Do you trust real estate agents ?

[fastfredracing]

I think my agent is right in the pocket. My partner wants to list 35% higher than what she is suggesting , and what I am seeing after watching the market for 6 months .
He says agents like to list low to make a quick sale . I say, it is a dance involving listing at a realistic sale price so that it will move, and still making a nice commission check . Why would she leave that much meat on the bone ?

What is your take on it all?
Fwiw, houses at the price point he is at , are a whole lot nicer, on better lots, on better streets, and some have been festering on the market for months now Ill be happy if someone gives me a big fat check for this place

[ted]

no

[masraum]

I think there are realtors that are honest/trustworthy. They want to make money, if you over price stuff and it doesn't sell, then they don't make money.

It also behooves the realtor to have the the realty sell for as much as possible because that determines their pay as well.

I find that most of the good ones will recommend a pretty good price to get something to sell.

If you insist on listing too high, you may sit on the market for a while. Then if you eventually drop the price to something reasonable, but people can see 'this property has been on the market forever, and they just dropped their price a bunch' then buyers will often wonder "what's wrong with this property that it's been on the market forever and not sold."

[GH85Carrera]

Yes and no.

Like almost all professions, there are good and bad ones.


Like those shady professional auto mechanics!

A good agent that really wants to help you will know the area comps, any agent should. Do they want a sale at the high end of the local comps or a quick sale to get a check and on to the next house? That is how you have to figure them out.

[1990C4S]

Your agent sees very little gain from the last 10% of the sale....95% of that money goes to you.

They aren't nearly as motivated as you are to get the last dollar, they just want a sale...

On a 3% commission they make $7,500 on a $250 sell price. They make $8,250 at $275k. They see very little gain from the the work it takes to get that last $25k.

Most will take the $250k sale and be happy. Don't fall into that trap.

Pricing low is fine if it generates interest and offers. It is not fine if the agent is telling buyers that the advertised price is what the house will sell for.

[cassisrot]

Is the bear catholic?

[fastfredracing]

Does a bear **** on the pope ?

[URY914]

Originally Posted by cassisrot

Is the bear catholic?

Does the Pope poop in the woods?

[flipper35]

I trusted ours here in WI when we were buying. We took the one in CA to arbitration as he would not let anyone show the house but himself. He ended up losing out on a good amount of money because of it.

[Slowashell]

I have watched lazy realtors sell properties for way under market, during Covid, especially.
They underprice to make sure a potential mortgagee can qualify to buy the property.
That’s fine if you have a cookie cutter house or apt, but unique and desirable should command more money.

When cash buyers are bidding on your property, fighting for it,..you have been screwed, by a realtor.

I bought a condo and a building lot, both underpriced

[sc_rufctr]

I've been using the same agent for more than 30 years.
- She's handled 4 sales so far and "I trust her about as far as I can throw her".

She's a good person and all that but at the end of the day she's in it for herself not me.

[MBAtarga]

Do you trust the average car salesman? - or for that matter - many on commission sales? (I might be blasted for that.)

[sammyg2]

Do you trust real estate agents ?

No.

[Rick Lee]

If I had never worked in the mortgage biz or bought and sold a few houses, I might be a little more vulnerable to an unscrupulous or lazy RE agent. But I pretty much know how the game works and I also work in 100% commissioned sales. So I'm not worried at all about trust. If they know their schit and get me asking price or more, I'm fine with it. For a buyer's agent, I really don't know how that works in the current market insanity. Everything goes for way over asking within days or hours, all cash, no contingencies. Not sure I could blame a buyer's agent for that.

[gchappel]

I know lots of real estate agents.
I know trustworthy ones, a few.
I know wealthy ones.
I don't know anyone that is in both groups.
gary

[javadog]

I don’t have a lot of good things to say about real estate agents.

Go with your gut.

[pwd72s]

On the value...what's zillow say?

On agents...well, they love their commissions.

[javadog]

Zillow valuations are absolutely worthless. Change the asking price of a house by 100 grand and the Zillow valuation will track right along with it.

[911 Rod]

Right there with insurance salesman.
It's the nature of the beast.

[908/930]

Like 1990C4S said, they do not care about top dollar, just want to sell and take their cut and move on, and convince you that they did a good job. I remember a friend of mine telling his agent and one making an offer to GTF out of his house when both agents were telling him to take the offer. I wish that I had that on film, they didn't know what to do. The buyers agent came back next day with a much better offer, and not at 11:00 pm this time, another slimy sales tactic they start negotiating late at night.