Anonymous wrote:We're all trapped by 2.75% mortgages. Not giving that up for nearly 8%. I'd love to move to a bigger house but staying put till rates drop to 5% or lower. If that ever happens, which it may not. Oh well.

+1 I'm not basing my decision to move on one-time realtor fees. I'm basing it on how much I'll pay each month on a new mortgage.

If they want to get away from price fixing they need to make it illegal for the selling party to ever pay a commission to the buyer's agent.

I don't know what is going to happen to the agent commissions. We all agree, except the agents, that 5% is ridiculous for the work actually done. I worked with an experienced agent with an established reputation and it was fine, but I still did most of the work finding the house. All she did was to write the offer and suggest the home inspector.

I think a flat fee is more reasonable and logical. Maybe for very expensive properties there could be a boutique model.

I don't know where exactly you're looking, but inventory has been on the high side for CP closer to the Cathedral and Hearst. There's not much turnover there, so a property every week or two is high.

Anonymous wrote:I think all of this is partly the feds trying to tighten the economy...less agents showing houses, less bidding wars, maybe housing prices become stagnant or come down?? They may also feel like there are too many real estate agents, pushing the mediocre/weak agents out of the industry.

Huh? This settlement was the result of private plaintiffs suing, not the government. And those private plaintiffs got a massive verdict from a jury of ordinary americans, which then resulted in the settlement. But I guess conspiracy theories are more fun.

I do think there is something much bigger behind all of this and the commissions and the noise surrounding it is hiding whatever it is....

Anonymous wrote:I think all of this is partly the feds trying to tighten the economy...less agents showing houses, less bidding wars, maybe housing prices become stagnant or come down?? They may also feel like there are too many real estate agents, pushing the mediocre/weak agents out of the industry.

You giving the feds too much credit - they are not the sharpest knives in the drawer