The 6% Real Estate Commission is Doomed

[tvguy]

Most people aren't buying a house often enough to care about repeat business.

I think word of mouth referrals are what they are counting on from their customers. The Realtor who we used 40 years ago was referred to us by a co-worker, and she also helped 6 other co-workers buy houses.
I referred my neighbors to the Realtor I used to sell my mom's house, and then my daughter used her to buy her house.

 

[china mom]

It's the difference between $15,000 and $0 that matters though. I've always treated offer advice from my buying agent with skepticism as they are highly incentivized to have me offer enough to guarantee acceptance.

Most people aren't buying a house often enough to care about repeat business.

Maybe I am the exception buy my realtor has helped me purchase 3 and sell 3 but he has also handled both buy and sell for a friend, 2 BILs and my parent in laws.

He has listed my rental house for free in MLS and most recently, walking me through selling a house by myself and looking over the offers for free because he knows he has my good will and will get future business.

And before you say that the last house shows that we don't need agents, it was an unusual situation where I pretty much posted on a FB investors group that I was holding an open house on a Sat and would take cash offer bids until Monday.

 

[gmi3804]

I've always treated offer advice from my buying agent with skepticism as they are highly incentivized to have me offer enough to guarantee acceptance.

You might have trust issues. How are they "incentivized?" Why would it matter a bit to them if you buy House X or House Y? Isn't their incentive to get you into a house that you want? Presenting an offer that's going to be treated seriously and ultimately get you to the closing table after showings, negotiations, inspections, paperwork, loan application, etc., is why they're working for you.

Any good broker knows that, for long-term business, no current transaction is more lucrative than the referrals that come from satisfied clients. I don't advertise my services, and rely 100% on referrals (friends, families, networking with out-of-town broker friends). I never do Open Houses on my listings, as I believe they're done primarily for agents to find new buyer clients; houses rarely find their buyers from random nosy strangers, and the few ones that do don't justify my time or effort. I have zero interest in working with strangers who have similar trust issues as yours.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

OOOO A zombie thread. You know what that means.

It's time for another zombie poll. We work hard to poll zombies so you don't have to.

6 out of 10 zombies polled said they don't want to give up 3% of their brains to a buyer's agent.
3 out of 10 zombies would rather eat brains then sell them.
And one zombie just drooled and said Brains, yum. So we high tailed it back to the poll mobile.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I have never paid a 6% broker’s fee to buy, sell or rent however all my domestic transactions have been in the NE