Anonymous wrote:Woo hoo, about time!! I look for real estate listings myself and I contact listing agents myself. Why do I still need to pay someone $60,000 (3% of $1 million) for that service? I was going to do FSBO but if the commission goes down to 1% I might consider using an agent.

NAR will also no longer get exclusive access to MLS.

Just the fact that you wrote this explains how ignorant you are about the process. You will still be paying that 60k. Do you really think that sellers are going to cut their price 60 K for you? The only difference is now you will be paying that baked in commission without actually having an agent.

Also, you could have always paid one percent. The commissions are not fixed and have never been.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1

50 hours on average is enough.

Tippy Toppy agents should get 100 bucks an hour and it will be 5K extra frcition cost for a buyer.

Couple of thousands should be enough in most cases just like all other countries. Agents are not doing anything extra in US for charging that high.

I would have happily paid 2x this for our buyers agent last year. Assuming 50h of work, which feels right, at $200/hr (the going rate for other skilled DMV professionals including our architect), my buyers agent would take home $10k on last years home sale vs the $36k he actually did. So glad we’re finally calling attention to the monopoly racket that has been home buying and closing costs

I don't think agents and arcvhitect are comparable in education/skill. But yah, points stands. Even in your case, you can pay a high rate and still it will be based on actual hours worked not some ramdon high number which is not tied to effort/hours.

Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if the situation will be akin to rentals. In this area, rental commission is about 25 percent of the monthly rent. When you think about how competitive it actually is to find a rental in this area, and the time in effort that it takes to find one, it is not worth the time of many agents. As a result, it’s actually hard to find real estate agents who do rentals in this area, and the ones who do it are usually brand new agents who are just starting out.

Yes, I think you are right. Very few agents want to do tenant agency. It will likely be the same with buyer agency. The main thing making buyer agency worth it for an agent currently, is the possibility of a 2-3pct commission at the end if the transaction closes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s ideal if you’re selling your house and then buying new construction — not much of a need for a buyers agent with new construction from a builder imo.

As someone who represents clients in new construction, I really cannot tell you how inaccurate this is. I closed a new construction transaction in January where the builder had forgotten to include the fireplace in the specs! The only reason it was caught is because I personally reviewed the final layout and compared it to our purchase contract. I was also able to give the buyer a nice rebate.

As someone who has purchased new construction several times, I can assure you that I most definitely would have realized if a builder were omitting something as significant as a fireplace that I had specified! And I would have done so without needing a real estate agent to assist me.

Seriously that buyer must be clueless.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s ideal if you’re selling your house and then buying new construction — not much of a need for a buyers agent with new construction from a builder imo.

As someone who represents clients in new construction, I really cannot tell you how inaccurate this is. I closed a new construction transaction in January where the builder had forgotten to include the fireplace in the specs! The only reason it was caught is because I personally reviewed the final layout and compared it to our purchase contract. I was also able to give the buyer a nice rebate.

As someone who has purchased new construction several times, I can assure you that I most definitely would have realized if a builder were omitting something as significant as a fireplace that I had specified! And I would have done so without needing a real estate agent to assist me.

I like how some of the people posting here act like the sky will fall because people won't be locked into high fees anymore. As if there is something so special about a real estate transaction that it can't be allowed to have competitive pricing for broker services.

They do nothing these days there are tons more buyers then sellers and everyone finds the listings online. 6% was always a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1

50 hours on average is enough.

Tippy Toppy agents should get 100 bucks an hour and it will be 5K extra frcition cost for a buyer.

Couple of thousands should be enough in most cases just like all other countries. Agents are not doing anything extra in US for charging that high.

Me personally, I’d be fine with it. For every client where I get an easy commission, there are many clients who I have worked with for many hours who don’t buy. Some kind of a retainer upfront where I am making a guaranteed 5k per
client would be just fine with me.

The problem you will face is competition. There will be new buyers agents (or even existing ones) who will undercut you. You won't be able to make a backdoor agreement with other buyers agents to not lower your prices or retainers. In fact, any discussion of pricing with a fellow buyers agent would be called "price fixing" under antitrust laws and you could be subject to criminal prosecution if someone rats you out. (If you think that doesn't happen, think again...the FTC and the DOJ have co-jurisdiction and routinely bring criminal antitrust cases against price-fixing conspirators in all sorts of industries. It usually takes someone flipping on you, and then your busted).

You are now in a competitive market, and that is why the experts are predicting that hundreds of thousands of buyers agents will leave the industry.

One nuance that is missed though is that most agents are both buyers and sellers agents. So, even sellers agents may be forced to leave the industry as they lose a major stream of revenue.

Well since home prices have doubled since 2009 3-4 percent of double is still a lot

Woo hoo, about time!! I look for real estate listings myself and I contact listing agents myself. Why do I still need to pay someone $60,000 (3% of $1 million) for that service? I was going to do FSBO but if the commission goes down to 1% I might consider using an agent.

NAR will also no longer get exclusive access to MLS.

This thread has been about the adverse effects on buying agents. What about sellers agents?

Many sellers already offer large rebates, down to 2 or 1.5% above the buyer's fee. Without the buyer's fee mucking up calculations, will homeowners negotiate down the "standard" 2.5 or 3% given to seller agents?

I wonder if the situation will be akin to rentals. In this area, rental commission is about 25 percent of the monthly rent. When you think about how competitive it actually is to find a rental in this area, and the time in effort that it takes to find one, it is not worth the time of many agents. As a result, it’s actually hard to find real estate agents who do rentals in this area, and the ones who do it are usually brand new agents who are just starting out.

Anonymous wrote:It’s ideal if you’re selling your house and then buying new construction — not much of a need for a buyers agent with new construction from a builder imo.

As someone who represents clients in new construction, I really cannot tell you how inaccurate this is. I closed a new construction transaction in January where the builder had forgotten to include the fireplace in the specs! The only reason it was caught is because I personally reviewed the final layout and compared it to our purchase contract. I was also able to give the buyer a nice rebate.

It’s ideal if you’re selling your house and then buying new construction — not much of a need for a buyers agent with new construction from a builder imo.

Anonymous wrote:+1

50 hours on average is enough.

Tippy Toppy agents should get 100 bucks an hour and it will be 5K extra frcition cost for a buyer.

Couple of thousands should be enough in most cases just like all other countries. Agents are not doing anything extra in US for charging that high.

Me personally, I’d be fine with it. For every client where I get an easy commission, there are many clients who I have worked with for many hours who don’t buy. Some kind of a retainer upfront where I am making a guaranteed 5k per
client would be just fine with me.