Do we need realtors?

[NotCranky]

“SFR agents really know nothing about creative financing which in most cases ”
Somehow I think this is your line of work? Forgive me if I am to assuming. Got any hard money for me?

[Anonymous]

no its not my line of work. im just in the market to buy and have been talking with many agents over the past few months and learning that they know very little about what i was able to learn by reading one little book in a few hours called “the monopoly game” by dave glubetich. anyway i do have sources for money. you can write to me with your needs at the address below.

gary jackson
green vine investments
5318 e. second st., #647
long beach, ca 90803-5354

[Anonymous]

no its not my line of work. im just in the market to buy and have been talking with many agents over the past few months and learning that they know very little about what i was able to learn by reading one little book in a few hours called “the monopoly game” by dave glubetich. anyway i do have sources for money. you can write to me with your needs at the address below.

gary jackson
green vine investments
5318 e. second st., #647
long beach, ca 90803-5354

[NotCranky]

Thanks Gary, I am glad you are in the market to buy. You came to the right place.
Best wishes.

[NotCranky]

Thanks Gary, I am glad you are in the market to buy. You came to the right place.
Best wishes.

[JJGittes]

sdrealtor,

For 5-6% commission, sellers should be flat out indemnified by their agent’s insurance. However, they are not. Repeat, sellers are not covered or protected by the agency’s insurance. Also, no agent (actually, correct DRE term “salesperson” or “broker”), or his insurance company, will throw themselves on the sword for a client. The minute a lawsuit is filed, the ‘relationship’ will be over. What’s more, in an effort to show knowledge, the broker will be subpeoned for a depo by the buyer’s lawyer regarding what his client told him about the condition of the house. Who will he be looking out for first?

Again people, get a clue, agents/brokers are SALESPERSONS, they are not your lawyer and will not give you cover in a lawsuit. Their insurance will not protect you, and if things get at all ugly, they will instantly be your adversary.

Be smart, as a seller disclose all that should be disclosed, document everything, be skeptical of all you are told by everybody, ask lots of questions and play by the rules. Do this, and 99.9% of the time all will be fine, broker involved or not.

[JJGittes]

sdrealtor,

For 5-6% commission, sellers should be flat out indemnified by their agent’s insurance. However, they are not. Repeat, sellers are not covered or protected by the agency’s insurance. Also, no agent (actually, correct DRE term “salesperson” or “broker”), or his insurance company, will throw themselves on the sword for a client. The minute a lawsuit is filed, the ‘relationship’ will be over. What’s more, in an effort to show knowledge, the broker will be subpeoned for a depo by the buyer’s lawyer regarding what his client told him about the condition of the house. Who will he be looking out for first?

Again people, get a clue, agents/brokers are SALESPERSONS, they are not your lawyer and will not give you cover in a lawsuit. Their insurance will not protect you, and if things get at all ugly, they will instantly be your adversary.

Be smart, as a seller disclose all that should be disclosed, document everything, be skeptical of all you are told by everybody, ask lots of questions and play by the rules. Do this, and 99.9% of the time all will be fine, broker involved or not.

[NotCranky]

That looks like the last word there JJ. Thanks for being circumspect. I hope NEWGUY, who bought without and agent, from a builder will comeback and give us a real nice synopsis of the discussion as it relates to all property types and situations?

[NotCranky]

That looks like the last word there JJ. Thanks for being circumspect. I hope NEWGUY, who bought without and agent, from a builder will comeback and give us a real nice synopsis of the discussion as it relates to all property types and situations?

[sdrealtor]

JJ,
I think Rustico covered it. Not everyone tells the truth nor do they always know the truth. No amount of money should insure you from liars and fraudsters. with that said, when trouble occurs someone has fiduciary responsibilities they are expected to uphold. While each party will ultimately be responsible for their own conduct, the courts and plaintiffs looking for compensation end up going after deep pockets just as they do in any civil action.

[sdrealtor]

JJ,
I think Rustico covered it. Not everyone tells the truth nor do they always know the truth. No amount of money should insure you from liars and fraudsters. with that said, when trouble occurs someone has fiduciary responsibilities they are expected to uphold. While each party will ultimately be responsible for their own conduct, the courts and plaintiffs looking for compensation end up going after deep pockets just as they do in any civil action.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t mean to imply that the realtor will fall on the sword for you, however, there is some benefit to their error and omission insurance if a lawsuit does occur. You can never contract away your duties; if a seller is being dishonest they will get nailed with realtor or without.

Does it justify the commission they receive? That’s a different question, but for the vast majority of people who are either too lazy or simply don’t know enough, I think realtors offer great benefit, even if for peace of mind alone. Just my opinion, reasonable minds can differ, JJ.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t mean to imply that the realtor will fall on the sword for you, however, there is some benefit to their error and omission insurance if a lawsuit does occur. You can never contract away your duties; if a seller is being dishonest they will get nailed with realtor or without.

Does it justify the commission they receive? That’s a different question, but for the vast majority of people who are either too lazy or simply don’t know enough, I think realtors offer great benefit, even if for peace of mind alone. Just my opinion, reasonable minds can differ, JJ.

[newguy]

Rustico,
I’ve been quietly just reading this thread to see what people’s thoughts were. An update on the house: As of right now, I’m nearing my close of escrow. I still have two walkthroughs left to make sure everything is fine. The homebuilder (Lennar) has been surprisingly good so far. We’ve shopped around for mortgage rates on our own and Lennar’s preferred loan agency has been competitive (we decided to go with Lennar’s loan agency). They’ve even given us more money for the close of escrow due to the higher interest rates (If you wanted to know, we pay no fees/closing costs/points. All we pay is 5.99% interest on a 15 year loan. I’m sure there are better deals out there, but some of the companies look shady). So all in all, pretty good. As for the paperwork, it didn’t seem all that complicated. Just had to sit down and read most things. It was pretty “standard” as everyone who bought from Lennar has the same paperwork. I’ll let you know if 1, 5, or even 10 years later that I found out I got screwed.

One of the reasons why I posed this question is that I see agents making a lot of money for (in my opinion), doing very little work. One of the RE agents I originally was with said he sold 20-ish homes a year. At even 300K for a home, that’s 180K+ a year. And watching my RE agent, all he does is show me a bunch of homes, write offers, help with the paperwork, etc…something that will probably take 30-40 hours total (could be longer if I never find a house I like). Of course, I’m only guessing and I may be biased against RE agents (I realize that not all agents sell a lot of homes a year, and there are a lot of customers who take up a lot of time and never end up buying/selling a house. And maybe there are some crazy realtor fees of like 50K a year that I don’t know about).

But what struck me was that RE agents never showed me around new homes. As most people here know, homebuilders are the first to slash prices. So why did my RE agent (and I’m guessing the majority of RE agents) not show me around new homes? I’m guessing it’s because most homebuilders (at least the ones I’ve been to) offer RE agents a fixed amount (something like 8-10K), which is about half of their usual 3% commission. This has lead me to believe that RE agents’ best interest is…themselves.

In general (to me), it seems like for a buyer, an agent is pretty much useless. However, as a seller, an agent can be pretty powerful with tools like MLS. But with sites like ziprealty and redfin, it’s looking harder and harder for me to seriously consider RE agents.

Sorry for the long post, but that’s like my train of thought right now. Please feel free to criticize anything I’ve said (whether I jumped in too soon, my loan’s too much, what am I smoking? RE agents are angels, religion will kill us all…) While my RE agent sentiment may be pretty negative, I really like and enjoy how SD R and sdr have contributed to piggington. And if RE commission was more like 1%, I would actually use them.

newguy

[newguy]

Rustico,
I’ve been quietly just reading this thread to see what people’s thoughts were. An update on the house: As of right now, I’m nearing my close of escrow. I still have two walkthroughs left to make sure everything is fine. The homebuilder (Lennar) has been surprisingly good so far. We’ve shopped around for mortgage rates on our own and Lennar’s preferred loan agency has been competitive (we decided to go with Lennar’s loan agency). They’ve even given us more money for the close of escrow due to the higher interest rates (If you wanted to know, we pay no fees/closing costs/points. All we pay is 5.99% interest on a 15 year loan. I’m sure there are better deals out there, but some of the companies look shady). So all in all, pretty good. As for the paperwork, it didn’t seem all that complicated. Just had to sit down and read most things. It was pretty “standard” as everyone who bought from Lennar has the same paperwork. I’ll let you know if 1, 5, or even 10 years later that I found out I got screwed.

One of the reasons why I posed this question is that I see agents making a lot of money for (in my opinion), doing very little work. One of the RE agents I originally was with said he sold 20-ish homes a year. At even 300K for a home, that’s 180K+ a year. And watching my RE agent, all he does is show me a bunch of homes, write offers, help with the paperwork, etc…something that will probably take 30-40 hours total (could be longer if I never find a house I like). Of course, I’m only guessing and I may be biased against RE agents (I realize that not all agents sell a lot of homes a year, and there are a lot of customers who take up a lot of time and never end up buying/selling a house. And maybe there are some crazy realtor fees of like 50K a year that I don’t know about).

But what struck me was that RE agents never showed me around new homes. As most people here know, homebuilders are the first to slash prices. So why did my RE agent (and I’m guessing the majority of RE agents) not show me around new homes? I’m guessing it’s because most homebuilders (at least the ones I’ve been to) offer RE agents a fixed amount (something like 8-10K), which is about half of their usual 3% commission. This has lead me to believe that RE agents’ best interest is…themselves.

In general (to me), it seems like for a buyer, an agent is pretty much useless. However, as a seller, an agent can be pretty powerful with tools like MLS. But with sites like ziprealty and redfin, it’s looking harder and harder for me to seriously consider RE agents.

Sorry for the long post, but that’s like my train of thought right now. Please feel free to criticize anything I’ve said (whether I jumped in too soon, my loan’s too much, what am I smoking? RE agents are angels, religion will kill us all…) While my RE agent sentiment may be pretty negative, I really like and enjoy how SD R and sdr have contributed to piggington. And if RE commission was more like 1%, I would actually use them.

newguy

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