Question For Agents

I am trying to sell a house right now thru an agent. The agent knows me and listed the house with me paying 5% commission instead of the normal 6% here. 2.5% to each agent. Well i am wondering if this is causing less agents to show my house. Other similar homes my area get 5-7 showings a week and I get about 3 a month. I dont know if this has anything to do with it but I am thinking it might. I am also thinking of offering more money to the agent bringing in a buyer, maybe say 3.5% instead of 2.5%. Any have any thoughts on that?

Thanks alot.

Comments(11)

  • billfaith16th February, 2005

    Actually now I just found out that its 3% for my agent and 2% for the buyers agent.. Wow do I feel screwed now.

  • billfaith16th February, 2005

    Thanks for the reply

    Do you think I was correct in assuming that they would take the discount and not expect someone else too? I feel betrayed. What are they losing? They only take a discount if they sell it themselves.

  • reinatalie16th February, 2005

    Quote:
    On 2005-02-16 15:00, billfaith wrote:
    Actually now I just found out that its 3% for my agent and 2% for the buyers agent.. Wow do I feel screwed now.


    It definitely should be the other way around, 2% for listing realtor, 3% for buying.

  • billfaith16th February, 2005

    renogiate and pay them more? sorry I didnt get what you meant there. I am ready to pull the plug on my agent.

  • billfaith17th February, 2005

    hi Steve

    I appreciate your thoughts on this. I dont know if the .4% is the biggest problem or not. So does the listing broker get 3.6% then? I just thought it was kinda strange that other properties in the area get more showings a week then I got in 5 months. Maybe this area is more concerned about the commission because its smaller and the agents have so much competition. I really cant say for sure.

    I have other complaints with her. She knew my intent was to sell ASAP as I am sure most people do. She has never come to me once and suggested any changes in price or anything. I have reduced price 2 times by $4,000 each time on my own. I have offered perks with the house, down payment assistance, etc... I have come up with all these ideas, not her. I just think she should have come up to me after say 2 months and said "hey something is wrong here, why isnt your placing selling or showing". So I guess its more than just the discount split but thats what kinda set me off on this whole thing. Once again thanks for your suggestions.

    Bill[ Edited by billfaith on Date 02/17/2005 ]

  • regal2nd March, 2005

    Sounds like you got screwed by your Realtor. Go speak with the owner or manager in person. Explain what happened and tell them you want to cancel.

    If they say no, tell them your next step is calling your attorney. Also ask for a written explanation of what the agent has done to sell the house quickly. You want to see the newspaper ads, the open house schedules, etc, etc.

    I like to work with agents as it frees up my time and occassionally they bring me deals. If an agent is bad, however, or tries to screw me, I literally try to drive them out of business.

  • rewardrisk2nd March, 2005

    Mike1013-

    How is that flat $495 fee mls service working for you? Are you with a franchise? Do you get a lot of flack from other realtors?

    What do you do for $495? Do you place your own sign on the property? Do you supply a lockbox?

    Do you spend a lot on advertising ie newspapers, internet? Do you get a lot of listings?

    Just a curious Pa. broker/investor

  • billfaith3rd March, 2005

    Hello everyone

    Thanks for all the posts on this. I spoke with my agent and she tried to make me think this commission split was not hurting me at all (maybe it didnt who knows). I did show the house to 2 outher agents last week and also asked them if they thought the 2% co-broke had something to do with it. They said yes but of course they were also trying to get the listing from me.

    I asked to cancel my listing since I didnt know how the commission broke out and my agents boss put up a huge stink... In the end she agreed to adjust the commission back to 2.4% for the buyers agent, which is standard here. I also added a $500 bonus to the buyers broker for selling it and NOT her. She did it and didnt complain. Well I have 26 days left on the listing and will see if any of this helps..
    Thanks to everyone again. Great to see all these different views.

    Bill

  • cbrechbill111th March, 2005

    Remember as a RE you must always disclose this info, at the least you are now a infomred investor...

  • ysoft11th March, 2005

    Thanks! As long as there are not much cons (such as disclosures and invest of time in education, licence), I think I would probably benefit more by saving some commissions.

  • Evan88711th March, 2005

    Not only do you have to disclose if you are a RE agent, but if you are buying something well below market, you have to pull up comps and have them sign a statement saying that they understand how much their property is worth and know that they are selling it at a substantial discount.
    If they are truly motivated, this would be an issue.

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