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and no one is worth an extra 3% for opening the door and letting a prospective buyer look at the place for 30 minutes or less.
Guess which one has to do more work if there is a mortgage involved and deal with the bank, etc or any problems that arise, show up to the inspection etc etc.
You know what the selling agent has to do, play golf until the day of the close once the contract is signed.
I see selling agents doing a lot of work to market a house. Some staging should be included. I don't feel like 2.5% is too much for the amount of work they do and money they spend. Think about car dealerships, they pay "agents" to sell their cars. But you don't need one to buy the car.
My point is that agents used to do a lot of work finding houses for buyers and they don't anymore, unless its really high end stuff.
You know what the selling agent has to do, play golf until the day of the close once the contract is signed.
There's a bit more to it than that... Inspection and/or appraisal call-outs that need to be negotiated and perhaps repaired, just for starters.
Can run the gamut, they're all different. On one of them last year, we had to run around the neighborhood and get a road maintenance agreement for the private road drafted, signed by at least one grumpy neighbor, and recorded... Or the buyer wasn't going to get financing. I've lost a lot of sleep between signing and closing on a few... it's not just a cakewalk.
Last edited by Diana Holbrook; 03-11-2018 at 04:14 PM..
I see selling agents doing a lot of work to market a house. Some staging should be included. I don't feel like 2.5% is too much for the amount of work they do and money they spend. Think about car dealerships, they pay "agents" to sell their cars. But you don't need one to buy the car.
My point is that agents used to do a lot of work finding houses for buyers and they don't anymore, unless its really high end stuff.
But they have to shlepp buyers around to show them different properties, with no guarantees that they will even get paid for the gas they spend.
But they have to shlepp buyers around to show them different properties, with no guarantees that they will even get paid for the gas they spend.
Let's not forget that the buyer's agent model is based on the illusion that the agent's services are free for the buyer. That perception is the cornerstone of the success of the model. Let's say the buyer's agent services on a modest $350k house is around 10k.
If the buyer perceived this as his own expense, he might ask about the services provided by the buyer's agent for that cost. if the agent started justifying it with driving the buyer around, that conversation would end pretty quickly. It's not cost justified to hire a trained real estate professional to drive you around. If you wanted a driver, you can hire a drive. Or much more likely you take your own car. Take an uber. If the buyer's agent costs are transparent and itemized, the model would be turned upside down. But if you think it's free and someone else is paying 10k for an agent to drive you around and give you bottled water, your attitude is totally different. You roll down the windows, pretend your bottle of spring water is champagne and you laugh heartily to the next house. But if it's your 10k, and you can pay by the services provided to you, you will likely say, no thanks, I'll meet you there.
But if it's your 10k, and you can pay by the services provided to you, you will likely say, no thanks, I'll meet you there.
And there, and there, and the three we looked at last week too .
I like how you make it sound, with the bottled water and all... laughing...
Does meeting a client 'there' somehow take less time and gas in your mind? Do the appointments with the sellers or seller's agent make themselves automatically? Does it suddenly cost much less for the time I usually spend to research and print out materials for my clients for a tour?
BTW... just FYI, I never say my services are free, I say they are paid by the seller at closing. Important difference?
And there, and there, and the three we looked at last week too .
I like how you make it sound, with the bottled water and all... laughing...
Does meeting a client 'there' somehow take less time and gas in your mind? Do the appointments with the sellers or seller's agent make themselves automatically? Does it suddenly cost much less for the time I usually spend to research and print out materials for my clients for a tour?
BTW... just FYI, I never say my services are free, I say they are paid by the seller at closing. Important difference?
I said the illusion that the services were FREE FOR THE BUYER. I did not say that they were provided free by the agent.
My point was simply that consumers/buyers would naturally question every charge if they perceive that they are paying it themselves.
I'll probably botch this example but if you're buying a new washer/dryer and the quote has a $150 charge to remove and dispose of your existing machines, many people will think something like, "My cousin's got a pickup truck and he'll help me get them to the dump for 5 bucks in gas and a $6 six pack of bud light". i won't pretend to understand how middle america thinks but that's my attempt. Probably not so far off.
But if you're renting and you perceive this as your landlord's cost with nothing to do with you, you see the invoice and you really couldn't care less if the disposal fee is $15, $150 or $1500.
OK JB... if you're going to use that analogy... then I'll say I'm their best friend in this process... been working with them since last year when I referred them to a good lender to start fixing their credit. There's been a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails, a lot of lunches in the diner, a lot of miles driven, a lot of houses looked at, bid on and lost. And now we finally got one! The buyers think the sellers are making all kinds of money in the transaction. They're happy if I get some of it.
And I'll probably take their old appliance to the dump too. No extra charge
I'm glad to see the answers here because I'm kind of going through the same thing right now.
When I bought my house in 2003, I was assigned a real estate agent by a company and that agent didn't do diddly. I found all the houses I wanted to look at, including the land I eventually bought. But once I called a listing with another agent and she asked me if I had an agent of my own. When I said yes, she read me the riot act and said she would only talk to my agent. Apparently I stepped on some toes when I bypassed my agent.
But last Friday I talked to an agent representing the seller of some land I was interested in and he was completely happy to talk to me.
I guess it all depends on the agent.
But I do think I'm going to get an agent to represent me and not use the seller's agent for both buying and selling after what I've read here.
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