Nope, not much work ahead of time. I had already staged the house, as in given away or taken to storage most of the furniture. She didn’t do any other staging, and marketing consisted of online listing and hiring a photographer to do a 3-D walkthrough video and photos. They did one open house after we already had several offers, because it had already been arranged. Yes, we could have done a FSBO, but didn’t want to, and wanted a professional realtor to help out.
I also have a realtor friend, and the selling houses part has been easy these last years! So much is online through Zillow, Redfin, etc. The hard part has been finding houses for buyers to buy, so nowadays, she just deals with sellers.
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In reality the seller would probably still be paying a buying broker just as it is now. It’ll just show up differently on the closing statement and the seller could negotiate a fee with the buying agent separately from the selling agent.
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I wholeheartedly agree that it’s wise to get an inspection. While I couldn’t insist our kids get one - it’s their final decision - we sure would highly suggest it.
But when there are less than 10 houses available in the zip code you want to live and 30 buyers people are looking for any edge to secure a house. And when you’re the seller of a home that at risk for having inspection problems even if not obvious - in our case a 100 year old home - that offer of an easy sale process with no inspection is mighty tempting.
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When you are the seller…you probably do a happy dance when someone offers without an inspection contingency.
But as a buyer…I just wouldn’t do that. Unless I had a tons of extra money in the bank to fix hidden or unforeseen issues.
There was a time (like 2 years ago) - you didn’t get right in- you were done.
A neighbor across the street offered $80K more than the previous comps - sight unseen - and lived 20 mins away.
My neighbor next door - listed on a Friday, planned an Open House for Sunday, but accepted an offer for $150K over asking the day they listed. They had 7 offers. The folks who bought it couldn’t move down after all - and sold it in a day for 100K more than they paid three or four months later. If only I sold then and moved into an apt - I’d have $150K more!!
But that was two years ago - different world. I’m like you - I would demand an inspection and thus likely get no consideration from the seller. It’s too big a risk otherwise. But people who wanted to earn the home - that’s what they had to do.
The market still seems hot based on other quotes above - by me, inspections and contingencies are happening again. Stuff is still selling but in days or weeks and not minutes with desperation like b4.
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When we sold our house, WE had a home inspection done. We were able to give this to prospective buyers who wanted the info. I suppose in a sellers market that isn’t necessary.
But we are getting off topic to commissions for RE agents…
Someone mentioned before though all the things that a buyer agent does - and perhaps arranging for or guiding the buyer to an inspection (if something doesn’t seem right) is a reasonable caution worth paying for. While you (and I) think it’s a must - others are willing to roll the dice. Perhaps the buyer’s agent knows something about the builder or homes in the neighborhood etc, and can warn one?
Just thinking out loud.
Guess we’ll all find out after July…
In some states, like where my s sold his house, they are required to provide a very extensive list of disclosures. When a potential buyer asks for that list, that’s a good sign. No guarantees of course, but a good sign. IIRC prior to filling out the disclosure my s and his w had an inspection done so they could list any/all issues. Made it smoother for the sale.
Don’t know how many companies still offer corporate relocations or if any still buy the employee’s house (maybe at C level) but I wonder if these upcoming changes in the real estate regulations affect that in any way, especially if the sale is by some group/corporate relo company. Just wondering… though it probably makes no difference to the employee who likely wouldn’t be paying those fees, just as a person dining on a business expense can afford to not worry about the cost of a tip at an expensive restaurant when the dinner is on the employer’s dime.
There is not a single house for sale under $1M within 10 miles. Multiple offers and no contingencies are the norm again. No idea where all this money is coming from, but here it is. Buyers do a lot of research and legwork themselves. All the agent does is fill out Docusign paperwork. Under these circumstances, the $30k plus fee for this work is outrageous… $3,000 an hour (assuming 10 hours of work which is what is done at most ) is way more than a very experienced litigator charges.
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Do you think it’s related to MS moving everyone to the campus?
MS? - sorry, just trying to understand the context of your and @BunsenBurner chat. Thanks
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I really hope you’re right!
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MSFT - Microsoft et al decided to end remote work for most part. This is possible… another explanation is people are trying to turn their Monopoly money into some real stuff. This has happened here previously when cryptocurrency was going crazy.
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in my area, in the craziness of 3 years ago, you could see on Zillow etc “coming soon” listings, and all the professional pictures were there. The listing had to go live within 5 days of the “coming soon” listing. The listing agent would then schedule time slots for people to see the house in 15 minute intervals. One listing I was at had 5 different groups there at the same time, and 2 of the groups had their inspector with them, as sellers would not accept an inspection contingency on an offer. The inspector would give their client an oral report, without the benefit of tests. Not great, but if the inspector said he had questions about structural issues and suggested further testing, that was your sign to walk away.
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I’m surprised people could find inspectors with availability on short notice! All the inspectors and engineers up here are booked out for weeks if not months.
Gifted article from the WSJ on the possible future of commissions and agent roles.
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We’ve only ever had one good realtor: when we were buying our first house. He only worked for buyers, and didn’t sell. He went above and beyond expectations and he more than earned his commission.
The rest have been bad (both on the selling and buying ends). Our buying agent for our current house earned $2000/hr. Nice lady, but nearly useless. Our local mortgage loan officer was amazing and coordinated the closing for us with the title company (across thousands of miles). Our realtor called me one day and said “I’m just calling to check in to make sure everything is set for the closing”. I was confused and said, “Tammy, we closed last week”. Seems silly she got paid. We bought the house sight unseen and she was no help at all (other than hiding the keys for us the day before we rolled into town).
We’re going to downsize within the next 5 years. We’d be delighted if this new change means we can hire an agent for fee-based help. We can do (and end up doing) most of it ourselves, but want an expert for a small amount of it.
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It will be interesting to see how thing play out. There are often situations where a real estate agent works with a buyer (or a seller) without a deal ever happening. I assume that “easy sales” help to balance it out.
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Couldn’t you do for sale by owner and have a lawyer draw up the sales agreement and selling documents? You can do that now.
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That’s what we did, but it was a long time ago. 1995, wow.
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