"Discount" real estate broker?

[ChargerGrrl]

I don''t know if this is the correct term for what I''m talking about, so please excuse me if I got it wrong.

I''m looking into selling my home in the next 2 months or so. I bought it 2.5 years ago with one of my close girlfriends. It made sense at the time- we were both single professionals, and looking to own property to help our tax situation. Individually, there was almost NO WAY we could afford anything in a decent part of L.A, so we decided to combine forces and purchase something together. We ended up with a nice 2bed/1.5bath split-level townhome in a great area- Redondo Beach.

The arrangement has worked out great, but now we''re ready to go our separate ways. I''ll be moving in with my FI as we''re getting married in Sept, and she''s moving in with her boyfriend. As with much of L.A, the value of our home has gone up, and we''re in a high-demand area. There''s been a good amount of turnover in our complex- about 3 units were on the market last year, and the longest took about 2 months to sell (during the holiday season). So we don''t think we''ll have any problems selling it. We''re contemplating using a service such as "Help You Sell" or Catalist so that we''ll get the most bang for our buck. From the limited amount of research I''ve done, it looks like they''re a "sellers agent/broker", and charge less than the standard 5-6% commission.

Question- has anyone used the services I mentioned above? Any pros/cons? Just looking for some feedback.

THANKS!

 

[Mara]

i wonder about this too, lately we have been seeing flyers and ads for ''sell your home for a flat $5k fee'' kind of thing and wondered what it entailed, what it means instead of the whole 2-3% regular RE broker thing. we''re not selling anytime soon but just curious if anyone has used something like that ''discount'' service.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Too funny that I just posted this, and today I got a brochure in the mail from CataList (www.catalisthomes.com). It''s a slick, 4-color mailer that compares their service to what they call a "conventional agent", and how you''ll save thousands of dollars going thru them. They charge a total commission of 3%. Very tempting...

 

[monarch64]

Hmmm, I have to say I worry that these discount realtors sound too good to be true. I would want to do some extensive research on anyone who claimed they could do the same job as a regular realtor for a discount commision... It could be a great deal, though, I don''t know. I was thinking when I read through this thread, why wouldn''t you just do a "for sale, by owner" thing, if you wanted to keep from paying a realtor commision? Of course you''d have to know exactly what you were doing, which is why the average Joe/Jill(?) pays a realtor to sell for them--just a thought.

We''re getting ready to buy a new home/sell our current one, so this is of interest to me. We''ve also had tons of flyers stuck inside our screen door promoting discounts on realtor fees, and we''ve see a few homes in our neighborhood as well as others with "for sale by owner" signs posted. I''ll have to look into it, I guess!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 3/8/2006 2:40:09 PM
Author:ChargerGrrl

The arrangement has worked out great, but now we''re ready to go our separate ways. I''ll be moving in with my FI as we''re getting married in Sept, and she''s moving in with her boyfriend. As with much of L.A, the value of our home has gone up, and we''re in a high-demand area. There''s been a good amount of turnover in our complex- about 3 units were on the market last year, and the longest took about 2 months to sell (during the holiday season). So we don''t think we''ll have any problems selling it. We''re contemplating using a service such as ''Help You Sell'' or Catalist so that we''ll get the most bang for our buck. From the limited amount of research I''ve done, it looks like they''re a ''sellers agent/broker'', and charge less than the standard 5-6% commission.

Question- has anyone used the services I mentioned above? Any pros/cons? Just looking for some feedback.

THANKS!

they will run the ads,you''ll have to show the home yourself.when the home is sold,they do all the paper works.

 

[movie zombie]

i used HELP-U-SELL 1.5 years ago to sell my home. i am completely satisfied with the process and the services. you pay for what you get: if want MSL listing, its extra; if you want them to show the home, its extra. i showed our home, we did not do a MSL listing and my home was sold in 2-3 weeks. for those w/o much real estate knowledge, it might not be the way to go. but you are the best sales person for your house: you know it better than any agent.

movie zombie

 

[Mara]

Date: 3/9/2006 12:54:34 PM
Author: movie zombie
i used HELP-U-SELL 1.5 years ago to sell my home. i am completely satisfied with the process and the services. you pay for what you get: if want MSL listing, its extra; if you want them to show the home, its extra. i showed our home, we did not do a MSL listing and my home was sold in 2-3 weeks. for those w/o much real estate knowledge, it might not be the way to go. but you are the best sales person for your house: you know it better than any agent.

movie zombie

this is the way we are thinking of going when we sell, to try to reap back as much as possible from the sale....there are alot of people doing it around here and we are hoping that because we have a desirable end unit in our complex with a great view front and back from our windows, that we won''t have to work too hard to sell over some of our neighbors. but who knows in a few years what the market will be like! we''ll see...

 

[movie zombie]

i ran into one problem but because i''ve taken all the real estate classes [but not the test] i caught a potential problem before it became a problem re flood insurance. i caught the error when i read some paperwork....this was not an error on the part of help-u-sell but on the part of the agency issuing the report. because i''m a control freak re this kind of thing, i took care of it myself and all was well.

btw, i used the scotts valley office. gary who heads it up has 20-30 years experience in the area and is one nice guy. i highly recommend them.

movie zombie

 

[Miranda]

Charger Grrl - We recently sold our So. Cal. home. We sold it ourselves using a flat fee MLS service. We paid a 2% commission to the buyer''s agent. It was a ton more work than I expected. I wouldn''t reccomend it unless you have a lot of time on your hands. By the time we paid for advertising costs and the buyer''s agent we didn''t save that much (compared to a 3% service). We checked with Help You Sell and Assist to sell, but for 3% there are plenty of full service agents willing to do everything for you. I pay One is one of the many we interviewed. Because I did most of the work to sell it I am trying to convince hubby that I need an upgrade as a commission! We''re moving to the beach so I''m not so sure I can work that angle too much! Hope this helps!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Date: 3/10/2006 12:13:33 PM
Author: Miranda
Charger Grrl - We recently sold our So. Cal. home. We sold it ourselves using a flat fee MLS service. We paid a 2% commission to the buyer''s agent. It was a ton more work than I expected. I wouldn''t reccomend it unless you have a lot of time on your hands. By the time we paid for advertising costs and the buyer''s agent we didn''t save that much (compared to a 3% service). We checked with Help You Sell and Assist to sell, but for 3% there are plenty of full service agents willing to do everything for you. I pay One is one of the many we interviewed. Because I did most of the work to sell it I am trying to convince hubby that I need an upgrade as a commission! We''re moving to the beach so I''m not so sure I can work that angle too much! Hope this helps!

THANKS for the info, Miranda. I''m rooting for that upgrade for ya!

 

[moon river]

You get what you pay for

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Just thought I'd update the thread and let y'all know what I decided to do.

CataList was a great choice! We did our research, and knew that our home was in a desirable area that many people want to get into. So, why would we want to work with an agent who wants the standard 5-6% commission?? CataList did it for 3%

The townhouse went on the market last Monday 4/17. Got an offer this past Monday, and went through a couple of counteroffers. AND...

We opened escrow today! We ended up getting just a bit below the asking price, but still considerably more than what the unit next door sold for this past October. All in all, I'm thrilled with the offer and how quickly it sold.

We close in early June. Cross your fingers that it all goes well!

 

[marvel]

Congratulations, CG!! Are you looking for new places? Are you going to stay in the area? Sorry if I''m asking questions that have already been answered.

 

[movie zombie]

congratulations! however, i''ve always said closing escrow is always the worst part of the transaction........

movie zombie

 

[gailrmv]

Oh, I''m glad it worked out for you! We are casually looking around in anticipation of moving across town this time next year.

Does anyone know, can you negotiate a discount with your realtor if you plan to use the same person to buy and sell? This realtor will be making a ton of money off us! So would they be willing to take a lower commission?

Also, does anyone know, when you buy in a new development, what is the deal with having an agent represent you? One development we looked at said that they charge the same whether you have an agent or not, but I don''t understand why they would not lower the cost by the agent''s fee if you do not have one. Hmm...

 

[marvel]

Date: 4/27/2006 9:42:24 PM
Author: gailrmv
Oh, I'm glad it worked out for you! We are casually looking around in anticipation of moving across town this time next year.

Does anyone know, can you negotiate a discount with your realtor if you plan to use the same person to buy and sell? This realtor will be making a ton of money off us! So would they be willing to take a lower commission?

Also, does anyone know, when you buy in a new development, what is the deal with having an agent represent you? One development we looked at said that they charge the same whether you have an agent or not, but I don't understand why they would not lower the cost by the agent's fee if you do not have one. Hmm...

It's about the money...it's always about the money[$$)]

 

[Miranda]

Congrats to you. Goes to show the market is still hot hot hot is So Cal and many other areas! Good for you for not going the traditional realtor route. It takes a bit more effort on your part, but to me it''s worth thousands.

 

[movie zombie]

Gail, if you don't have an agent, the seller's agent gets to keep it all. if you have an agent, the seller's agent has to split it with your agent.

yes, you can negotiate a discount with your realtor...or you can attempt to do so. asking can't hurt: as the old saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. if your selling agent thinks you might use another agen for buying, perhaps you can get them to come down in percentage. however, it will depend on where you live and how the market is doing there.

as in all matters, you want someone representing YOUR interests. based on personal experience, i found it didn't matter until we got into some problems in escrow and at that point the agent was definitely the seller's agent and wasn't pushing for our best interests.

movie zombie

eta: Miranda, we found it was worth LOTS of thousands to go through Help-U-Sell!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Date: 4/27/2006 7:49:31 PM
Author: marvel
Congratulations, CG!! Are you looking for new places? Are you going to stay in the area? Sorry if I''m asking questions that have already been answered.

I don''t think I''ve mentioned what my housing plans are, so no worries! I''m moving in with my FI (getting married in September). He owns a townhouse in Woodland Hills, and works up in Thousand Oaks (a milliion miles away!) I work in the mid-Wilshire area, so moving to WHills wasn''t going to really be too bad of a commute for me (but HELL for him if we decided to live in the South Bay). Instead of my current 45m drive north from Redondo to work, I''ll now have a 45m drive south from the Valley to work. Believe me, I''m super bummed to be leaving the beach! We hope to begin house hunting later this year. We''d love to buy a home in Encino or Tarzana! But for now, I''ve got to get through the closing of my place, moving, and THE WEDDING!


THANKS for all the well-wishes everyone. Please send good escrow karma my way!

 

[codex57]

Congrats!

As for the discount brokers. Do it now. That way, when you really need to sell and are running short on time, you can always get a regular real estate agent. Apparently, many brokers/agents blacklist the discount ones. Won''t take their clients their or put those houses at the bottom of the list. Limits the number of potential buyers who see your house. So try it, and if it''s real bad (like you get no bites at all and have agents hinting that you''ll get more potentials if you switch), then you''ll have time to switch to a regular agent.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Gail, to answer your question: >>>>

One way real estate agents get clients is to work open houses or developer locations. If you walk in off the street without an agent the agent that is working the open house then becomes YOUR agent for that transaction. So there really are still two agents being paid out on the transaction: The listing agent and the agent that "picked you up" as a client when you came in the door. Even if by some chance you end up dealing with the listing agent you generally don''t get any sort of discount, that lucky agent just ends up with what we happily refer to as the "double bubble." LOL!

Honestly though, you really don''t want the listing agent to represent you in a transaction where his/her first loyalty is to the developer. You also may not even want to work with the agent that "picks you up" (even though that is not the listing agent) because sometimes agents from other brokerages can negotiate you a better deal coming in from the outside. (Harder for them to be cajoled into "just going along with things to get a deal done" -- that sort of thing.)

(Keep in mind I''m talking from the perspective of the market that I work in. It may be handled differently in other parts of the country and I can only speak for one metropolitan area.)

 

[codex57]

It depends on the development. Some won''t deal with you unless you work with their agents. Then, they get the full 6%.

I just put a deposit down on a house in a new development a couple weeks ago. Luckily, this developer doesn''t care. As long as your agent shows up with you on your first visit, they''ll pay your agent 3% of the base price.

For new developments, that''s a sweet deal for your agent cuz they do almost no work. Usually can''t negotiate as many concessions as you can in a regular used house sale.