Realtor Commission

[sdrealtor]

Mike
The vast majority of top quality agents dont work in the flat fee environment and are not able to accept one. How much they would accept is irrelavent because they arent able to accept flat fees.

The house esmith is in escrow on is a good example. The listing agent was lousy (maybe one of the worst I have encountered) and prevented the sale from being completed much sooner at a higher price. Ultimately that worked to esmith’s advantage not the bank that will bear the brunt of his incompetence in this case.

The additional effort it takes to sell a 1.5M house is greatly due to the sellers ego who add marketing costs because they want to see their home advertised in the UT, Dream Homes and other useless publications.

[cabal]

[quote=Rustico]
Cabal, With the sale you are disappointed with, did you pay 4% total or just to the listing agent? There are a lot of ways to do things. I guess you don’t want to do a FSBO. [/quote]

On that sale, we paid a total of 4%. He was the listing and buyer agent. The entire process lasted 3 weeks, from initial contact to close of escrow. He did recommend new carpet throughout, painting, minor repairs, etc and we reluctantly agreed. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary since it was a strong sellers market and the house would have sold as-is for the same price; a nice 10K lesson. Turned out the carpet guy and repair crews were his buddies and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a kick back.

I have done a FSBO before in my younger days and the transaction went smoothly. I don’t want to do a FSBO now simply due to a lack of time resulting from the demands of my job.

As far defining a fair flat fee for the listing agent, I have no idea. I look to the Pigg experts for advice. If I can find an agent that I can trust 100%, I would hire him/her in a second and pay top commission. Unfortunately, my limited interactions with realtors have not been the best experiences, sometimes adversarial and cordial at best. In my experience with the buying/selling of 5 homes, I’ve found their only interest is self-interest in closing quickly and getting that commission check. Even the so called “high powered” agents with the polished presentation who seem to dominate a certain region offer no greater integrity. It’s amazing the unethical stories they will tell when you speak to them in a social function after a few drinks.

[cabal]

[quote=Rustico]
Cabal, With the sale you are disappointed with, did you pay 4% total or just to the listing agent? There are a lot of ways to do things. I guess you don’t want to do a FSBO. [/quote]

On that sale, we paid a total of 4%. He was the listing and buyer agent. The entire process lasted 3 weeks, from initial contact to close of escrow. He did recommend new carpet throughout, painting, minor repairs, etc and we reluctantly agreed. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary since it was a strong sellers market and the house would have sold as-is for the same price; a nice 10K lesson. Turned out the carpet guy and repair crews were his buddies and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a kick back.

I have done a FSBO before in my younger days and the transaction went smoothly. I don’t want to do a FSBO now simply due to a lack of time resulting from the demands of my job.

As far defining a fair flat fee for the listing agent, I have no idea. I look to the Pigg experts for advice. If I can find an agent that I can trust 100%, I would hire him/her in a second and pay top commission. Unfortunately, my limited interactions with realtors have not been the best experiences, sometimes adversarial and cordial at best. In my experience with the buying/selling of 5 homes, I’ve found their only interest is self-interest in closing quickly and getting that commission check. Even the so called “high powered” agents with the polished presentation who seem to dominate a certain region offer no greater integrity. It’s amazing the unethical stories they will tell when you speak to them in a social function after a few drinks.

[cabal]

[quote=Rustico]
Cabal, With the sale you are disappointed with, did you pay 4% total or just to the listing agent? There are a lot of ways to do things. I guess you don’t want to do a FSBO. [/quote]

On that sale, we paid a total of 4%. He was the listing and buyer agent. The entire process lasted 3 weeks, from initial contact to close of escrow. He did recommend new carpet throughout, painting, minor repairs, etc and we reluctantly agreed. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary since it was a strong sellers market and the house would have sold as-is for the same price; a nice 10K lesson. Turned out the carpet guy and repair crews were his buddies and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a kick back.

I have done a FSBO before in my younger days and the transaction went smoothly. I don’t want to do a FSBO now simply due to a lack of time resulting from the demands of my job.

As far defining a fair flat fee for the listing agent, I have no idea. I look to the Pigg experts for advice. If I can find an agent that I can trust 100%, I would hire him/her in a second and pay top commission. Unfortunately, my limited interactions with realtors have not been the best experiences, sometimes adversarial and cordial at best. In my experience with the buying/selling of 5 homes, I’ve found their only interest is self-interest in closing quickly and getting that commission check. Even the so called “high powered” agents with the polished presentation who seem to dominate a certain region offer no greater integrity. It’s amazing the unethical stories they will tell when you speak to them in a social function after a few drinks.

[cabal]

[quote=Rustico]
Cabal, With the sale you are disappointed with, did you pay 4% total or just to the listing agent? There are a lot of ways to do things. I guess you don’t want to do a FSBO. [/quote]

On that sale, we paid a total of 4%. He was the listing and buyer agent. The entire process lasted 3 weeks, from initial contact to close of escrow. He did recommend new carpet throughout, painting, minor repairs, etc and we reluctantly agreed. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary since it was a strong sellers market and the house would have sold as-is for the same price; a nice 10K lesson. Turned out the carpet guy and repair crews were his buddies and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a kick back.

I have done a FSBO before in my younger days and the transaction went smoothly. I don’t want to do a FSBO now simply due to a lack of time resulting from the demands of my job.

As far defining a fair flat fee for the listing agent, I have no idea. I look to the Pigg experts for advice. If I can find an agent that I can trust 100%, I would hire him/her in a second and pay top commission. Unfortunately, my limited interactions with realtors have not been the best experiences, sometimes adversarial and cordial at best. In my experience with the buying/selling of 5 homes, I’ve found their only interest is self-interest in closing quickly and getting that commission check. Even the so called “high powered” agents with the polished presentation who seem to dominate a certain region offer no greater integrity. It’s amazing the unethical stories they will tell when you speak to them in a social function after a few drinks.

[cabal]

[quote=Rustico]
Cabal, With the sale you are disappointed with, did you pay 4% total or just to the listing agent? There are a lot of ways to do things. I guess you don’t want to do a FSBO. [/quote]

On that sale, we paid a total of 4%. He was the listing and buyer agent. The entire process lasted 3 weeks, from initial contact to close of escrow. He did recommend new carpet throughout, painting, minor repairs, etc and we reluctantly agreed. In retrospect, it was probably unnecessary since it was a strong sellers market and the house would have sold as-is for the same price; a nice 10K lesson. Turned out the carpet guy and repair crews were his buddies and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a kick back.

I have done a FSBO before in my younger days and the transaction went smoothly. I don’t want to do a FSBO now simply due to a lack of time resulting from the demands of my job.

As far defining a fair flat fee for the listing agent, I have no idea. I look to the Pigg experts for advice. If I can find an agent that I can trust 100%, I would hire him/her in a second and pay top commission. Unfortunately, my limited interactions with realtors have not been the best experiences, sometimes adversarial and cordial at best. In my experience with the buying/selling of 5 homes, I’ve found their only interest is self-interest in closing quickly and getting that commission check. Even the so called “high powered” agents with the polished presentation who seem to dominate a certain region offer no greater integrity. It’s amazing the unethical stories they will tell when you speak to them in a social function after a few drinks.

[sdrealtor]

Cabal
Agreed that most (but not all) of us are terribly self-interested. There are some of us out there, its just not always so easy to find us. While I typically am very much a partner to my clients, i often find that I have to be adversarial at times. 6 months ago I had a listing that the seller insisted she get a certain price for. I knew she couldnt get it. We got a great cash offer and I worked her really hard to accept because I firmly believed it was in her best interest to do so even so she couldnt see through to understand that. She fought me the whole way through the transaction and it would have been much easier to give in to her and her self-interest. She now calls me on a weekly basis to thank me for doing what I knew had to be done even though she couldnt see it at the time. She has since referred her 2 best friends to me.

All the unethical stories I tell after a few drinks involve crap my clients, other buyers/sellers and agents tried to pull. Its amazing what people think they can get away with.

[sdrealtor]

Cabal
Agreed that most (but not all) of us are terribly self-interested. There are some of us out there, its just not always so easy to find us. While I typically am very much a partner to my clients, i often find that I have to be adversarial at times. 6 months ago I had a listing that the seller insisted she get a certain price for. I knew she couldnt get it. We got a great cash offer and I worked her really hard to accept because I firmly believed it was in her best interest to do so even so she couldnt see through to understand that. She fought me the whole way through the transaction and it would have been much easier to give in to her and her self-interest. She now calls me on a weekly basis to thank me for doing what I knew had to be done even though she couldnt see it at the time. She has since referred her 2 best friends to me.

All the unethical stories I tell after a few drinks involve crap my clients, other buyers/sellers and agents tried to pull. Its amazing what people think they can get away with.

[sdrealtor]

Cabal
Agreed that most (but not all) of us are terribly self-interested. There are some of us out there, its just not always so easy to find us. While I typically am very much a partner to my clients, i often find that I have to be adversarial at times. 6 months ago I had a listing that the seller insisted she get a certain price for. I knew she couldnt get it. We got a great cash offer and I worked her really hard to accept because I firmly believed it was in her best interest to do so even so she couldnt see through to understand that. She fought me the whole way through the transaction and it would have been much easier to give in to her and her self-interest. She now calls me on a weekly basis to thank me for doing what I knew had to be done even though she couldnt see it at the time. She has since referred her 2 best friends to me.

All the unethical stories I tell after a few drinks involve crap my clients, other buyers/sellers and agents tried to pull. Its amazing what people think they can get away with.

[sdrealtor]

Cabal
Agreed that most (but not all) of us are terribly self-interested. There are some of us out there, its just not always so easy to find us. While I typically am very much a partner to my clients, i often find that I have to be adversarial at times. 6 months ago I had a listing that the seller insisted she get a certain price for. I knew she couldnt get it. We got a great cash offer and I worked her really hard to accept because I firmly believed it was in her best interest to do so even so she couldnt see through to understand that. She fought me the whole way through the transaction and it would have been much easier to give in to her and her self-interest. She now calls me on a weekly basis to thank me for doing what I knew had to be done even though she couldnt see it at the time. She has since referred her 2 best friends to me.

All the unethical stories I tell after a few drinks involve crap my clients, other buyers/sellers and agents tried to pull. Its amazing what people think they can get away with.

[sdrealtor]

Cabal
Agreed that most (but not all) of us are terribly self-interested. There are some of us out there, its just not always so easy to find us. While I typically am very much a partner to my clients, i often find that I have to be adversarial at times. 6 months ago I had a listing that the seller insisted she get a certain price for. I knew she couldnt get it. We got a great cash offer and I worked her really hard to accept because I firmly believed it was in her best interest to do so even so she couldnt see through to understand that. She fought me the whole way through the transaction and it would have been much easier to give in to her and her self-interest. She now calls me on a weekly basis to thank me for doing what I knew had to be done even though she couldnt see it at the time. She has since referred her 2 best friends to me.

All the unethical stories I tell after a few drinks involve crap my clients, other buyers/sellers and agents tried to pull. Its amazing what people think they can get away with.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=sdrealtor]UR,
You misquoted me. I didnt say an agents job starts when the offer is received, I said a “GOOD” agents job start then. Any tool in the shed can list a property and get an offer (just keep lowering the price), a good agent will help guide you through wether it is a good offer, whether it is a viable buyer, will keep that buyer in line, will keep the transaction moving forward, knows when to push and when to give in and can solve problems. A failed escrow can cost you alot of money in this market as the best offers tend to come first and we are in a downward trejectory. A good agent will get rid of a buyer that will not perform sooner than later.

sdr[/quote]
Fair enough.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=sdrealtor]UR,
You misquoted me. I didnt say an agents job starts when the offer is received, I said a “GOOD” agents job start then. Any tool in the shed can list a property and get an offer (just keep lowering the price), a good agent will help guide you through wether it is a good offer, whether it is a viable buyer, will keep that buyer in line, will keep the transaction moving forward, knows when to push and when to give in and can solve problems. A failed escrow can cost you alot of money in this market as the best offers tend to come first and we are in a downward trejectory. A good agent will get rid of a buyer that will not perform sooner than later.

sdr[/quote]
Fair enough.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=sdrealtor]UR,
You misquoted me. I didnt say an agents job starts when the offer is received, I said a “GOOD” agents job start then. Any tool in the shed can list a property and get an offer (just keep lowering the price), a good agent will help guide you through wether it is a good offer, whether it is a viable buyer, will keep that buyer in line, will keep the transaction moving forward, knows when to push and when to give in and can solve problems. A failed escrow can cost you alot of money in this market as the best offers tend to come first and we are in a downward trejectory. A good agent will get rid of a buyer that will not perform sooner than later.

sdr[/quote]
Fair enough.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=sdrealtor]UR,
You misquoted me. I didnt say an agents job starts when the offer is received, I said a “GOOD” agents job start then. Any tool in the shed can list a property and get an offer (just keep lowering the price), a good agent will help guide you through wether it is a good offer, whether it is a viable buyer, will keep that buyer in line, will keep the transaction moving forward, knows when to push and when to give in and can solve problems. A failed escrow can cost you alot of money in this market as the best offers tend to come first and we are in a downward trejectory. A good agent will get rid of a buyer that will not perform sooner than later.

sdr[/quote]
Fair enough.

[Author]

Posts