Realtor contract question

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
Never sold a house before and I've initialed and singed everything except the page with the price and realtor commission on it. 6% is a going rate from what I understand, but how negotiable is this and is it a good idea to negotiate it.

I'd rather see something more like 5% in that spot.
 
Shouldn't be negotiable (realtor code aka price fixing) but never hurts to ask.

I've even negotiated a 7.5% if you move it in 90 days 4 % if it gies past 120...
 
Keep in mind other agents might push other houses over yours due to commission rates. I got 5 on my last purchase but that was because we were using the same agent to buy and sell and she was willing to cut her side only and leave the buyers agent percentage.
 
5% is what I've seen as normal.

See what commission they are offering a buyer's agent. This may determine how well the house is presented to buyers agents.

I've seen 3.5% or more offered to buyers agents to get them to show the house more. But, to each their own. That commission is for selling the house. If they are charging 6%, ask them how they plan to market and sell the house. 5% commission with them just posting a sign in the front yard and then doing a little paperwork 180 days later is crap. 6% commission if they are pushing the sale, having open houses, listing it in the local realtor books, etc. etc. is well worth it.

Bottom line, you are buying a service with the commission, make sure you get a detailed understanding of what they are actually going to do to earn that commission.
 
rockcity said:
See what commission they are offering a buyer's agent. This may determine how well the house is presented to buyers agents.

I've seen 3.5% or more offered to buyers agents to get them to show the house more.
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Around here, stuff listed with the "bargain" realtors doesn't move. Coincidence?
 
paranoia. that's a possibility, even with private showings.

But, I think that's a poor excuse for the realtor to not have open houses and your house is sitting on the market for 180+ days
 
Like Ron said, high commission if the house sells in the first 60 or 90 days. After that, drop commission or switch realtors.

The only way the house sells is if people see it. The realtor needs to be motivated to sell it, hence the commission.

If it sits on the market for 180+ days, you might as well do a "for sale by owner" sign on it and do it yourself.
 
6% is standard rate. I think that open houses are a waste of time. If someone is truly interested in seeing your house, they will make an appt. I only go to open houses for sight seeing purposes (keeping an eye on the market, not to rob anyone LOL).
 
FrontPorchFab said:
6% is standard rate. I think that open houses are a waste of time. If someone is truly interested in seeing your house, they will make an appt. I only go to open houses for sight seeing purposes (keeping an eye on the market, not to rob anyone LOL).
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Agreed. A lot of the more seasoned agents around here won't do open houses, rarely do you ever find a buyer. If I really wanted to look at a house and was serious in buying, I would want to do it along with other people in the house at the same time.
 
Bought my 1st house in 78, then a rental investment in 88, & my present house in 2000. Commission has always been 6% in the Charlotte area. And with a buyer agent + seller agent, they split it. If you try to pay less, you get Less Marketing.
 
I like Ron's approach, pay more for quick sell, but I guess it depends on whether you value market time more, or less, than cash.
 
Usually it's 6% and the flexibility comes in when the buyer and seller are a few thousand off .... the agent will wave 1,2, or 3% of this to get the sell.
But in this day and age .... I would imagine everything is negotiable ....
I do like the lowering rate as time goes by idea ....

Matt
 
You do not need a realtor to buy or sell a house. We sold our last house FSBO and saved a huge wad of cash.
 
There are FSBO websites that are very cheap and they have FSBO "kits" which include the signs, dos and don'ts, etc. as well as a cheap listing online. It wasn't a good fit for out last home sale, but was something that we looked into and would use in the future to save some $
 
rockcity said:
There are FSBO websites that are very cheap and they have FSBO "kits" which include the signs, dos and don'ts, etc. as well as a cheap listing online. It wasn't a good fit for out last home sale, but was something that we looked into and would use in the future to save some $
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Exactly. It cost us $300 instead of $20,000 to sell our last house, and that included the cost of getting the MLS number which is all you need for the websites to pick it up.
 
I'm a builder so my discomfort with realtors runs deep. Usually 6% on resells is the norm.

Open houses are a waste of time in my opinion. Buyers in general now know the area and find the house themselves. This is done via Internet on the couch. Instead of open house I'd push for tons if detailed pictures/ virtual tour. Info box out front with colored flier and always filled up. Empty info boxes are just lazy. Make sure agent fills in schools correctly, the overwhelming majority of our buyers buy solely on school districts.
 
JeepTruck said:
I'm a builder so my discomfort with realtors runs deep. Usually 6% on resells is the norm.

Open houses are a waste of time in my opinion. Buyers in general now know the area and find the house themselves. This is done via Internet on the couch. Instead of open house I'd push for tons if detailed pictures/ virtual tour. Info box out front with colored flier and always filled up. Empty info boxes are just lazy. Make sure agent fills in schools correctly, the overwhelming majority of our buyers buy solely on school districts.
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This is my thought process on looking for the next house. Same way I'm looking, same things I want to see and same things I'm making sure of on selling our house.
 
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