Are REALTORS really very RELEVANT anymore?

[SumpChump]

I have come to the understanding that unless one is playing with a lot of money (millions and millions) that a person to play with your money (non feduciary) is just making money off you and the market will likely beat them.

Allong those lines...
A buddy of mine is selling his nice but less than very valuable $100k house. Normal city lot normal up to code building no property disputes. About a clean cut as possible. He claims "oh some thing have gone the way of the dodo like fax machines but realtors are necessary because I all the confusing stuff". His words "confusing stuff". Lol


Well, what do you think? With this low of a valued property and his realtor beings stay at home mom.... Former English major..who has been sellin homes or four years.... Is the realtor really RELEVANT? There are about 10 stay at home moms running in home daycares in our region and "working as realtors". I wonder what of value do they really have?

Are the so skilled that they are essential to making sure you don't get screwed selling? I can see how they act as a personal shopper if BUYING bit can't just a bank or lawyer or yourself and a title company....handle a sale?

The veil of magic knowledge has been pulled of so many similar professions (insurances) that I wonder if realtors are doing what they can (perpetuating paperwork) to stay needed or if they are about to become a luxury of the rich?

 

[CT8]

It depends on the sales man. IMHO the title company is the (G0D )in a real estate sale.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Realtors for buying might not be that required anymore, but for selling is still an excellent idea.

Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible and knows the ins and outs on how to pull this off. There is more to selling a house than uploading some pictures to a website.....

But the first thing a realtor tells you when you talk to them is that they are not lawyers and you should consult a lawyer for any legal questions or issues.

 

[Andrew1972]

If you find the right connected realtor you buy amazing property.

It is about who you know with certain locales.

Majority of average property likely does not matter.

 

[Leo99]

The realtor gets you listed in the MLS and on the Internet. If you can sell your house without a realtor, It's a lot of extra money on your pocket. You need a realtor for advertisement; not for any "legal" stuff. Depending on where you live, either a lawyer or title company will handle the closing and all the "legal" stuff for you for a fee a lot less than the realtor would charge.

 

[georgemiller]

Selling a house is a pain in the a$$. So much time is wasted on tire kickers. A full time realtor is worth it. I would shy away from using pt realtor.

 

[HerrStig]

When the house salesman tells you to knock 10 grand off the price because THEY have already spent the commission , it costs THEM a lot less than it costs YOU. On the BUYER side, according to the house salesman there's ALWAYS a dozen people lining up to make offers on the house you are looking at...but then it doesn't sell for 6 more months. In most states, lawyers can act as realty salespersons, they can do averything but marketing. If you find a house you like "for sale by owner" a real estate lawyer can do everything you need

 

[SumpChump]

I'm kida neutral on the subject but another mutual friend of mine out in his two cents and really got me thinking.

He said, "Just WHAT does a realtor do for you? Tell me, what did they say they handle that you, an hourly attorney and the title company CAN'T? "

I was dumbfounded... I don't know. I know that a surgeon can identify and move veins as he removes XYZ from my body. But I really can't tell you WHAT super complicated forms they fill out that I can't understand. And I beleive in (from tradition i suppose) a realtor.

Amazing that a person with a 6-10 weekend course knows the super secret sauce. He got me thinking. I can tell you what any other professional DOES that I can't or am not certified legally to do for myself. Feels weird.

EDIT: It sounds like time and advertising , time on advertising. Is about all they do really. Other than tell you to pull the dead bush, clean up your [censored], replace one most obvious window with a cheapy but new vinyl window.

interesting how all the "mom realtors" homes stay on market for 10 months but others by bigger names sell quicker but does the quick sale close DEARLY as the require big bucks in homage to their name.

 

[KzMitch]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible


Not necessarily.
Let's say the realtor makes 3% on the sale, and the seller's price is $300,000.
The realtor's take is $9,000.
If the realtor advises you to sell quickly for $277,000 and "get it done", realtor's take is $8,310.

Realtor misses out on $690.
Seller loses $23,000.
Something to keep in mind.

 

[SumpChump]

Originally Posted By: KzMitch
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible


Not necessarily.
Let's say the realtor makes 3% on the sale, and the seller's price is $300,000.
The realtor's take is $9,000.
If the realtor advises you to sell quickly for $277,000 and "get it done", realtor's take is $8,310.

Realtor misses out on $690.
Seller loses $23,000.
Something to keep in mind.


Whoa! And I thought that by paying them to be on your team... Your realtor would for YOU and ruthlessly so. Seems not.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Originally Posted By: KzMitch
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible


Not necessarily.
Let's say the realtor makes 3% on the sale, and the seller's price is $300,000.
The realtor's take is $9,000.
If the realtor advises you to sell quickly for $277,000 and "get it done", realtor's take is $8,310.

Realtor misses out on $690.
Seller loses $23,000.
Something to keep in mind.


Whoa! And I thought that by paying them to be on your team... Your realtor would for YOU and ruthlessly so. Seems not.


No. And they have a lot of self-serving ethics that they try to make you comply with.

 

[KzMitch]

The realtor's only job is to bring together a buyer and seller.
Anything else is just fluff.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: KzMitch
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible


Not necessarily.
Let's say the realtor makes 3% on the sale, and the seller's price is $300,000.
The realtor's take is $9,000.
If the realtor advises you to sell quickly for $277,000 and "get it done", realtor's take is $8,310.

Realtor misses out on $690.
Seller loses $23,000.
Something to keep in mind.
+1 Exactly the point.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: KzMitch
The realtor's only job is to bring together a buyer and seller.
Anything else is just fluff.
His JOB is to make commissions. Properties sometimes don't move because the realtor has buddies who want it at fire sale prices and the realtor helps them (for a cut) out by beating on the seller. Realtors beating sellers down on the price because they have a buddy waiting to buy and flip, or slap up condos, is so common hereabouts that some of the sleaze sacks think the sellor's lawyer is supposed to help them out. I have been as much as told that by PO'ed highly ethical (sarc) realtors after advising my sellers to pull property off the market and relist later in the year. . The legislature (not much better than the realtors, which many are) here had to pass a law preventing realtors from handling BOTH sides of a transaction.

 

[robertcope]

I've read at least one study that looked at how long a realtor left THEIR house on the market vs their clients. Not surprisingly, they keep theirs out longer and get more money than they do for their clients. At least according to the study I read.



I think the advantage a good realtor gives you is that they know the market, how the market is "working", and that sort of thing. They also handle an incredible amount of [censored] calls and whatnot that you wouldn't want to, most likely.

robert

 

[OneEyeJack]

I thought just like everything else today that all you need is an app for your smart phone. There's very little need for human interaction any more. Just enter the data into your smartphone app and it will all be done. Why would you want to interact with a human and have to explain what you would like and what type of area you would like to live in and raise a family. Your smart phone app already knows what your house is worth if you're buying or selling all all the documents needed. The app also knows what your dream house sold for last time and all the personal details about the seller and their venerability to making a deal. Paying a human money they might earn is so last decade.

 

[eljefino]

I had a buyers agent buying my dump. I made an offer hinging on a home inspection. They accepted instantly. I smelled desperation. After my home inspection I wrote the sellers a letter knocking a few percent off for various issues. My buyers agent didn't really want to pass it on, she was afraid of losing the deal, and losing maybe $100 in commission. I made her do it anyway and the deal went through. Hmmph.

She was not into encouraging me to get the "best deal" even though that, purportedly, is what they bring to the table.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Realtors for buying might not be that required anymore, but for selling is still an excellent idea.

Since the realtor has an incentive to sell your house for the highest price possible and knows the ins and outs on how to pull this off. There is more to selling a house than uploading some pictures to a website.....

But the first thing a realtor tells you when you talk to them is that they are not lawyers and you should consult a lawyer for any legal questions or issues.


I do not think there is much incentive for the realtor to get top dollar. Given the commission is typically split 4 ways (listing & selling agent, listing and selling broker) if an agent gets you to price your house $25K under what it should be listed at, but it will then sell quickly so they can move on, it only cost the agent $375 in commission.

I do not think the agents earn their money by any means. I would always get them to accept 5% at the start. Then to close the deal I would push them down even further. The agents go by volume. Especially when we are talking about a house for a few hundred thousand.

In most cases the listing agent will not be showing your house, so who is pointing out the features? An agent who has probably never seen your house before.

 

[AZjeff]

The most important thing about selling real estate is having it priced properly when it goes on the market no matter who's selling it. Priced too low and you'll know it and will be mad. Priced too high and knowledgeable interested buyers won't even bother to look. A realtor SHOULD be able to price a property accurately based on comps and have immediate interest. Of course a seller/owner should be able to do that too but far too often the owner over-values his property and it sits and gets stale. Plain and simple not everyone has the ability to market and sell anything much less their most valuable asset and shouldn't even try.

The biggest problems I see with realtors is with the MLS they just don't know the properties and can possibly be seeing them for the first time when they take a potential buyer for a showing. Hard to properly represent the seller when they know nothing of the property. The second thing is agents seem to forget they represent the seller and their true job is to get the most they can for the property, not just get it sold.

I've been comfortable using the most successful realtor in town, letting them price my property appropriately and getting it sold. In our case and my parent's case we both got more that we thought the property was worth. My father-in-law on the other hand insisted on a list price probably 20% over market and he never did sell it. Decided to rent since he couldn't get his price (realtor's fault) and it's trashed.

 

[hatt]

Just put the FSBO sign up. Then wait for the deadbeats and dealseekers to knock. Walk them around your house while your family eats dinner. Do this for six months and then call a Realtor. 90% of houses are listed by agents. Serious buyers use agents to look at that 90%. People that drive around looking for the 10% are looking for a deal, not pay market value.