What does new realtor fees mean for buyers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FHA and VA borrowers will probably have to pay commissions out of pocket. It remains to be seen what will happen with traditional mortgages. I think there will be low cost, fee only, buyers agents popping up. It's one thing if the commission is rolled into the closing and the buyer never really feels it, but someone looking for their first home has to cut a $12,500 check for a 500k purchase, the will start to question the value of the service.

I’m sorry but why should realtor commissions be baked into the closing?? And 12,500 is extreme. How many hours and houses did the buyers see? Do you realize how many hours that is? Moving costs can’t be rolled in so I expect realtor costs won’t be either.

I think instead buyers will just use their title company’s real estate lawyer to draft the documents. This is what I’ve done and it was like $1500. Buyers will go to open houses to view and more open houses will be common.

$12,500 is 2.5% on a 500k sale. Once buyers actually feel it instead of having it baked into closing, that number is going to crash

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight.

I agree open houses may expand, but as a serious buyer I never liked open houses. If I’m looking at purchasing a $1m+ home, I’d much rather pay an approved tour person $75 or something to be able to tour it privately without a dozen other people shuffling around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight.

I agree open houses may expand, but as a serious buyer I never liked open houses. If I’m looking at purchasing a $1m+ home, I’d much rather pay an approved tour person $75 or something to be able to tour it privately without a dozen other people shuffling around.

i'd assume more open houses and also more "virtual tours" like redfin has-- so that you only bother paying for the private tours for the houses you're super interested in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight.

I agree open houses may expand, but as a serious buyer I never liked open houses. If I’m looking at purchasing a $1m+ home, I’d much rather pay an approved tour person $75 or something to be able to tour it privately without a dozen other people shuffling around.

You can just ask the sellers agent to give you the private tour at no charge. Buyers do this now. No need to pay additional money when the seller is already paying a realtor to sell their home.

I've done it several times as a buyer without representation and no realtor has ever said no. We bought our last home after doing this, so we're serious buyers too.

Some people on this board are really grasping at straws to manufacture "problems" with this new ruling. I think I know which profession they're in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight.

I agree open houses may expand, but as a serious buyer I never liked open houses. If I’m looking at purchasing a $1m+ home, I’d much rather pay an approved tour person $75 or something to be able to tour it privately without a dozen other people shuffling around.

You can just ask the sellers agent to give you the private tour at no charge. Buyers do this now. No need to pay additional money when the seller is already paying a realtor to sell their home.

I've done it several times as a buyer without representation and no realtor has ever said no. We bought our last home after doing this, so we're serious buyers too.

Some people on this board are really grasping at straws to manufacture "problems" with this new ruling. I think I know which profession they're in.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight.

I agree open houses may expand, but as a serious buyer I never liked open houses. If I’m looking at purchasing a $1m+ home, I’d much rather pay an approved tour person $75 or something to be able to tour it privately without a dozen other people shuffling around.

You can just ask the sellers agent to give you the private tour at no charge. Buyers do this now. No need to pay additional money when the seller is already paying a realtor to sell their home.

I've done it several times as a buyer without representation and no realtor has ever said no. We bought our last home after doing this, so we're serious buyers too.

Some people on this board are really grasping at straws to manufacture "problems" with this new ruling. I think I know which profession they're in.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight. Buyers can walk through the houses without paying an agent and then work directly with the listing agent to write the contract if they don't want to pay a buyer agent. NAR has sold the idea that buyers need an agent to represent them to support the current commission structure, but they really don't. I just wrote a contract for a friend who was buying his neighbor's house. I told him what to do and he did it. Maybe it took 3 hours tops. I am a high volume producer, and my broker gives me lots of leeway to do what I want. Rather than pay me, I asked him to donate $1,000 to a charity I support.

NP. I really like the open house model and unlike pp I have no problem with it. In fact, crowd sourcing things (in this case, overhearing someone saying, "honey, did you see all the mold in the bathroom?") is something I always go for when I can.

But what incentive do selling agents have to move to more open houses? Don't they all have colleagues in their companies who are on the buyers' end, and the company won't want to cut out that half of their business? Perhaps it's more that, as buyers forego paying $12.5k in pp's example, sellers will need to do open houses if they want to reach a larger segment of buyers.

[Anonymous]

I hope not to have to buy a house again for many years but I hate going to open houses. Especially in recent years. I don’t want that to be the norm going forward. Surely there’s a better way than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope not to have to buy a house again for many years but I hate going to open houses. Especially in recent years. I don’t want that to be the norm going forward. Surely there’s a better way than that.

Here's a crazy idea: the seller's agent can use any of the many programs out there that allow people to book appointments online. For example, Calendly is popular with many professionals. If your doctor or hairdresser can allow online bookings, so can a real estate agent. Or they can be old fashioned and do it manually. Either way, it's not that difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight. Buyers can walk through the houses without paying an agent and then work directly with the listing agent to write the contract if they don't want to pay a buyer agent. NAR has sold the idea that buyers need an agent to represent them to support the current commission structure, but they really don't. I just wrote a contract for a friend who was buying his neighbor's house. I told him what to do and he did it. Maybe it took 3 hours tops. I am a high volume producer, and my broker gives me lots of leeway to do what I want. Rather than pay me, I asked him to donate $1,000 to a charity I support.

Am I correct that the split can’t be listed on the mls, but can still be worked out between agents off of the mls? Most agents deal with buyers, so won’t seller-agents, (concerned about their own futures w/the bulk of their $$ coming from their future buyer clients), “play nice” and agree to split the fees off of the mls? Of course the sellers will have to agree, but I predict not too much is going to change. Obviously, I could be completely wrong here, I guess we’ll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight. Buyers can walk through the houses without paying an agent and then work directly with the listing agent to write the contract if they don't want to pay a buyer agent. NAR has sold the idea that buyers need an agent to represent them to support the current commission structure, but they really don't. I just wrote a contract for a friend who was buying his neighbor's house. I told him what to do and he did it. Maybe it took 3 hours tops. I am a high volume producer, and my broker gives me lots of leeway to do what I want. Rather than pay me, I asked him to donate $1,000 to a charity I support.

Am I correct that the split can’t be listed on the mls, but can still be worked out between agents off of the mls? Most agents deal with buyers, so won’t seller-agents, (concerned about their own futures w/the bulk of their $$ coming from their future buyer clients), “play nice” and agree to split the fees off of the mls? Of course the sellers will have to agree, but I predict not too much is going to change. Obviously, I could be completely wrong here, I guess we’ll see.

Same responder from above. To clarify further, will we see a bunch of links to websites for houses w/the split listed. So, not via mls, but commission splits are still out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight. Buyers can walk through the houses without paying an agent and then work directly with the listing agent to write the contract if they don't want to pay a buyer agent. NAR has sold the idea that buyers need an agent to represent them to support the current commission structure, but they really don't. I just wrote a contract for a friend who was buying his neighbor's house. I told him what to do and he did it. Maybe it took 3 hours tops. I am a high volume producer, and my broker gives me lots of leeway to do what I want. Rather than pay me, I asked him to donate $1,000 to a charity I support.

Am I correct that the split can’t be listed on the mls, but can still be worked out between agents off of the mls? Most agents deal with buyers, so won’t seller-agents, (concerned about their own futures w/the bulk of their $$ coming from their future buyer clients), “play nice” and agree to split the fees off of the mls? Of course the sellers will have to agree, but I predict not too much is going to change. Obviously, I could be completely wrong here, I guess we’ll see.

Same responder from above. To clarify further, will we see a bunch of links to websites for houses w/the split listed. So, not via mls, but commission splits are still out there?

That would be a very dumb thing to do legally. Just opening yourself up to a lawsuit. The settlement specifically disallows listing commission splits. If you just do it on a separate website, that's still in violation.

What I do think will happen, especially at first, is verbal agreements between agents, especially in smaller or tightly knit areas where they know each other. Nothing written down, harder to collect a body of evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I first started looking (a few years ago), it seemed that open houses were the norm. But these days you often need an agent just to walk through the house. Will that will change?

Think open houses will be more important and the days and times may change. Some agents are already doing open houses on Friday from 4 to 6 pm or 5 to 7 pm depending on daylight. Buyers can walk through the houses without paying an agent and then work directly with the listing agent to write the contract if they don't want to pay a buyer agent. NAR has sold the idea that buyers need an agent to represent them to support the current commission structure, but they really don't. I just wrote a contract for a friend who was buying his neighbor's house. I told him what to do and he did it. Maybe it took 3 hours tops. I am a high volume producer, and my broker gives me lots of leeway to do what I want. Rather than pay me, I asked him to donate $1,000 to a charity I support.

Am I correct that the split can’t be listed on the mls, but can still be worked out between agents off of the mls? Most agents deal with buyers, so won’t seller-agents, (concerned about their own futures w/the bulk of their $$ coming from their future buyer clients), “play nice” and agree to split the fees off of the mls? Of course the sellers will have to agree, but I predict not too much is going to change. Obviously, I could be completely wrong here, I guess we’ll see.

Same responder from above. To clarify further, will we see a bunch of links to websites for houses w/the split listed. So, not via mls, but commission splits are still out there?

That would be a very dumb thing to do legally. Just opening yourself up to a lawsuit. The settlement specifically disallows listing commission splits. If you just do it on a separate website, that's still in violation.

What I do think will happen, especially at first, is verbal agreements between agents, especially in smaller or tightly knit areas where they know each other. Nothing written down, harder to collect a body of evidence.

You're wrong. MLS is the only place where buyers' agents' commissions can't be listed. Stop spreading false information when you don't know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous]

Go to an open house or look at pictures online or a house you want to buy. Submit an offer using a realtor service ($50) or a real estate lawyer. I typically engage a real estate lawyer once the offer is accepted and they look through the contract.

What remains to be seen is whether house prices will be 3% less. Seems to me they’ll stay the same even when the seller isn’t paying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to an open house or look at pictures online or a house you want to buy. Submit an offer using a realtor service ($50) or a real estate lawyer. I typically engage a real estate lawyer once the offer is accepted and they look through the contract.

What remains to be seen is whether house prices will be 3% less. Seems to me they’ll stay the same even when the seller isn’t paying.

The way I would phrase this is that it remains to be seen if buyers offer 3% less. I know that’s the same thing, but it clarifies the driving factor. And it depends on if buyers adapt by reducing the cut they pay to agents, or if agents con them into continuing to pay more than their services warrant.