productive" is a relative term.
Go to the FSBO website in question, forsalebyowner.com You'll see that the option is clearly advertised in their menu of packages.
On that page, you will see the following bullet point;
Quote:
No need to be listed in your local MLS or work with local agents
Notice the word LOCAL, used twice. What happens is that they send your listing to some cooperating real estate agent with access to an MLS, other than the one that services your market. That real estate agent loads the property into their MLS, which then feeds Realtor.com.
I'll say it again. you CANNOT get on Realtor.com without being on an MLS.
Go to the FSBO website in question, forsalebyowner.com You'll see that the option is clearly advertised in their menu of packages.
Here's what the fine print says:
"ForSaleByOwner.com partners with a large network of national and local websites to get your property the most exposure available all-in-one service. Our partners include Yahoo, Google Base, USA Today, and many more. We also offer flat-fee MLS placement and Realtor.com Showcase Listings to maximize your property’s exposure."
The outfit charges an upfront, flat fee of $809 to get placed on Realtor.com, for 6 months.
And has been siad, the only way onto Realtor.com is via the MLS.
That is quite enough guys - You are arguing nuances in semantics. Net effect is all we really care about and I hope you understand that. Packages are offered at different price levels on this website in question. One happens to put you on Realtor.com, the other on both realtor.com and the MLS (Local apparently) for $100 more. That was the meat and potatoes of this conversation unitl one or two of you had to chime in and display your "superior intellect".
You're the one who asked the question regarding Realtor.com & the MLS ... all the agents here did was try to correct your misinformation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pepe1
Any realtors out there that can speak to as whether they would typically find a listing that was only on relator.com and not on the MLS? I guess another way to put this question is: Do most realtors use realtor.com routinely to find properties to show clients or do they stick primarily to the MLS?
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pepe1
That is quite enough guys - You are arguing nuances in semantics. Net effect is all we really care about and I hope you understand that. Packages are offered at different price levels on this website in question. One happens to put you on Realtor.com, the other on both realtor.com and the MLS (Local apparently) for $100 more. That was the meat and potatoes of this conversation unitl one or two of you had to chime in and display your "superior intellect".
That is quite enough guys - You are arguing nuances in semantics. Net effect is all we really care about and I hope you understand that. Packages are offered at different price levels on this website in question. One happens to put you on Realtor.com, the other on both realtor.com and the MLS (Local apparently) for $100 more. That was the meat and potatoes of this conversation unitl one or two of you had to chime in and display your "superior intellect".
It has nothing to do with displaying my superior intellect. It has to do with providing ACCURATE information. I generally assume that people have no objection to knowing the facts accurately. On occassion, it appears, this is an incorrect assumption. Those who want to leave their heads buried in the sand are welcome to do so. Please don't be angry with me for offering a shovel to those who want to dig out.
The fact you are in an MLS affects you, and the way in which other agents may interact with you. For instance, should you feel you aren't getting the result you want, and decide to list with a real estate agent, you and that new agent will need to be sure that you have an unconditional withdrawal of yru listing before the new agent can list if for you.
Better to have the info and not need it, than to need the info and not have it, eh?
Last edited by Bill Keegan; 07-25-2009 at 11:17 AM..
Reason: typos
First I went through the place and looked at everything like a buyer would. We ended up putting down new nuetral carpet (ours was ugly blue and literally threadbare in places), repainting every square inch of the place right dow to teh ceilings in closets and garage walls.
We also put down new vinyl in the kitchen and laundry room. (Vinyl rather than tile was typical in the neighborhood)
We replaced the faucets with new, updated ones. We replaced the flourescent bulbs in the kitchen fixture to make it very bright. We ripped out old scraggly/overgrown shrubbery and replanted with new shrubs. We also put down new mulch.
We cleaned everything, light fixtures, everything. When you walked into the house it smelled new. It looked new.
Then we put together a flyer that highlighted the benefits of the house. A block from the playground. The NYC express bus route stopped two blocks away. One car garage (not common to that area in that price point) and pull down to the attic which had lighting and flooring plywood installed for extra storage.
I looked around the neighborhood to see what other hoems were listed for. I looked in the local paper to see what other homes were selling for. I used some common sense and wasn't greedy. I put that I would protect a buyers broker to 3%.
We were finally ready to show the house. I put out for sale signs, and then open house signs with balloons on the major intersections and then following each turn to get to the house. The first day I had over 15 people look at the house. The second day I had 20 more, and three offers. One of the offers was jsut not even close, they low balled us, wanted seller concessions, etc. I sent them away. No house for them. The other two got into a bid war. I told both to e-mail me a best and final offer, and I would decide that night. They both e-mailed the same offer, but one was 10% down, the other was 20% down. We went with the 20% down offer, I used one of those stationary store contracts and we signed it, and they gave me a check for earnest money. The final sales price was $10K or so over my asking price.
The next day we both got in touch with our attorneys and had a real contract drawn up which we both signed. Attorney review went smoothly, and we closed about six weeks later (normal at that point in time.)
What did I do right?
The house was immaculate and looked and smelled brand new. It had amazing curb appeal. By the time we got done working on it, it was so beautiful I didn't want to sell it. We did all of the work ourselves except laying the carpet. Total cost of repairs/upgrades was about $6000.
I priced it right. The price generated a lot of interest. Once people knew others were interested, they didn't wait to act. (I actually had a fourth offer but it was ridiculously low and there was a whole deal about it being cash but all from an overseas account, I told them no way.)
I put out plenty of signs so people could actually find it. There's nothing worse than trying to find an open house and driving around getting frustrated due to a lack of signage.
What would I not do next time? I wouldn't put an ad in the paper. I got a lot more response from people just driving by who stopped in when they saw the open house signs. All I got from the paper were Realtors trying to get me to list with them and people from NYC wanting to know if I could pick them up at the train station. Uh, no.
That all said, I wouldn't try to sell the home I'm in now FSBO, especially not in this market. I think it's fairly easy to sell a starter home FSBO, especially if you're offering 3% to the buyers agent. I think it's almost impossible to sell larger home with a lot of upgrades in this market as a FSBO. You really need the Realtor buzz, the caravan, etc. and you really can't get that on a FSBO.
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