As of last month, we have to sign a compensation agreement with a Realtor in order to see homes. All we keep hearing is “The compensation is negotiable, and that a number needs to be put in the compensation box but the seller will pay it, if the seller doesn’t pay & you really want the house, then you have to pay.” 3%?! That’s $24,000 for us.
Is everyone else hearing the same? Does it feel cringy?
I want to hire a realtor because it’s a huge financial decision & I want to avoid mistakes, so what mistakes did your realtor help you avoid & how many dollars did you save for not making that mistake?
What possible mistakes can cost a buyer $24,000?
Is it fair to look at things this way? Asking to pay the agent based on the value they create?
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It’s entirely valid to ask them to explain what they’re going to provide you for $24k.
A good agent will have a really compelling answer to that.
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They’ll have answers that sound compelling.
I negotiated $30k off the list price
I negotiated a new roof valued at $25k
I saved the deal that would have cost my client time, heartache, and their earnest money deposit
In the first two cases, an educated and competent self-represented buyer could also negotiate the same terms.
The third case is really hard to prove.
I’m not saying agents don’t provide value, but objectively defending their $24k of value is nearly impossible in my experience.
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So far, the answer is, “sign here, but I’m going to have the seller pay me” what could their compelling answer look like? How much time should I dedicate to finding an agent versus dedicating it to asking Reddit as I run into obstacles in the process?
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Agent caught underground oil tank the home inspector missed.
Got the inspection report back. Reviewed with agent. They say they don’t see the oil tank on the report. Agent gets on phone to inspector. Inspector just missed it. But agent had seen it and made note of it.
More experienced eyes on the property.
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I was so exhausted with home buying I almost placed an offer on a place that was on that market a few weeks. It was perfect for me but only had one bathroom. Listed at 315. My agent convinced me not to for that reason
Both a virtually identical house and week later except it has 3 full baths for 360k. There’s a gazillion reasons to have 3 baths instead of 1, but strictly financially I have two friends who asked if they could live with me and I get an extra 1100 a month from them every month. That situation would never have been sustainable with one bathroom.
After 16 months im already ahead financially since I throw their rent money as extra mortgage payment.
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I know our realtor is the reason we know how to make the right counter offer when someone outbid us with money and other things (an offer to pay seller’s commission) — we had no idea what the right next step up was but she guided us to counter perfectly and now we are in contract. So… getting our home was worth it, for us.
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You wouldn’t necessarily know about mistakes that weren’t made, would you? I can tell you the one thing my realtor did “wrong,” but I’m not entirely sure about the right stuff.
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I just sold a property to an experienced buyer who was unrepresented for $40,000 more than the last agent had it listed for a few months ago.