Real Estate Rates

[hatt]

Here's all you need to know.

Quote:
ForSalebyOwner.com Founder Uses Agent to Sell Home

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, AUGUST 09, 2011
The founder of a popular for-sale by owner Web site used a real estate broker to help sell his 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom New York apartment after it lingered on the market for six months. Colby Sambrotto, the founder and former chief operating officer of ForSalebyOwner.com, tried to sell the property himself by listing it online and through classified ads, but after six months of it sitting on the market, he sought the help of a real estate broker.

Broker Jesse Buckler told Sambrotto the condo was priced too low and wasn’t attracting the right buyer for the condo.

"At first he wouldn't let me increase the price," Buckler said. "I told him I know what I am doing—the market is picking up."

The condo soon attracted multiple offers and ended up closing recently for $150,000 more than the original asking price.
http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2011/08/09/forsalebyownercom-founder-uses-agent-sell-home

Quote:
Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff may have recently given real estate agents a gift they won’t soon forget: a sure-fire way to show that Zestimates can miss by a mile.

How? By selling a property for much less than its Zestimate.

On February 29, Rascoff sold a Seattle home for $1.05 million, 40 percent less than the Zestimate of $1.75 million shown on its property page a day later.

The gap between the Zestimate of Rascoff’
s former property and its sales price has decreased only modestly since then.

http://www.inman.com/2016/05/18/zillow-ceo-spencer-rascoff-sold-home-for-much-less-than-zestimate/

Quote:
Just in case there was any doubt about whether Zillow Group (Z) Chief Executive Officer Spencer Rascoff believes in his product, he showed Friday just how much of a Zillow-head he really is – by listing a home for sale…on Zillow.
http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/34447-zillow-ceo-lists-home-for-saleon-zillow

Maybe he should have contacted a REALTOR to see if they could get him closer to the Zestimate.

 

[hatt]

Quote:
Save Thousands, Be Seen By Millions
The leading by owner website since 1999, we’ve helped thousands sell their homes by owner. Save the commission (an average of $18,000) without compromising the results. Learn how ForSaleByOwner makes it easy to sell your home.
http://www.forsalebyowner.com/

So easy the founder couldn't do it.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: Nate1979


Just the guy telling you that your industry will be replaced by robots (apps, data, online websites, etc).
So you're saying that tech that is over 50% errors, omissions, and outdated information that depends on real estate brokerages for the good information it does have is going to replace real estate brokerages? OK. Don't see it.


I think you are living in a dream world if you think that information can not be solved by tech. The common stated argument by the real estate industry is that the industry is too complicated for an algorithm to solve. But with enough data input someone like Google could certainly solve this - it's by far more simple than other areas they work on.

In today's day of technology agents are far less valuable and yet they still ask for the 6% (oh sure, you can negotiate, but how far down, how about 1% total commission?).

Here is a good article why the real estate agent is becoming obsolete:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucekasanoff/2014/04/04/real-estate-brokers-obsolete/#7dc52e3431c9
Who's going to input the data and make sure it's correct and current? Who's going to let the buyer and seller know if the property will pass an inspection to get a .gov backed loan?

Dude, people in the RE biz have no worries about becoming obsolete. Just today I had a young couple bring me a list of 10 or so houses they found on Zillow they were interested in. Only two were actually active and something they could get financed through FHA. One was listed on Zillow as active sold in DECEMBER 2015. It took me 10 minutes to figure this all out. It would have been many hours of nonsense for them and the sellers to figure out.

Your solution is simple. Stay clear of agents. It sounds to me like you really like the service that RE pros provide, you're just want it for nothing. Not happening. The housing biz is too complex. Car dealerships will be gone long before RE agents.






Remember, some people on this site drive 200 miles to buy oil at .25 cents a quart-and throw auto parts at repair issues when they are not even sure of the REAL PROBLEM. What do you expect from this site?

 

[Nate1979]

Ah yes, good to see the dinosaurs repeat the party platform. No doubt the taxi drivers said the same thing, as well as brick and mortar stores, McDonald employees, and the horse and buggy. Relics.

 

[SeaJay]

If technology is going to replace real estate agents, why haven't any significant in-roads been made yet? there are more agents than ever and the commission rate has not really come down much.

By the way, cab drivers still exist, its just that more of them are working for Uber than the local companies. The method of hailing a ride has changed but the drivers are still needed.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Ah yes, good to see the dinosaurs repeat the party platform. No doubt the taxi drivers said the same thing, as well as brick and mortar stores, McDonald employees, and the horse and buggy. Relics.
I'm waiting for you to explain how tech systems that rely on sales agents to function are going to replace sales agents? Zillow is currently nothing but a lead generation tool for licensed agents.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Ah yes, good to see the dinosaurs repeat the party platform. No doubt the taxi drivers said the same thing, as well as brick and mortar stores, McDonald employees, and the horse and buggy. Relics.


It's always funny to read about how people think something is going to be replaced but can never provide specifics. They've been saying this for the last 10 years. MLS is run by real estate brokers, that's how the information gets in there. The agents have to drag that info out of the owners. The owners are typically somewhat clueless. And you should see the place before it goes on the market. Technology doesn't automatically make everyone smart. And yes, Zillow gets a lot of its money from real estate agents so if they go away, Zillow goes away.

 

[IndyIan]

I don't think real estate agents will go away completely, but if we sold our house I'd give it a try myself. Most buyers work the same hours I do, and showing the house in its normal but extra clean condition shouldn't be an issue with most people interested in a hobby farm.
I'd suggest to the buyer that we both go to the same real estate law firm to get the paper work drawn up and save ourselves some money and we'd both be covered. A full day of their time is still pretty cheap compared to even a 5% commission.
With a good set of pictures and a complete and truthful description, you can weed out a lot of dumb questions and tire kickers.
For whatever reason Kijiji isn't popular in the US, but its used quite a bit up here to sell properties, over 50000 listings for Ontario right now and lots real estate agents use it to advertise.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I don't think real estate agents will go away completely, but if we sold our house I'd give it a try myself. Most buyers work the same hours I do, and showing the house in its normal but extra clean condition shouldn't be an issue with most people interested in a hobby farm.
I'd suggest to the buyer that we both go to the same real estate law firm to get the paper work drawn up and save ourselves some money and we'd both be covered. A full day of their time is still pretty cheap compared to even a 5% commission.
With a good set of pictures and a complete and truthful description, you can weed out a lot of dumb questions and tire kickers.
For whatever reason Kijiji isn't popular in the US, but its used quite a bit up here to sell properties, over 50000 listings for Ontario right now and lots real estate agents use it to advertise.


Lots of people think it's easy, but don't really know how it's done. You can't use the same law firm, it's a conflict of interest. I've had sellers who don't want to use an attorney, but the smart ones eventually end up getting one, otherwise the buyer's attorney will put in all the terms that favor the buyer and without an attorney, the seller generally accepts them and doesn't try to negotiate the terms. When the seller has an attorney, they usually negotiate all of them away. Then good luck trying to find a good home inspector. The ones that the home owners find can be pretty bad, better make sure you don't get one that makes their money by killing the deal so they get used to make multiple home inspections.

 

[Nate1979]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Ah yes, good to see the dinosaurs repeat the party platform. No doubt the taxi drivers said the same thing, as well as brick and mortar stores, McDonald employees, and the horse and buggy. Relics.
I'm waiting for you to explain how tech systems that rely on sales agents to function are going to replace sales agents? Zillow is currently nothing but a lead generation tool for licensed agents.


95% of the job of a real estate agent is $15/hr menial labor (this may be an exaggeration but it is a point I'm trying to make). Data collection and input is not a job for expert real estate persons. Neither is the Walmart greeter opening the door at a showing. If a tech company wanted to get more into the game they would need to find a way to get the data, and that might mean people on the ground initially. But again that is saying that the current model is static and that a new model would need to fit within the status quo. Why is that? Why can't the data be input by homeowner/sellers? They live on facebook inputting information all the time, do their taxes online in complex inputs, why not input the information themselves? The process of buying/selling (all the paperwork, advice, steps, etc) could easily be a click thru process like online tax programs. How is a mess or needs to be staged better? No expert needed on that.

All I'm saying is that the traditional model will change towards a more cost effective and tech savy direction. That may mean that today's "real estate agent" becomes tomorrow's technical expert at a tech company. It's not like there would not be a need for that expertise. They may need to update their skill set but it doesn't mean a computer can remove all persons from the chain.

15 years ago we barely had smart phones. The next 10 years is going to see an explosion in the area of Internet of Things, connected devices, data input. Zillow is only 10 years old. They have done great things in a short amount of time without being part of a big data company like Google/Amazon.

Anyways, it's my prediction. Right or wrong I don't have skin in the game (except the exorbitant fees charged to me when I've sold a home). Industries much more complex are flipped on their head all the time and I say real estate is one of the next ones.

Look at what Elon Musk has done for Space flight and EV cars. Look at how the status quo has fought him tooth and nail saying you can't do this and can't do that.

 

[PandaBear]

Seller agent is unlikely to go away, because of the experience needed to make a house marketable (look at all those craigslist ad photos and you'll know what I mean), as well as connection to find buyers out of the "see it along my commute" route, and their help in negotiation. Buyer agent might go discount in the future.

6% make sense back when a house sell for $100k, but not when the same house is now at $700k.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979


95% of the job of a real estate agent is $15/hr menial labor (this may be an exaggeration but it is a point I'm trying to make). Data collection and input is not a job for expert real estate persons. Neither is the Walmart greeter opening the door at a showing. If a tech company wanted to get more into the game they would need to find a way to get the data, and that might mean people on the ground initially. But again that is saying that the current model is static and that a new model would need to fit within the status quo. Why is that? Why can't the data be input by homeowner/sellers? They live on facebook inputting information all the time, do their taxes online in complex inputs, why not input the information themselves? The process of buying/selling (all the paperwork, advice, steps, etc) could easily be a click thru process like online tax programs. How is a mess or needs to be staged better? No expert needed on that.

All I'm saying is that the traditional model will change towards a more cost effective and tech savy direction. That may mean that today's "real estate agent" becomes tomorrow's technical expert at a tech company. It's not like there would not be a need for that expertise. They may need to update their skill set but it doesn't mean a computer can remove all persons from the chain.

15 years ago we barely had smart phones. The next 10 years is going to see an explosion in the area of Internet of Things, connected devices, data input. Zillow is only 10 years old. They have done great things in a short amount of time without being part of a big data company like Google/Amazon.

Anyways, it's my prediction. Right or wrong I don't have skin in the game (except the exorbitant fees charged to me when I've sold a home). Industries much more complex are flipped on their head all the time and I say real estate is one of the next ones.

Look at what Elon Musk has done for Space flight and EV cars. Look at how the status quo has fought him tooth and nail saying you can't do this and can't do that.
You keep leaving out the selling thing. Selling is done by salespeople. Every industry has them. Google has a sales force. Microsoft, yep. Zillow, you bet. Real estate is going to have them too. Your sadness will continue for the foreseeable future.

Next time you sell, don't use an agent. Refuse to show to people with a buyer's agent. Problem solved. Just keep lowering price, it'll sell for sure at some point. You may cost yourself $40K to save $8K but it has to be worth it to not give anything to those greedy real estate folks.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Seller agent is unlikely to go away, because of the experience needed to make a house marketable (look at all those craigslist ad photos and you'll know what I mean), as well as connection to find buyers out of the "see it along my commute" route, and their help in negotiation. Buyer agent might go discount in the future.

6% make sense back when a house sell for $100k, but not when the same house is now at $700k.


Don't think 6% is fixed. They vary from area to area. Here it's either 4% or 5%. If you're a close friend or I think the house might sell quick, maybe I'll do 3.5%

Elon Musk has a good rep, but compared to the 16+ million cars sold each year vs the 80k or so that they've sold up til about Oct 2015, he hasn't really made a dent in car sales yet.

There are certain things that will still be around, technology doesn't automatically fix everything. Radio has been around since the 20's, television was supposed to put them out of business. Movies are also still around, again, TV was supposed to put them out of business. Just because it's easy for someone to change their own oil, doesn't mean that everyone is going to do it.

There's also fair housing laws, you hire a guy at $15/hr and then someone makes a complaint to a department that handles discrimination, then as an agent of the owner, they'd be subject to a 10k fine. Then you'll see how much you're really saving on the commission. Also it's the same with car companies, state laws prevent you from just hiring a random person to handle real estate, they all need a license. Guess who lobbies for the laws? What association do home owners have that lobby for them? They don't pay anything so they don't have anyone to represent them.

In an ideal world pipe dream, cameras would be everywhere, no crimes would be committed and there will be no need for real estate agents.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Seller agent is unlikely to go away, because of the experience needed to make a house marketable (look at all those craigslist ad photos and you'll know what I mean), as well as connection to find buyers out of the "see it along my commute" route, and their help in negotiation. Buyer agent might go discount in the future.

6% make sense back when a house sell for $100k, but not when the same house is now at $700k.


Very few Americans can buy a $700K house.... very few.

 

[zzyzzx]

Remember, if a Realtor is near you, you are being sized up for a felony or you're being robbed.