why do these social parasites deserve a percentage of the trade?
We can argue over the value of their service, but they do provide a service and therefore should be compensated.
Read an article about how the average UK broker has to do about 3x the amount of sales as a US broker to earn the same. In the US the National Association of Realtors is an incredibly powerful lobby and throws their weight around. They have dug themselves in like ticks. Thats an industry that is ripe for disruption, but gets caught up in legislative issues.
I agree they dont deserve the pay they get, especially in 2017. Its not the same job it once was the internet does 90% of the work for them. I have a few incredibly stupid aunts and they work as RE brokers, its mind boggling to me they get paid at all.
The 6% is definitely too much with all the online information now available, but serving as the buyer’s agent can be a ton of work depending on the buyer. Still not worth 3%, but they do add value.
90% of people need someone to negotiate on their behalf because they’re all emotional about their house. Brokers basically talk sense into people and convince them that their house isn’t worth as much as they think it is. I bought a house recently in an expense area and all private sales were way overpriced.
True, but I’ve also see studies that show that when Realtors list their own homes, they stay on the market longer and sell for a higher price than the homes of non-Realtors in the same area. Translation: they push clients to take the first “reasonable” offer that comes along, because “you might not get another offer”, but don’t follow the same practice for their own home. When you think about how much the agent actually gets, this makes perfect sense, as the agent only gets 1.0% - 1.5% of the transaction price. So, taking an offer that’s $10,000 below “market” only costs the agent $100 - $150, but costs their client $9,400.
Buyers and sellers are not comfortable being unrepresented, since the house is such a big part of their net worth normally, and they will pay a premium for piece of mind. So any industry reform needs to come from the servicing side. That is, some company must “disrupt” the business by offering lower fees and automating a large part of the process. I am sure many companies have tried this already, so there must be some kind of obstacle, like they are ostracized by the realtor association or something.
More to the point, why does the buyer’s agent get a more money when his client pays more for the house? Isn’t the buyer’s agent supposed to be working in the buyer’s best interest, which argues for paying less for the house?
Talk about a conflict of interest!
scums. hate real estate agents.
#goodpoint
historical MLS sales data is still restricted to registered agents in Canada (this is THE major lobbying point in Canada). i think this is open information now in the US. i would think that this would start a fsob revolution but it hasn’t yet. seems strange with the power of past sales data and sites like Zillow/Trulia that people don’t list and sell their house like they list and sell a car.
i would buy/sell property myself if i could access historical sales data.