Tired buyer's agent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was recently pricing wedding photographers. They want $5,000 or more. Which is ridiculous! They don't add any value! I can get the minister to take photos or my Aunt Sarah! Or maybe I can get second cousin's nieces's son, who's working for a newspaper in Ohio! Hell, we can put those disposable cameras on the tables!

The wedding photography industry has a scheme in place that sets a fee of X% the total cost of the wedding, no matter the skill or effort or services brought by the photographer. An amateur moron with no experience whatsoever gets paid the same as Annie Leibovitz. The fee is there whether you need the service or not. This makes complete economic sense for the industry! Who cares if buyers and sellers of real estate are paying inflated fees! Think about the morons!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

This is fair take, applying to a minority of buyers. We need agents at competitive prices for the minority of buyers who need them. This presently is not the case and is why the majority here is so vocal, as they should be.

But your take is fair. It shouldn't be lost that some people get value from competitively priced, good representation.

[Anonymous]

VA just announced that a buyer agent agreement has to be given to a lender before a VA appraisal can be ordered to ensure the amount the veteran has to pay in commission. This is an important first step in creating transparency for all lenders and appraisers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is reasonable on a buyers side? Folks have been saying use a RE attorney, but if not that route, a flat fee more so than a percentage correct?

Just ask the seller's agent to show you the house. The seller is already paying them to sell the house. I've done this many times and never had a realtor refuse to show me the house.

I bought a house about a month ago, and the seller's agent refused to show me the house. Not my first house purchase. So, I found an agent to open the door and submit the offer for me. For that she made 2%. Ridiculous.

If the response to the settlement that sellers agents refuse to show houses to unrepresented buyers, that will be the next lawsuit.

The days of the unrepresented Buyer are over. Finished. The Listing Agent (Seller's Agent) will show the house. You just have to sign a Buyer agency agreement first. No more free-agent Buyers EXCEPT at Open Houses. No one's showing anything to anyone without an exclusive agreement.

That sounds like the foundation of another lawsuit. The sellers agent has a fiduciary duty to the seller. Refusing to present an offer or even show a house to an unrepresented buyer is a pretty clear breach of that duty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

This is fair take, applying to a minority of buyers. We need agents at competitive prices for the minority of buyers who need them. This presently is not the case and is why the majority here is so vocal, as they should be.

But your take is fair. It shouldn't be lost that some people get value from competitively priced, good representation.

The average home purchase price in the US is 495k, so 1% is $4,950. The average first time buyer in the US is spending less than 250k, so a $2,500 commission. The average FHA price is $358k. Basically, your highest effort niche buyers have commissions that are far lower than average buyers who require much less work are paying. I think decoupling will be great for the average buyers because they require less work and should be able to find cheaper representation. It sucks for buyers who will need more handholding, but they should be the most expensive, not the cheapest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

This is fair take, applying to a minority of buyers. We need agents at competitive prices for the minority of buyers who need them. This presently is not the case and is why the majority here is so vocal, as they should be.

But your take is fair. It shouldn't be lost that some people get value from competitively priced, good representation.

The average home purchase price in the US is 495k, so 1% is $4,950. The average first time buyer in the US is spending less than 250k, so a $2,500 commission. The average FHA price is $358k. Basically, your highest effort niche buyers have commissions that are far lower than average buyers who require much less work are paying. I think decoupling will be great for the average buyers because they require less work and should be able to find cheaper representation. It sucks for buyers who will need more handholding, but they should be the most expensive, not the cheapest.

PP Yes and to the last point, buyers who incur more expense should be more expensive. And agents should be able to compensate themselves accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

NP.

Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal attorney business hours, unless something can't.

This isn't the majority of cases; but these cases exist and create a need for competitively priced competent agents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

Eh. That is assuming that you are the only person looking at the house.

I will just say that agents have less value when market conditions are stable and in balance. During the pandemic market if you didn't have an agent you would have been at a significant disadvantage. 99% chance you would be a person shopping for years and unable to close. Nobody knows where the market is in real time better than active agents.

[Anonymous]

I say 80% of an agents job is managing client expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

Eh. That is assuming that you are the only person looking at the house.

I will just say that agents have less value when market conditions are stable and in balance. During the pandemic market if you didn't have an agent you would have been at a significant disadvantage. 99% chance you would be a person shopping for years and unable to close. Nobody knows where the market is in real time better than active agents.

Maybe before the interwebz. The is so much pricing transparency now that everyone who care to know where the market is can easily find out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

NP.

Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal attorney business hours, unless something can't.

This isn't the majority of cases; but these cases exist and create a need for competitively priced competent agents.

During a simple transaction can you name one thing that would make the agent worth 25k more than the attorney? Just one example

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was recently pricing wedding photographers. They want $5,000 or more. Which is ridiculous! They don't add any value! I can get the minister to take photos or my Aunt Sarah! Or maybe I can get second cousin's nieces's son, who's working for a newspaper in Ohio! Hell, we can put those disposable cameras on the tables!

The wedding photography industry has a scheme in place that sets a fee of X% the total cost of the wedding, no matter the skill or effort or services brought by the photographer. An amateur moron with no experience whatsoever gets paid the same as Annie Leibovitz. The fee is there whether you need the service or not. This makes complete economic sense for the industry! Who cares if buyers and sellers of real estate are paying inflated fees! Think about the morons!

What a terrible analogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I'm paying someone $200/hour, they better have a lot more letters after their name than "B.A."

Well that is what most plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople charge these days. With that said, all of those people perform services that I cannot perform on my own. Not so for real estate agents.

Numerous specialties among agents...short sales, investors, foreclosures, first-time buyers, FHA, probates, navigating programs for first time buyers, negotiations to keep everyone out of court etc. Its not 1 size fits all. Most of the posters here appear to be conventional and high-end buyers and sellers. Coastal elites. Maybe you don't need an agent. But navigating some of the specialty areas and more nuanced aspects of getting a property closed when emotions are HIGH is certainly well served by a good agent. And lawyers don't hand hold at all. You just try calling a lawyer on a Saturday or Sunday or after hours or a holiday about your transaction. Likely they will be MIA. Unlike an agent. In addition to nuances and specialties, don't underestimate the value of the "24/7 on call" accessibility factor one gets with an agent to having a smooth closing. That alone should be considered "time and a half." No agents aren't always needed by the elites, but they are often needed to help protect others.

24/7 availability is overrated. Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal business hours. Just to make numbers simple, if I'm bidding 1M on a property, and I find it myself on zillow or redfin, the agent has to unlock the door for a view, call it two just so I can be sure, draft and present and offer and maybe a counter offer, unlock the door for an inspection, and show up for closing. Is that really 10k worth of work? Right now it's more like 20k.

NP.

Almost every aspect of a sale can be handled during normal attorney business hours, unless something can't.

This isn't the majority of cases; but these cases exist and create a need for competitively priced competent agents.

During a simple transaction can you name one thing that would make the agent worth 25k more than the attorney?

No.

But I was not referring to simple transactions. I was referring to edge-case transactions or the minority of transactions where the buyer needs an agent to do oil changes, reset the wifi, and unclog the drains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was recently pricing wedding photographers. They want $5,000 or more. Which is ridiculous! They don't add any value! I can get the minister to take photos or my Aunt Sarah! Or maybe I can get second cousin's nieces's son, who's working for a newspaper in Ohio! Hell, we can put those disposable cameras on the tables!

The wedding photography industry has a scheme in place that sets a fee of X% the total cost of the wedding, no matter the skill or effort or services brought by the photographer. An amateur moron with no experience whatsoever gets paid the same as Annie Leibovitz. The fee is there whether you need the service or not. This makes complete economic sense for the industry! Who cares if buyers and sellers of real estate are paying inflated fees! Think about the morons!

What a terrible analogy.

What a terrible response to an apt analogy.