Is a realtor essential in a hot market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One the one hand, I do believe I would never have gotten my house without my buyers agent-- not because she knew about it before us (we actually found the open house on our own) but because she helped us prepare a very competitive offer and (I think) sell it to the owner.

On the other, she missed a deadline too-- not sure if she didn't want to risk blowing up the deal. Cost us a few hundred dollars-- nothing major in the scheme of things but mildly annoying.

FWIW, this was a very successful realtor from a major local company.

She didn't pay out of pocket? We had a mistake done on repairs from the inspection contingency, and the listing agent fixed it on her own dime to make sure deal closed on time. Very professional and when we sell we are definitely looking at her to list.

Actually I stated that wrong -- it was a problem with the rent back, so after the deal closed, but we lost our chance to make a claim on the security deposit. (She did not offer to make it good-- I'd still recommend her to a buyer but not necessarily to a seller).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But if you aren't already living in the area and don't know which one or two realtors cut the insider deals, what is he point of losing the thousands of dollars in rebate cash?

How do you identify the realtors in the know??

And honestly, without being on open market you really don't know if you are being screwed, as buyer or seller.

rebate cash?

you can look to see has the most listings/sales in the neighborhood. ask around.

we are real estate junkies and have a good sense of the market in our area. if we couldn't get what we wanted off the market then we would list.

[Anonymous]

I often see FSBO listings on our neighborhood list serves.

[Anonymous]

No. Realtors are never necessary to buy or sell, regardless of the state of the market. One of the greatest cons of the 20th century was the NAR convincing people that buying a house requires anything beyond being able to read at an 8th grade level. It is nice to see that the business model is slowly imploding.

If you are reasonably intelligent, you should "rent" a realtor that gives a huge rebate, handle the search yourself, and get a decent lawyer to review the documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Realtors are never necessary to buy or sell, regardless of the state of the market. One of the greatest cons of the 20th century was the NAR convincing people that buying a house requires anything beyond being able to read at an 8th grade level. It is nice to see that the business model is slowly imploding.

If you are reasonably intelligent, you should "rent" a realtor that gives a huge rebate, handle the search yourself, and get a decent lawyer to review the documents.

What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just sold my home two weeks ago to a buyer using Redfin and it has been a disaster. Neither the first time homebuyer nor his redfin agent know what they are doing. The redfin agent dropped the ball and the buyer missed the deadline for the inspection contingency and has now lost the right to ask us to make repairs for issues that were found. My realtor is doing much of the work and has had to educate the redfin realtor who has no clue what she is doing. I would not advise anyone to use redfin when buying a home. According to my realtor, he has seen the redfin agents lose deals for their clients time and time again. After this experience, I would never take a bid from a redfin buyer. It's not worth the headache.

I don't believe this. Anyone who can read a contract could figure out deadlines. I've bought two homes without realtors at all and didn't have any issues. I've also worked with Redfin. They didn't have one agent helping me, they had a team. Your realtor is making this up to make you think you're lucky to pay her 3%

Oh, my God, the Redfin boosters are so ridiculous. I totally believe it. Experience counts for everything in real estate, and yes, people have trouble meeting deadlines even when they're stated in a contract. You're going to need to come up with a better retort for critics of Redfin than "you must be an agent" or "your agent must be trying to justify himself/herself to you." It's very, very tired. Quit looking at Redfin through rose-colored glasses. In life, you really often do get what you pay for. You want cheap representation? You'll get cheap representation.

No, not an agent. Just an experienced home buyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just sold my home two weeks ago to a buyer using Redfin and it has been a disaster. Neither the first time homebuyer nor his redfin agent know what they are doing. The redfin agent dropped the ball and the buyer missed the deadline for the inspection contingency and has now lost the right to ask us to make repairs for issues that were found. My realtor is doing much of the work and has had to educate the redfin realtor who has no clue what she is doing. I would not advise anyone to use redfin when buying a home. According to my realtor, he has seen the redfin agents lose deals for their clients time and time again. After this experience, I would never take a bid from a redfin buyer. It's not worth the headache.

I don't believe this. Anyone who can read a contract could figure out deadlines. I've bought two homes without realtors at all and didn't have any issues. I've also worked with Redfin. They didn't have one agent helping me, they had a team. Your realtor is making this up to make you think you're lucky to pay her 3%

Oh, my God, the Redfin boosters are so ridiculous. I totally believe it. Experience counts for everything in real estate, and yes, people have trouble meeting deadlines even when they're stated in a contract. You're going to need to come up with a better retort for critics of Redfin than "you must be an agent" or "your agent must be trying to justify himself/herself to you." It's very, very tired. Quit looking at Redfin through rose-colored glasses. In life, you really often do get what you pay for. You want cheap representation? You'll get cheap representation.

No, not an agent. Just an experienced home buyer.

I love how you justify overpaying so much! LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
1) I am not paying my realtor 3%
2) The inspection contingency was indeed missed. They did the inspection, including a mold test, and did not come to us with items to be repaired. They still haven't and the deadline was almost a week ago.
3) It is true that anyone who can read can figure out the deadlines. Perhaps the buyer didn't read it? Either way, it's not my concern, but it did happen.
4) I think that the fact that Redfin uses a team can actually be a problem. There is one top person with many other below him or her. These lower tier people have passed the real estate course, but have yet to do much selling. They do not work on commission, but get a salary. The leader of the team works on commission. The lower tier must prove they can sell or they do not advance and will no longer have a job with redfin.
5) You are welcome to believe what you'd like I simply am offering feedback to the OP that he/she may chose to believe or not.

They are not required to tell you if they don't want anything fixed. Maybe the inspection report came back with only minor things that they would rather fix themselves rather than risk you doing a half assed job. Were there issues that you know of that should be fixed prior to the sale? Anything major should have been disclosed.

[Anonymous]

What's really interesting in our nice neighborhoods are the obvious influx of international, all cash payers who build homes different from the norm.

We've had quite a few such purchase of big home lots in close-in Northern Virginia. I highly doubt the buyers dither with sellers the way most agent represented homeowners do. They know what they want ( land in a nice area) and they are willing to pay for it.

A good land use/real estate attorney for the seller can make it a win/win for everyone without the usual intermediaries.

Not to everyone's taste, but hey, it's business.

[Anonymous]

If you are the buyer in a hot market, yes you need a GOOD realtor. Especially ones that are very well connected and know enough other realtors in particular areas to know about "pocket listings" before they are listed or will get you into a unit before an open house. I just sold in a very hot market and had an awesome realtor who managed 8 offers on the house. He only did pre showings to realtors he knew were serious and not just on a wild goose chase with clueless clients. he was worth every penny. And I got 40k over asking for a condo. So no complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just sold my home two weeks ago to a buyer using Redfin and it has been a disaster. Neither the first time homebuyer nor his redfin agent know what they are doing. The redfin agent dropped the ball and the buyer missed the deadline for the inspection contingency and has now lost the right to ask us to make repairs for issues that were found. My realtor is doing much of the work and has had to educate the redfin realtor who has no clue what she is doing. I would not advise anyone to use redfin when buying a home. According to my realtor, he has seen the redfin agents lose deals for their clients time and time again. After this experience, I would never take a bid from a redfin buyer. It's not worth the headache.

I don't believe this. Anyone who can read a contract could figure out deadlines. I've bought two homes without realtors at all and didn't have any issues. I've also worked with Redfin. They didn't have one agent helping me, they had a team. Your realtor is making this up to make you think you're lucky to pay her 3%

Oh, my God, the Redfin boosters are so ridiculous. I totally believe it. Experience counts for everything in real estate, and yes, people have trouble meeting deadlines even when they're stated in a contract. You're going to need to come up with a better retort for critics of Redfin than "you must be an agent" or "your agent must be trying to justify himself/herself to you." It's very, very tired. Quit looking at Redfin through rose-colored glasses. In life, you really often do get what you pay for. You want cheap representation? You'll get cheap representation.

No, not an agent. Just an experienced home buyer.

I love how you justify overpaying so much! LOL

I didn't overpay. My experienced agent outfoxed the Redfin agent and got my low-ball offer accepted. That more than covered the 150 basis point differential in commission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking to buy in an area with very low inventory. Met a realtor last week who said we should get a realtor, because they know about houses before they go on the market. Is there truth to this? Is it smart to get a realtor in a difficult market? DH wants to just find houses ourselves and use Redfin.

it's my understanding that yes Realtors may know of homes coming up on the market before they actually hit. Also, a realtor will provide you with information regarding the market while providing you with advantages that you may not have if you are doing it on your own. Unless you have purchased before and are well versed on real estate law, I'd recommend a realtor.

[Anonymous]

We just bought our first home last month before it was listed (although not before another couple had heard it was up for sale). Extremely competitive market (U Street).

Could never have done it withour our agent in terms of (1) finding it, (2) dealing with the listing agent (a sociopath that DW would have killed if given the opportunity), and (3) making our offer competitive (both bids were for same amount, although I think our finances were a tick better).

He also talked us out of increasing our offer, which essentially saved us his commission.

I would say that if you're going in all cash, you'd probably be good.

[Anonymous]

The area we bought in has very, very low inventory and the only reason we were able to get a great house at a great price was because of our realtor. If you have a good one who knows the area you are interested in well, it can only be a benefit to you.

[Anonymous]

We bought a house in 22201 last year. That is as hot as it gets, real-estate wise.

We would not have been able to get this (wonderful) house without our agent. She was excellent in finding comps and estimating the competing offers.

Yes, it's expensive to use a non-Redfin buyer's agent but without it we would still be looking for a home.