Is it just not worth using a realtor anymore or was mine just terrible?

[Anonymous]

What's the going rate for a listing agent these days? Last time I bought it was 7% and I know it's dropped since then.

Also, a while ago I read about a court case against agents allegedly colluding to charge the same high rate rate (a cabal as pp put it). Did that ever develop into anything significant?

[Anonymous]

There s as te some terrible agents, OP. You want someone who grew up near the property and is the most in tune with your market, not just some sahm mom agent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the going rate for a listing agent these days? Last time I bought it was 7% and I know it's dropped since then.

Also, a while ago I read about a court case against agents allegedly colluding to charge the same high rate rate (a cabal as pp put it). Did that ever develop into anything significant?

Standard is 6%, newer agents looking for business will do 5%, it’s also 5-4.5% if you have an expensive property.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the 54K was to split between the listing and buying agent. I generally think real estate agents are pretty useless, but my agent when I last sold my house did a good bit of work that I wouldn't want to have done (or had the time to do), and he really only made 2.5% on the sale because the buyer's agent made the other 2.5%. That's really not that much money when you consider staging, marketing, making and returning calls to drum up interest, coordinating the people who do the work to fix it before the sale, etc. Not to mention the overhead of the job. I think some agents make a ton of money, but not many, with the vast majority barely making any.

[Anonymous]

I think for average properties there should be a flat fee option that includes sign, lockbox, photographs, listing, a few open houses, contract review and closing. We sold last year and the agent didn’t show up to our closing. I really do not think the majority of these fees are justified.

[Anonymous]

Most of them are terrible. Interview at least four. Most will slide on fees. If you find a house you like, hire a real estate lawyer. it's that simple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the 54K was to split between the listing and buying agent. I generally think real estate agents are pretty useless, but my agent when I last sold my house did a good bit of work that I wouldn't want to have done (or had the time to do), and he really only made 2.5% on the sale because the buyer's agent made the other 2.5%. That's really not that much money when you consider staging, marketing, making and returning calls to drum up interest, coordinating the people who do the work to fix it before the sale, etc. Not to mention the overhead of the job. I think some agents make a ton of money, but not many, with the vast majority barely making any.

OP here. Yes it was split: 27K to each agent. They virtually staged it, no furniture was brought in. Nothing was coordinated on their end. They just gave us a local recommendation for carpet cleaning who we had to let in and coordinate with. No marketing materials were published. They just put it on the MLS at the lowest price we would take. They called nobody except the offer we accepted. We had 14 showings in 3 days and accepted an offer on day 4 with closing in 20 days. We saw them 3 times total and they live 15 minutes away. I really can't see the value(practically the value of a new car) -at least for the realtor I used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the 54K was to split between the listing and buying agent. I generally think real estate agents are pretty useless, but my agent when I last sold my house did a good bit of work that I wouldn't want to have done (or had the time to do), and he really only made 2.5% on the sale because the buyer's agent made the other 2.5%. That's really not that much money when you consider staging, marketing, making and returning calls to drum up interest, coordinating the people who do the work to fix it before the sale, etc. Not to mention the overhead of the job. I think some agents make a ton of money, but not many, with the vast majority barely making any.

OP here. Yes it was split: 27K to each agent. They virtually staged it, no furniture was brought in. Nothing was coordinated on their end. They just gave us a local recommendation for carpet cleaning who we had to let in and coordinate with. No marketing materials were published. They just put it on the MLS at the lowest price we would take. They called nobody except the offer we accepted. We had 14 showings in 3 days and accepted an offer on day 4 with closing in 20 days. We saw them 3 times total and they live 15 minutes away. I really can't see the value(practically the value of a new car) -at least for the realtor I used.

I think you would have taken at least a $50k haircut selling FSBO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the 54K was to split between the listing and buying agent. I generally think real estate agents are pretty useless, but my agent when I last sold my house did a good bit of work that I wouldn't want to have done (or had the time to do), and he really only made 2.5% on the sale because the buyer's agent made the other 2.5%. That's really not that much money when you consider staging, marketing, making and returning calls to drum up interest, coordinating the people who do the work to fix it before the sale, etc. Not to mention the overhead of the job. I think some agents make a ton of money, but not many, with the vast majority barely making any.

OP here. Yes it was split: 27K to each agent. They virtually staged it, no furniture was brought in. Nothing was coordinated on their end. They just gave us a local recommendation for carpet cleaning who we had to let in and coordinate with. No marketing materials were published. They just put it on the MLS at the lowest price we would take. They called nobody except the offer we accepted. We had 14 showings in 3 days and accepted an offer on day 4 with closing in 20 days. We saw them 3 times total and they live 15 minutes away. I really can't see the value(practically the value of a new car) -at least for the realtor I used.

As follow up we estimated between the photographer who spend 1 hour at our house and the virtual staging/photo editing plus gas maybe they spent $1500 out of pocket. A nice $25500 profit margin wrapped up in 5 weeks from start to finish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like the 54K was to split between the listing and buying agent. I generally think real estate agents are pretty useless, but my agent when I last sold my house did a good bit of work that I wouldn't want to have done (or had the time to do), and he really only made 2.5% on the sale because the buyer's agent made the other 2.5%. That's really not that much money when you consider staging, marketing, making and returning calls to drum up interest, coordinating the people who do the work to fix it before the sale, etc. Not to mention the overhead of the job. I think some agents make a ton of money, but not many, with the vast majority barely making any.

OP here. Yes it was split: 27K to each agent. They virtually staged it, no furniture was brought in. Nothing was coordinated on their end. They just gave us a local recommendation for carpet cleaning who we had to let in and coordinate with. No marketing materials were published. They just put it on the MLS at the lowest price we would take. They called nobody except the offer we accepted. We had 14 showings in 3 days and accepted an offer on day 4 with closing in 20 days. We saw them 3 times total and they live 15 minutes away. I really can't see the value(practically the value of a new car) -at least for the realtor I used.

I think you would have taken at least a $50k haircut selling FSBO.

Clearly you are an agent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just had a crappy agent.

At the end of the day I wouldn’t buy a house FSBO. I think they’re disproportionately cheap and difficult to work with.

Who cares if they're cheap? If you put in an offer and they don't accept, move on to the next house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be happy to buy from a FSBO and sell myself when the time comes. I know more than a real estate agent ($54,000 down the drain!)--the market, how to check recent comps, the neighborhood--and all I need is a good settlement attorney. I do not need any hand holding.

You sound like the typical person who does a FSBO. And yes I'm an agent and have worked with several owners selling their own home when I represented buyers. Every FSBO that I worked with was a crazy nightmare.

This is just realtor propaganda. Every realtor I've ever worked with has been a crazy nightmare, and I would love to work directly with an owner.

[Anonymous]

Yes, real estate brokerage is a massive scam enabled by a cartel. Redfin try to destroy it but ended up giving up. They're legacy was driving down market rates from 6% to 4.5%. so appreciate that.

[Anonymous]

And I sold my agent charged, I don't even remember the rate, but it did include staging and screaming discount on painting.

[Anonymous]

Victor Llewellyn is great and honest. Wonderful realtor here. He’s been top of the game for 30 years