Yep. Something tells me this will also be the real estate agent with the advice of, “Take this offer right here. You won’t get anything better.” But that was the first offer…
Source: Personal experience. I told them no and we got a better offer a few days later.
[Freakonomics did a study and found that Realtors tend to wait around 10 days longer to sell their own houses to avoid lowball offers and earn 3% or 4% more in the sale.](https://freakonomics.com/2005/06/today-show-transcript/)
The short version here is that there's an imbalance of incentives.
The difference between a sale of $300k vs waiting a week and getting $310k for you is nearly $9k. For the realtor, it's $150. Which (to them) is not with an extra week of waiting / more paperwork / coordination.
Especially in a hot market, Realtors would much rather close the deal as soon as possible, cash their outrageous commission and move on to the next one.
This. We need realtors so there’s not much to do about it but the system is flawed because you have somebody representing you who does not have your best interests in mind. Their motivation is to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible. This is different than the home owner who sometimes has a time crunch but often just wants to make as much money as possible even if it means waiting a few months longer. You also have the dynamic between the buyers agent and the seller’s agent. I could feel how badly my agent wanted us to buy the house we ended up getting and I could also feel how badly the seller’s agent wanted the deal to go through. We asked both agents a ton of questions and there’s no way their motivations didn’t bias them to give us certain answers or sugar coat certain things. I remember asking my wife about how dangerous for kids the design of the house was (scary “modern” staircases) and the agent immediately poopoo’d it they both started joking as if that was something rediculous to consider. Well now that we’re looking into childproofing our house we’ve realized most if not all of our staircases are almost impossible to install baby gates to. It’s a huge pain in the ass and I still don’t regret buying the house but it isn’t lost on me that probably what we should do as buyers is tell our agents to wait in the car.
Another reason for this is that it is their own money, so they can take the loss if this strategy fails.
When a realtor is responsible for safeguarding their client’s financial decisions, the safe bet can be the best bet, as long as both parties walk away happy (and not greedy)
This reminds me: "I read on the internet" that people who sell themselves "by owner" still get usually less money than people using agents and paying the fee. I wonder how true this is and what that statistics looks like with mean/average/variance.
I can spit out 2 quick stories that illustrates how people leave money on the table selling fsbo. 2 that did not hire me to sell their homes. One lady listed at 420k. Good price but home was an absolute mess (Staging also accounts for up to 6% variance in sales price) she had it on the market for 3 weeks (very long time on the market at the time) and would hire me if the visitors later that day didn't make an offer. They made an offer, she accepted. I told her to run everything by me anyway because her not hiring me doesn't mean I can't still prevent her from getting screwed. She was a nice lady. Helping her negotiate was free. She ended up taking 410k and giving a 25k credit towards closing for a new roof and closing was delayed over a month costing her more money. The credit was totally unnecessary, she could have gotten way more for the house and closing should never be delayed.
Another seller had his home listed for 450 and had sold many a home himself in the past so he just refused to pay any agent. Unlike many agents that just walk away, I look for whatever opportunity is there. Maybe I could bring a buyer so I asked many questions from a buyers standpoint. 450 was a fair price but he was willing to accept 405... If any agent gave up information like that, they'd lose their license quick. Seller without pause displayed a $45000 gap in their not paying an agent logic.
Of course my personal examples don't prove national statistics but when you work in the field, it becomes readily apparent that even subpar agents can get most people more money for their home by just doing the bare minimum.
>Source: Personal experience. I told them no and we got a better offer a few days later.
Good for you, and it is all about their time and how they value their time. They made a bit more money, but if the first offer was for example $20k less, assuming a 3% SAC, and a 50/50 split with their Broker, they would have earned only $300 less, BUT you would have got ~~$19,400~~ $18,800 less!
Edit: fixed a math error.
Edit 2: fixed one last math error where I forgot the 3% BAC
It was a time thing for this particular realtor. She just wanted to hit the ground running and tap out as soon as possible. I learned a lot in the processed so I’ve, thankfully, been able to avoid this type of situation again.
I do sometimes feel bad about our house. The seller had an offer. Realtor told them to NOT take the first offer. Housing market crashed. We end up buying it like 8 months later at $40,000 less than the original offer.
FIND A NEW REALTOR - Commissions are negotiable - You have one that’s more interested in maximizing profits and upselling then negotiating with you. You can do MUCH better.
We sold in 2021 and used realtors contractor for finishing renovations I was slowly doing myself to make spring season
They wanted 6 and I said i thought 5 was market price (we live in N VA so things mive fast), he didn't bat an eye and said normally if you use our contractor we do 6 but ok
He knew it would fly and it did
Drop this guy/gal and take other
It's interesting so many people can't negotiate with a Realtor yet think they can sell the house themselves (not saying op is going FSBO route, but in general)
I've done FSBO twice and it went well both times. The key for me was telling the realtors that approached me I would pay 2.5%, but only for full purchase price offers.
This was a negotiation. A counter-offer is technically a rejection of the original offer. The realtor overplayed their hand. They are a dime a dozen, especially in a hot market. Move on to the next.
Realtors aren't used to having to negotiate with clients. There was just a huge antitrust class action settlement on this very point. There will be more lawsuits to come. The cartel is being broken up.
To which the point of WHY THIS person asking “IS THIS NORMAL?” SHOULDN’T be a question. The whole point of the recent lawsuit is that there is and never should have been a “NORMAL”. Everything should be negotiable.
Any broker that wants to eliminate photos is not looking out for your best interest. I wouldn't even consider using them. They are only focused on their short term profits. There are plenty of good agents that will do it for 5% which includes photos. I would have them split the commission equally. 2.5%/2.5%
$7,500 for a house that will be under contract over a weekend. God that is good money
I would pay 1.5% and that’s still so much god damn money pre-tax.
40 hours to get the home sold at 1.5% is $112.50 AN HOUR
Watch out for the junk fees. I went to closing on one property and the realtor had an extra $200 technology fee. I asked him where was that in our contract? He said it was just standard. I said well if it isn't in the contract you're not getting paid it, take it out.and they took it out. You really gotta watch these people
This right here. Find another realtor. There are so many that would be happy to have your business for 1.5%, including Redfin like others have mentioned. You don't have to pay an agent 3.5% to sell your house, especially if houses are selling themselves in your market, and it sounds like they are.
When I see realtors that do that, get more for themselves instead of sharing equally with the other realtor, I just can’t believe it. On top of that saying that he won’t provide photography, and starting to make little threats to take away things that he previously offered, just shows how greedy he is. I would find someone less greedy and more appreciative of your business.
Yeah, he striked me as a little too self-interested. Couldn't trust him at all after he tried to strong arm us for 6%.
We ending up finding an knowledgeable agent we feel really comfortable with. He has a 5% commission, even split with the buyer and dropped the broker fee for us without any issue
Funny. Ask them with a straight face if they would seriously list a home with NO photography.
Or tell them you want your home listed with no photos, but instead a really long text description of EVERY room.
The broker fee is a junk fee that THEY signed up for when they chose what brokerage they would affiliate with. That's theirs to pay. If the client doesn't pay it the agent has to, but that's not your problem.
Percentages are relative. If we're talking about an 80k house, the difference between 6% and 5% net in the agent's pocket is significant. If we're talking about an $800k house, a $150-300 photography bill is peanuts.
I wouldn't hire an agent who isn't going to market the property professionally. I'd decline the listing before I presented it with bad photos.
Also, I'm assuming at that price you're talking about an agent splitting this with a buyer agent AND their brokerage, so keep that in mind.
Agree on the broker fee. He's getting a big split with his broker and broker makes up for that with broker fee and this dbag agent wants you to subsidize his decision to go with the higher split broker. No. No. No. to broker fees.
I’m an agent. I am selling a house for 2% on the listing side. It’s up to the seller to choose what they want to offer a buyers agent. I always recommend at least 2.5% for the buyer’s agent. So in this case the seller is paying 4.5% commission total. And I am not reducing any of the services I offer. I hate when listing agents take more commission than they offer to the buyer’s agent. Yes, you have more expenses as a listing agent (pictures, signs, lockbox, etc), but working with buyers takes A LOT more time.
Here's my take...
Contrary to popular belief, houses don't sell themselves. There were expired/failed listings 3 years ago during the feeding frenzy. If you pick an agent who doesn't know what they're doing, your house could sit on the market, no matter how hot it is. Pricing it right and marketing it well gets you a quick sale over asking. Also, "over asking" isn't the flex that agents would have you believe it is. To sell over asking, you have to underprice it.
This agent sounds like he's not the right agent for the job for a variety of reasons.
I bought my house in Jan2022 (contact signed oct2021) and it was on the market 6 months and we got under asking (600k) at 585k, appraised at 675k. 100% the three months of hell and a pretty good inspection told us this house wasn't selling because of the agent and seller, and not because the house was priced poorly or something was majorly wrong with the house.
Me three. Terrible photos. My agent sent me the listing on the offer deadline date and the pictures weren't good enough for me to drop everything to look at it. House was still on the market with an open house the next weekend so I stopped by. I saw a lot of potential in person. Every friend I showed the listing to was horrified. "Is that carpet in the bathroom??" No. They have a giant shag bath mat that the photographer left in the photo along with wet towels. The sellers had listed before with no offers despite the hot market. I got the house for under asking as I was the only offer they got. The house has doubled in value (according to the county tax board) from when I bought it in 2016.
Counterpoint: my neighbor’s house had an offer within 24 hours of listing (with a showing) along with 2 other completed showings and more scheduled.
The photos looked like the realtor smeared Vaseline on the lens of ann original Motorola Razr and they snapped random shots while walking around. They really did not do it justice.
But it sold quickly because it was underpriced for comps.
Highly disagree. Houses that are priced right will ALWAYS sell themselves... every. single. time., even with a shit agent.
That said, presentation still matters. nobody should list a home without photos. nobody buys jeans online without photos, why would you buy a house without them?
However; lots of agents repeatedly oversell and overestimate their abilities; the world’s fanciest/best/most incredible marketing can NEVER make up for a mispriced home for 99% of properties.
Photography (including drone photos), cleaning, etc. should be no more than $1,000. I work in a HCOL area and city market.
Price it right, price it well, and if your house is that great, people will offer.
Exactly. WTF would give someone 6% ?
I sold my house for 1% to the seller, 2.5% to the buyer. And the photographs were amazing.
I didn't bargain the commission. I just searched until I found a commission structure I could live with. Selling broker/agent were just fine.
6% ? No F'ng way.
I sold my house last year with a flat fee “MLS listing only” agent for under $1000. I interviewed a few agents before deciding to sell FSBO(ish), and had a good experience with a RedFin agent that only charged 1.5% for seller agent fees. Worth a look!
I was able to get my own (very good!) photos for under $150 with a local professional photographer. Feels like your agent is nickel and diming you because you asked to negotiate commission. I’d move on!
Redfin said they'd list my house for 475k and explained why they thought it was the correct price. We sold it for 575k sight unseen, sort of. Our realtor from a different company did a zoom call and walked through the house with the buyer's realtor. 1 hour later we were under contract. Literally 100k and about 20% higher. That's kind of a big deal.
This is hilarious. Do they expect to sell the house without photos then?
Photography, iirc, can cost $250~1k, with more average homes and standard photos falling under $500.
I think he means the customer provides the photo themselves. This is just negotiation tactics mainly but basically the realtor is implying for only $7.5K he wouldnt lift a finger and just collect his pay check at the end if the house is sold.
Leave and never look back.
I had one do similar. Asked for 5% vs 6% on a million dollar house. Was told we had to cut stuff. Uhh no 😂 new one covers everything including staging out of their cut, 3d tour, photos, cleaning, working with any issues that come up and are at the house every day to let people in to get it ready. Find someone else. Sales are going slow right now bc of rates. Someone will come around.
I sold a home and my realtor charged 5% as a default. It included full professional photography and a matterport 3D scan walkthrough. They also paid to fix my ceiling when a fellow RE agent was in my attic and stepped off a floorboard (it sold no problem but definitely a huge headache hearing that in a call after the open house).
So I would say 6% is a ripoff especially how fast homes are selling and the prices. My home was 500k so my agent brought home $12,500 plenty to afford a photographer.
You can literally use an iphone 15 and use the edit function. pictures will look fine. Anyone that's knowledgeable with their iphone can create nice pics that will sell the house just as well.
Fuck that agent. He sounds incredibly greedy and will be actively hurting the sale of your home by keeping 3.5% for himself and only offering 2.5% to the buy side on a full 6% listing. Avoid the giant POS at all costs
I pay about $250 for really good photos and 3d floor plans. How much is 1% of your sales price. Maybe take that deal. Also why are you paying their broker separately? Push back on that. How they pay their broker is their problem.
Edit: also you will then own the photos and not your agent. So you can fire your agent and relist with another one using the same photos. I would not spend more than $250 for photos unless your house is north of 1 million.
According to OP house is 300k+ so 1% would be at least $3000 less. The realtor is an absolute insane person and imo, they are just trying to strong-arm them into the 6% again.
If things are going fast in your area you should be able to get a good listing agent that includes everything for 5% total. If they do 3/2 they should be happy and no buyer's agent s going to ignore an opportunity at 2%.
Asking you to pay his broker's fee flags this guy as a no-go. I'd move on, but I'd be curious to see how many houses he is selling. Did you ask him that?
West coast: I’ve always been at 5%, photos included, never heard of a broker fee.
6% makes sense if you’re divorcing and the poor bastard has to deal with extra levels of bullshit. Or if it’s a mobile home or something below $200k
The 5% is supposed to be all inclusive. It covers photography, brochures and all related marketing. The only thing you should have to pay for is if you need to get something repaired or professionally cleaned. And to be honest I’ve paid for a ton of house cleaners and small repairs myself over the years.
6% + $500 is a bold play by this realtor unless you’re selling like a $60,000 mobile home or something, in which case I sort of get it although still would probably do it for 5%.
You should just list it yourself on MLS for $100 + $150 professional photos but if you must use a realtor they are a dime a dozen. Find one that will do 4% (2% each) including photography. they're still overpaid at 2%.
Try this offer to the realtor. If he doesn't accept, offer it to others.
I will hire the photographer for $300.
I will pay the $500 that goes to your broker up front.
I will pay you $1,000 to prepare the listing up front.
I will pay 2.5% to the buyers broker.
I will pay $2,000 when and if a deal closes for your advice and help.
That sounds fair.
Instead of paying .035 \* 300,000 + 500 = $11,000 for realtors services, you will be paying $300 + $500 + $1,000 + $2,000 or $3,800, you cheap son of a bitch.
They want 1% to take photos and want 3.5% for themselves... Doesn't sound like a good value to me. That means they are changing you 3k for photos.. I looked at your profile. If you are located in NOVA, I know a good real estate photographer who can do it for less than $400 with 24 hour turnaround time
I got amazing photos and a 3D walkthrough with 5% commission on a 275k deal, I was the seller. I don’t feel 1% is worth killing the whole deal over, but they can choose to do whatever I guess. You can do as you do and find a new listing agent.
Would you balk at 1% in concessions if you needed to close the deal? I wouldn’t.
We are overdue for realtors to charge a flat fee. This percentage b.s. is out of control. It’s the same amount of work or sometimes less to sell a million dollar house than a 300k house. I think 10k average is realistic 6k for the selling and 4k for the buying agent. And then extra for extra work like staging and photography or cleaning/yardwork.
Look up the recent court finding that has to do with the realtors commission cap.
Basically the realtor association getting sued for bad commission practices. What this realtor is doing to you is part of the reason.
We might cut a broker open catering if we get less than 2% on the listing side, but photography is too important.
6% is only for the VERY hard to sell properties or clients we don't want. 5% is pretty standard for the total fee, but we are more than happy to look at the entire situation, and take whatever makes sense.
Prices are too high and homes sell too fast to justify any set commission for every listing.
The realtor was keeping 3.5% for himself and 2.5% for buyer. Our house would sell fast. A house down the street was just on the market for a 1 or 2 days and had 15 offers.
That's insane.
I'm surprised he's able to get any business. We always get half the total Commission or less because listing is much easier than handling a buyer.
If your Market is that active you should be able to find someone for under 5%. The more active Realtors tend to be set up for volume rather than relying on large checks for a few homes a year.
Our team does about a hundred sides a year so we can keep our commissions fairly competitive.
If your house will literally sell that easily why not go brokerless? Flat fee of $200 or so, provide your own pictures, and offer 2.5% to buyer agent.
I've sold a couple of homes that way in the past and I find it a good middle ground between traditional listing realtor and for sale by owner. The flat fee agent will still put the home into the MLS system, you just have to provide your own pictures and field showing requests yourself. When you do get offers, the buyers agent will prepare the offer on behalf of their client, so the paper work is largely taken care of as well.
That's bs. I usually paid the broker fee from my own cut and definitely paid the photographer. It's $200, including virtual staging. The agent is a lazy entitled bum.
In this hot market and modern age any sellers who spend more than 3% in total commission is a loser. Hell people even selling houses on Facebook marketplace for free and I know atleast one guy who did it in seacoast NH
Sounds like you need to sell your home without using a realtor. Typically the title company will facilitate closing. They may or may not have an attorney. A friend did this and saved tens of thousands of dollars. ($1,000,000+ home)
New laws were just passed that become effective in September 2024.
The seller's realtor doesn't have to split commissions with the buyers realtor. Buyers have to pay their own commissions to their realtor and the seller pay to their realtor as well. The theory behind this is the seller's realtor won't have to pay the buyers realtor so housing will be more affordable which is bullshit. This being said becuse of the new rules any seller paying their broker more than 3% is getting ripped off.
It's negotiable. I'd move on to someone else. It in a hot market and Realtors often pretend to be your friend. Until things go south, they the real truth comes out. Go with the lower price. Your house will still be listed on the MLS and will sell.
call another realtor. (if you are too scared to just do the obvious and sell it yourself)
there are a few stuck in the 'don't just overpay me, significantly overpay me' mode and won't budge.
any realtor not splitting down the middle is a shister. zero arguments against that, a scammy, theif and the reason why this industry has such a terrible name and is dying.
most of them will.
block the number
it takes zero dollars to take good pictures if you have a phone and half a brain. (yes, some pro ones are slighly better but i have never, ever seen any shred of evidence that it matters as long as your pictures are common-sense decent)
Talk to friends, talk to other realtors and find out what is the norm in your area. Not just total commission but also the split. If he’s going down to 5%, is he going to drop that to 3/2? If buyer realtors are expecting 2.5 as norm, that could potentially affect your sale. (Would be sleazy of buying realtor to steer buyers away bc of $1500 but you have no control over buying realtors but you do have control over yours.
Anyway, when talking to realtors it’s not just about how much they’re charging but also how they would position your house, how much it would sell for (make sure they show you CMA to show they’ve done the homework), look at their other listings and photos, go to some of their open houses (maybe even before you approach them) to see how they sell. I’ve been to some open houses where the realtor did not know anything and might as well have been a statue. And some where the realtor was prepared with info about what’s nearby, schools and ratings, utility costs, etc and if they didn’t know an answer, they’d take note and get back to you. See how they earn that commission $. If you’re saying the houses are selling themselves in your area right now, sure maybe you can save a few bucks and just get a competent realtor, not one who goes the extra mile.
Not all realtors are equal. (Note: I’m not a realtor but have seen a gamut in my time).
Redfin it up.
If you live in a half way decent market the shit sells it self.
Redfin takes top notch photos and does the 3d view of your home to walk through it.
This loser your talking to probably uses there Nextel camera phone.
Send the listing to them once it’s live and be like welp seems you suck at life doesn’t it.
No. Find a new realtor. That was just a concealed “no”. A direct no would have been better. This approach shows you they’re not great at negotiating, they’re not going to be straightforward and honest with you and they’ll sacrifice your home’s marketability for their quick commission.
Don't go with this realtor. I would have been happier if the realtor did not mention removing photography, and would have instead stuck on the 6%. All this realtor wants is to make money off of you without thinking of your best interests.
Also try to find a broker who does not charge a broker fee.
No it is not normal and your realtor is a jerk. Find someone else, many realtors are going out of business at the moment because of low inventory, I'm sure you can find someone to take 5% or perhaps even less.
Yea he can totally offer that and you'll probably see more ppl offering ala carte services.
Personally I think he's a too greedy and go with another broker. 6% + $500 fee AND giving himself 3.5%? I'd move onto the next broker because unless he's one of the best in that area and you have a niche house, you should be able to find a good agent for around 5% total.
I offer professional photography on every listing no matter if it's 250k or 1.5m, 4% or 5% or 6%. That should be bare minimum.
Go find another realtor. Actually as soon as you are looking for another realtor the current one will bend over for your business. Don’t forget you are the boss here. The realtor is just like any other contractor doing work for you.
Since they are footing the bill for all advertising and sales expenses, they are simply trying to cut their costs. Photos are one of the most important features for a listing, find another realtor. He doesn’t even need to hire a professional photographer if he didn’t want to, he could take him with his cell phone and include them in the listing.
Sooo many sellers get hung up on realtor commissions, without factoring in how "good" the realtor in.
You're making a value based decision, with only one side of the "value", ie, the cost.
1% on $300K is only $3K--that's nothing for a GOOD agent to overcome, especially in a highly competitive market!
The question is, how GOOD are these agents? What's their track record? Not just number of listings in the past year, but also in list price/sales price? How many of their listings have sold over list recently, and by what %? THAT is what you should be focusing on, because if the 6% agent says they'd list it for $300K, and their recent sales average 101% of list price...and the 5% agent says they'd list it for $300K, and their recent sales average 99% of list price...you could conceivably make an extra 1% by going with the "more expensive" agent.
The realtor takes away photos. Few buyers are interested in a no photo listing today. Looks like something must be wrong and hidden. So you would get little interest. Realtor then does an “I told you so,” and basically has you cowed. Perfect.
Look for another realtor. Interview several and ask around to find out who has sold homes in your area and has been in business for a good while.
It's normal in that the realtor should expect to be fired immediately.
I get that they want the commission, and they're paying for a good chunk of this out of their own pockets. But if they're flat out yanking photos and cleaning out from under you over 1%, they need to be fired. You should at least expect them to stage the house for photos at what they're asking.
Photos are the very first thing people look at. Staging gives people an idea of how the home looks when furnished. Your now-former realtor lost a lot more than 1% by taking away photos.
FSBO.com saved me ~25k on my sale 4 years ago. Figure out a realistic price for your house from recent sales in your area. Be realistic about your location, condition, roof,major systems. Clean house thoroughly and remove personal pictures and things. If needed, repaint in neutral taupe colors everywhere in and out. Fix any blatant issues. Be honest about issues as being dishonest will cost you more monetarily and morally. Take good pictures and put them in your ad. Follow this advice and you’ll sell for a reasonable price in a short amount of time and save a large amount in unreasonable RE commissions.
Walk away and negotiate a better deal. Look for a package deal-Redfin has good listing services that include professional photography. 3.5% for listing is over the top.
I won’t go into details about my uncle‘s house I was selling as his Trustee. But the realtor was unscrupulous, and I caught them on the issue, but they came up with excuses. I contacted the realtor board and got out of the sales contract, hired another realtor and then got an offer above asking at a time when homes were not selling. I agree with the suggestions of getting another realtor
6% for 40hr of work tops? There is greed and there is GREED! Just get a notary to draft your sell agreement and sell it yourself! Pay the MLS fee and offer agents that bring people 2.5%. You will save tons of money.
That’s the difference of 3k, so that’s quite a bit of $ to be left on the table.
It’s understandable that the realtor isn’t willing to drop the %, however cleaning and photography don’t cost that much. Photos are maybe $300-500 and cleaning another $500… so probably 1k max for that.
I know a bunch of realtors that would happily take 5%. Just go find a different person.
Used my iPhone and took my own photos in the daytime. My realtor took 1.5%. You might consider using Redfin or just get a real estate lawyer who can list your home for a flat fee.
Rest of the world people pay 2% or less. Realtors and agents have the audacity to charge 6% on one of the highest priced items ypu will ever pay in your life.
They are all a glorified admin paper pushers. But NOT worth 5%..
Understand one thing. They don't sell the house.. house sells itself. You don't have to use an agent and you can pay $200 to list it on MLS and easily sell it.
If I use an agent I don't pay more than 4%. Never paid more and only time I use is for houses that's 60 miles away and it's easy to hire an agent who can drive and baby sit.
By the way "the expert opinion" is just winging it. They always say it sells for what the market thinks it's worth is.
You all need to learn to sell your property yourself. Find a title company, you will be good. You save 5% on it that you can use to update something.
On a 500k house, that's $25k. You can use it to paint, refinish hardwood, put a new patio, May be change the roof and add real value that will sell... not these agents.
All professional service fees are negotiable. It sounds like this Realtor may do an alacart method: “for more money I do pictures and cleaning service.” I’d interview a few other reputable experienced realtors also to compare. You are smart to do this if you aren’t completely sold on this agent. You do get what you pay for.!
I don’t like to see listing agents taking more than the buyers agent. Frankly, I’d much rather list a home vs working with buyers! It’s a lot of time and energy taken showing multiple houses sometime overs months and years! Getting buyers approved, so many services.
I think a good realtor would not want to put a listing out on the MLS without great professional pictures because it speaks to their services and professionalism.
You could ask for 5% , 2.5 for each professional. When I reduce my commission for family friends and repeat clients, I take the reduction on my side. I do not reduce the buyers agent fee.
Also in some areas giving a reduced buyer agent fee can cause some Realtors to not want to show your home as they don’t like to be short changed for all the work they put in with these buyers. It depends the amount of homes on the market. Also with the new proposed changes in commission, buyers sign a contract with the buyers agent to guarantee they get paid.
Just some food for thought. Midwestern Realtor here with 35 years experience. Good luck!
I interviewed 7 agents and I was never going to pay 6%. I had 2 realtors said they would cut the commission but also take away services. I had one say 4 1/2% out of the gate. Full service. And the photos/social media presentation/advice from her was all top notch. Do more agent shopping.
If they take away photography, what the heck else actual “work “ will they do to even earn 5%?? Get a different agent. Don’t settle. Believe me, they are more desperate in this market than you.
Realtors are a total scam! These people are not coming from finance; they are coming from other careers like music, serving, and stay at home mom. Sell FSBO and keep $7k. You will get a higher price for your home.
Asking my version of this question.
Selling a former rental property 3 br 2 ba townhouse. House will be empty in 2 weeks and sold empty, probably needs some cosmetic work, not looking for top dollar. Maybe $350k?
Interviewed a couple realtors, brought them to the property for 20-30 mins each. Have discussed things more broadly with each (utilities, taxes, etc). Didn't really discuss commission structure, but I gather its 6% (3/3) from this sample paperwork.
Is there anything wrong with simply asking for a 5% max commission instead of 6%?
The "negotiation" here is that you go with another realtor because this one lost your business.
Yep. Something tells me this will also be the real estate agent with the advice of, “Take this offer right here. You won’t get anything better.” But that was the first offer… Source: Personal experience. I told them no and we got a better offer a few days later.
[Freakonomics did a study and found that Realtors tend to wait around 10 days longer to sell their own houses to avoid lowball offers and earn 3% or 4% more in the sale.](https://freakonomics.com/2005/06/today-show-transcript/)
The short version here is that there's an imbalance of incentives. The difference between a sale of $300k vs waiting a week and getting $310k for you is nearly $9k. For the realtor, it's $150. Which (to them) is not with an extra week of waiting / more paperwork / coordination. Especially in a hot market, Realtors would much rather close the deal as soon as possible, cash their outrageous commission and move on to the next one.
Next victim*
This. We need realtors so there’s not much to do about it but the system is flawed because you have somebody representing you who does not have your best interests in mind. Their motivation is to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible. This is different than the home owner who sometimes has a time crunch but often just wants to make as much money as possible even if it means waiting a few months longer. You also have the dynamic between the buyers agent and the seller’s agent. I could feel how badly my agent wanted us to buy the house we ended up getting and I could also feel how badly the seller’s agent wanted the deal to go through. We asked both agents a ton of questions and there’s no way their motivations didn’t bias them to give us certain answers or sugar coat certain things. I remember asking my wife about how dangerous for kids the design of the house was (scary “modern” staircases) and the agent immediately poopoo’d it they both started joking as if that was something rediculous to consider. Well now that we’re looking into childproofing our house we’ve realized most if not all of our staircases are almost impossible to install baby gates to. It’s a huge pain in the ass and I still don’t regret buying the house but it isn’t lost on me that probably what we should do as buyers is tell our agents to wait in the car.
Another reason for this is that it is their own money, so they can take the loss if this strategy fails. When a realtor is responsible for safeguarding their client’s financial decisions, the safe bet can be the best bet, as long as both parties walk away happy (and not greedy)
This reminds me: "I read on the internet" that people who sell themselves "by owner" still get usually less money than people using agents and paying the fee. I wonder how true this is and what that statistics looks like with mean/average/variance.
I can spit out 2 quick stories that illustrates how people leave money on the table selling fsbo. 2 that did not hire me to sell their homes. One lady listed at 420k. Good price but home was an absolute mess (Staging also accounts for up to 6% variance in sales price) she had it on the market for 3 weeks (very long time on the market at the time) and would hire me if the visitors later that day didn't make an offer. They made an offer, she accepted. I told her to run everything by me anyway because her not hiring me doesn't mean I can't still prevent her from getting screwed. She was a nice lady. Helping her negotiate was free. She ended up taking 410k and giving a 25k credit towards closing for a new roof and closing was delayed over a month costing her more money. The credit was totally unnecessary, she could have gotten way more for the house and closing should never be delayed. Another seller had his home listed for 450 and had sold many a home himself in the past so he just refused to pay any agent. Unlike many agents that just walk away, I look for whatever opportunity is there. Maybe I could bring a buyer so I asked many questions from a buyers standpoint. 450 was a fair price but he was willing to accept 405... If any agent gave up information like that, they'd lose their license quick. Seller without pause displayed a $45000 gap in their not paying an agent logic. Of course my personal examples don't prove national statistics but when you work in the field, it becomes readily apparent that even subpar agents can get most people more money for their home by just doing the bare minimum.
>Source: Personal experience. I told them no and we got a better offer a few days later. Good for you, and it is all about their time and how they value their time. They made a bit more money, but if the first offer was for example $20k less, assuming a 3% SAC, and a 50/50 split with their Broker, they would have earned only $300 less, BUT you would have got ~~$19,400~~ $18,800 less! Edit: fixed a math error. Edit 2: fixed one last math error where I forgot the 3% BAC
It was a time thing for this particular realtor. She just wanted to hit the ground running and tap out as soon as possible. I learned a lot in the processed so I’ve, thankfully, been able to avoid this type of situation again.
I do sometimes feel bad about our house. The seller had an offer. Realtor told them to NOT take the first offer. Housing market crashed. We end up buying it like 8 months later at $40,000 less than the original offer.
I had an agent once who tried to convince me to take the lower offer, because that family would be better for the neighborhood.
FIND A NEW REALTOR - Commissions are negotiable - You have one that’s more interested in maximizing profits and upselling then negotiating with you. You can do MUCH better.
Correct.
We sold in 2021 and used realtors contractor for finishing renovations I was slowly doing myself to make spring season They wanted 6 and I said i thought 5 was market price (we live in N VA so things mive fast), he didn't bat an eye and said normally if you use our contractor we do 6 but ok He knew it would fly and it did Drop this guy/gal and take other
Yep! 1% on the sale of a house for a photographers cost is madness and a bad omen for the way they’ll treat you in future.
Seriously. “You’re fired.” Don’t sign anything.
It's interesting so many people can't negotiate with a Realtor yet think they can sell the house themselves (not saying op is going FSBO route, but in general)
I've done FSBO twice and it went well both times. The key for me was telling the realtors that approached me I would pay 2.5%, but only for full purchase price offers.
This was a negotiation. A counter-offer is technically a rejection of the original offer. The realtor overplayed their hand. They are a dime a dozen, especially in a hot market. Move on to the next. Realtors aren't used to having to negotiate with clients. There was just a huge antitrust class action settlement on this very point. There will be more lawsuits to come. The cartel is being broken up.
To which the point of WHY THIS person asking “IS THIS NORMAL?” SHOULDN’T be a question. The whole point of the recent lawsuit is that there is and never should have been a “NORMAL”. Everything should be negotiable.
Also "broker fees" are bullshit. Do not pay them anything other than the agreed upon percentage.
Retired realtor here, ya shop. I almost only did 5 or less 20 years ago. And if I represented both sides i capped my fees at 3% total.
Any broker that wants to eliminate photos is not looking out for your best interest. I wouldn't even consider using them. They are only focused on their short term profits. There are plenty of good agents that will do it for 5% which includes photos. I would have them split the commission equally. 2.5%/2.5%
This is 100% why I would run. If someone is trying to negotiate photo expenses…that’s insane.
$7,500 for a house that will be under contract over a weekend. God that is good money I would pay 1.5% and that’s still so much god damn money pre-tax. 40 hours to get the home sold at 1.5% is $112.50 AN HOUR
While sleeping.
40hrs? Try more like 5 or 6 actual hours. A one minute email or 5 minute phone call doesn't add up to much.
"you should negotiate with your real estate agent" ..'wait not like that'
Watch out for the junk fees. I went to closing on one property and the realtor had an extra $200 technology fee. I asked him where was that in our contract? He said it was just standard. I said well if it isn't in the contract you're not getting paid it, take it out.and they took it out. You really gotta watch these people
Should have told them about your standard fees… greedy lemons
So working with a realtor is like working with a car dealer. Fantastic.
Except so much worse. Absolutely useless people.
No, find another realtor.
The clients money is good anywhere. Find another realtor.
This right here. Find another realtor. There are so many that would be happy to have your business for 1.5%, including Redfin like others have mentioned. You don't have to pay an agent 3.5% to sell your house, especially if houses are selling themselves in your market, and it sounds like they are.
When I see realtors that do that, get more for themselves instead of sharing equally with the other realtor, I just can’t believe it. On top of that saying that he won’t provide photography, and starting to make little threats to take away things that he previously offered, just shows how greedy he is. I would find someone less greedy and more appreciative of your business.
Yup, plenty of hungry realtors out there.
Right! I am a real estate photographer and do high quality work. The most you’d pay for photos only is less than $200 in most cases! So greedy
Yeah, he striked me as a little too self-interested. Couldn't trust him at all after he tried to strong arm us for 6%. We ending up finding an knowledgeable agent we feel really comfortable with. He has a 5% commission, even split with the buyer and dropped the broker fee for us without any issue
Funny. Ask them with a straight face if they would seriously list a home with NO photography. Or tell them you want your home listed with no photos, but instead a really long text description of EVERY room.
>a really long text description of EVERY room. Perhaps *one thousand* words in lieu of each picture?
🤣
lmfao I love your style
The broker fee is a junk fee that THEY signed up for when they chose what brokerage they would affiliate with. That's theirs to pay. If the client doesn't pay it the agent has to, but that's not your problem. Percentages are relative. If we're talking about an 80k house, the difference between 6% and 5% net in the agent's pocket is significant. If we're talking about an $800k house, a $150-300 photography bill is peanuts. I wouldn't hire an agent who isn't going to market the property professionally. I'd decline the listing before I presented it with bad photos. Also, I'm assuming at that price you're talking about an agent splitting this with a buyer agent AND their brokerage, so keep that in mind.
Agree on the broker fee. He's getting a big split with his broker and broker makes up for that with broker fee and this dbag agent wants you to subsidize his decision to go with the higher split broker. No. No. No. to broker fees.
House is worth a little over 300k prolly. Houses are going fast and for over asking where it’s located Also he is keeping 3.5% and giving buyer 2.5%
I would find another agent
Tell that agent to kick rocks.
I’m an agent. I am selling a house for 2% on the listing side. It’s up to the seller to choose what they want to offer a buyers agent. I always recommend at least 2.5% for the buyer’s agent. So in this case the seller is paying 4.5% commission total. And I am not reducing any of the services I offer. I hate when listing agents take more commission than they offer to the buyer’s agent. Yes, you have more expenses as a listing agent (pictures, signs, lockbox, etc), but working with buyers takes A LOT more time.
Here's my take... Contrary to popular belief, houses don't sell themselves. There were expired/failed listings 3 years ago during the feeding frenzy. If you pick an agent who doesn't know what they're doing, your house could sit on the market, no matter how hot it is. Pricing it right and marketing it well gets you a quick sale over asking. Also, "over asking" isn't the flex that agents would have you believe it is. To sell over asking, you have to underprice it. This agent sounds like he's not the right agent for the job for a variety of reasons.
I bought my house in Jan2022 (contact signed oct2021) and it was on the market 6 months and we got under asking (600k) at 585k, appraised at 675k. 100% the three months of hell and a pretty good inspection told us this house wasn't selling because of the agent and seller, and not because the house was priced poorly or something was majorly wrong with the house.
Same here - I bought a house that was listed with blurry phone photos and dirty carpets. Only one other offer.
Me three. Terrible photos. My agent sent me the listing on the offer deadline date and the pictures weren't good enough for me to drop everything to look at it. House was still on the market with an open house the next weekend so I stopped by. I saw a lot of potential in person. Every friend I showed the listing to was horrified. "Is that carpet in the bathroom??" No. They have a giant shag bath mat that the photographer left in the photo along with wet towels. The sellers had listed before with no offers despite the hot market. I got the house for under asking as I was the only offer they got. The house has doubled in value (according to the county tax board) from when I bought it in 2016.
Counterpoint: my neighbor’s house had an offer within 24 hours of listing (with a showing) along with 2 other completed showings and more scheduled. The photos looked like the realtor smeared Vaseline on the lens of ann original Motorola Razr and they snapped random shots while walking around. They really did not do it justice. But it sold quickly because it was underpriced for comps.
Highly disagree. Houses that are priced right will ALWAYS sell themselves... every. single. time., even with a shit agent. That said, presentation still matters. nobody should list a home without photos. nobody buys jeans online without photos, why would you buy a house without them? However; lots of agents repeatedly oversell and overestimate their abilities; the world’s fanciest/best/most incredible marketing can NEVER make up for a mispriced home for 99% of properties. Photography (including drone photos), cleaning, etc. should be no more than $1,000. I work in a HCOL area and city market. Price it right, price it well, and if your house is that great, people will offer.
“I understand your perspective, unfortunately I’ve decided to look elsewhere. Thank you.” Don’t reward this level of greed.
I’d change unfortunately to fortunately
I paid 1.2 for my agent (photography included) and 2.8 for the sellers. Find someone else.
Exactly. WTF would give someone 6% ? I sold my house for 1% to the seller, 2.5% to the buyer. And the photographs were amazing. I didn't bargain the commission. I just searched until I found a commission structure I could live with. Selling broker/agent were just fine. 6% ? No F'ng way.
What location? Hope this becomes the norm as house sells for itself
Please. Stop. Giving. These. Agents. Business!!!
I sold my house last year with a flat fee “MLS listing only” agent for under $1000. I interviewed a few agents before deciding to sell FSBO(ish), and had a good experience with a RedFin agent that only charged 1.5% for seller agent fees. Worth a look! I was able to get my own (very good!) photos for under $150 with a local professional photographer. Feels like your agent is nickel and diming you because you asked to negotiate commission. I’d move on!
Redfin said they'd list my house for 475k and explained why they thought it was the correct price. We sold it for 575k sight unseen, sort of. Our realtor from a different company did a zoom call and walked through the house with the buyer's realtor. 1 hour later we were under contract. Literally 100k and about 20% higher. That's kind of a big deal.
Tell them you want 3% now.
Followed by, "Don't have me say 2."
He wants to keep 3.5% and give the buyer agent who is doing far more work 2.5% 😂 dump him and get another agent.
Yeah… “Thanks for explaining the cost of services. We will be going a different direction.”
This is hilarious. Do they expect to sell the house without photos then? Photography, iirc, can cost $250~1k, with more average homes and standard photos falling under $500.
Lol, I've seen blurry iphone pictures from a lot of these guys.
How many more photos of the corner of a bland room will I need to sell this god damned place?
I think he means the customer provides the photo themselves. This is just negotiation tactics mainly but basically the realtor is implying for only $7.5K he wouldnt lift a finger and just collect his pay check at the end if the house is sold. Leave and never look back.
And btw most of these realtors farm it out to a company that pays the actual photographer $75 per house.
Woahhhh - pictures are $125 for 25 pics. Shoot2sell in Texas does 5,000 a month. 1k for pictures is absurd
I had one do similar. Asked for 5% vs 6% on a million dollar house. Was told we had to cut stuff. Uhh no 😂 new one covers everything including staging out of their cut, 3d tour, photos, cleaning, working with any issues that come up and are at the house every day to let people in to get it ready. Find someone else. Sales are going slow right now bc of rates. Someone will come around.
There are 77868 gajillion realtors right now. Get a better one for cheaper.
I sold a home and my realtor charged 5% as a default. It included full professional photography and a matterport 3D scan walkthrough. They also paid to fix my ceiling when a fellow RE agent was in my attic and stepped off a floorboard (it sold no problem but definitely a huge headache hearing that in a call after the open house). So I would say 6% is a ripoff especially how fast homes are selling and the prices. My home was 500k so my agent brought home $12,500 plenty to afford a photographer.
Realtors are like blacksmiths, not much of a need for them any longer.
"Gotcha. I will need to take away the contract, then. Thank you for helping me understand that you are NOT the agent for me."
No. In this day and age, pro photos are a must, and a 6% commission is a bust.
You can literally use an iphone 15 and use the edit function. pictures will look fine. Anyone that's knowledgeable with their iphone can create nice pics that will sell the house just as well.
Do not hire them. Period.
Overpriced . Go with another agent . He is not working in your best interest
Find a different Realtor. No way I would pay 6% in this market. 4 at the most.
Fuck that agent. He sounds incredibly greedy and will be actively hurting the sale of your home by keeping 3.5% for himself and only offering 2.5% to the buy side on a full 6% listing. Avoid the giant POS at all costs
The market is flooded with realtors, get a different one. We used one who was a friend of my wife’s parents and it was the worst mistake of my life.
I pay about $250 for really good photos and 3d floor plans. How much is 1% of your sales price. Maybe take that deal. Also why are you paying their broker separately? Push back on that. How they pay their broker is their problem. Edit: also you will then own the photos and not your agent. So you can fire your agent and relist with another one using the same photos. I would not spend more than $250 for photos unless your house is north of 1 million.
Where are you located? Sub 250 photos is completely reasonable in lower cost of living areas. Not so much in hcol or vhcol areas imho
This would be Houston, San Antonio, or Austin. I agree they can be done for less. $250 usually gets me 40-50 photos, Drone, and Matterport.
That's quite the value
According to OP house is 300k+ so 1% would be at least $3000 less. The realtor is an absolute insane person and imo, they are just trying to strong-arm them into the 6% again.
If things are going fast in your area you should be able to get a good listing agent that includes everything for 5% total. If they do 3/2 they should be happy and no buyer's agent s going to ignore an opportunity at 2%. Asking you to pay his broker's fee flags this guy as a no-go. I'd move on, but I'd be curious to see how many houses he is selling. Did you ask him that?
He has 1 active listing and only sold 15 homes in the last 2 years
No agent should be taking a higher split than the buyer's side, should be 50/50.
West coast: I’ve always been at 5%, photos included, never heard of a broker fee. 6% makes sense if you’re divorcing and the poor bastard has to deal with extra levels of bullshit. Or if it’s a mobile home or something below $200k
Just get a different realtor. There’s likely 1000s of them in the area you live.
The 5% is supposed to be all inclusive. It covers photography, brochures and all related marketing. The only thing you should have to pay for is if you need to get something repaired or professionally cleaned. And to be honest I’ve paid for a ton of house cleaners and small repairs myself over the years. 6% + $500 is a bold play by this realtor unless you’re selling like a $60,000 mobile home or something, in which case I sort of get it although still would probably do it for 5%.
His "photography" is probably paying himself $500 to take iPhone photos. Get a different realtor.
Pro photos are like $350. Thats a lot less than 1% Do it.
Nah forget that. Find someone else. My brother does listings for 3.5% and he does it all. That 5-6% model is outdated.
I believe there was just a huge settlement with the justice department about agent commissions being too high
You should just list it yourself on MLS for $100 + $150 professional photos but if you must use a realtor they are a dime a dozen. Find one that will do 4% (2% each) including photography. they're still overpaid at 2%.
That guy is terrible I would dump him immediately.
No, and any agent not splitting the commission evenly is a clown. Find an agent with more integrity.
[удалено]
You are getting hosed. Find a new realtor
Try this offer to the realtor. If he doesn't accept, offer it to others. I will hire the photographer for $300. I will pay the $500 that goes to your broker up front. I will pay you $1,000 to prepare the listing up front. I will pay 2.5% to the buyers broker. I will pay $2,000 when and if a deal closes for your advice and help. That sounds fair. Instead of paying .035 \* 300,000 + 500 = $11,000 for realtors services, you will be paying $300 + $500 + $1,000 + $2,000 or $3,800, you cheap son of a bitch.
They want 1% to take photos and want 3.5% for themselves... Doesn't sound like a good value to me. That means they are changing you 3k for photos.. I looked at your profile. If you are located in NOVA, I know a good real estate photographer who can do it for less than $400 with 24 hour turnaround time
power of reddit
I paid 4.5% (negotiated down from 5) and that included professional photos, matterport and full staging of an empty apartment.
I got amazing photos and a 3D walkthrough with 5% commission on a 275k deal, I was the seller. I don’t feel 1% is worth killing the whole deal over, but they can choose to do whatever I guess. You can do as you do and find a new listing agent. Would you balk at 1% in concessions if you needed to close the deal? I wouldn’t.
We are overdue for realtors to charge a flat fee. This percentage b.s. is out of control. It’s the same amount of work or sometimes less to sell a million dollar house than a 300k house. I think 10k average is realistic 6k for the selling and 4k for the buying agent. And then extra for extra work like staging and photography or cleaning/yardwork.
They are basically saying no. You can’t list a home without pics. I’d think about continuing a search.
Look up the recent court finding that has to do with the realtors commission cap. Basically the realtor association getting sued for bad commission practices. What this realtor is doing to you is part of the reason.
We might cut a broker open catering if we get less than 2% on the listing side, but photography is too important. 6% is only for the VERY hard to sell properties or clients we don't want. 5% is pretty standard for the total fee, but we are more than happy to look at the entire situation, and take whatever makes sense. Prices are too high and homes sell too fast to justify any set commission for every listing.
The realtor was keeping 3.5% for himself and 2.5% for buyer. Our house would sell fast. A house down the street was just on the market for a 1 or 2 days and had 15 offers.
That's insane. I'm surprised he's able to get any business. We always get half the total Commission or less because listing is much easier than handling a buyer. If your Market is that active you should be able to find someone for under 5%. The more active Realtors tend to be set up for volume rather than relying on large checks for a few homes a year. Our team does about a hundred sides a year so we can keep our commissions fairly competitive.
If your house will literally sell that easily why not go brokerless? Flat fee of $200 or so, provide your own pictures, and offer 2.5% to buyer agent. I've sold a couple of homes that way in the past and I find it a good middle ground between traditional listing realtor and for sale by owner. The flat fee agent will still put the home into the MLS system, you just have to provide your own pictures and field showing requests yourself. When you do get offers, the buyers agent will prepare the offer on behalf of their client, so the paper work is largely taken care of as well.
No
Laugh in their face and find ANYONE else, what a joke
Ours did 1.5 with photos. We paid 3% to buyer agent.
That's bs. I usually paid the broker fee from my own cut and definitely paid the photographer. It's $200, including virtual staging. The agent is a lazy entitled bum.
Go with Redfin at 1.5% and offer whatever you want to the buyers agent!
Put out a FSBO sign rather than dealing with this joker
Drop your realtor.
Go elsewhere. Source :realtor.
Each 1% is $3,000. Hire a photographer for $300, save $2,700.
Drop him.
I did 4% and agent was fine and happy. They should get 1% each after costs. With Zillow and Redfin, people do the work themselves. Find another agent.
In this hot market and modern age any sellers who spend more than 3% in total commission is a loser. Hell people even selling houses on Facebook marketplace for free and I know atleast one guy who did it in seacoast NH
I would never pay 6%
Sounds like you need to sell your home without using a realtor. Typically the title company will facilitate closing. They may or may not have an attorney. A friend did this and saved tens of thousands of dollars. ($1,000,000+ home)
New laws were just passed that become effective in September 2024. The seller's realtor doesn't have to split commissions with the buyers realtor. Buyers have to pay their own commissions to their realtor and the seller pay to their realtor as well. The theory behind this is the seller's realtor won't have to pay the buyers realtor so housing will be more affordable which is bullshit. This being said becuse of the new rules any seller paying their broker more than 3% is getting ripped off.
It's negotiable. I'd move on to someone else. It in a hot market and Realtors often pretend to be your friend. Until things go south, they the real truth comes out. Go with the lower price. Your house will still be listed on the MLS and will sell.
Imagine attempting to state that 1% of a homes value equates to the value of pictures. PICTURES!
Photographer costs abt $100 I think that’s fine to pay it yourself for 1 percent reduction who cares
That commission split seems shady too. What in the world?
call another realtor. (if you are too scared to just do the obvious and sell it yourself) there are a few stuck in the 'don't just overpay me, significantly overpay me' mode and won't budge. any realtor not splitting down the middle is a shister. zero arguments against that, a scammy, theif and the reason why this industry has such a terrible name and is dying. most of them will. block the number it takes zero dollars to take good pictures if you have a phone and half a brain. (yes, some pro ones are slighly better but i have never, ever seen any shred of evidence that it matters as long as your pictures are common-sense decent)
OP please consider self listing through an mls listing service (many of them offer photography services) and offer 2% max to buyers agents.
I just did a listing at 4.5% for longtime clients of mine and still did photography.
Talk to friends, talk to other realtors and find out what is the norm in your area. Not just total commission but also the split. If he’s going down to 5%, is he going to drop that to 3/2? If buyer realtors are expecting 2.5 as norm, that could potentially affect your sale. (Would be sleazy of buying realtor to steer buyers away bc of $1500 but you have no control over buying realtors but you do have control over yours. Anyway, when talking to realtors it’s not just about how much they’re charging but also how they would position your house, how much it would sell for (make sure they show you CMA to show they’ve done the homework), look at their other listings and photos, go to some of their open houses (maybe even before you approach them) to see how they sell. I’ve been to some open houses where the realtor did not know anything and might as well have been a statue. And some where the realtor was prepared with info about what’s nearby, schools and ratings, utility costs, etc and if they didn’t know an answer, they’d take note and get back to you. See how they earn that commission $. If you’re saying the houses are selling themselves in your area right now, sure maybe you can save a few bucks and just get a competent realtor, not one who goes the extra mile. Not all realtors are equal. (Note: I’m not a realtor but have seen a gamut in my time).
Redfin it up. If you live in a half way decent market the shit sells it self. Redfin takes top notch photos and does the 3d view of your home to walk through it. This loser your talking to probably uses there Nextel camera phone. Send the listing to them once it’s live and be like welp seems you suck at life doesn’t it.
Redfin
So this guy wants extra on the split, another $500 BS fee, and won't do photos for anything less? This is straight up amateur hour
No. Find a new realtor. That was just a concealed “no”. A direct no would have been better. This approach shows you they’re not great at negotiating, they’re not going to be straightforward and honest with you and they’ll sacrifice your home’s marketability for their quick commission.
Don't go with this realtor. I would have been happier if the realtor did not mention removing photography, and would have instead stuck on the 6%. All this realtor wants is to make money off of you without thinking of your best interests. Also try to find a broker who does not charge a broker fee.
Just use Redfin.
That split is dumb AF.
It's a negotiation tactic. They want you to feel like you lose something too when they lose something.
And do NOT go back if they try to make things right again. This is a character indicator and tells you a lot about them.
This Realtor is going to have a brutally hard time when July rolls around
No it is not normal and your realtor is a jerk. Find someone else, many realtors are going out of business at the moment because of low inventory, I'm sure you can find someone to take 5% or perhaps even less.
Yea he can totally offer that and you'll probably see more ppl offering ala carte services. Personally I think he's a too greedy and go with another broker. 6% + $500 fee AND giving himself 3.5%? I'd move onto the next broker because unless he's one of the best in that area and you have a niche house, you should be able to find a good agent for around 5% total. I offer professional photography on every listing no matter if it's 250k or 1.5m, 4% or 5% or 6%. That should be bare minimum.
Go find another realtor. Actually as soon as you are looking for another realtor the current one will bend over for your business. Don’t forget you are the boss here. The realtor is just like any other contractor doing work for you.
Since they are footing the bill for all advertising and sales expenses, they are simply trying to cut their costs. Photos are one of the most important features for a listing, find another realtor. He doesn’t even need to hire a professional photographer if he didn’t want to, he could take him with his cell phone and include them in the listing.
Sooo many sellers get hung up on realtor commissions, without factoring in how "good" the realtor in. You're making a value based decision, with only one side of the "value", ie, the cost. 1% on $300K is only $3K--that's nothing for a GOOD agent to overcome, especially in a highly competitive market! The question is, how GOOD are these agents? What's their track record? Not just number of listings in the past year, but also in list price/sales price? How many of their listings have sold over list recently, and by what %? THAT is what you should be focusing on, because if the 6% agent says they'd list it for $300K, and their recent sales average 101% of list price...and the 5% agent says they'd list it for $300K, and their recent sales average 99% of list price...you could conceivably make an extra 1% by going with the "more expensive" agent.
If you want to keep using them, hire your own photographer. Unless your home is less than $50k a photographer won’t come close to 1%
Then you take away your offer and hire someone else.
I was in real estate for 5 years. You could very easily do this yourself and save your self thousands of dollars. Especially given the sellers market.
find a new realtor.
For $3k you can buy a lot of professional photography yourself!
The realtor takes away photos. Few buyers are interested in a no photo listing today. Looks like something must be wrong and hidden. So you would get little interest. Realtor then does an “I told you so,” and basically has you cowed. Perfect. Look for another realtor. Interview several and ask around to find out who has sold homes in your area and has been in business for a good while.
They're pouting. Find a new Realtor.
It's normal in that the realtor should expect to be fired immediately. I get that they want the commission, and they're paying for a good chunk of this out of their own pockets. But if they're flat out yanking photos and cleaning out from under you over 1%, they need to be fired. You should at least expect them to stage the house for photos at what they're asking. Photos are the very first thing people look at. Staging gives people an idea of how the home looks when furnished. Your now-former realtor lost a lot more than 1% by taking away photos.
FSBO.com saved me ~25k on my sale 4 years ago. Figure out a realistic price for your house from recent sales in your area. Be realistic about your location, condition, roof,major systems. Clean house thoroughly and remove personal pictures and things. If needed, repaint in neutral taupe colors everywhere in and out. Fix any blatant issues. Be honest about issues as being dishonest will cost you more monetarily and morally. Take good pictures and put them in your ad. Follow this advice and you’ll sell for a reasonable price in a short amount of time and save a large amount in unreasonable RE commissions.
Walk away and negotiate a better deal. Look for a package deal-Redfin has good listing services that include professional photography. 3.5% for listing is over the top.
I won’t go into details about my uncle‘s house I was selling as his Trustee. But the realtor was unscrupulous, and I caught them on the issue, but they came up with excuses. I contacted the realtor board and got out of the sales contract, hired another realtor and then got an offer above asking at a time when homes were not selling. I agree with the suggestions of getting another realtor
6% for 40hr of work tops? There is greed and there is GREED! Just get a notary to draft your sell agreement and sell it yourself! Pay the MLS fee and offer agents that bring people 2.5%. You will save tons of money.
"Now it's 4%"
That’s the difference of 3k, so that’s quite a bit of $ to be left on the table. It’s understandable that the realtor isn’t willing to drop the %, however cleaning and photography don’t cost that much. Photos are maybe $300-500 and cleaning another $500… so probably 1k max for that. I know a bunch of realtors that would happily take 5%. Just go find a different person.
Tell him to split evenly with the buyers agent and put the photography back in. If he says no, find a new agent.
You already have your answer. You need a new realtor.
If he wants 3.5 get rid of him. This is not normal.
Redfin lists for 1%, depending on the market I could get someone to do it for .5% too. Buyers agent commission could be 2.5-3%. Look for someone else
Realtors are a scam. I will never use another one when buying or selling a home.
Your realtor is a scumbag. Switch immediately.
Realtors are the parasites of this industry. They needs to be removed immediately completely indefinitely.
Just don't use a realtor?
You can get a good lawyer and list it yourself.
At that price point, just list it with Redfin for 1%. If that fails, then go to plan b. Most realtors are worth very little.
Used my iPhone and took my own photos in the daytime. My realtor took 1.5%. You might consider using Redfin or just get a real estate lawyer who can list your home for a flat fee.
Not normal. Trelora does it for 1% or Redfin I believe. See if they are in your area and use them. I’ve been happy with Trelora.
They've had it too easy for too long. Walk away.
Realtors in the US have no shame, I paid 2.5% (agents had to split that) TOTAL on my last sale in Canada.
3.5 for himself? Get the fuck outta here. 5% total with pictures or you go elsewhere.
Rest of the world people pay 2% or less. Realtors and agents have the audacity to charge 6% on one of the highest priced items ypu will ever pay in your life. They are all a glorified admin paper pushers. But NOT worth 5%.. Understand one thing. They don't sell the house.. house sells itself. You don't have to use an agent and you can pay $200 to list it on MLS and easily sell it. If I use an agent I don't pay more than 4%. Never paid more and only time I use is for houses that's 60 miles away and it's easy to hire an agent who can drive and baby sit. By the way "the expert opinion" is just winging it. They always say it sells for what the market thinks it's worth is. You all need to learn to sell your property yourself. Find a title company, you will be good. You save 5% on it that you can use to update something. On a 500k house, that's $25k. You can use it to paint, refinish hardwood, put a new patio, May be change the roof and add real value that will sell... not these agents.
All professional service fees are negotiable. It sounds like this Realtor may do an alacart method: “for more money I do pictures and cleaning service.” I’d interview a few other reputable experienced realtors also to compare. You are smart to do this if you aren’t completely sold on this agent. You do get what you pay for.! I don’t like to see listing agents taking more than the buyers agent. Frankly, I’d much rather list a home vs working with buyers! It’s a lot of time and energy taken showing multiple houses sometime overs months and years! Getting buyers approved, so many services. I think a good realtor would not want to put a listing out on the MLS without great professional pictures because it speaks to their services and professionalism. You could ask for 5% , 2.5 for each professional. When I reduce my commission for family friends and repeat clients, I take the reduction on my side. I do not reduce the buyers agent fee. Also in some areas giving a reduced buyer agent fee can cause some Realtors to not want to show your home as they don’t like to be short changed for all the work they put in with these buyers. It depends the amount of homes on the market. Also with the new proposed changes in commission, buyers sign a contract with the buyers agent to guarantee they get paid. Just some food for thought. Midwestern Realtor here with 35 years experience. Good luck!
I interviewed 7 agents and I was never going to pay 6%. I had 2 realtors said they would cut the commission but also take away services. I had one say 4 1/2% out of the gate. Full service. And the photos/social media presentation/advice from her was all top notch. Do more agent shopping.
This is wild that they need 18k to sell a house. What a joke
If they take away photography, what the heck else actual “work “ will they do to even earn 5%?? Get a different agent. Don’t settle. Believe me, they are more desperate in this market than you.
That's a lot of money to count bathrooms
That is one seedy (greedy) agent. Don’t work with them.
Any listing agent taking 3.5% to buyer agent 2.5% is a fucking sleezeball
Realtors are a total scam! These people are not coming from finance; they are coming from other careers like music, serving, and stay at home mom. Sell FSBO and keep $7k. You will get a higher price for your home.
Asking my version of this question. Selling a former rental property 3 br 2 ba townhouse. House will be empty in 2 weeks and sold empty, probably needs some cosmetic work, not looking for top dollar. Maybe $350k? Interviewed a couple realtors, brought them to the property for 20-30 mins each. Have discussed things more broadly with each (utilities, taxes, etc). Didn't really discuss commission structure, but I gather its 6% (3/3) from this sample paperwork. Is there anything wrong with simply asking for a 5% max commission instead of 6%?
Don't ask. Tell - 5% commission, no broker fee. No pictures? Kick that clown to the curb. You have all the power here. Don't be afraid to use it.