2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Athol: temps, practice, silver)

[id77]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

That was my feeling too, but i'm outside the industry so I don't know what happens behind the scenes nor have a sense of the cost of business for realtors.

But, is it really that much more work to sell a house at $1mil than it is to sell one at $500K assuming both are good properties for their locations and go pending within a week like in years prior? Given 5% that's $50K commission vs $25K. Did one really do 25K more worth of work for a home that sold itself?

I think I debated this topic here once a few years ago. I didn't understand why a week of work justified about $100k worth of commission to two agents. When condos practically sell themselves for $1.5-$2 million, 3% to each agent seems a little ridiculous to me, too.

As for more work? I'd argue around here it's less work; it seems to take more agent effort to convince someone to buy a $200k home in Athol than a $2 million condo in Beacon Hill, but that selling agent in Beacon Hill is pocketing 10x the commission.

[charolastra00]

If you're angry about realtor fees, just wait until you learn that Massachusetts is about the only place where rental broker's fees exist. To move into my apartment, I had to pay a month of rent (on top of first/last/security) to a real estate agent who only showed me the apartment for 5 minutes, ran a background check (that I paid for separately), and sent me a standard lease via email.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

If you're angry about realtor fees, just wait until you learn that Massachusetts is about the only place where rental broker's fees exist. To move into my apartment, I had to pay a month of rent (on top of first/last/security) to a real estate agent who only showed me the apartment for 5 minutes, ran a background check (that I paid for separately), and sent me a standard lease via email.

The point of the brokers is discrimination basically, since MA makes it difficult to evict people. Even for non payment.

[id77]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

If you're angry about realtor fees, just wait until you learn that Massachusetts is about the only place where rental broker's fees exist. To move into my apartment, I had to pay a month of rent (on top of first/last/security) to a real estate agent who only showed me the apartment for 5 minutes, ran a background check (that I paid for separately), and sent me a standard lease via email.

Did the same thing on my last rental, though rental agent fess feel small compared to the litany of closing costs when buying. The various fees and commissions I had to pay at my last closing amounted to more than 40x (not including the down payment) more than what my last rental had in sunk costs, including that one month broker fee. Mortgage is maybe 2x as much as my rent was.

[Saguarogirl507]

Another downtown office building sells at quite a loss. The hits keep coming:

https://www.boston.com/news/the-bost...p_featurestack

[newenglandgal123]

42,245 applicants waiting for affordable housing in Boston alone.I wonder what that number looks like statewide? https://www.wcvb.com/article/more-th...-them/45702471

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

That was my feeling too, but i'm outside the industry so I don't know what happens behind the scenes nor have a sense of the cost of business for realtors.

But, is it really that much more work to sell a house at $1mil than it is to sell one at $500K assuming both are good properties for their locations and go pending within a week like in years prior? Given 5% that's $50K commission vs $25K. Did one really do 25K more worth of work for a home that sold itself?

No it's not and that's why percentage based commission is absurd.

When I was looking for a house, one agent sat in a chair playing on his phone during the open house. Didn't even put in any effort to say hi to anyone. I asked some basic questions about the house (like is the dryer hookup gas or electric) and he didn't know anything. The house sold for 10% over asking and he earned a big fat commission.

Same with tipping at restaurants. Is serving a $100 meal twice as much work as serving a $50 meal?

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

If you're angry about realtor fees, just wait until you learn that Massachusetts is about the only place where rental broker's fees exist. To move into my apartment, I had to pay a month of rent (on top of first/last/security) to a real estate agent who only showed me the apartment for 5 minutes, ran a background check (that I paid for separately), and sent me a standard lease via email.

That's crazy. I refused to pay any fees when I rented. All they did was post the place on Craigslist and the apartment rented itself.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

42,245 applicants waiting for affordable housing in Boston alone.I wonder what that number looks like statewide? https://www.wcvb.com/article/more-th...-them/45702471

I love how they keep referring to these groups as families. They're doing that with the migrants as well. Like we're supposed to feel more sorry because it's 'families' who need housing. How about all these families put their brains and money together and come up with a plan ? I'm guessing many of these families are single mothers with kids. If it was me I'd go to where ever I could afford housing and get a job in that area. I know that is such a hard concept for people to wrap their heads around. So we'll all just continue to hear about all these families waiting around our state for 'affordable' housing.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I love how they keep referring to these groups as families. They're doing that with the migrants as well. Like we're supposed to feel more sorry because it's 'families' who need housing. How about all these families put their brains and money together and come up with a plan ? I'm guessing many of these families are single mothers with kids. If it was me I'd go to where ever I could afford housing and get a job in that area. I know that is such a hard concept for people to wrap their heads around. So we'll all just continue to hear about all these families waiting around our state for 'affordable' housing.

What do you have against single mothers with kids? Do you not consider them a family?