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The goal for the buyer is to get the house for the best possible price. If a buyer has to make 10 lowball offers (over a year) to finally find a deal, this may be a win for the buyer. But I bet the agent would prefer a strong offer on the first home.
This is not the whole picture. How many buyers want to spend a year looking for a house? How many buyers even have a year based on their situation?
A more accurately stated goal for the buyer is probably more a combination of best house for the best price in the best time frame.
Boy, there's a lot of people here who are operating on assumptions (and we all know what that does, don't we?) and clearly don't have a clue about the education, initial and, more importantly, continuing, that is required, and the training that goes on on a continual basis. Or even the fact that that what that is varies from state to state - some states have pretty low requirements, others have higher ones. I will say that I have, from early childhood, aced almost every test I ever took (no test anxiety helps a lot), coming in in the 98th/99th percentile on all of them, and I found the real estate exam to be the hardest test I have EVER taken, after all the classroom instruction I had by what turned out to be an excellent teacher, and after a lifetime of a variety of occupations, all of which I did with ease, real estate has turned out to be the hardest, albeit one of the more rewarding in non-monetary terms, of any of them. That's from the perspective of someone who actually does it and doesn't kibbitz from the sidelines.
To answer your previous post, I have closed about 15 transactions this year - absolutely none of them for non-friends/family/work....I do not work for the general public.
As to your assertion that the test in Texas is difficult, I guess that depends on the individual. Somebody with zero knoweldge of the real estate business, someone with zero knowledge of contract/real-estate laws, duties, ethics, etc - would indeed find the test to be challenging if they did not study the test materials.
HOWEVER - I found the test to be very simple, beyond simple. I missed 1 question, I know which question and the question itself had no correct legal answer, legally speaking there was not enough information to answer the question correctly.
The content of the exam was extremely watered down property/contract/ethics from my time spent at law school and passing the bar. When I say extremely watered down, I mean extremely watered down, first 3 weeks of one semester watered down. But realtors are not lawyers, dont have the same educational requirements, and do not need the same analytical skills, so the test is probably adequate for the profession.
Another HOWEVER is the test prep - it tells you exactly what to study for. Almost to the point of giving you all of the questions and answers prior to taking the exam. A person can quite easily pass this test by studying nothing more than the previous exams, and the ones put forth by places like Kaplan, etc...and then reading why the answer is what it is. There was no writing portion which would, at the very least, indicate that a person had a basic grasp of the topic - nope - all multiple choice, answer the 70% you know will be on the exam, guess on the rest and your almost guaranteed to pass.
I do not think realtors provide no services. Quite the contrary I believe they provide a valuable service, but the systematic exclusion of unrepresented individuals is what everyone complains about. You should not have to be represented to buy a house, and if compensation is offered to someone with representation that same compensation should be available to someone with out it. Its not difficult to see why resentment grows from this concept, especially when you are not selling your own asset - you are selling someone elses asset. If you own the house, you make the rules....same with cars, or any other sales service.
A simple contract between listing/buyers agents that states the following tasks are the responsibility of you or your agent if completed by me on your behalf will cost $x.xx/hr because they are normally completed by the other professional would suffice...instead non-agents are simply shunned by agents, potential buyers are neglected b/c agents tell them they will be difficult to work with, etc. Its just systematic exclusion has created hostile feelings.
And that 3% discount will be soooooo worth it when you don't have your own agent representing your best interests in what is likely to be the largest single purchase of your life.
In theory. My buyer's agents have been very disappointing.
How many agents have turned you down on this approach? How many have you suggested it to?
We have (at least) one agent here on CD who offers buyers a choice to pay by the hour, and almost all turn her down.
She has posted repeatedly that people want to pay when they close, and only for the house on which they close, and are willing to pay a premium to put all the risk of the fee on the agent.
Throw in the shell game which most folks willingly accept, "Buyers' Agency doesn't cost you a penny!" and that explains the popularity of the typical commission structure.
There were a couple of threads on Trulia, where this question came up. The realtors were emphatic that they consider it an insult to be asked to be paid by the hour.
Some realtors confessed that their fees were so high (3% of your house for not a lot of work), because they spent 90% of their efforts on client acquisition and self-promotion rather than working for the client.
In theory. My buyer's agents have been very disappointing.
Maybe it's the agents your selecting?
With one exception (my first agent on my first house), the agents I selected were terrific advocates and educators for me. Well worth what was paid to them, and I do not feel that it would have saved me any money to do it myself (and I'm and ex-CPA and ex-mortgage salesperson, so I do have some savvy when it comes to financial issues). In one case, the house I was buying got caught in title problem two days before closing. I can't imagine the nightmare if the realtor hadn't been there.
people do this all the time and then when the buying process gets complicated your going to wind up asking the sellers agent to help you do some legwork with a mortgage, paperwork, title company and your going to be asking him to work for free. the commission has nothing to do with you and shoudln't invovle you or you getting a discount but you can ask if your state allows it. that said dont go bothering the realtor for help later because you didnt wanna pay for that help even though its not even really you paying for it.
In theory. My buyer's agents have been very disappointing.
Considering the high proportion of idiots to capable agents that isn't surprising. If people would be a little more careful about choosing an agent we wouldn't hear so many horror stories. With slick search-engine- optimized websites and advertising on Zillow, Trulia, etc., a poorly qualified agent can appear to be a rock star and snag new clients all day long. Website ranking/appearance and Zillow reviews are not accurate measures of an agent's ability. Nor is their multi-million dollar sales volume that they are so quick to point out. Agent websites are usually about as accurate at portraying an agent's ability as their Glamor Shot is at portraying how they look right now. Trust your gut, people.
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