I am about to close on my first home and I am still trying to figure out why I am giving a realtor 6% comission to push a few papers around and to unlock some doors for me. I have come to the realization that realtors are absolutely worthless. Im just venting, but I would like to hear some thoughts without going to chit chat.

1/23/2012 10:34:13 PM

because you are going to push those closing costs onto the person selling you the house because the housing market sucks right now and they are dying to sell their house.

1/23/2012 10:35:17 PM

The seller is only paying 500 of closing. Still leaving us with about 4000 at closing. Like I said, im a first time buyer, I did my research, but still feel like im getting screwed. I feel like I could have done everything that the realtor has done if the realtors didnt have the game on lock.

[Edited on January 23, 2012 at 10:41 PM. Reason : kj]

1/23/2012 10:41:19 PM

Ask yourself: Who else is showing up to the closing with money besides you, the buyer? Of course the buyer bears some of the burden of realtor fees. If the seller was willing to sell for x minus 6%, then if they hadn't listed through a realtor you could buy the house for somewhere between x and x minus 6%.

If they've listed through an MLS agent there isn't much you can do about the sellers 3%. You can try to get a discount buyers agent to get back part of the buyers 3%, you should be able to find a rebate somewhere in the range of 1.5-2%.

1/23/2012 10:59:56 PM

isn't it a little bit late to ask this question? Also, the seller is paying the realtors, not you.

1/23/2012 11:13:14 PM

^ I understand what your saying, I just dont understand why I ( the buyer) couldnt go straight to the seller ( the US govornment) and negotiate a price, and make the deal. I realize that I am not seeing every bit of the work that the realtor has done, but I would bet that he hasnt put in more than 4 hours on my deal. His comission is a little over $6000.




^ It is too late to be asking, and I am paying the realtors comission either way

[Edited on January 23, 2012 at 11:17 PM. Reason : d]

1/23/2012 11:16:00 PM

Completely anecdotal evidence, but I thought I saw a study at one point that said you actually sell your home faster and for more $$$ with a realtor...so much so that it's worthwhile to list with a realtor.

Now, this obviously is shitty evidence and I'm not researching it further, so its not worth much. It's also entirely possible this study was done by the National Association of Realtors

1/23/2012 11:30:25 PM

Not sure why you would employ a realtor as a buyer, as a seller it helps to have somebody showing the house, tracking down buyers, doing the listing, handling paperwork, etc.

1/23/2012 11:36:01 PM

i've never pursued buying a house, but in the back of my mind i always figured i'd go through a realtor. seems like you'd have access to a lot more properties to find exactly what you want, and someone experienced to help walk you through a complicated process.

at the same time, i always figured it was the seller that paid the brunt of the realtor fees, not the buyer. maybe i'm naive.

1/24/2012 12:08:18 AM

I used a Realtor. Helped out a lot.

I gave her ideas of what I wanted, how much I wanted to spend, and location. She then looked it up and found out places for me.

I found it very helpful. My property manager is from the same realtor company.

1/24/2012 1:40:45 AM

I got the seller to pay the entire commission. It helped that she was in a hurry to sell, but in this market it should be pretty easy to get most of the costs covered.

With that said, as a first-time buyer my realtor's help was invaluable. Over the course of a couple months we looked at almost two dozens places, and he was always available to answer my questions (at least three hour-long phone calls, for instance) and lightning-fast on getting negotiations done. Hell, he even looked at three houses for me when I was out of town and saved me a trip to two of them.

I understand why someone might not use a realtor, but if you get a good one, they're certainly worth their fee, especially if you can get someone else to pay it.

1/24/2012 2:45:22 AM

Quote :

"isn't it a little bit late to ask this question? Also, the seller is paying the realtors, not you."

And the cost of the realtor is built into the cost. I tried purchasing a house without one and it was much more of a hassle than you would think. Maybe the OP just found a bad one.

1/24/2012 6:58:04 AM

My opinions on realtors as a buyer:

1.) A good realtor will help once you get to the 200 pages of documents phase of purchasing, particularly if it's not a standard sale.

2.) They're not particularly useful until you're ready to make an offer. Everything about finding and looking at a house, looking at purchase history, looking at comparables, etc is pretty easy (or should be, see 4) using free websites.

3.) The amount of people that say "The seller pays for your realtor, it's free!!!!" astound me. A lot of the time it's the same people that understand a car dealerships shell games.

4.) The most important reason to use a realtor is that the industry pressures you into it. The cost of a home is too great to risk having seller's realtors shun you. On top of that it's hard to reduce the price of the home or collect the commission that would go to the buyers agent due to rules protecting their boondoggle.

All just my opinion after researching buying without a realtor a few months ago before caving.

1/24/2012 7:01:30 AM

Quote :

"I realize that I am not seeing every bit of the work that the realtor has done"

Realistically, this. You're basically standing at the finish line of a process and looking back once the effort is done is a lot easier than staring it down from the front end. The typical real estate transaction involves a hell of a lot more besides "push a few papers & unlock some doors" to make your transition to property ownership as easy and as painless as possible.

1/24/2012 7:18:53 AM

Personally I'm really glad we used a buyer's agent. We ended up looking at A LOT of houses before finally closing on one and she made the entire process very easy as far as looking goes. Also, she was able to deal with this one batshit crazy seller's agent on a house we put a bid on without us ever having to talk to the douchebag when we didn't want to. Dude was seriously cray cray and I'm glad we walked away from that house. She was also really good about making sure we not only looked at the front end, buying the house, but also the back end, selling the house one day in the future. She would bring up all sorts of things that could affect future sale of the house that I wouldn't have even thought about necessarily.

But I think we just had a really good agent. If she hadn't been so proactive about working for us, then I would have thought a buyer's agent was a waste of time. I also think that buyer's agents are worth it when you're dealing with an agent to agent sale. Seller's agents are more willing to work with buyer's agents than the buyers directly. Just the way the industry seems to work. In a foreclosure situation or if it's a for sale by owner I don't really see the point of hiring an agent. In those cases you're just better off paying a real estate lawyer to look over all the documents for you before closing.

Quote :

"The seller is only paying 500 of closing. Still leaving us with about 4000 at closing. Like I said, im a first time buyer, I did my research, but still feel like im getting screwed. I feel like I could have done everything that the realtor has done if the realtors didnt have the game on lock."

Is it a foreclosure? Because we put bids on four places before closing and the only one where none of our closing costs were included in the price was a foreclosure. If you're buying from a regular old seller then your agent apparently didn't do a great job of negotiating.

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 7:32 AM. Reason : a]

1/24/2012 7:26:13 AM

we had a really good buyer's agent and definitely would not have gotten the house we got without her There were a lot of hurdles with the house we were trying to purchase and she basically ended up stepping up and doing the work that the seller's agents were too lazy to do as well as her own work to make sure we got the house in the strict time frame we had. She took care of a lot of stuff that my wife and I did not have time to do due to work at the time.

1/24/2012 7:52:30 AM

If you, the buyer, are having to pay a realtor's commission, then you are doing it wrong.

And if you're only getting $500 in closing costs, then your realtor didn't do a good job.

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 7:56 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2012 7:55:29 AM

Quote :

"If you, the buyer, are having to pay a realtor's commission, then you are doing it wrong. And if you're only getting $500 in closing costs, then your realtor didn't do a good job."

this

that said, i found, negotiated for, and bought my house without a real estate agent on either side of the agreement...a lawyer was required for closing...i had my dad (a contractor) review the house twice before i made an offer and had a licensed inspector check out the house before the deal was done

i won't say that realtors are useless, but i think they're far less "necessary" than they were 10-20 years ago...i'd use a realtor in a heartbeat if i were moving to an area i was completely unfamiliar with

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 8:10 AM. Reason : grammar]

1/24/2012 8:09:09 AM

I'm glad that I contacted a realtor to find a house... getting a lot more hits on MLS than public websites.

1/24/2012 8:19:31 AM

^ This too. Our realtor found all sorts of houses that met our interests on MLS that weren't coming up on my searches.

1/24/2012 8:46:34 AM

You (OP) also failed by not getting your 1% rebate....

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 8:54 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2012 8:54:15 AM

Quote :

"If you, the buyer, are having to pay a realtor's commission, then you are doing it wrong."

Yeah. Lucky, why do you think you are paying the realtor anything? You shouldnt. The realtor's cut is taken out of, and not added to, the purchase price of a home. UNLESS YOU ARE BUYING A FOR SALE BY OWNER, AND THEY WONT PAY YOUR REALTOR'S FEE. In which case, you are making a foolish decision to buy that home.

1/24/2012 9:43:39 AM

Also how exactly is one realtor getting all 6%? - Are you dealing directly with the list agent? If so, that is your fault.

Your post sounds ignorant as well. It requires gas, insurance, licensing fees, monthly dues, professional insurance, realtor fees, advertising costs, and more for that realtor to get out there to "unlock some doors". You could probably make a case that sometimes you overpay your mechanic, plumber, delivery driver, mover, lawyer, painter, landscaper, etc. These are all things you could do yourself, but sometimes its better to deal with someone that makes a specific thing their profession.

1/24/2012 9:55:21 AM

Quote :

"Not sure why you would employ a realtor as a buyer, as a seller it helps to have somebody showing the house, tracking down buyers, doing the listing, handling paperwork, etc."

Not sure why you wouldn't.
When a person lists their home with a realtor they agree to pay a percentage of the sale to them. It's generally 6%, but some realtors are discounting that these days. Both the buyer's agent and the seller's agent are paid out of that percentage. If you choose not to have a realtor the seller's agent just gets the full 6% for himself. Meanwhile you have a professional agent working for the seller's best interests and no advocate for your own interests other than yourself.

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 10:01 AM. Reason : s]

1/24/2012 10:00:43 AM

Agreed. My realtor did a lot of work behind the scenes I didn't even know about until I met with the seller's agent before closing. She was quite impressed. Of course, my guy did this work on the side, and it was something he enjoyed, so that probably helped.

1/24/2012 10:07:54 AM

as a buyer, you should use an agent because most of the time, the seller is using one. the seller's agent is working on the seller's best interests...not yours. you need someone to represent you. further, the seller pays the commissions, so it costs you nothing (most of the time. I have no idea what is going on in your situation).

additionally, I promise you dont know half of what you think you know. why in the hell would you not use a professional to help you make the largest investment of your life? I have an active real estate license, but I am not a realtor...I dont buy and sell houses for a living....and I would hire an agent to buy and sell my house.

now, if you hired a shitty one, that is on you.

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 10:12 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2012 10:11:09 AM

Quote :

"Completely anecdotal evidence, but I thought I saw a study at one point that said you actually sell your home faster and for more $$$ with a realtor...so much so that it's worthwhile to list with a realtor."

Quote :

"the seller is using one. the seller's agent is working on the seller's best interests...not yours."

Have ya'll never read Freakonomics? The realtor is working in the realtor's best interests.

1/24/2012 10:16:54 AM

ITT those with pleasant buying experiences should list their buyer's agent(and location) so that other prospective buyers could potentially use them.

1/24/2012 10:18:58 AM

^^ everyone is always working for their own best interests; you don't need a(n overrated) book to tell you that. There are good agents out there who aren't SOLELY working for their own interest. I don't live in NC so my recommendation wouldn't be worth anything to anyone here, but as I stated earlier, our agent was well worth it to us. She was highly recommended by people I work with (many of these engineers also do residential contracting, renting, house flipping on the side...in other words they were experienced in the house-buying process) and I felt she was well worth the small "built-in" fee, especially as a first-time home buyer and the extra baggage that came with purchasing this home.

I was very satisfied with her and gave her name to several other co-workers when asked who we used. They also were satisfied and I know at least one of them referred her to someone else.

Sometimes what is in the realtor's best interest is simultaneously looking after the buyer's best interest by doing good work that leads to getting referrals as opposed to doing the bare minimum while getting their buyer to look at max % sales.

[Edited on January 24, 2012 at 10:40 AM. Reason : ]

1/24/2012 10:31:24 AM

I recommend Sandy English to anyone looking in the Raleigh/Cary area

http://www.sandyenglish.com/

As first time buyers we had no idea what to do or what was going on, Sandy helped immensely. She was always there to answer any questions, she presented us with options and help whenever it was needed. We weren't looking to spend a whole lot, just a nice modest house, but she made us feel like we were her most important clients. Plus she was just a nice lady all around. She took care of everything and I am so glad we had her by our side.

1/24/2012 10:39:23 AM

Quote :

"Have ya'll never read Freakonomics? The realtor is working in the realtor's best interests."

In all businesses, you have good ones who care about their customers and bad ones who only care about being paid. This is not limited to real estate.

1/24/2012 10:41:32 AM

Quote :

"ITT those with pleasant buying experiences should list their buyer's agent(and location) so that other prospective buyers could potentially use them. "

We used Sheri Munter. A++ would use again. http://hpw.com/agent-pages.aspx?AgentMLSID=78306

1/24/2012 10:43:15 AM

my dad is a realtor, and what I gathered was that unless you know the exact home you are buying prior to purchase, then the realtor does a lot of work. Depending on how long you were looking means you used their time and resources. Even if you did know which house, it is sometimes a good thing to have them if you are completely clueless about pricing/ and or potential future problems.

My dad, prob not ALL realtors, and many others try their best to give you good advice too.

Also, don't be fooled, most realtors don't make squat anyway. The realtor also does alot more than what you see, but you don't always need them, they are helpful though.

North Carolina
Buyers and sellers negotiate the closing costs, except that buyers pay the recording costs and sellers pay the document preparation and transfer tax costs.

that is what I know.

1/24/2012 11:10:13 AM

Yeah, I had my house picked out already, but the realtor still knew a lot about the home building process and followed up onsite every few weeks to see the progress. 6% sounds like a lot but I think my friend only pockets .5% It's not bad money when there's only a few hours of work involved but he's had one client who's been looking for over a year. Pretty low roi there...

1/24/2012 11:14:33 AM

Disappointing fact: An architect will design you a home for about the same commission (6%+/-) a realtor takes for finding you one.

1/24/2012 11:29:08 AM

dissapointing fact: car dealers can sell you a brand new version of the used car you just bought.


there is a difference between new and used

1/24/2012 11:33:16 AM

architects dont get paid on commission. they submit a proposal which is either accepted or denied, of which the scope of work can vary greatly.

apples and oranges.

1/24/2012 11:58:53 AM

Thread Derailment

1/24/2012 12:33:53 PM

^^that

1/24/2012 12:48:27 PM

When I bought my house, the seller paid all the closing costs and the realtor commission.

I seriously dont remember paying anything on closing day. That or I had it rolled into my loan...I cant remember, it was over 3 years ago.

1/24/2012 5:29:39 PM

closing on a house at the end of the month and the seller is paying the closing costs and the realtor commission

2/1/2012 11:00:33 PM

My buyer's agent/realtor did an awesome job! Karen Stevenson. Works in the Triangle area. PM me for more info.

2/2/2012 12:06:02 AM

ITT we try to expose the realtor racket

and fail miserably

2/2/2012 1:19:27 AM

2/3/2012 8:19:51 AM

Quote :

"architects dont get paid on commission. they submit a proposal which is either accepted or denied, of which the scope of work can vary greatly. apples and oranges."

Not true. I've worked for residential architects that base their prices directly on a percentage of the estimated building cost. Yeah, it gets written up in a proposal, but it basically worked out to their standard percentage/commission.

2/3/2012 3:25:54 PM

Here are my thoughts from my unique situation.

Buyers agents (from a sellers stand point) - Some are good and some are bad. Most that came to look at our home did not give feed back. Some didn't even get out of the car because of the area. That made me really mad because trying to get a house ready for a showing is not easy especially when you have a new born. If you are too lazy to check out an area (or even be familiar with an area) before you waste everyones time setting up a showing then you are a bad agent. We had some good ones that came through that provided awesome feed back.

The buyers agent that we are dealing with now keeps "losing information" we send her... via email. We had a terrible appraiser that refused to use a comp in the area (for a dumb reason) and the first thing the buyers agent asked us to do was lower our price... we immediately refused because the appraisal was $45k lower than the one we just had done. I feel that if she would have been a little better at her job she would have realized that her client was getting a great deal (proven by what has sold with in 100 yards of here) and not even tested those waters.

Sellers agent - We had a guy come in and look at listing our home. He is considered a good agent because of the amount of homes he has sold(in a neighborhood that basically sells itself). I wanted to keep our home priced at $300k and challenged him to sell it. He said "no, we need to lower it to $285k." Since my wife is an agent we can list our house in MLS through her. We needed him to market it a little better than we could but he wasn't up to the challenge. Basically, you pay them to put it in MLS and some of them make you cool fliers (woo hoo). I wasn't trying to lower it AND give him $17k. We lowered it ourselves and sold it in 2 weeks.

Because I had room to move I would be more willing to give someone a better deal had they not had an agent but my wife has experience in closing sales. Most sellers could care less whether you are represented or not so why not have an agent? Just pick a good one that is familiar with the area you want to be in so they don't waste your time.

If you don't choose to be represented, there are plenty of free websites that allow you to search (detailed criteria but not as detailed as MLS) property pulled right from MLS.


How in the world did this go into talking about architects. FWIW... a lot of architects/designers have an initial hourly consult and you pay per square foot on the final plans.

[Edited on February 3, 2012 at 6:18 PM. Reason : a]

2/3/2012 6:14:02 PM

I've purchased (well, leased from da bank, lulz) 3 homes and sold 2. Of the better agents I dealt with (in particular, the buyers agent representing the people that bought our last place) the ones that seem able to accurately price the homes are the ones that seemed to know the most about the markets (that should be obviously evident I suppose). I bought my first house in Holly Springs for 155k in Aug 2004. When I went to sell it, I did the market research myself and figured we'd list at 179k and I'd be fine with 170. The agent shows up and says we should price the house at 209k. W.T.F.? It was like pulling teeth to get her to agree/admit to a lowering of the price. We got down to 189k but it sat stale at that price for months. I finally had her lower to 179k in the last days of our contract I got 4 new showings and it was sold at 173.

I used this service to sell my second home

http://www.sellingdirectly.com/

You basically pay $500 bucks to get into the MLS system. The agent that came out to my house to measure it, put the sign up, and give "advice" on pricing my home said I should list it at 241 and be happy to take 230. I listed it at 259 and sold it for 251. She asked me if I wanted to come sell real estate in her office.

I've thought off and on about this but there really needs to be a good real estate agent rating site. Does one of these not exist?

2/3/2012 6:41:56 PM

Quote :

"I've thought off and on about this but there really needs to be a good real estate agent rating site. Does one of these not exist?"

Angie's List.

2/3/2012 6:44:36 PM

Don't you have to pay for access to her stuff? The new paradigm is free + ads. I ain't tryna pay money to see reviews, fuck that.

2/3/2012 11:27:56 PM

^ Are you seriously that much of a tight-ass? It costs 40 bucks a year.

You're talking about a potential difference of thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars in buying/selling a home. I'd say that's absolutely money well spent.

The days of commercial services on the internet being free+ads is numbered, and for those of us paying attention, few if any new startups are still pursuing ad revenue as a primary business model.

2/4/2012 2:51:38 AM