Comments on: * Re: How do real estate agents earn their steep commissions?

By: Charlotte real estate agent

Charlotte real estate agent — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:33:03 +0000

Instead of pressuring us, you re-assured us. Instead of rushing us, you took time to chat and listen to us. Instead of trying to sell us something more than we could afford, you showed us great value at a price we could afford.

By: jst

jst — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:59:31 +0000

6% of ANY sale is way to high. I hope that someday soon technology will edge out realtors. It would be a better service if there was some type of mediation service for help with paper work, etc. currently most realtors seem to do very little other than have access to the MLS.

By: Agent

Agent — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:32:28 +0000

In response to John Boucher. It is un-true that a property selling for $899k is no more work than one selling at $400k. A property selling for $899k will have a whole different clientel to please, which also may require the agent paying for dinners at costlier establishments. The cost to advertise a property in that price range is so much more due to the types of advertising required in order to reach those potential buyers. The agent pays for all of the advertising and carting around buyers, etc until the deal is finally closed. Plus out of that 6%, typically the buyer agent office and seller agent office split it 50/50, then each office splits again 50/50 with the agent, then the agent takes out for taxes and reimburses themselves all of the expenses associated with handling either the buyer side or seller side.

A good real estate agent EARNS their fee. The typical car salesman gets paid off commission just the same as a real estate agent. The car salesman may work all day showing cars and not make a sale and therefore not make a dime for the day, just like a real estate agent showing homes. You don’t see people negotiating the price of the car and discussing how much the salesman should make from the deal, people just negotiate the price of the car and that is it. After all, the car salesman just fills out a little paperwork for his $1,000 fee, right? Wrong. Just like a real estate agent does more than just a little paperwork.

Going back to a GOOD real estate agent who EARNS their fee. If you, as a buyer or seller, don’t see all of the work going on behind the scenes to get to a perfect closing, then the agent has done their job. Unfortunately, an agent doing a GOOD job appears only that the agent has simply filled out some paperwork.

By: John Boucher

John Boucher — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:02:24 +0000

OK, everything that you say makes sense. But a Honda Accord???? My “typical” house in Sunnyvale California is going to sell for about $899,000. The six percent is $54,000, and the amount of work involved is no more than if he were selling a home for $400,000. My personal opinion is that in todays market a Realtor, broker, or agent should charge a fixed fee rather than a percentage, and make whatever arrangements he wants with the buyers agent. I’m sure there are confidential “MLS” pages where the buyers “cut” could be published such that those of us not in the business would not have access.

When my home in CA sells I’ll be buying here in TX and I will not be using an agent. Instead I will negotiate the sales price AND the sellers commission since the selling broker will not be splitting the commission with anyone. While I am not expert specifically in Real Estate negotiations I was a contract negotiator for 25 years and expect that the seller, agent, and buyer will ALL be pleased with the resultant contract.

By: nathan

nathan — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:31:50 +0000

I don’t want to get into specifics on this forum. Lets just say that we had to sign a thousand forms and dot a thousand i’s and it seemed like nothing with the paperwork was ever perfect so then we’d have to pay a penalty fee and apply for an extension and submit more paperwork.

By: William J

William J — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:37:25 +0000

I think I get what you’re trying to say, yet still, there are no charges to a buyer for the services of a real estate agent.

Even if the buyer has no agent, the seller is still contracted to pay a full commission to the listing brokerage.

Now, even if the agent concedes a portion of their commission, regardless of who the beneficiary of that concession is (buyer or seller), the buyer is left either unrepresented or is left to participate in a limited agency transaction.

Limited Agency refers to one agent representing the interests of both parties. Imagine going to court and one attorney represents both plaintiff and the defendent. This is not an ideal scenario for either party.

For the second part of your comment, help me understand what bureaucratic head aches you experienced.

By: nathan

nathan — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:37:20 +0000

Thanks again.

I think your side note isn’t exactly true. The price could possibly be lower without the 6% commission, which means theoretically the buyer could save money. I think that doesn’t usually pan out though, because the seller agent probably just takes the full 6% commission.

When we bought our current house, we bought a HUD home with an FHA loan and we didn’t have an agent (our big mistake). I think most of our problems happened when we got down to dealing with FHA loan regulations and paperwork. Would you have been able to save us the bureaucratic head aches?