re: Question about negotiating commission with realtors

If you decide to sell by owner, I would recommend offering at least 2% to the buying agent representing the buyer. If you don’t offer anything, no realtor will bring their client to see the house.

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Nope- it doesn't matter the price point, and even though it's illegal/unethical, realtors don't want to 'deal with' FSBO, so they pretty much blackball those listings, at least that's my experience.

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You're right. And 20-30 years ago they could’ve gotten away with that because they controlled what a buyer saw. But today, if your house is listed on the MLS system, it’s going to show up on all the online Internet sites like Realtor.com and Zillow.com. And, THAT'S how buyers are finding houses these days, i.e. they’re not relying on their realtors to show them what’s out there. So, if buyer's agent wants to keep their buyer as a customer, they’re not going to tell them that they can’t see a particular house because they don't want to deal with an FSBO. A buyer could easily take that agent completely out of the picture and just negotiate a price with the FSBO seller that is 2-2.5% cheaper reasoning that the buyer will now not have to pay a seller‘s agent. The parties can then negotiate on what closing attorney to use and how to pay him. In fact, you can go find any number of real estate Internet sites that will show you how to do the closing yourself on a step-by-step basis. However, I think most people would feel safer with a closing attorney there to dot all i's and cross all the t's.

ETA - There are tons of Agents you can find with a simple Google search that will put your house in the MLS system for anywhere from $35 to $100.


HERE'S one of the very few funny skits that SNL has produced in the last 30 years.

Last home i sold was fsbo.

Realtor wanted to show it to a buyer and dual represent. I agreed to 4% commission (technically it was 2% by me to list and 2% to buyer. All of it was baked into the selling price).

Once i had the realtor on 4% commission, i owned her. Buyer submitted a punch list of things to be done. We did none of them. Realtor made sure that the buyer closed anyway. There are good realtors and bad realtors. The buyer had a bad one.

This was 2006 when i was selling my home in a subdivision full of never been lived in new construction (not the sellers market today. Offer the buyers agent a marginal bit more than they would get in any other transaction and you could own her as well).

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While the Internet did have some sites that offered buyers a chance to see what was out there,it was nothing like it is now

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Agree to disagree.
Zillow started in 2004.
Realtor.com started in 1996.
I had opportunities to list on MLS for a flat $500 with Rhonda Duffey.
You underestimate the advent of high speed DSL.

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And realtors understood that they no longer controlled the game

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Realtors control the buyer. If the buyer doesnt give control to the realtor, then i agree with you. What im saying is no different than the mechanic controls the auto repair or the plumber controls the plumbing repair. They still have control of the process (assuming the buyer grants it).

My personal situation was benefited by having new construction in the subdivision. I had foot traffic (realtors showing homes). The challenge was that i had never-before-lived-in-homes in mint condition competing against a 5 year old home torn up by 2 toddlers.

I was lucky to be able to raise my price to accomodate the realtor and then wield the realtor around my whims because she was going to make more money going through me than just being a buyers agent at any other home for sale.

I do 5% because my business is normally condo's in the $475K and up range...I do lots at 7% because they are normally in the $100-125K range.

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In fact, you can go find any number of real estate Internet sites that will show you how to do the closing yourself on a step-by-step basis.

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So you’d attempt to save a couple thousand bucks by doing something normally reserved for legal professionals? All the while risking some sort of legal ramification down the road, lining up title insurance, and taking the time to do a title search, filing, etc.

You can try to structure a deal where they are incentivized to sell the house for more money, not trade down just to move it. Worked once for me several years ago. Example: if the house is worth $375K, set up the first $300K as a lower commission (because anyone can sell a $375K house for $300K) and set up anything over a certain amount to kick in a much higher commission rate. Amazing how much he was pushing to sell it for a higher rate to make himself more money. I also sold one myself during a time like this, sellers market. They have several online companies that will list your house for cheap.

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Do you negotiate fees with your attorney? Banker? CPA? Doctor?

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Yes. I have negotiated fees with attorneys, negotiated rates with bankers, my fees with my accountant, and my hospital bill. You don’t?

Attorneys office does all that for like $700.

You don’t need to pay some former sorostitute 20k.