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Once again, I think that the majority of people only have experienced one side of real estate. Lets look at some other real life examples, these are 2 cases that happened to me within the past year.
1 – Showed a couple over 25 homes in Eastlake over a span of 4 months. Went with them 3 times to thier credit union. Introduced them to 5 different mortgage brokers. Encouraged them to wait for at least a year to buy after reviewing thier finances. They didn’t want to wait. Set up a great commission package for them in writing. Well after over 150 hours of work including 4 lowball purchase offers, they ended up buying from a listing agent.
2 – Same situation but this was a young couple looking for a home in Carlsbad. Exact same but a little MORE time involved over 6 months. They ended up going with a mortgage broker to write up the deal.
I guess my point is, there are posts and posts and posts about the unjustified commissions. However there is never any recognition about the hours and hours of free service. I think that for every buyer there is a unique situation and the buyer and Realtor can structure a fair deal. Perhaps the commission rebate can slide with the amount of homes shown or something like that.
Now HONESTLY… Tell me, how many of you potential buyers would pay $150 an hour to look at homes on a Sunday per the Redfin ?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
My answer is no way. I AM a potential buyer. If I was not a Realtor I would look on Realtor.com and get the addresses and do drive bys and visit open houses. I would find a good commission rebate offer and work with that buyers agent.
The other thing about Redfin that I find discouraging is the open admission to ask listing agents to show you the home with NO INTENT to use them to represent you. To me this is not only misleading but it can absolutely lead to problems with procurring cause.
Exeunt – Your comment that your agent is your best friend and then wants nothing to do with you is A PERFECT EXAMPLE of a poor agent. In fact if this were true then no agents would get repeat customers nor would they get referrals. I find it to be quite incorrect, at least in my case and in the case of many other fine Realtors.
Again, there are lots and lots of boneheads out there, no argument there.
As for the tax issues and commission rebates? I am not a CPA, I always tell clients that and I tell them to talk to the tax professional they work with.
