I would say I did half and half for both of my last home purchases: looked on realtor.com and at local realtors' websites as well as requested listings from my agent after providing her with a list of criteria. I found the first home via an open house advertised in the local newspaper, but needed my realtor to take me back through the house for a more thorough tour before making an offer. And I found the second home via a listing provided by the realtor, which she graciously opened for us several times before we made an offer.

I've had great experiences with realtors and probably would not buy or sell a house without one. They well earn the money they make.

I had a friend once buy a house sight unseen using the Internet. She later regretted her purchase when she had to put a new $6k roof on within a few months of buying the property.

"we MUST(unless fsbo) use a realtor, even if we don't have one as purchasers, the sellers agent is still there.."

That would mean that the *sellers*, not you, are using/represented by a Realtor.

You don't have to use Realtor services, but you can't deny someone else the right to use them.

& someone correct me if it isn't this way in other states, but here, any Realtor will present her clients an offer written by a buyer's attorney.

& although I haven't researched how to go about it, my guess would be that we'd present an offer handwritten on a cocktail napkin by the buyer...

but we'd be obligated to re-draw it on the forms promulgated by the state, & we'd have our attorneys advise us on protecting ourselves from a buyer who might have second thoughts a few months later & want to blame us for their lack of representation.

...that, rather than comparing the internet to Realtors, a more logical comparison might be to liken the internet to the Sunday newspaper's real estate section.

The internet is a valuable, effective advertising tool.

We did purchase the house I found online. This was 2 and a half years ago. We worked with the realtor who had the listing. She did show us others houses in our price range. But the end result was we purchased what I found.

She was exceptionally professional and understood what we were looking for. She earned the listing of the house we sold.

Basically, we used in the internet to do a search to see what fit our needs and desires. I believe a vast majority of buyers today use the internet to find what's out there before they contacted a realtor. Our son and his wife are using the internet to quick search areas for housing.

In today's society, the internet is a valuable tool in advertising your product.

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

Internet.

A better question would be, How many people actually bought the house THEY found on the internet or did the agent find the house of their dreams. A good realtor knows exactly what type of house the buyer wants sometimes even before the buyer knows.According to you, if buyers are finding their dream home on their own without the help of a realtor, open houses would be a slam dunk! Less than 2% of homes sell at open houses in my area.

I found our house without any input from a Realtor. No agent has ever found me "the house of my dreams". Also, in my end of NYS, OH sell homes (my last house sold after an OH viewing). YMMV

Qdiognj, I'm not sure why you think you've struck a nerve, quite the contrary. I'm trying to educate you on something you seem to do alot of talking about, but have very little knowledge. No, you dont have to use a realtor, go and buy the FSBO, realtors arent telling you not to, frankly, we don't care. But since you are so against realtors, just for the record, you bought and sold and used a realtor, why? People use realtors because all the systems are in place to get the job done. FSBO's try every day to sell their homes, most arent successful and call a realtor. Why? Because they simply don't have the resources and network it takes to get their house exposed. Can it be done, of course, but the percentages are small. Most realtors believe in what they do, when they sell their own homes, they list it just like any other house, with a competitive commission to the buyers agent. I posted in another thread about having a summer home 2.5 hours away from my home. This is not my market area, could I do a FSBO? (Im a top producing agent in my county so a FSBO would be a piece of cake for me if I believed all it took was putting a FSBO sign on the lawn, however, I know that is not going to get it sold even with all of the resources I have, because its not the resources in place for that area. It is listed with a realtor there with a 7% commission rate. (1-2 percentages higher than what I take in my area.)

Its just like anything else, if you want a divorce, can you get it without an attorney? Absolutely, but would you? If you want a house built, you hire a builder, can you do it yourself, absolutely, but would you?

Many many moons ago, I used to put up with attitudes such as yourself back in my inexperienced days when I was hungry for just about any client, sale or listing. Thankfully, I don't have to do that anymore. When I come across potential clients with your attitude, I simply pass on them. Yes, realtors interview clients just as much as clients interview agents. I wouldnt spend the time and aggravation trying to convince someone I am worth the money. My previous clients do that without a word from me.

xamsx I expected you to comment on this. This doesnt really apply to you because you yourself have said that you don't use a buyers agent. You simply search on the internet, then call the listing agent. In that scenario, no agent has ever had the opportunity to find you a home, because you haven't worked with one.

Actually Linda117 if you read my post you should have noticed I used three agents to try and help me locate a house my last purchase - two in NJ and one in NY. In that post I also went through how useless they were - basically I used an agent to get me through the door after I found a house to view. If there was an OH available, I would view through that route first. If it were FSBO, no agent was involved and I set the viewing myself.

linda,your undies are in a bunch, RELAX!!!! If you carefully read what i post, you will see that i never said ALL realtors are no good..I have just commented that it is NOT necessary in some cases to need them, but alas, they are a necessary evil...There are many professionals who take pride in their line of work, but many more who are PT'ers, have just about zero knowledge of real estate, but went into the business because of the ease at which to become a realtor..These people will likely be flushed out with the downturn..
And my original comments were directed at the fact the internet has made using a realtor to FIND a home less likley to be needed...For every qualified person as yourself, there are twice as many johnny-come-lately realtors who are useless, sorry if you can't follow this

"interesting, while not a large sample, it seems thus far the internet and other forms of home finding are utilized for purchases more then a realtor..hmm, not what the realtors here claim..."

Used the Internet to search through homes posted there most likely by an agent...ugh...how many things can one person twist to perpetuate their own propaganda...I guess the real questions is why? Geesh.

I love the constructive portion of the posts on this forum, but I guess my panties are also in a bunch lately becuase this carp is starting to wear thin,

Nat

You haven't really addressed the role of the buyer's agent in the negotiating/financing/closing process, so I'm limiting my discussion to the home search.

I think it all depends on the sophisitication of the buyer, the time the buyer has available, his familiarity with the market, and the amount of time the buyer is willing to invest in the search.

I have never used a realtor to look for a home. But then I'm one who spends weekends driving through neighborhoods and areas familiarizing myself with what's available. I go to all the open houses I can in a target area and watch the prices. And I'm one who is looking for an older home with character. So a buyer's agent isn't necessarily that helpful to me.

Now, if I were new to an area, or if I were much more open-minded about my search, a buyer's agent would be very handy. If I were being transferred in from out of town and wanted "4 bedrooms, master on the main, fairly new or new, good school district, 2-car garage" then the choices would be so numerous that I would want the help of an agent to narrow them for me. But I want an interesting home (not one that has simply best satisfied a laundry list of demands), and schools don't matter. It's hard to explain that to a realtor that wants to know "how many beds, bath, square feet, etc." Shoot, I don't know. I'll know it when I see it.

That being said, I have found my four homes via:

1) FSBO open house
2) haunting the neighborhood with weekly drive-bys and calling the listing agent the week it went on the market.
3) driving to see another house and passing by the one we wound up buying (a glitch in the tax records had it built in 1940, so my MLS searches for houses built before 1940 didn't catch it).
4) listing agent's ad in a glossy real-estate book.

The house we're buying is a fab mid-century modern. But is was built in 1978, and is out in the country. It would slip through the cracks of most any agent trying to find such a house for us. It wa just happenstance I flipped through the RE book and saw it.

I did use a buyer's agent simply because I am going to use him to list our current home. I won't cost me anything, why not have the help?

1. checked newspaper daily
2. checked MLS three times a day
3. driving around desired neighborhoods several times per week.

When I located a home I wanted to see, I called the agent we used to get us in. FSBO, then of course I called on my own.

Sold FSBO using newspaper ads and flyers on the sign in front of house. No MLS listing.

Gloria

Xamas, my apologies, it was another poster I was referring to.

So sorry you had such a bad experience trying to find a decent agent.

"And my original comments were directed at the fact the internet has made using a realtor to FIND a home less likley to be needed...you can't follow this.."

As was stated above, without REALTORS there are no listings on the internet, so the internet will never replace REALTORS.
qdognj, quit your whining and state something productive!

I like our buyer's agent, but she and I are looking at the exact same listings on the same site with the same automated search that she would be setting up to email to me, and so except for pocket listings I don't know where she'd find new material. So far she hasn't come up with anything I haven't already seen; I have my searches set to include up to 10% over what I'm willing to spend so I'll catch the ones that drop into my price range. I have been doing drivebys on every house that's even a "well, it doesn't look TOO horrible" except for in certain neighborhoods where you couldn't pay me to live, so I think she might be a little bit irritated sometimes that I'm often one step ahead of her. She'll pull a listing and it's "yup, checked it out on Thursday, it abuts railroad tracks with trains five times daily so we're not interested" or "yup, saw that, the house is cute but most of the lot is actually a swamp and the two-car garage, which is more like a 'two motorcycle garage', is collapsing". She joked the other day that she wouldn't even need to do drive-bys herself anymore, she could just call me and I'd have all the dirt. LOL She did show me how to get the tax cards and deeds online, which is very helpful information.

More than anything else, we really want someone to get us through the door of properties we're interested in (bank owned properties around here tend not to have open houses, and the vast majority of what we can afford is bank owned) as well as deal with paperwork, negotiations, organization, and the phone tag since I really hate talking to people on phones. If she happens to find us a house, great, but it's more likely that we'll find the house ourselves and she'll help us with getting it. When we bought this house in 2004, there weren't as many Internet resources open to the public - I only remember realtor.com, and not that many listings in our area had more than a single picture or a classified ad's worth of information - and so we were much more dependent on our realtor for even basic info.

I've found the weekend newspaper to be pretty useless, enough so that I don't even buy it anymore.

As soon as I was up every morning, I went to the computer to see what new houses had come up. IF I found something I was interested in, I would arrange for my agent and my husband to see it either at noon or after work. My husband was already working in the new area. When we saw the house we were initially very disappointed because the listing called it a view home. It had a view of the house across the street. We came back to it when we discovered that a new college was setting up only a block away - major ammenity in our estimation.

amazingly most replys say that they utilized the web much more then realtors for a purchase.BUT the realtors say how important they are in a search for a home..hmmmm...Berniek, while i always find you insightful, the day is not far off when people will be able to actually post their homes without the use of a realtor..AND if you read my posts, it had nothing to do with the sellside of realtors,we all know that they control that domain for the near term...

I rely most on the automatic twice daily MLS updates with the search parameters I asked my realtor to set up. These are 5 zip codes I'm targeting, plus number of bedrooms and baths up to a certain price.

I know this area like the back of my hand, better than my realtor, so I can scan these listings and know good and bad neighborhoods and addresses that are north/south facing or the opposite. From that, I look at the description, features, and photos. Then do a drive by. Then tell my realtor which ones I want to view.

I also check craig's list and my local paper for FSBO, but otherwise, I rarely visit realtor.com and and like anymore because the MLS listings are SO much more detailed and faster to look at (as well as seeing the newest listings or ones that have lowered their price).

The only function of my realtor is to let me in the door and handle the paperwork.

qdognj; I don't really know why anyone is bothering to responnd to your blathering any more. This question has been clearly answered.

ALL BUYERS USE THE INTERNET TO LOOK AT HOMES. If that was the point you were trying to make, then you have. None of the realtors disagree with that. Are you really so unable to understand that?

I have cut and pasted the same response I gave to this same question on the other thread:

"Lets put it this way so it's really easy for you to understand. We are thinking of moving to another NJ town. Do I look at the internet listings to get an idea of what is out there and what the cost is? Absolutely.

But when it comes to viewing things, I receive the MLS sheets from the agent and choose based on what is available. If I saw something on line which was just outside of the target area that we had specified then I would ask about it.
I might use the internet to view multiple photos of the homes I had narrowed down from the MLS search and narrow down further that way.

The internet is an invaluable tool both for sellers and for buyers. As is the use of a realtor.

I am licensed in NJ but will STILL use a realtor to buy a place in a NJ area I am not so familiar with. Saves us an enormous amount of time and aggravation. "

What is your agenda here qdognj? To have a meaningful discussion, or to try and get a rise out of people and then start making rude and completely valueless comments?

Obviously you have an axe to grind. I don't know what your problem is, but thankfully, like Linda117 I am at the point in my career when I can pick and choose who I work with and I would run screaming from someone like you.

njrealtor,get off your high horse..My original comments suggested that realtors are a necessary evil, but with the advent of the internet and other avenues of research, purchasers have other alternatives..realtors no longer are a necessity for finding a home..I completely understand your defense of your ocuppation, but my record speaks for itself.. I have been active on this board for a long time..When realtors were spewing how the downturn will be short, or there is no downturn..I see you registered about 12 days ago, so imho, you biased views are irrelevant...

I will bet you that in less then 5 years, the whole realtor concept will be much different then it is now..sorry if that causes you pain...

you wouldn't have to run from me, i wouldn't have a
need for you :)

though i guess i might need you to let me in to the house i would be interested in, as realtors still have a stranglehold on the sellside

One of my biggest peeves is when Realtors treat John Q. Public like there's no way they could buy/sell without them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; there's room enough on the playground for everyone.

Now I have another peeve to add. It's when John Q. Public treats Realtors like their job is worthless.

Honestly, I liken it to the DIY craze that's swept the nation in the last decade or so. With the popularity of Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, etc, average homeowners can now "cut out the middle markup man" and do expensive renovations themselves. But that doesn't change the fact that there are still plenty of people who CAN do those jobs themselves, but don't want to.

I'm one of them. We just hired out a bunch of work at my new house. Work that I'm completely capable of doing myself. It's not rocket science, you know. But this time around, I wanted a professional to do the job. I just didn't have the time.

Real estate is the same way. Yes, there are folks who buy/sell just fine without Realtors. But then there are those who'd rather not deal with any part of the transaction other than seeing the houses. I work with them every day! And they're not just the baby first-time-buyers. They are professionals who could handle a transaction very well. But they choose to work with a Realtor instead, for various reasons.

I do believe the face of real estate is changing, and Realtors better come up to bat to truly set themselves apart. But I firmly believe there will always be a place for dedicated, hard working, knowledgeable professionals.

I'm frankly tired of the smug attitudes that are so prevalent on both sides of this oft-debated issue.

I'm a person that prefers to work with a realtor. It's not because I couldn't do it all myself. After 30 years of home buying in several different states, I think I could handle it myself, but I prefer not to work directly with sellers!! Or as a seller I don't want to work directly with buyers !! Now it's very easy to use the internet for researching an area or neighborhood, or narrowing down house choices, but when it comes time to get serious, I WANT a realtor to be the middle man. Many people want to cut out the middle man and feel competent in doing so, good for them. But there will still be a place for realtors as long as there are people like myself that WANT the services they supply.

qdognj-
I totally agree with you....The realtors were useless for us.
We used the internet primarily. We only needed a realtor to let us in. I found the listings & narrowed them down. In two years we've had a realtor show us 4 homes. Most, were scoped via internet, drive-bys, Town Assessor etc. What I needed was someone who had access to NEW listings & a DOOR OPENER. I'm a seasoned buyer.

Many realtors did not call us back. In fact, we ended up working with one that did. Oh yes, he was a top producer, all awards etc. WHAT A JOKE! I think Cracker Jack boxes are very busy typing up RE Awards-lol

Ironically, the only close, existing home we wanted to purchase happened when we were driving somewhere & in a hurry. We saw a sign for an Open House. We were 99% sure we wanted THAT house...

We couldn't find our realtor or his helpers to show us the property the next day, just to get a second look & write an offer. We didn't realize that we needed to act fast. We were trying to be loyal to out realtor.
Someone purchased that home off the Open House. We were never given a chance to write up an offer because our realtor's office seemed to be incompetent. Long story.

Some buyers NEED a realtor, while others are independent & want to narrow things down on their own. An astute realtor can help you, if they keep their eyes on new listings etc. However, many realtors want an easy buck. I guess that goes for any profession-lol

It's great to see that the realtors posting here are positive about technology. On the buying end, I think home searching has become much more efficient. In a time-pressed world, I'm grateful for any vehicle that streamlines the process.

For me, employing a realtor has always been about the package of services offered. It's the dealmaking part of the game where I find a good realtor's true value and I don't see that changing. Taking two parties of total strangers who have no reason to trust each other and bringing them together for one of the most significant financial and emotional transactions of their lifetimes can be a perilous process. For the most part, the deals seem to happen smoothly. When it gets tense, a skilled and rational realtor can get the deal done. For me, it's worth it.

FSBO'd once...never again. Finding the buyer was the easy part. The rest of the process was far rougher than I expected. Nope, no more FSBO for me. I have a realtor that my family and friends have used for years. She's a great educator and a master deal-maker. She has saved us all so much time and money that she's never allowed to move away...if she tries, we plan to stop her at the Virginia border.

I agree with Cordovamom...I could buy/sell a house without a realtor, but I prefer to use a realtor. I did get a little peeved at the way our last realtor treated us...like first-time home buyers when that wasn't the case. She sent us a form letter about what we needed to do to move--call utility companies, insurance agent, etc.--that I found a bit offensive. It's not like it was our first time moving ever! If anything, realtors need to customize their letters/responses to the client, and not expect every home buyer to be an idiot. (Not that some aren't!)

I equate realtors to other service professionals whose jobs may or may not become obsolete in the future. My mom has been a self-employed travel agent for 30+ years, going from a fully-staffed professional office building environment to a work-at-home situation. With the advent of purchasing travel online, some may think travel agents are obsolete. She would agree to some extent, such as finding the best deals on airline tickets online (vs. from a travel agent), but she still has quite a few longtime clients who will never buy travel off the Internet or who will always rely on a travel professional to make their travel arrangements. I suspect the same applies to people looking to buy or sell a house...there will always be those who are "afraid" or "skeptical" of using the Internet for such transactions. As hard as it may be to believe, not everyone uses the Internet.

dabunch - they may have Cracker Jack boxes typing real estate awards in your area, but in my area it is done by volume of sales. If he was a top producer with all awards etc, the likely hood is that he makes well into 6 figures and was too busy to deal with you.

Sometimes the top producers are not the best people to work with on the buying side. That's very generalized as we have a couple of 'top producers' in our office who much prefer working with buyers over sellers and make their money doing so.

In our office our number one agent works with both buyers and sellers and has an assistant, but still gets plenty of complaints that he doesn't give people enough time. He's making about $400,000 - $500,000 per year and he gets busy. I think he needs to take on a specialist buyers agent as part of his team, but he prefers to control it all himself.

renofan; I agree there is room in the playground for everyone, but honestly (and I don't care if it sounds smug) in the past 5 years I have seen so many mess ups with fsbos that it's really unbelievable. People either buy way too high and then can't sell again, or a seller lets something go for $100,000 less than they should have done and is patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Then right before closing they realize their mistake and come in asking us what they can do. We direct them to their attorney. It's sad though.

Many people who have drastically undersold don't even know it. They don't like realtors and are blissfully unaware that they have just seriously shortchanged themselves. So all these people who are delighted with themselves because they have 'successfully' fsbo'ed and beat the system.... well, let's just say that it wouldn't impress me until I'd had a chance to comp it out properly.

We bought a fsbo a couple of years ago for $515,000, put in granite and sold it 7 months later for $670,000. I sold another unit in the same building about 45 days after we bought the fsbo in the same condition as the one we bought for $605,000. Did the people we bought from save the $30,000ish commission? Sure they did, but it cost them around $60,000 to save the $30,000.

I'm sure some fsbos make out fine by using a realtor to get their price (for free) and then listing it themselves. Then they subtract some of the commission and a buyer gets a good deal as a win win. Doesn't seem to happen much around here.

Of course I live in a transient neighborhood. People normally live in the same unit here for less than 5 years before either upgrading to a bigger place or moving into the city or out to the 'burbs. So all this may be specific to my area.

Also the market prices can change quite radically here in a short time, so you need to be really on top of the market. There aren't many people who have the time to spend researching this and they need the advice of someone who does. It's really as simple as that.

In an area where stuff routinely sits on the market for 6 months or longer and there are only a couple of new listings appearing every day then that might be different and a buyer/ seller could keep track themselves. Not here.

qdog, The realtors here are "trying" to have an intelligent discussion. You completely drag the discussion down with such comments as "get off your high horse and your undies are in a bunch".

Realtors, teachers, drug companies, airlines, government, etc., etc., all try to spin things to protect their interests. It's the American way. No matter how many times you post you are never going to convince a realtor that they are uneccesary.

What, pray tell, do you do for a living?

(I'm a stay at home Mom btw.)

Year 1995 - No -drove around more, but realtor showed listings fitting our critera and we selected from that.
Year 2000 - yes, only used realtor to see properties interested in
No - same as in 2000.

No - same as in 2000. - should be Now - same as in 2000.

I have found every home I ever purchased by myself, without any assistance from a realtor and have sold every home by owner. I just purchased my latest having done my own homework. Did my own comps from the auditor's office website, and found a home owned by HUD before it was even listed on their own website. I called 'my' realtor who claimed to be working for me, who said he couldn't show me the house until it hit the MLS. WRONG... I was done with him...

I contacted the listing agent directly, told him I wanted to be in the house at 5:00 that evening to see it. He was there, I made the offer (after having to insist on the $$ amount and hearing over and over again, that's $3,000 too low, they won't take it...) They took it, and I have a contract on my new house. Now mind you I wasn't too keen on the idea that I was going to pay a realtor 5% for doing about 30 minutes of work, so I haggled with him for a while before I signed the contract, he agreed to knock 500.00 off of his fees. He wouldn't have done if I didn't ask. You never know till you try.

If I could have done the whole deal without him, I would have, and it would have been easy and I'd have saved many thousands off the final price of the house to cover his fees. My view is realtors have a protected position right now, but the internet is making their jobs easier and easier. I know there are some good ones out there, but I've never found one EVER who earned their rediculious % of fees.

I can recall my parents telling their realtor that they wanted to purchase a brick center hall saltbox, in a particular area of town. The realtor insisted that she had the 'perfect' house for them, just what they wanted... They took the time out of their busy day and went to see the 'perfect' house. We have forever referred to it as the 'mushroom house' it was the strangest shaped bungalow you could ever dream of. It wasn't even brick.

Now there are some realtors who might say I'm their worst nightmare of a client. I'd say I'm the easiest they will come across. I know exactly what I want, know where I want it, and know what I'm willing to spend. I refuse to get emotionally attached to the house until AFTER the offer is accepted... (with the exception of the 1700's saltbox reproduction we bought, now that one I was emotionally invested in the second I saw it!!) I don't want to spend hours and hours driving around in the realtor's car looking at this and that, and will give them a list of addresses I want to see, they just have to make the arrangements to get the house shown...

I also don't waste their time seeing properties until I'm fully qualified and ready to make a purchase.

I may come back in my next life as a realtor...

Technology has made being a REALTOR alot more productive. My last buyers received an automatic e-mail, whenever a new listing came on the market. Sometimes they'd drive by that evening if they were unfamiliar with the neighborhood to check it out, other times they'd e-mail me back saying to make an appointment after work to look at it.
I remember when I had to go to the listing office to pick up the key, now we have infrared lock boxes. Isn't technology great?

Dee, i am a former realtor ;)

Qdognj - that explains a lot. Sorry you didn't make it.

Okay, we've established that the Net is very valuable to realtors, buyers, and sellers. Realtors have studied Internet use by consumers and it's huge. We all know our own experiences. So why? Please tell me why? are so many online ads so very bad.

Shouldn't the pictures be as thoughtfully designed and staged as the home itself or the sales brochure?

Yet, I still see so many listings with low production quality and the worst possible pictures. I mean, really, who thinks that the first shot presented should be one of the toilet with the lid up? Any entrepreneurs out there thinking of giving a seminar? Oishhh!

njrealtor-

MEEEEEEOWWWW!

Maybe, just maybe, Qdognj was an HONEST person & RE is a dog eat dog world & that is why she didn't stay in it ;)

Don't ever assume anything (Qdognj situation and/or my realtor story).
My infamous Realtor was not too busy, just plain lazy. I later found out how incompetent his office was from another seller/buyer....and they were one of the "best" offices. Their office in is an area of 2-8 mil properties.

What realtors don't understand is that when someone is paying 40K or better in commission, they're not shopping at K-mart. Realtors need to perform. For that kind of easy transaction/commission, there should be a "warm towel wipe" for the sellers & buyers by the realtors-lol

"Yet, I still see so many listings with low production quality and the worst possible pictures. I mean, really, who thinks that the first shot presented should be one of the toilet with the lid up? Any entrepreneurs out there thinking of giving a seminar? Oishhh! "

Do I ever have to agree with that observation, it's embarrassing to say the least.
However, I think some of the blame has to be placed on the consumer for not insisting to receive quality service. I dont think the amount of commission has any bearing on the quality of service; consumers need to do their homework prior to committing to an agent or company and get the guarantee in writing.

Dee, i am a former realtor ;)

Ahh, another "unsuccessful statistic". So quick to state that a realtor is not needed, but yet, he didnt have what it takes to be succesful. Ya gotta love it.

I keep reading posts that state that you need a realtor to get in the door to view a house that is for sale. What is the problem with contacting the listing gent directly to request a showing if you don't want to work with a buyers agent? Anyway, we have used realtors for the purchase of our last 2 homes and have had good experiences. Why not use the services of a buyers agent? It does not cost you anything - at least in my state I have never been asked to fill out an EBA. Plus, it's not like you will save anything by not using one - I have never heard of an instance where a listing agent has agreed to credit the 3% buyers agent commission to a buyer who has chosen to go it alone.

Ahh, another "unsuccessful statistic". So quick to state that a realtor is not needed, but yet, he didnt have what it takes to be succesful. Ya gotta love it.

Qdognj - that explains a lot. Sorry you didn't make it.

My, my how does anyone know that Qdognj is not simply retired, not a dropout in the world of real estate.

"My, my how does anyone know that Qdognj is not simply retired, not a dropout in the world of real estate."

Because no-one who was a success in real estate could possibly think that realtors add no value. No way.

dabunch; Meeow is right - just couldn't resist, it's all so obvious now : )

novahomesick; the pictures are one of the most important things in my opinion - that and being able to view them easily (great internet exposure/ local and national websites, etc).
At least that is one thing which is easily checkable when hiring a realtor - either check the other homes on the agent's website to see what the picture quality is, or check out some previous flyers.

lol, you don't believe i was a realtor , i hope..That was called SARCASM...I guess the saying that realtors have no sense of humor is proven correct ;)

qdognj you are just so FUNNY. Perhaps you should start a new career as a comedian.

Well, well well it seems that Qdognj, saw some value in the use of a realtor when he had a buyer for his home but didnt seem to take him seriously because he was a FSBO!

House was going to be listed in Northern NJ on March 15, had several people interested by word of mouth prior to that date, and 1 made an offer, with a contingency of his house being sold..I said the offer was close, but i couldn't/wouldn't take a contingent offer.He asked for 2 weeks to feel out the market for his home, and i said he could come back anytime prior to listing..He never did, as his home was nowhere worth the $$ he asked, AND has doing a FSBO.

you wouldn't have to run from me, i wouldn't have a
need for you :)

It seems a realtor is a
"needed" when Qdognj needs to know the true value of his home.

appraisals by townships are really worthless in regards to homes true value.Get a realtor to give you a value of your home

having gone thru a similar situation last spring when we sold our home,i can tell you our realtor called interested parties,that we had an offer pending..2 other potential buyers made offers based on the "pending" offer..After reviewing the 3 offers, we called all once again, and asked for best and final..1 offer stayed the same, and the other 2 bid 20k higher..In the end the winning bid was 2500 dollars higher then the 2nd highest offer..

I wonder if you would have had a multiple offer situation had a realtor NOT been involved. Probably not.

The monopoly to which i refer, is that to buy a house, we MUST(unless fsbo) use a realtor, even if we don't have one as purchasers, the sellers agent is still there..

Its obvious that you want to use the realtor to your advantage, however, when you want to purchase, you don't want the seller to have that same advantage. The truth always comes out.

I guess the saying that realtors have no sense of humor is proven correct ;)

Funny, I've never heard that. Did you just make that up too?

Okay, I have to interject something here. QDog has been a great poster on these forums. I "know" him from the pool forum, and can say that he's not a malicious "stir the pot" kind of guy. It does appear that he likes to post some thought provoking threads, and I'll admit that I don't agree with everything he says, but this post (IMO) is getting too personal.

In the spirit of "there's room on the playground for everyone", I'll suggest that we all remember that there are actual people behind these screen monikers, and it's only natural that we don't all agree 100% on everything.

We should make some sort of cheesy pact; Those of us who see the need for Realtors won't try to convince those who don't, and those who *don't* see the need for Realtors won't try to convince those who do. That trite old saying comes to mind....."Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still".

All of this type of bickering is why some of us just don't want to deal with agents. Sigh.

Gloria

when i sold in 2006, the realtors were like unbeliveable..Psst, i'll list your home for 5%, Oh you have a beter offer, i'll do 4%...oops, psst, don';t tell anyone ,i'll do 3.75%....

secondly, I set the price not the TOP saleswoman, who always undercut the price so as to sell more homes...Why list the home for 50k more when my 3% cut is only 1500,push volume , makes me look that much better..

for the record, the price i sold my home was for 50k more then 4 of the 5 realtors had it aggressively listed at...

I find it ironic, that the only people complaining about my posts are REALTORS!!!

Reno, i need to go back to Pool forum,as i finalized my landscape plan, and am finally done with 2nd pool...I'll post pictures there...

If i have stirred the pot, so be it...For every good realtor, there are 10 lousy ones seeking the quick $$$...I believe the majority of posters here are as knowledgeable as most realtors, but that will be debated by all the pro's that frequent this site, que sera sera...

"I find it ironic, that the only people complaining about my posts are REALTORS!!! "

Hmmm! What's your reading comprehension? You really are full of yourself. You are a troll!

berniek, why am i a troll? I never said Benrie k was incompetent, so why the personal attack? As the professional you claim to be, you should be smart enough to realize whats happening in your field of employment, and the myriads of realtors who are not up to your caliber.
Way too many people became agents during the boom chasing the proverbial easy $$$..

I'm not trying to stir the pot but really, the realtors here keep saying things that realtors do that I just don't have personal experience with.
I'm willing to concede that maybe Linda and Bernie are exceptional realtors but I have not ever run into a Linda or Bernie. I think some of us would just like the realtors here to acknowledge that.
"People search the internet, but most don't know particular areas, streets, whats next door, problems in the area etc"
Granted I haven't bought and sold that many houses but most realtors I've asked these sorts of questions didn't know the answers. For example....
"So, do you know of any changes going on around here? Street construction, new shopping centers, school district changes that might change the future value if I buy this property?" Response - 'deer in headlights look'

One did help me find a builder after I found land on my own. (the land wasn't on the mls, it didn't have a sign but it was on a real estate lawyers website, he was selling it for his uncle and I found it by looking at everything on the internet I could find).
I do give her credit (never let it be said I won't give a realtor their due for doing a good thing) for steering me away from a builder who unbeknowst was having credit problems and later went out of business. That was having been in the business and knowing people and asking other knowledegable friends in the biz what the behind the scenes scoop was.

This I have a particular problem with:
" A good realtor knows exactly what type of house the buyer wants sometimes even before the buyer knows."
I have been looking and looking for a realtor who can do this for me !

Personal recommendation, long time realtor at the biggest RE CO in town - 4 months before I move to my new state I contact her. She wants to "get a sense of what I'm really looking for". Sends me a HUGE cut and paste from the MLS and ask me to respond with comments on each property. Took me 3 hours.
3 weeks later another huge cut and paste, with many of the same properties. Another 3 hours spent writing an email. Meanwhile I keep getting emails of repeat individual listings that I've already sent comments on in the huge cut and pastes. Apparently there is some sort of automatic mls send email thing they can do? I don't know but it wasn't helping!
The third time she sends me a huge file with repeats to comment on I complain - and she tells me she's spent HOURS looking for me ???? - what's she's done is do three bulk MLS searches and sent them to me and not read any of my comments.
So then her company gets some portal MLS program - they send you the mls basically and you use the software to discard what you don't like so you don't have the repeat problem.
Whats the freaking point? I can look at the MLS myself and contact them without their emails filling my inbox.

This is they way all realtors I've run into seem to work for a buyer - We look at the MLS, you the buyer choose 10 or 15 properties to look at - you buy one. Anything other than that and you are considered difficult.

If someone falls outside that dynamic, you are on your own they don't want to work with someone in a different way.

What I want is someone willing to work WITH me, long term if necessary. To agree to a process.
We discuss, look at the MLS together. Then we both do drive by's on our own - them while going to and from other showings, me on my own. Email each other updates - I drove by these MLS listings on the way to other appt and they looked like a dump, much worse than the pictures, or yes this looked good from the driveway, take a drive by. Or, I took a client to this listing that isn't on your list (they weren't interested) but even though on the MLS it doesn't seem to fit your criteria I think you need to visit because....Or I saw a FSBO sign go up in a neighborhood I was in that I think you would love, maybe we can work out a percentage if I handle the deal for you.
Thats working with me on what I see on the MLS but don't have time to drive around to see myself. That's personalized service and teamwork - something I haven't found anyone willing to do.