Finding listings - how much work to expect from a buyer's agent?
K D
6 years ago
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pamghatten
6 years ago3katz4me
6 years agoRelated Discussions
disgruntled buyer suing buyer's agent
Comments (117)we have stainless steel appliances this always cracks me up as a justification for a higher price. Sure, stainless-steel appliances *cost* more, but they're not necessarily in and of themselves more valuable, unless their *features* are high-end. You can get a "stainless appliance" package for $2,000 or less. (In fact, sometimes I think if we go back on the market, I should buy one of these packages, just to increase the odds of getting a buyer, even though our white stove has many more features than the stainless ranges in those packages.) Even if you spent $4,000 on appliances, why would that bump your price up by anything but a fraction of that? But the point is this (and I have tried to make it several times, but never so succinctly than c9pilot): But, the buyers should have known (or been told) and made a conscious decision to spend more on house if it had the more valuable features they wanted. THERE is where their agent messed up, and he has no one to blame but himself. Even if he deserves to win the lawsuit, he ALSO deserves to have to deal w/ the angst, but basically being a stupid person. As BernieK has said several times: He would make sure his buyers knew WHY they were paying MORE THAN THE ASKING price....See MoreBuying from an Agent -- Buyer's Agent?
Comments (15)If you are not in a rush, take your time and keep your eye on your market. You do not need an agent, at this point. I am looking in to buy in two different states, NY & Florida. I have been watching listings on MLS in both states. In NY I have been looking for about 6 months and have seen prices slowly fall and inventory increase. Sellers have been very rigid about dropping prices but when I see properties sitting over 6 months, without selling, I feel justified making low offers. Watch the comps and note the DOM and final selling price. Look to see how many houses are for sale. This market is tricky. My area is desirable because of proximity to NYC. Prices have remained high but inventory has increased. I find high-end houses are selling but mid-price homes more slowly. I don't understand that. I could be wrong, but there is a glut of mid-price homes available. The comps are confusing because some homes are selling way below list price yet others are selling close to list. I've noticed bidding wars where the houses sold above list price. Hard to make heads or tail of this market. I am using an agent to gain access to properties only. I am not using her to do any searches for us. I have made an offer on a property which she submitted. It was considered a low offer and she was not supportive yet did submit it. The seller would not counter. I'm okay with that as there have been no other offers at this point. We can wait. I think the market in my area is starting to decline; later than other areas but definitely dropping. Sellers are dropping prices after a year. When they sell, they become the comps. My advice is to wait it out and keep an eye on your market. Let this listing sit for a while and watch what goes on in the neighborhood. Good luck, Jane...See MoreHow to find a buyers agent when you don't live nearby?
Comments (3)I like to test-drive realtors. I've emailed a number of them through realtor.com and only 2 responded quickly (others were a couple days later, a week later by someone who was in the office that didn't answer my specific question, or never). I asked each of those 2 to show me a house they had listed and one that was listed by someone else, and then I pumped them for info on pricing, comps, etc. while we were together. One answered my questions better, provided me data to back up his "gut feel", etc. You're remote, so you can't do this in person, but I would think you could do some of this by phone. I'd narrow down your choices by looking at their listings online, or getting the office to send you a list ranking buy-side agents and choosing a couple top ones. When you call, explain a bit about your situation, tell them you're shopping for a buyer's agent, and here are the 5 properties you're considering. Assuming they're in different neighborhoods, ask their opinion of value of the different neighbohoods, and if they know the specific properties. Ask them to send you the comps they'd use to value those properties. Then see who's the most open and helpful and responsive and knowledgeable. It helps that you know the area and can judge their answers based on that. Look at the comps they send you and, if they gave you different ones, evaluate who was more complete/accurate with picking comps. And see if the comps justify the pricing they were telling you. It should be no problem to see 5 houses in one day, as long as they've got a few days to line them up. When we were househunting we hit 15+ in a day....See MoreHow likely FSBO owner will accept buyers agent?
Comments (16)@sylvia, Yes, you are right, I mean deducting. Just let sellers know that buyer knows there's a commission & have included it in their offer." It really depends. if the seller wants to realize X amount and the house is very desirable, the seller may accept an offer of X amount from a buyer who does not need the seller to pay realtor commission. If the 2nd buyer wants seller to pay realtor commission, the offer needs to be (X + Commission amount ) to meet seller's expectation. Otherwise, if the 2nd buyer only offers X amount, s/he would lose the house. @Otta, To answer your question for a house transaction in normal situation, the above mentioned example is Scenario #1 Scenario #2, we have heard that in general selling price is higher when a house is sold by a realtor. We also heard buyers tend to offer less amount to FSBO, because they believe the FSBO does not need to pay realtor commission. Therefore I believe fair market price has already included commission as most houses are sold by realtors, and comp is determined by these selling prices. Scenario #3, Commission means work, realtor is rightfully to earn commission selling a house. Some FSBOs are capable of selling houses themselves at market value, they could either pocket the entire commission, or reduce asking price by part or entire commission to speed up the selling, or share half of the commission with buyer's realtor. A side note, years ago while house hunting, we pulled selling histories of houses we were interested. We noticed on the surface, it seems selling prices had been increasing for each house, but once removed percentage of the commissions after each transaction, each seller of a house did not receive much gain. It was the lesson we learned if all possible, we would always buy and sell through FSBOs. I look forward to hear realtors poke holes in these theories, being a layperson, there are so many things to learn in real estate area....See Morehomechef59
6 years agoaprilneverends
6 years agoIndigo Rose
6 years agoDebbie Downer
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoaprilneverends
6 years ago3katz4me
6 years agoDenita
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agogyr_falcon
6 years agoUser
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoK D
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoDenita
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoK D
6 years agoDenita
6 years agoC Marlin
6 years agoncrealestateguy
6 years agoDianne H
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoC Marlin
6 years ago
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