Realtors

[Brybo86]

Is it just me or are (listing agent) realtors just a small step above lawyers on the SCUM scale?

We have been looking at houses lately and have seen 100's of house where on zillow and the MLS listing sheet the taxes are listed at X but in reality the property in on 2 pins and so the taxes are X*2....

Like hmm $4000 taxes on MLS sheet but WAIT look it up on county website and they are $8000....
why not be HONEST and just list them as $8000

the equivalent of the gum that gets stuck to the bottom of your shoe when walking around in the hood

 

[Kruse]

Besides being one step above a scummy lawyer, just remember one thing about a realtor: They represent the seller, BY LAW. They are NOT on your side, but on the seller's side.

 

[Rolla07]

Get your own realtor to work for you to filter it out. Glad i bought using my own realtor.

 

[Recalculating]

Winning post! Excellent review.

 

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
They are NOT on your side, but on the seller's side.


So are you saying the seller knowingly agreed to list incorrect information on the MLS listing sheet?
How is this not the same as false advertising?

I have also seen many houses that list 2 bath but only have 1 when you go look at them.
Just lie to get people in the house?

Where is the pride in this line of work?

 

[goodtimes]

It's not on purpose, probably just carelessness or not too smart. There really is no reason to be dishonest with showing taxes as it will show up on the title report, and an error may spoil the deal. I think they can lose their license if they knowingly falsify info.

 

[Rand]

Yep I had same issue I didnt catch it until closing documents..

luckily the second parcel is "vacant land" so only about 450$ a year.

of course the taxes on my 1952 cape cod are 1450$ so that's a 1/3rd increase.

of course 8 years ago it was 250$ and 1000$ .. quite an increase.

Property value is around 85000$

Find your own realtor, they usually split the fee with the seller's agent and you don't end up paying much extra. Plus it filters alot of the nonsense if you find someone decent.

 

[tomcat27]

just find your own agent.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

There aren't any buyers agents in your area? If you use a buyers agent, they can weed through all of the listing stuff that seems to set you off, and show you only properties that they know won't send you into a tizzy.

 

[Brybo86]

Yes we are working with a buyers agent and he has said he doesn't know why people list taxes as half of actual amount paid. Makes for a real sour experience.

 

[pbm]

I find realtors to be similar to lawyers and above politicians...

 

[Donald]

A realtor will do anything to make the sale. Also get it pure business. Don't tell the realtor your personal life.

 

[Donald]

A realtor will do anything to make the sale. Also get it pure business. Don't tell the realtor your personal life.

 

[Panzerman]

I must be lucky. 3 for 3 I had good Realtors. I want to say I also am a responsible person and except responsibility for my mistakes. It's up to you to research what taxes are, what the neighborhood is and what you can afford. The Realtors attempted several times to sell me more house than I could or wanted to afford. Hence the housing disaster in Florida and all the whiny home buyers that apparently can not do math.

 

[Panzerman]

Towing companies are worse than lawyers. I actually put them north of [censored].

 

[ls973800]

When we were looking to purchase a house, my wife checked EVERY house we were interested in online with the county assessors office. The information to be found there included any permits ever taken out for additions, finished basements, decks, sheds, etc. It also listed the history of ownership, and what the property sold for on what dates.

Taxes were listed, along with a break down of school assessments, special tax assessments, if the taxes were paid in full to date, etc.

All of this took about 5 or 10 minutes for each house, and was free of charge. Well worth the little bit of effort and time even though we had a buyer's agent also.

 

[JHZR2]

The whole realtor/commission game is somewhat suspect. Just another self imposed monopoly. Yeah they "own" MLS for lack of better terms, but so what?
My guess is that someone will find a better/cheaper way to do it in the future...

What I find most annoying is how they spin things so it's always the best time to buy. It's a commission based job, but it's spun for commission, not for honesty. Also, I've found plenty of write ups less than honest. Good with words and a camera? Stage homes then waste others' time.

Still, they, like plenty of other jobs, have their place. We used a realtor when buying our home, and it was good from a general guidance (towns, streets, etc) standpoint. But you still need to vet them pretty hard. If I was uncomfortable I would have retained a buyer's agent to support our interests.

 

[hatt]

Monthly "I hate REALTORS" thread!!!

 

[KD0AXS]

Even a buyer's agent isn't necessarily trustworthy. We were working with an agent from a local real estate office when we were in the market for our first house. She kept setting up showings for houses that were WAY over our budget, and others that we weren't interested in. We gave her a list of houses we found on the MLS website that we wanted to look at. She told us most of them were already sold. We found this hard to believe. This was back in 2012, houses weren't exactly selling like hotcakes. We ended up giving her the boot and working with a realtor who several of my wife's family have worked with. Turned out that NONE of the houses on the list were sold. The house we ended up buying was one that our first agent said was already sold. It was a HUD foreclosure, so she probably thought she could make a better commission with less work if she showed us what she wanted to sell.

 

[Wolf359]

Like in any profession, there are good ones and bad ones.

MLS was created by Realtors. The commissions from those sales is what keeps them in business. Before MLS, each Realtor would advertise their own listings and as a buyer you'd have to visit several offices to find a listing you'd be interested in. It wasn't very efficient.

I've worked with several buyers/sellers that never ended up in a commission. Everyone complains that the commissions are too high, but they never say a thing when they can go see a house whenever they like and do so for free.