Comments on: Chipping Away At Realtors' Six Percent

Lesley Stahl Reports How Realtors' Commission Fees Are Under Assault

[edward283]

The problem is that its not that these people don't want agents to sell these homes, to the contrary, what they want is to get them to do
the work for them or for less at the very least.

Note that these people do not have ethical standards to meet nor do they have to live up
to the claims they make, even the claims on national news programs.

The problem is they don't want to do the work
they just want to charge for it, then they sue
to make other agents do the work. How much do you think it costs to actually run all those advertisements, tv, print and web-sites?

How come you just don't create a web page, and see how many people come to buy your house?
Oh, yeah of the three people who might find it
without all the additional marketing may not actually be looking to buy a house? possibly?
or is it some NAR consiracy that prevents people
from actually doing it? I think not. I think most
people realize that it costs a lot of money to
set these systems up. In addition, our small town has more than 20 thousand listing for sale
at any time, just a little competition for you
to think about. Real estate agents have plenty
of competition, what we don't like is people who
are allowed to lie and cheat and say they we are
bad while doing it.

[edward283]

Reply to:
Posted by neeruam at 02:02 PM : May 21, 2007

That is just stupid! Your not required to use
someones services and no one is or trying to force you to do so. I am 100% certian I wouldn't work for you either.

What was being addressed here was claims of saving people money without loosing any service and that my friend is false. While you may be
a "real estate" expert much like I am sure you
are an expert on many other topics, you still managed to miss understand what the topic actually was all about. That being you can
save a lot of money by using people you never
see or actually get any service from. They simply take your information plug it into a computer and your set for life.

I am sure your a big support of endless voice
mail systems and computers that provide customer service today. It saved you money at some point
didn't it? Do you really think that the travel
industry is better or cheaper now because you
can book your airfare and hotel directly online?
Information is great but who is providing all this information on the internet should also be the question.

I could care less about your commission, save it
but don't try to tell me the guy who charges you
a flat fee, if your home sells or not is providing a comparable service to full service agents who charge nothing unless they actually
sell your home.

[jfusco3]

Also, most "good" realtors are big spokesman in their community. I work hard with my local authorities to peice together affordable housing projects where no interested party receives a profit, neither do realtors involved in the transaction make a commission. I have slaved for hours working with architects, contractors, government officals, financing authorities, and potential homeowners, to build new homes for people who could otherwise not afford it. Efforts like these often go unnoted, and the fact that realtors have entire committees that are involved in participating with the government to adopt legislation beneficial to the homeowners of this country speaks for itself. Say what you want about Realtors, we do more good than harm. And you can take to the bank. Thank you.

[jfusco3]

My point is that a lot of homeowners and irrate sellers feel that they've been ripped off by a realtor in the past. Everyone's situation is different. No one transaction is exactly like the next. Not every "realtor" is a good practioner. There are a few "bad" eggs just like there are a few "crooked" mechanics and plumbers. There is always a margin of error for every profession. To blatantly declare that millions of real estate practioners are ripping off their customers without knowledge to the details and effort required for every single transaction, and basing your profound "knowledge" based on a CBS article or some newspaper clipping is absurd, outrageous, and quite disrespectful.

I, personally, have sold a clients house for free in a distressed sale only to help them into a more affordable home. I have also offered a "flat rate" service to some clients. I have long lasting relationships with many of my clients and my service goes beyond what CBS and the naysayers would have you to believe. Please, take a step-back, realize that you do not know "everything" about every real estate transaction, nor do I.

[jfusco3]

For every one person who has nothing but curses to say about realtors let me ask you this. Let's say you're a mechanic or a plumber, or whatever your profession is, consider this.

Would you like it if I went on CBS and said that noone should use a plumber or a mechanic to fix their car or house, because all plumbers and mechanics are crooks who charge too much for service, and that their services could be learned in your average "mechanics for dummies" book, or, that they could be performed by your neighbor's uncle? And then, I didn't give you, the mechanic, a "fair" opportunity to respond. It wouldn't seem fair would it?

[cldst21]

If you don't like agents and don't want to pay the agent, then DON'T call the agent. DON'T USE the agent. It's simple isn't it. If I don't want designer clothes, I DON'T buy them. I don't complain about the price or expect to be able to wear them without paying for them. Everyone has a price. Everyone expects that if the cost of living goes up, their salary should too. Why is it different in this case? May be using this same theory, we can also decrease the cost of lawyers, doctors, accountants, and every other working citizen. Why should we pay more? Technology has made surgeries easier right? Lawyers have the internet and don't do as much legwork? Accountants odn't have to fill out paperwork anymore? Why are we paying them more????

[cldst21]

It's funny that people are picking on the commission. Why hasn't it changed. Things are easier. Well, they are easier for the consumer. Not necessarily less expensive to the real estate agent. Most agent operate and maintain their own websites. With the technology comes increased technology fees charged by brokerages to maintain the brokerage website and internet tools. The cost of everything has gone up over times. Would you expect the cost of food, clothing, gas, etc. to rise but the minimum wage to remain the same? Should people still be allowed to be paid 3-4$ per hour? Charging a percent allows for cost of living increases. And don't believe for a second that agents no longer cart people around. Our agent took us to 50 houses in the course of 3 weeks. If this were a perfect world, may be things could be different. Have you ever once wondered how many times real estate agents do the work only to get nothing because the people went behind their backs??? How many people take advantage of their knowledge and give them nothing. I know because a close friend was an agent. She would call me crying because people dumped after they used her. Is that fair?

[cbecker11]

I am a Realtor in California am upset by what 60 minutes reported. I would love to earn 6% commission! My clients & I negotiate a 4.5% to 6% commission which I then share with a Buyer's agent and I don't keep all of that amount as I have to pay my broker, my E&O insurance, my advertising, my taxes, my dues and fees, my fees for classes to keep my license current(we have to complete 45 hours of classes every 4 years), fees for a website, and the list goes on! This business is the hardest job I've had in my life and I love it! I consider myself a real estate resource to my clients and keep in touch with them monthly. Isn't it great that people have a choice? There will always be internet realtors, discount realtors, etc. but the bottom line is that a person selling their biggest asset wants someone they can trust, who is knowledgeable, who they can see and talk with throughout the whole transaction and for that we are worth the commission negotiated. Over 90% of the people who sell real estate are using a realtor and over 85% of those trying to sell their own home or use a discount broker end up listing with a Realtor. Isn't it just like the news and 60 minutes to report the negative side of things from a remote few who are disgruntled.

Have a great day!

Connie Becker
Coldwell Banker Armstrong Properties
Riverside, CA.
A Name You Can Trust, Results You Can Count On!
www.conniebecker.com
Email: [e-mail]

[neeruam-2009]

Behind all the smoke and mirrors set up by the realty industry to show us our realtor-invoked "incompetence," one thing comes through loud & clear and that is that you guys/gals are running scared trying to preserve your up-to-now almost exclusive turf. Perhaps you too realize that your industry will soon go the way of the dinosaurs unless you adapt to the realities of 2007.

We're fed up with your sacrosanct 6% and we're not gonna take it anymore -- you may not quite get it yet but we're here to inform you that YOU ARE NOT WORTH 6% of OUR HARD-EARNED SWEAT EQUITY, NO WAY, NO MORE! Thanks Leslie for shining light on what many already strongly suspected and resented.

[edward283]

A full service agent does more for you than just
List your home.

Yes, the multiple listing service is the best tool agents have created for sharing information.
Oh, yeah. A private database paid for by agents
to share information and offer terms for agents
to cooperate in selling homes.

No company has created such a service. There has been other real estate related companies that have tried to create an internet site, but
they just don't work. These are mostly marketing companies who customers are real estate agents. They fail because they can't
keep the sites up to date.

Its amazing to see so many people refer to the internet when pointing out that agents are not
needed. REALTOR.COM and every other site created
by Real Estate Firms are based on Realtors and Real Esate Agents doing the work.

I would bet that any internet site that you can
find that is useful, is being powered by the work of Real Estate Agents. Regardless of the
fancy web page design, the IDX information is pulled from a local MLS which is paid for and maintained by real estate agents.

Even you local newspaper is usually working with
a similar system on their web site, as the typical classified method just don't work.

[edward283]

To other poster comments!

If you know an agent is doing something unethical! REPORT them *** it. Realtors and
the NAR have been working for years to promote
higher ethical practices than most states require. Not only do they require higher standards but they encourage enforcement.

Not only would I report another agent for unethical practices. I know that many agents would welcome laws that make it harder for a person to gain and hold a license without following strict ethical practices. Including
strict rules for marketing claims. Something I
am sure is not supported by the so called discounter marketers. Their claims would all but
be eliminated but such laws. The fact is the
government does does not enforce advertising
laws. The actual marketing of your home has
far more restrictions than the claims these guys can be held accountable.

[edward283]

To address some of the previous posts!

Yes an individual brokerage firm may tell its
agents to only list at a certian %. This is a
fair practive, they have determined and set a
price for the services their firm offers.

I mean how is it that no one can grasp such a simple concept. Let's use a differnt market such as hamburgers. If you are making hamburgers and charging $2. Either your hamburgers better
be the best *** hamburgers available or people
will go to the guy charging $1. Right?

The fact is, people compare a half dozen agents
offerring the same level of service and experience to a guy who doesn't offer the same things. Yeah it's a burger but not the same
quality or even close. You get what you pay for
regardless of your ability to tell the difference.

[edward283]

It's a shame! 60 Minutes has become an infomercial rather than an unbiased news program.
Knowing that I know for a fact a lot of the information provided was horribly inaccurate!
An attack on thousands of hard working professionals nationwide without representation is appauling. The NAR's letter outlined your mistakes, so aggregious that you & CBS are embarrassed to even address them.
It's a fact that the so called "discounters" offer an offer an ala-cart service that where
fees are often equal to or greator than the fee they claim. Nor do they disclose how many don't sell or that Agents sell their listings. Oh, yes the same real estate agents they and 60 Minutes were attacking. The MLS is a PRIVATE data base! Yahoo does not have to provide is clients information to MSN. I am not a spokesperson for the NAR, a local board or even a local firm but I know more about the real estate business than anyone you aired. That's not just bad journalism
that should be considered FRAUD! When you warp information as to deliberatly lead people what
else would you call it. If an agent or a Realtor
where do anything like that they would lose their license. We have to meet an ethical standard that far exceeds yours.

[neeruam-2009]

NVGUY, about fake bids, previously I posted about our experience selling & buying 5 years ago in a hot market in a desirable Philadelphia 'hood. An agent from prominent local firm showed me a house & proudly explained his "Rule of 4" where he would collect offers but not present them to seller for 4 days. He even ran a full page ad in local paper about the Rule. In his 4 days' lag time prospective buyers were cautioned to offer more, often way more, than asking price because of competing offers. One house listed for $249K sold for $325K due to inflated bids.

In essence, he artificially pumped up the prices by scaring buyers. He told me flat-out that he had no clue as to values in the hot market, & Rule of 4 helped seller get highest price. Essentially he was auctioning off houses to highest bidder, pitting buyers against each other for 4 days.

When I expressed shock & strong disagreement at this, he asked why I would complain since I was also selling and would reap the benefits of the Rule of 4. As I walked away from him, I explained that the difference between him & me was that I had scruples & was interested in a fair price for my sale, was not interested in gouging because it was driving out many good people who had lived in the 'hood & helped to build it up over their entire lifetimes & that I thought his Rule of 4 was a deceitful disgrace. He was a true real estate *** looking out primarily for his sacrosanct 6% of the price he had pumped up.

[angryrealtor]

You keep calling us 6 percenters and commission is not a set rate. You also forget that half of that 6% (what you say it is) is offered to the buyer's agent. (Just like redfin offers a co-broke to buyer's agents). Even people who pay a flat fee to list their house still pay the buyers agent 2.5 -3% out of the proceeds.

Yes, Redfin rebates 2/3 of the commission to a buyer, (with Redfin keeping a minimum of $3,000) so if you are the seller, you are still giving up that 3% of your hard earned equity to the buyer, you still lose it.

If you look at Redfin's website, they have the seller pay them a flat fee of $3,000 to list their house, but they also have that seller pay a co-broke to the buyer's agent. Is a consumer really saving enough money to not be protected by our E&O insurance incase of a lawsuit? Why risk it? The savings really isn't signifigant enough to put your house in the hands of someone who has never even seen it.

Also, if you have a 100,000 house and list with Redfin, you are paying them 6% to sell it and if your property is worth less than $100,000 you will be paying them more than 6%. Why do you think they use a $500,000 house in the example? Because anything less would really not result in a huge savings due to their flat fee. You do the math...

[worldwesteba]

PART 2

When two agents work for the same real estate company, and they are working on opposite sides of each other in the same transaction, these commitments are conflicting. This is dual agency.

Dual agents are required by law to remain neutral to both parties, meaning, that neither buyer nor seller receive the level of service that they originally expected and signed-up for. However, with Dual Agency, the real estate company makes double commissions. It is a long-standing practice in the real estate industry called "double-dipping."

Although Redfin claims that they do not allow dual representation, they do take listings--so if a Redfin Buyer wants to buy from a Redfin Seller, this IS Dual Agency. Therefore, Redfin's claim is a contradiction. Redfin (the company) becomes the Dual Agent. They will make money from both sides, while remaining neutral to both sides. They will make $3,000.00 from the seller's side, as well as, a minimum of $3,000.00 from the buyer's side in the same transaction. Who is really benefitting here?

The only way to avoid dual agency completely is to hire an exclusive buyer's agent or broker, because they do not take listings, and neither do the companies they work for. It's that simple.

[worldwesteba]

PART 1

In Washington State, commissions are negotiable. It is illegal to set commission rates. I am sure that this is the case in all 50 states, since this is a form of price-fixing--an antitrust violation. If sellers want to lower commission rates, then they need to speak up and negotiate it down. If listing agents "don't allow" less than 6%, then THOSE listing agents need to be reported. However, to say that all real estate agents and brokers are bad is, not only ridiculous, but it is also a sweeping generalization that is unfair to those who are honest, good, and who work very hard for the clients they serve.

As far as rebating buyers, some states don't allow this. However, in the states where it is allowed, a buyer can negotiate a rebate with ANY exclusive buyer's agent--or any real estate agent, for that matter. Exclusive buyer agents, however, only work for buyers. They are non-traditional, as discount brokers are, and their priority is to get their clients the lowest price possible on the properties they buy.

Exclusive buyer agents are truly pro-consumer. They don't take listings, and neither do the companies they work for, so there is never a chance of dual agency--which is a conflict of interest. Dual agency is a conflict of interest, because a seller expects their agent (and their agent's company) to get the highest price possible for their property, while a buyer expects their agent (and their agent's company) to help them negotiate the lowest price possible.

[nvguy]

Maybe 60m can do a follow up on the fake bids being levied on buyers by realtors. NAR and their stooges have been telling the public that multiple offers are common. None of coarse is confirmable. Its all a lie. It obvoius today since builders have cut back as much as 50% due to lack of demand. Existing homes have also fallen down to 18 year lows. If there are multiple bids, why has demand been cut in half?

[nvguy]

Over 9500 appraiser across the nation all agree Realtors are Evil and Greedy. The NAR and their stooges are the center on the most recent scam of pumping prices above fundemental values and pushing buyers into highly risky (toxic) loans. See the dot.com bust of subprime lenders. This is just the first phase of the bust. Dont kid yourself, this will end very badly. The 60 minute piece is only scratching the surface of the bigger problem. No one saying the recent boom is not a bubble.

[nvguy]

http://appraiserspetition.com/

The concern of this petition has to do with our "independent judgment" in performing real estate appraisals. We, the undersigned, represent a large number of licensed and certified real estate appraisers in the United States, who seek your assistance in solving a problem facing us on a daily basis. Lenders (meaning any and all of the following: banks, savings and loans, mortgage brokers, credit unions and loan officers in general; not to mention real estate agents) have individuals within their ranks, who, as a normal course of business, apply pressure on appraisers to hit or exceed a predetermined value.

This pressure comes in many forms and includes the following:

* the withholding of business if we refuse to inflate values,
* the withholding of business if we refuse to guarantee a predetermined value,
* the withholding of business if we refuse to ignore deficiencies in the property,
* refusing to pay for an appraisal that does not give them what they want,
* black listing honest appraisers in order to use "rubber stamp" appraisers, etc.