Yeah, the difference in housing costs between the Midwest and Northwest is startling. Well, ALL the west. It's crazy.
baconthecat
July 24, 2007
Ooo this will be helpful when Mr. Bacon and I finally find our dream home! $189k... If only! We live in an older apartment complex, but just a block down the road is a residential area with homes (and not mansions, just regular two-story, detached homes with yards) in the mid-$300k to upper $400k... Prolly more the location than anything else (it really is a super location). And about five minutes down the road are homes in the neighborhood of $600k to $1 million... My dream neighborhood!!! You can get a view of downtown Portland from there, it's up in the hills and really peaceful! There are even a few deer because there's a natural park right smack in the middle. But anyway.
equitygreen
June 29, 2007
If you think negotiating is good, you should look at the Redfin model. $3,000 flat commission period. Doesn't matter what the sales price of the home is. It has really taken off in Washington, the Bay Area, and out East. People in the real estate industry really need to watch for a paradigm shift.
JasonQ
June 29, 2007
I'm a Realtor, and often will write listing contracts with a two-tiered commission structure as outlined below. I figure it like this -
If I personally represent the buyer, I expect to make a higher percentage than I would if a cooperating agency brought the buyer because it's basically twice the work for me, dealing with both sides of the transaction. That fact should not preclude the seller from getting a break on the commission, however.
I will generally knock about 1-1.2% off the commission - I'm already pretty cheap to begin with, so this amounts to a ~20-25% discount (you do the math). That makes everyone happy.
This is all fine and good. But I make it quite clear to sellers that the chance of me actually bringing the buyer are fairly slim. In my area, most agents don't sell more than 10-15% of their own listings. But I still want to do right by my sellers, so I try to cut them the best deal possible.
And quite frankly, if a buyer came into my open house with the approach expressed in the original posting, I might encourage him to get his own representation, depending on the situation. In my area at least, people who approach the transaction this way are often a real PITA, and the additional hassle isn't worth the extra cash.
Jason
jasimar
June 18, 2007
Brilliant! I was put in that situation as a buyer. My agent is sister in law to her boss, who represented the original home owner. It was yucky.
Surly
June 11, 2007
What an excellent nuts and bolts post! Thank you. I personally got burned on this one. Too bad I didn't know about this 9 years ago. Well written and very helpfull.
DIY Maven
baconthecat
equitygreen
JasonQ
I'm a Realtor, and often will write listing contracts with a two-tiered commission structure as outlined below. I figure it like this -
If I personally represent the buyer, I expect to make a higher percentage than I would if a cooperating agency brought the buyer because it's basically twice the work for me, dealing with both sides of the transaction. That fact should not preclude the seller from getting a break on the commission, however.
I will generally knock about 1-1.2% off the commission - I'm already pretty cheap to begin with, so this amounts to a ~20-25% discount (you do the math). That makes everyone happy.
This is all fine and good. But I make it quite clear to sellers that the chance of me actually bringing the buyer are fairly slim. In my area, most agents don't sell more than 10-15% of their own listings. But I still want to do right by my sellers, so I try to cut them the best deal possible.
And quite frankly, if a buyer came into my open house with the approach expressed in the original posting, I might encourage him to get his own representation, depending on the situation. In my area at least, people who approach the transaction this way are often a real PITA, and the additional hassle isn't worth the extra cash.
Jason
jasimar
Surly
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