<p>Yeah. I even cut a deal with the landlord. Instead of paying him an extra $50 a month for the two cats, I’m buying a washer and dryer, which I’ll leave. So, it’s a win/win. He gets a little something and I get the washer/dryer which I was going to have to buy anyway. I found a used appliance guy, so I should be able to replace what I left behind (basic functional commodity washer/dryer) for about $300 delivered. I’m a guy. If it washes clothes and has a few temperature settings, I’m happy… </p>
<p>Gym stuff is already in the basement, moved 100 to 150 pounds at a time over the course of many trips. Bar-b-q grill is right out the back door and will get fired up tomorrow for the first time.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of weight to move for me. Everything sounds good, interesteddad. Enjoy your new place.</p>
<p>Ohiobassmom, do you know what is worse than having to leave your house over and over? Having nobody interested in looking at your place. Anytime my broker said she had somebody who wanted to look at my place…I was out of there.</p>
<p>I’m with ohiobassmom. Our house has been on the market for two weeks. We’ve only had six showings, which makes me not happy. But anytime someone wants to come see it, I’ll be out of here with the doggies as soon as I can.</p>
<p>But showing up at 9:59 for a 9:00-to-10:00 appointment is really rotten.</p>
<p>I spent Memorial Day weekend helping DD look for a condo, and there were several places we couldn’t get in to see. These were both due to the owners being away and not having a lock box. I was surprised and disappointed. Ohiobassmom, I think if you really want to sell, try hard to accomodate anyone who wants to see your property. (We found something she liked and have submitted an offer–we’ll see what happens!)</p>
<p>I think we ended up with three couples making offers and probably three more that visited more than once and were giving serious consideration. Our agent sends in a stager and does fabulous on-line video tours. I think that really, really helped us because our house was unusual (a contemporary in a non-contemporary market). It was going to take a buyer looking for a contemporary, so we stripped it bare and staged it with very minimal furnishings and played that up with the video tour. My sense is that we got a pretty high percentage of showings to people who saw the on-line video and photos.</p>
<p>Interesteddad… I think your agent did a great job. You got your money’s worth. That was a great video. That house looked great. Beautiful ceilings. The property looks terrific. I can see videos like that having an impact. </p>
<p>I haven’t seen anything like this around here. There are a few videos floating around…but they aren’t prevalent. And I haven’t seen that many contemporaries that look like that. Kind of reminds me a little of Sunriver, Or.</p>
<p>We did tell our agent one weekend when we had out of town guests ahead of time. We dislike working with CSS, so she intercedes for us on all showing requests anyway, but I think it always helps to let the agents know these things ahead of time.</p>
<p>Given the ability to contact so many people through social media, I’m curious why sales by owners have not increased drastically. I’m surprised it has not significantly changed the realtor business, at least in our area. Is it primarily because of the horrible market? Has anyone here tried selling their home without a realtor (sorry if previously discussed, as I have not read the entire thread)? Or has anyone tried a to sell on their own ( basically advertising, and showing the house), but offering a reduced commission if a realtor finds the buyer? What would an acceptable reduced commission be?</p>
How many people can you really contact through social media, unless you are a sports figure or celebrity? A few hundred? How many of those are likely to be in the market or even live in the right area?</p>
<p>I don’t think it is an effective way to market your property.</p>
<p>MLS still rules the roost as far as I can see, if you don’t get it in there, it won’t get to people who are signed up with an agent getting nightly emails of all the new stuff that comes on.</p>
<p>And given the decline of newspapers, the traditional advertising methods are pretty much gone. Craigslist might be about the only way to reach a wide audience these days. It works pretty well for rentals, but it hasn’t worked that well for sales for my wife.</p>
<p>
It’s rare these days for an agent to have both sides of the deal, as dual agency is frowned on if not outright banned in many places.</p>
<p>So the broker is only going to get half the commission anyway. If you offer that half in a FSBO you have a much better chance, because most buyers work with agents, and the agent will never bring them to your property if you are not offering compensation.</p>
<p>If I was going to go the FSBO route, I’d find the cheapest discount broker that will get me listed in MLS and offer a 2-2.5% commission to the buyer’s agent.</p>
<p>
There have been many transactions DW has shepherded to completion that required daily phone calls and meetings to stay on top of inspectors, contractors, mortgage people, insurance people, lawyers, the principals themselves… it’s a lot like herding cats sometimes. Which is one reason why most FSBOs ultimately wind up getting an agent.</p>
<p>“It’s rare these days for an agent to have both sides of the deal, as dual agency is frowned on if not outright banned in many places.”’’ </p>
<p>Its not “banned” in Calif! and the only ones who “frown upon it” are agents who did not get a piece of a deal, lol.
IF you have a reputable broker, known for their integrity, there is no reason to think that he cannot represent both buyer and seller.</p>
<p>In MA it requires written consent from both buyer and seller, and the form states in part “A dual agent shall be neutral with regard to any conflicting interest of the seller and buyer. Consequently, a dual agent cannot satisfy fully the duties of loyalty, full disclosure, obedience to lawful instruction which is required of an exclusive seller of buyer agent. A dual agent does, however, still owe a duty of confidentiality of material information and accounting of funds.”</p>
<p>It puts the agent in limbo, as almost anything they say could be considered confidential by one side or another. Unless the buyer is willing to make a full-price offer from the outset, the agent can’t really even help negotiate, because price, repairs, other things included in the deal, whatever, are of “conflicting interest”.</p>
<p>It seems to me there’s an inherent conflict of interest for a buyers agent given they’re still being paid by the seller. Fundamentally you’re always working for the person paying you IMHO. Personally have had poor experiences generally with realtors … buyers agent we worked with last year became waaaay too excited about the possibility of a sale and made every effort to “encourage” us to keep bidding on a property when my gut (and general research) told me we were already too high. The property actually sold a year later for 10k less than our rejected bid.<br>
Also feeling a bit frustrated recently as we were planning to put a house on the market
but after talking to local realtor are reconsidering. He is suggesting a 10 year old home is worth more than 25% less than we have in it, would like to market it at that price and take a hefty 7% commission. Not feeling like a good way to go to me.</p>
While this is true, it is also true that if the buyer doesn’t buy one house, they will buy a different one, and ultimately the agent gets paid.
Well, this comes down to the integrity of the agent. On the sales side, my wife acts mostly as a buyer’s agent, and there have been plenty of times when she recommended that buyers walk away when the price got too high or if the inspection turned up a lot of issues or whatever. In the end, by better serving her customers she gets repeat business, referrals, and a good reputation. That’s how she prefers to run her business, but every agent is different, I guess.
Wow, in my area (eastern MA) I haven’t heard of a 7% in… ever, really. Most are 5%, 4% is not uncommon, 6% is rare.</p>
<p>Each location will have its own market, commissions are the same. If you interview 5 realtors and everyone says 7%, its a 7% market. Whereas in CA, if some one asking 7% commission, they just don’t get the listing anywhere.</p>
<p>We charge 10% for business only transactions(under 1m mom and pop) with a minimum of around 10K. It is so difficult to complete a business opportunity transaction that everyone is doing that. Only two to three in ten listings are likely be sold, the brokers cannot survive in a 6% standard commission. However, a 10 Million dollar M&A transaction the brokers are getting 2% the maximum.</p>
<p>Just to illustrate the differneces in commissions.</p>
<p>"Well, this comes down to the integrity of the agent. "</p>
<p>exactly my point. </p>
<p>"In the end, by better serving her customers she gets repeat business, referrals, and a good reputation. </p>
<p>Yup! a good agent IS hard to find and it does take time to become a really good agent/ broker ,but they are out there. My hubby who has been in this business for 40+ years is one of them- and has repeat business from many clients. And he is respected and trusted within the real estate community.</p>
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