No more 6% Realtor fees.
 

A class-action is shaking up the industry.

Expect to pay Seller's-commission. Underlings will do all the showings and legwork. They will be less motivated to give information or move a single muscle unless the buyer has been 'pre-screened' and has provided a DNA sample.
(A property can now be listed on the MLS through flat fees and sold through a title company, bypassing it all)

https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/real-estate-commissions-lawsuit-impact/
It’s unclear exactly how or when that verdict will affect commissions, but the case’s price tag alone — $1.8 billion in damages, with the potential of billions more — is roiling the industry. Some predict big changes: One possibility is that home sellers will no longer pay both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent, so homebuyers who want representation might have to pay their own agents separately.

Back when most houses cost 30 to 40K, the 6% was not horrid. With so many 500K and up houses, 6% is insane expensive.

When I sold my parents house, I put a sign up in the front yard as for sale by owner. I got a lot of calls from people what the monthly payments were going to be. I told them just one payment, I am not your mortgage company. Finally a serious buyer said he wanted the place. I called a realtor I knew and offered him a flat $1,000 fee to use his experience and sales contracts. All he had to do was put in the right names, show up and get a bunch of signatures, and we went to a closing company he uses. Done. He made a grand for few hours of work, and I sold a house that was 100% legal sale, and all taxes recorded and done right.

Realtors only need a pulse to sell a house and collect a bunch of “commission“. I honestly don’t see the value in them as they literally show the house that one already picked out online. Maybe a few hours worth of paperwork and a 20 minute “showing”.

Title insurance is also a racket…

Good for you! There's nothing written in stone about a 6% realtor take and many people are downloading the forms to sell their property on their own. Paying a realtor a thousand bucks is a great idea to cover anything that could haunt you later

That’s what realtors feed on. Fear ^^^^

Overhead expenses are getting tighter with auto and gas expenses. Time is money.

They may be a Realtor as a second concurrent job. Open houses or individual showings scheduled through Apps and door lock codes. Their friend off the street might show up.

The entire conditions to "finalize" a purchase may become very dynamic. Even if an "accepted offer" has gone through, small clauses and reverse bank transactions on a large scale may start occurring. If Realtor fees can be clawed back, so can financial transactions.

The market is still too hot. Only those “problem houses” aren’t selling and requiring more leg work. The last realtor i used had 3 sells in one month and prolly made around 30k. Houses are only on the market for a couple weeks around my parts and I’m not in a population dense location at all.


Lots of clauses are in the offer one submits and even the appraisal.

+ lawyers and IRS

The Realtor (insert trademark here) that made 30K in one month faced two possibilities: their average yearly income was not 12 x 30, and their costs were significant. How significant we can't say. But around here a Realtor will spend between 5 and 10K marketing. Staging is likely included along with some minor repairs.

The smartest and most successful Realtor in my neighborhood has a GC license. He really tunes up a house inside and out. He will front the costs and gets paid for that part out of escrow. Guaranteed payment = brilliant. I will probably bite the bullet and use him.

I have never understood why realtors exist

When we sold our place in Texas, I paid my wife's cousin a grand or so to sell it, she is a real estate agent.

I never paid a dime on realtor fees. Bought my first house directly from the builder. All others had fees paid for my employer during a transfer to new locations.

Not to be anti-Realtor™ but...fast easy sales are sometimes the opposite of true disclosure.

A friend in the business is a good thing.
Ten friends in the business is a better thing,

We've sold two homes by owner. Both times without an agent. Contact a title company and they do everything needed except for finding you a buyer.

You'd think some realtors might find this pretty fair.

A realtor in Compton selling a $100,000 house and a realtor in Brentwood selling a 3 million dollar house do a similar amount of work - the Brentwood realtor may do a bit more staging, etc.

One of them will make a wildly disproportionate amount of money compared to the other for not much difference in work. It could be argued that the Compton realtor may have a much more challenging job (risky, even) for far less money.

Real estate fees have always been negotiable. Always.

It is a value proposition depending on the type of real estate, location, value, condition, loan rates (it matters), etc.

Time to sell is a metric, opportunity cost, and should also be factored in.

Some properties in certain markets do sell themselves.

When I sold my parents home, I signed about 25 documents. There are a lot of seemingly redundant documents that need to be signed to protect the seller and the buyer, and to keep Mr. Tax am happy.

The 1K fee I paid for his services was well worth the price for security all was done properly.

The laws are set up to make everything difficult. I recently set up a CD to put some of my own money into a CD. I had to sign my name about 7 times to make it happen. That is insane, and they said if I wanted a paper copy of all of them it would be over 50 pages.

No way in 2024 is it smart to buy or sell a house on you own, unless you have extensive knowledge of the laws. I know 6% of a high dollar house is just insane money to pay. I avoided that.

We always seem to just stumble into some deals. I can actually say I have never paid a Realtor's fees. We haven't bought any real property in the last 15 years so we have missed most of the tightening of commerce by the internet, etc. I remember one big time local Realtor taking off on me in a local club that he was upset about some deal we made without his company. We're still friends, but don't talk about real estate.

Yep. have done the same thing. Sold (and bought) last two house buy owner. Buyers with realtors were "shocked" that I wasn't going to pay their realtor fees...

Try and go look at a Brentwood home just for grins. The compton house will be open to anyone with the lock code (usually the house address). If occupied, notice is given.

In Brentwood you'd have to come in with ID and pre-qualification. That would be the minimum. Ask our resident L.A. expert, Speeder, and he will tell you.

The real estate people that work the high end are exceptional people. I'm not patronizing them or even trying to be kind. But try and walk their path and you will slip and fall or get kicked off.

I have bought house through my agent and straight from owners over the years. I still like to deal with my agent rather then straight with the owner. The agent's fee has always been negotiable but I always paid my 6 % and IMO, my agent is worth every penny. She brought us more then her worth of 6% when she sold every single one of them.

I can see some people going straight to the owner of a commercial or large complex, Hey, I like to buy your building. Can we negotiate a price from your 8 million asking price? I have cash, lets open escrow.