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notghinsaw, I tried to post a list of common activities that a realtor does for buyers and sellers and this internet forum wouldn't let me post the entire list, so I didn't bother. There is a lot more involved than opening a lock box and writing up a contract that you are ignoring. Let me give you a hint, there were about 90 specific tasks that realtors typically provide in a transaction that few, if any buyers or sellers ever see.
The biggest factor is that you are paying for the experience of the realtor, no different than hiring an attorney. In my limited experience as a realtor, I know that I was able to negotiate many items for my clients that some agents would not have been able to resolve. I am not pretending that I was agent of the year, but I know that I accomplished some difficult tasks in my job.
I know in my MLS (I am no longer a realtor) it is a major violation to offer a lockbox code to a potential client to view on their own and I would imagine this is the same in most, if not all markets.
Most realtors don't do much of work to earn 2-3% commission. If i found the property that I liked, went to see it myself during open house and told you to write an offer, no you don't deserve 2-3% commission for that.
So opening a lockbox and entering name/last name and $$$ in a draft offer is not an easy job? I did all my job online by looking at properties and telling my agent which ones I'd like to visit. If there was open house I didn't even bother my agent. I found my house on my own and the only thing my agent did was entered my name/last name in the draft offer + the amount of $$$.
This is not the first agent I use and most of them are absolutely the same. The system is rigged and I'm happy that lawsuit is in place. Now people like buying mentors will appear which will help you for $1000 which is absolutely reasonable.
So, you say your offer had:
No Seller Name.
No Closing Agent Name.
No Dates for inspections, repair Requests, etc.
No EMD.
No Balance Due at Closing
No Closing Date.
No Property Address.
Got it.
I'm calling "Bogus" on all your claims of experience.
I won't argue that real estate agents do real good when it comes to home sales.
However, forcing sellers to pay a 6% commission on sales of expensive homes even in areas where real estate is hot and fast moving is an abuse that many in the real estate field will not acknowledge. A good profession would have made rules on its own limiting such commissions, but it did not do so. Probably because the membership wanted things left the way they were. Abuses inevitably lead to things like what happened.
It would have been much better if the profession had acted on its own to regulate excess commissions in some manner. However, it chose not to do so.
I fear many good people will probably be hurt now because of this vacuum or void.
Other than the common erroneous claim that commissions are a seller expense, what profession do you know which limits its members' fees?
"Force?"
I can find you a list of agents who will charge less than 6%. It's easy.
No Seller Name.
No Closing Agent Name.
No Dates for inspections, repair Requests, etc.
No EMD.
No Balance Due at Closing
No Closing Date.
No Property Address.
Got it.
I'm calling "Bogus" on all your claims of experience.
Then, prior to writing this offer, you had to show them homes on a house hunting tour, let's say an out of town buyer that has x number of days to find the home. My record is 21 in two days. Then, notwithstanding the two COVID years, you need to council the buyer on what to offer, which, then almost is certainly require a CMA. My state is a non-disclosure state, so the buyer isn't going to be privy to the "sold" prices, as opposed to the list price, which I wouldn't use for a CMA. Buyer's brokers do more while in the home searching process, research and being in contact. The seller's realtor, conversely, has done their work up front, prior to putting it into the MLS, and often absorbing many up front costs such as photography, staging, pre-list prep on occupied or vacant homes, depending on the situation. It's a little more complex than the poster is willing to consider.
I would not be surprised if the lawsuit settlement changes to our industry result in an increase in lawsuits by buyers who get taken advantage of -- which was one of the reasons the co-broke system was created in the first place.
What are examples of the cause of action for such hypothetical future litigation? What are some examples of the historical issues that led to the creation of the co-broke system in the first place?
As an aside, of course, the same buyer who somehow "couldn't afford to pay for a buyer's agent" would not be likely to have money to pay an attorney.
Then, prior to writing this offer, you had to show them homes on a house hunting tour, let's say an out of town buyer that has x number of days to find the home. My record is 21 in two days. Then, notwithstanding the two COVID years, you need to council the buyer on what to offer, which, then almost is certainly require a CMA. My state is a non-disclosure state, so the buyer isn't going to be privy to the "sold" prices, as opposed to the list price, which I wouldn't use for a CMA. Buyer's brokers do more while in the home searching process, research and being in contact. The seller's realtor, conversely, has done their work up front, prior to putting it into the MLS, and often absorbing many up front costs such as photography, staging, pre-list prep on occupied or vacant homes, depending on the situation. It's a little more complex than the poster is willing to consider.
The percentage of buyers who go to contract on the first property they are shown is very very small.
Before our local market turned to strongly favor sellers about 9-10 years ago, second or even third showings were common including on multiple properties.
Like many jobs one customer might be easy and not much work and another customer might involve a ton of work to get to closing. I have bought 10 properties and sold 9 through my life and having a good agent is valuable if your transaction is not going smoothly.
My last agent was excellent and I was selling my house and buying a condo. If not for his skills and relationships with the other agent I probably would have lost the condo I was buying in a very hot market due to delays in closing my house. I recommend him to others all the time. Twice I had a poor agent cost me the property I wanted. Good realtors aren’t going to work in the field if not fairly compensated.
Other than the common erroneous claim that commissions are a seller expense, what profession do you know which limits its members' fees?
"Force?"
I can find you a list of agents who will charge less than 6%. It's easy.
As long as you keep making this FALSE claim about who pays the commission, I'm going to keep posting evidence that you are WRONG.
Example: Two IDENTICAL houses for sale side-by-side in the same neighborhood at the same time. House A is listed with a realtor at 5% commission on the $400,000 asking price. House B is for sale by owner (FSBO) also at the asking price of $400,000.
Both houses go under contract for full asking price in the first week and then close about a month later.
The owner of House A which was listed with a realtor will net 95% of the asking price less any mortgage that he owed and less a small amount for miscellaneous closing fees. The other 5% will be paid by the seller to the realtor as commission.
The owner of House B which was FSBO will net 100% of the asking price less any mortgage that he owed and less a small amount for miscellaneous closing fees. Since there was no realtor, there will be ZERO commission paid by the seller. This means $20,000 more cash in pocket (5% of $400,000) for the FSBO seller.
If i found the property that I liked, went to see it myself during open house and told you to write an offer, no you don't deserve 2-3% commission for that.
I agree. That isn't how it works for most buyers though. The challenge with consumers and this issue is that they tend to think in terms of how they do things. I'd say 20% of buyers need no, or minimal agent support. The rest need help. Some need serious help.
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