snowman wrote:
agree with the OP
selling a home without paying the 2.5 to buying agent is unfortunately a very bad idea, 99% of agents will find a excuse not to show it to their clients.
Buying, i find the homes, do the driveby. I use the realtor to look at the few i consider, and for paperwork.
obviously i negotiate a payback of around half his comission. Due to less amount of work to the agent.
selling, i negotiate a lower rate, and add to it for every extra open house, showing etc.
the fact that on my last deal, my agent would have made around 12k@2.5% for less than 20 hours of work (including paperwork/phonecalls/showing) is ridiculous.
however, if you get the buyers that want you to sort all the listings for them, preview, show 60 of them over a 1.5 year period, and the price is 200k, 2.5% does not seem to be enough. from what i hear this does happen.
bottom line: talk/negotiate with your agents. especially if you are doing most of the work.
snowman...are you saying you have bought one or more houses with a payback of half commission? Do you draw up the agreement...or how does this work? If you don't mind, I;d like to know specifics for making that kind of agreement....what do you add-back for each showing or open house you go to? Redfin won't show some types of places or some areas, so it would be nice to come up with a fair deal when i am doing most of the legwork. I'm just not sure many agents would be interested in that type agreement.
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yes, this is how i do it. I am not some big shot investor or flipper either. In this market, there is many realtors with not enough work, so it will be even easier.
this year i bought in the 500k range and sold 1 slightly higher.
-for buying, 500k would equal 12,500 standard 2.5%. So i made the agreement with my buying realtor that he will get the 6250 no matter what. I find the homes (itech mls, redfin,etc etc all available to public) do the driveby and research, and would likely need him for up to 5x to look at 2-3 properties each time. (roughly 3 hours) . included are up to 3 offers with counters. 1 escrow.
we would add to that 250 per trip to look at more properties, 200 for extra offers and 500 for new escrow.
we ended up looking at 7 properties in 3 afternoons, (i probably drove by around 40 myself) until i found the one. 2 counters and we had a deal. smooth sailing in escrow. happy me , happy realtor.
-selling i did the( with help from 3rd parties) fixings, staging, photoshoot, text and basically the listing and outline of flyer. (i am a control freak when it comes to my money.)
the deal was he has to host a caravan, 3 open houses(first 3 weekends) and show the place whenever requested. (there was a lockbox, but some people want the realtor there anyways). 350 for additional open houses, (3 hours with snacks and soft drinks). 500 for additional escrow(if first one falls through).650 for additional month of listing and showings past 2 month without a accepted offer. In case that he represents buyer as well, i would get a additional 5k refunded.
we ended up accepting after one month @ 565k (slighlty below asking) the realtor got the 1.25% and 350 for a additional open house.7412 total.
your other question: we had a basic contract stating above prices. i also requested all to be refunded in escrow. its easier for the realtor as well, taxes, office cuts etc. realtor is local and worked with people in my friendcircle before, -made me be less worried about a deal breaker.
however, these where not 200k deals. I was serious about buying and selling and made that clear. i did most of the work.
i checked which of the realtors i or my friends liked, had a low listing count, (more time for me) and interviewed 2. both were willing to do it to my terms. i picked the one i felt had better peopleskills.(selling). really, any desicion in the process of buying or selling is up to us anyways.
my guess is that the higher your purchase or selling price, the less % you can get away with.
just ask them. the worst you can hear is NO. next please.
this same realtor has a listing for 270k short sale (among others) thats been on the market for 9 month now. you bet he liked my listing better. less work, easy sell, more money.
same with me buying. over dinner after closing he told me that some folks make you find and preview everything (busy lives) just to decide not to buy 8 month in.
