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There's a lot of good advise shown above. The moral of this story is that it's obvious a Buyer's Agent fee is pretty much necessary and worthwhile.
A Seller's Agent fee could be negotiated, depending on how much knowledge you have, risk you're willing to take, and most of all, how much additional work you're willing to do.
One of the most important skills a SA brings, is being able to provide a good Listing Price. As price drops can actually hurt a property, that first number is exceptionally important.
But, all things are negotiable. Example. A (now-ex) girl friend of mine had two houses, sold her first conventionally, and a couple of years later wanted to sell the second.
She decided to pay the SA fee, and then she negotiated with a large and respected SA for them to provide, for a flat fee:
Listing Price estimate based on their current experiences,
adding the property to the the local listing service,
a Yard sign, with phone number, (but the phone service was strictly forwarding numbers ONLY).
Added to that, I built up for her a website with photos of each room, outside, yard survey, local conditions, utility connections, etc. and made up flyers for the yard sign's box.
She knew she would have to do the work of pre-cleaning, showing, replying to all calls (crank, low-ball, etc). She also had the closing paperwork reviewed by a real estate attorney.
Bottom line (pun intended): I think she saved several thousands of dollars, but invested quite a bit of man-hours of work, some of which was possible only due to her previous experiences.
Just select an agent who offers you professional service at an agreeable fee.
In this market and that location, (unless you are sub-$150,000 or so in property value) there is no actual reason to pay more than 4.8% total, 2.4% to each agent, buyers agent and listing agent, unless you are willingly subsidizing your favorite niece's first year in the business.
If you use the same agent to buy your next home, you can probably do better.
Note, though, that 90% of listings in Wake County (at last count) offer 2.4% or more to a buyer's agent. Your listing agent (and you, if you FSBO) probably need to offer that 2.4% to a buyers agent to get the best exposure.
BTW:
There is actually no such thing as a "discount broker."
It is unethical for a real estate agent to use the term, as it connotes the agent may support market rigging via price fixing, monopoly, boycott, and a host of other illegal behaviors. If an agent comes to you and disparages "discount brokers, discount firms," etc, they are more than a decade behind on ethical standards and professional education.
Interesting, I though a buyer agent should always put her or his customer interest first. If the home, is the best for the customers, even at a 0% commission, the agent should propose the house to her or his customer .
I would never sell a home without a Realtor representing me. That said, our last experience selling a home we went against our realtors advice and listed our home for more than she suggested (by $15,000) and our home was under contract 3 days later for $11,000 over our list price. Sometimes I think realtors are conservative on pricing just hoping for a quick sale versus having to drop the price and have it sit anytime on the market. The lesson is to do your own homework and do not blindly follow your realtor, but use a realtor!
Interesting, I though a buyer agent should always put her or his customer interest first. If the home, is the best for the customers, even at a 0% commission, the agent should propose the house to her or his customer .
I might have miss something somewhere.
"Nuance" and "details" are fascinating topics.
Of course an agent is supposed to do so.
Unfortunately, there certainly are unethical agents out there. The use of "Discount agent" or "Standard Commission" are two clear tells on their ethics.
And, when the agent does propose the house, and the buyer says, "I am not interested in that property, because I don't want to pay you out of pocket to meet the terms of the buyers agency agreement. So let's skip it," that is not an agent's failure to perform as agreed and required.
And, it certainly happens.
thanks everyone. Yes it has been a while since our purchase of the house. 20 years to be exact so I am learning a lot reading all the comments. Of course I would want the most we can get for our home but also would be good have a solid listing, offers. I will look into firms mentioned.
No agent can prove that they always produce the best net to their sellers.
They can only accurately offer anecdotal examples.
Technically they could.
I sell homes on average of xx.x% of the initial list price. You could drill down to city, zip code, neighborhood.
The average cost to my sellers for repairs are $xxxx
Granted very few agents will track this information.
In a real world it would be up to the listing agent to explain how they are going to net the most to the seller clients. This is accomplished with a net sheet showing the costs to sell the home. Then it's up to the agent and seller to discuss other costs to the seller. Repairs, concessions, etc... Do agents have a crystal ball? No, but if they do any sort of business there are numbers they can provide to give a good idea. Numbers don't lie.
I sell homes on average of xx.x% of the initial list price. You could drill down to city, zip code, neighborhood.
The average cost to my sellers for repairs are $xxxx
Granted very few agents will track this information.
In a real world it would be up to the listing agent to explain how they are going to net the most to the seller clients. This is accomplished with a net sheet showing the costs to sell the home. Then it's up to the agent and seller to discuss other costs to the seller. Repairs, concessions, etc... Do agents have a crystal ball? No, but if they do any sort of business there are numbers they can provide to give a good idea. Numbers don't lie.
List price is merely a placeholder, with no materiality.
% of list price, ergo, is equally meaningless.
Agents are taught to nurture and promote meaningless stats to create a false sense of their capabilities.
I don't track List Price/Sales Price ratios because it is nearly completely irrelevant to skill.
How do repairs even weigh on it? Every property is unique.
Anecdotes based in truth are more valuable than bogus stats based in falsehood.
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 11-09-2016 at 07:03 PM..
I sell homes on average of xx.x% of the initial list price. You could drill down to city, zip code, neighborhood.
The average cost to my sellers for repairs are $xxxx
Granted very few agents will track this information.
In a real world it would be up to the listing agent to explain how they are going to net the most to the seller clients. This is accomplished with a net sheet showing the costs to sell the home. Then it's up to the agent and seller to discuss other costs to the seller. Repairs, concessions, etc... Do agents have a crystal ball? No, but if they do any sort of business there are numbers they can provide to give a good idea. Numbers don't lie.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
However, statistic does not tell you which model you should use and two different models can give two opposite outcomes with both model statistically correct. The choice between the two models is a personal choice.
Knowing that there are multiple type of models, I would say almost an infinite number of models, people erroneously but genuinely interpret statistic as lie.
However, statistic does not tell you which model you should use and two different models can give two opposite outcomes with both model statistically correct. The choice between the two models is a personal choice.
Knowing that there are multiple type of models, I would say almost an infinite number of models, people erroneously but genuinely interpret statistic as lie.
And, a gun is not a murder weapon until it is in the hands of a murderer.
Yes, stats are just stats, and cannot be a lie. When stats are purposely misapplied and presented to mislead, the user is the liar.
There are so many fine people in real estate, but the use of stats is incredibly weird.
You would have to see how agents are actively taught to abuse statistics or to use bogus stats to really grasp how widely corrupted the use and dissemination of irrelevant stats is.
How to manipulate DOM.
How to present sales price percentages in the most flattering light.
And, generic BS like, "Agents sell houses for 17% more than FSBOs."
I like anecdotal stuff with application to specific and similar cases more than broad stats or misleading statistical abuse.
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 11-10-2016 at 04:45 AM..
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