RE Agents, are they worth it and are there other options?

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<p>IIIrvine - I agree with you it is not free-market capitalism the way agents and Realtors are currently structured. I think it needs to change altough I doubt that we will ever see much coming from the state. It is a profession that is respected just above car salespeople. I do think that some people are intelligent enough to handle a real estate transaction however it really isn't that simple of a transaction. You could get help from an escrow company but you are going to be responsible for making sure every detail gets done. If you are working are you going to be able to leave work to let the inspector in who ended up being two hours late? What if there was a slight error on the title report on the house you bought and the seller found out and was able to take the house back leaving you with no house and a mortgage to pay back. Ok that is bit extreme but not impossible. Now how many agents ever saw the title report let alone looked at it or even understand it in the transactions they were involved in is probably 2%. </p>

<p>And that is exactly my point is that they are poorly trained and not educated at a level high enough to be considered a professional. Then there are the few that do educate themselves or were educated before that make for the exception. I think if there were higher education requirements, tougher tests and higher fines and punishments for violations there would be a higher level of professionalism in the industry and would actually be respected and seen as needed. It is too bad that it isn't which makes us perceive most agents as lazy schleps. Take a stock broker for example if they told you a fund was going to go up 20% (implying it's guaranteed) and it doesn't they would for sure be fined big money, possible jail time and possibly banned from the business. </p>

<p>I am a big believer in fee based on performance. That's why if I were to sell my house right now I know who I would call and two years ago I would have called an entirely different person that would do a great job but for a whole lot less money. Right now if you need to sell your house you will probably do best with a agent that knows what they are doing. Could I just sell it myself for 6% less? Maybe. But that agent may have a buyer in their database that would buy it right now for X price. Is it corrupt that if I did sell it FSBO that agent would probably not show my house to that buyer? Yes. Is that going to change anytime soon. No but hopefully it will. Sorry for the long diatribe. At least you know that I enjoy the dialog with you.</p>

<p>NIR - Some title agents can get a MTA report which will show the number of transactions on an agent or zip code on the buy side, sell side and double dips with the percentages. If I recall it was about 15%-20% double dip but this was when the market was flying. Some agents cough Jeff Jones are higher on the double dips.</p>
 
<p>IIIrvine,</p>

<p>LOL? Could you care to elaborate?</p>

<p>graphrix,</p>

<p>Realtors are held to high standards and are extremely vulnerable to law suits, similarly to attorneys. I do agree with you that we realtors need higher education to handle this type of work properly. Established brokerage firms provide great trainings to agents; however, the cost of training is outragous (in tens of thousand); I felt very critical and well worth it)</p>

<p>When the market is good and prices are appreciating, realtors are less likely to be exposed to law suites. However, time has changed.</p>
 
We sold our home in August of 2005 with no real estate agents involved. We used a Nolo press book and the escrow company for guidance and had no problems, which from my point of view was less problems than what two agents would bring to the deal. Our marketing consisted of a beautiful hand painted sign and a willingness to show our home. We purchased that same home five years earlier with no buyers agent, which seemed to make negotiating easier since there were less commissions involved.
 
<p>nirvinerealtor,</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, currently, with the slow market, how many transaction sides are you getting per month ?</p>
 
I'm rather baffled at how so many people in this thread think that a realtor gets the whole commission.





For example one poster in this thread mentions "up to 6% commission on a $1MM home (according to what you say your targeted market is), that's $60,000 for a few hours of work."





Frankly, that's <strong>very poorly</strong> informed.





If we take as a given there was a 6% commission on the house: First there's the split with the other agent; Then there's the split with the agent's brokerage; Then there's the split with the other agents brokerage; After those splits, the agents has to cover MLS dues, licensing fees, insurance, gas, advertising, etc out of HIS pocket.





Most agents would be thrilled to clear 2% BEFORE expenses. So in fact best case scenario you're talking much less for your example, assuming that you even could get a million dollar listing. And to think that you could work with a million dollar listing 'in only a few hours' is just <strong>bizarre</strong>.





If real estate was that easy everyone would be making millions per month. Dream on.
 
<p>austin,</p>

<p>You must be an agent. I think most folks on this forum are anti-agent, and the reason I could think of is either lack of understanding what agents do, or bad experience with agents. I think it's not bizzare, it's lack of knowledge.</p>

<p> </p>
 
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