Reply to How many years until realtors are replaced by Redfin/Uber/Zillow/etc?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does no one in the DC region offer flat fee brokerages?  When I lived in Florida a few years ago, I used a fairly known flat fee realtor from another part of the state. The way it works is that his brokerage was totally licensed. I paid him something like $350, and there was also a clause that said that the buyer's agent had to pay another $350 to him. I offered her 2.5% I believe. I had my own photos taken for $175 and wrote the listing myself. [b]Not hard to use Zillow for comps.[/b] For the flat fee, he posted the listing on the MLS and associated it with a brokerage - so it looks legit enough to other agents. Our house was well cared for and recently renovated, and I watch enough HGTV to know how to "stage" for selling.  No surprise, we were under contract at asking on the first day. This worked well for me because I worked from home at the time, so easy to do open houses.  The house sold for around $1m - so I saved a huge chunk of cash.  We used an attorney for closing (very common in florida) so felt like I was covered for contract purposes.

All that said, when we were moving back to DC, we used an agent remotely to go check stuff out for us. We wouldn't have been able to buy without her help since we didn't want to come up for every house.  She totally earned the 3% on that $1m house.

So do those types of flat fee brokers not exist here?  They're not for everyone, but it sure worked for us. [/quote]

:shock: [/quote]

zillow will give you the sales price so you can use it for comps...[/quote]

Usually delayed and rarely do you get enough information to really make an apples-to-apples. I mean, good luck with it, but oy.[/quote]

We're in DC and the info is usually up within a month of closing. We live in a rowhouse neighborhood and it's really easy to keep track of what comes on the market. It's also a very easy market for comparing comps: don't compare condos to rowhouses. Rowhouses are either the small variety (1300-1800 sf) or the large variety (over 2000), and within that are either "gut", "liveable" or "fully updated". Parking affects price, as does rentable basement apartment. You can get all of that from looking at the online listing pics (that stay up on redfin for ages).  I had a realtor advise me my old house in Columbia Heights should ask $375k - based on comps.  We thought that was crazy, listed at $525k and were under contract after the open house at full asking.  This is not rocket science. [/quote]

It's far from rocket science.  Realtors simply aren't necessary with the Internet.  We found our home on our own and simply had someone unlock the door and be present during the inspection.  He also showed up at the closing.  Yet he earned around 40k for that.  Maybe he showed the house to others and maybe he didn't.  I realize agents sometimes have to spend weeks/months showing clients around.  The entire model is messed up and doesn't make any sense.

I also find that real estate agents often mess up deals.  You're adding a middle man to the transaction and you have no control over what they say behind your back to the other party.  It just complicates things.  Real estate agents often encourage you to bid up as well.  I had multiple agents try to get me to offer ridiculous amounts for a home that closed for much less.

My favorite experience was having a realtor tell me I needed to make a competitive offer because there's already an offer on the table.  The offer he was referring to was mine.  Long story.

Only reason I would rely on an agent would be if I moved across the country and knew nothing about neighborhoods, the market etc.  but purchasing a home in a small city like DC with all of the information I need online?  No way. [/quote]

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