Home Selling
rich
>
>
>1. What is the average or typical
>commission that is charged by most
>realtors?
In our area, 6%.
>Will a typical realtor drop
>the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
Heh.
>2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
>fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
>that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
>the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
Probably not.
>3. There is a realtor which will be placing my home on the market soon. She
>wishes to put her sign up immediately, even though I'm not ready to have the
>home on the market for another two weeks. Is there a disadvantage for me if
>she erects her "for sale" sign without the home being in the MLS?
From my POV, the sign and the MLS and the ads are all marketing. They
begin to market my house as soon as the contract is signed, not a minute
before. If you don't want them to put the sign up, then don't sign.
If I may make so bold, why the two weeks? What's going to be different
in two weeks (other than the prime real estate season is going to be two
weeks older?)
--
ALL programs are poems, it's just that not all programmers are poets.
-- Jonathan Guthrie in the scary.devil.monastery
C. Brunner
>
>
>1. What is the average or typical
>commission that is charged by most
>realtors? Will a typical realtor drop
>the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
>
Here, the commission is 6%. Period. (One agency used to discount it
to 5% if you had a previous home purchase/sale through their agency.
I don't know if they still do that)
>2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
>fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
>that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
>the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
Our realtor didn't. Why should she? She's doing **all** the work.
>
>3. There is a realtor which will be placing my home on the market soon. She
>wishes to put her sign up immediately, even though I'm not ready to have the
>home on the market for another two weeks. Is there a disadvantage for me if
>she erects her "for sale" sign without the home being in the MLS?
What does your sales contract say?
It's not unusual at all (here) for there to be a lag time between
"listing" a house for sale, and having it actually appear in the MLS
databank. It depends... There is tremendous word-of-mouth in a hot
housing market. I know two couples who had firm offers on their
houses (through realtors) before the sales contracts with their
realtors were even signed. (Both did the honorable thing, and
fulfilled the terms of the sales contracts--including paying the full
commission.) Your house is on the market when the contract time
begins--just because there's no "For Sale" sign in your yard doesn't
mean that your realtor isn't marketing it or even showing it.
I can understand your desire to have a little extra time before your
home "goes on the market." Time to spruce things up a little; time to
remove draperies, light fixtures, or other furnishings you don't wish
to sell with the house (and don't want to quibble about in a purchase
contract); time to transplant a few special perennials or shrubs to
your new yard... Once the sales contract is in force and the house is
"on the market", most of that becomes awkward or even illegal (breach
of contract). If you wanted to delay the marketing of your house, you
should have made that clear when you signed the sales contract with
your agent. Call your realtor and be honest about **why** you want to
delay its advertisement.
OTOH, if you simply want it to appear in the MLS listing at the same
time the sign appears, keep in mind that your realtor might have a
hungry buyer in mind already.
C. Brunner
ren...@my-deja.com
You know another house will be coming on the market now, and you want to
avoid head-to-head comparisions (for either mine is better or mine is
worse situations...)
The house needs another week or two of fixing up. NEVER list a house
that isn't "as good as it is going to be".
The weather. Nobody wants muddy, sloppy shoed realtors & looky lou's
tromping through your house. In a week or two it'll be drier.
The lawn. Two weeks is about how long fertilizer takes to "kick in".
Pets. If they aren't fixed a dog's "special time" is about two weeks.
There's probably a dozen more reasons...
Negotiating with a realtor isn't like dealing for a new car. Each house
has different "marketing needs". You want the best marketing services
for the best price. If your brother-in-law sold his house in 5 days and
the realtor only took a 3% commission, maybe his house a) was
seriously underpriced b) was in THE MOST desirable spot in town c)is on
a block where three families were waiting for him to list so their
inlaws could move in et cetera et cetera.
A better idea than playing with "percentages" is asking what the realtor
realistically will spend to market your house. Cash for adds, brochures,
videos, web listings AND time for realtor-to-realtor open houses,
picking up calls at the office, calling past clients who might want to
think about moving up to your house or getting their friends/realatives
into your house, regular open houses et cetera. Figure all that out
ahead of time. It is futile to tell the realtor on day 57 of a 60 day
listing "I thought you'd do more"....
Another idea that is popular in some area is "time=money" type
incentives. Write up the lsiting agreement so that if a deal is struck
in the first 20 days an extra xxx dollars is to shared. It can help to
"kick start" the cooperation of other agents. Make it an amount that is
realistic. The house that isn't sold DOES cost you something. Figure
this out now!
In most states the realtors have a limited range of means to gain from
selling a house. The good realtors know how to get the cooperation of
fellow agents and are well worth their commission. Unfortunately there
are incompetent realtors, and any commision is too high to pay them...
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Craig Lund
privat...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> 1. What is the average or typical
> commission that is charged by most
> realtors?
6% where I live
>Will a typical realtor drop
> the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
>
Possibly, depending on a lot of different factors. I have seen
discount brokers here taking as little as half a % for their part
of the split. Shop around.
> 2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
> fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
> that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
> the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
>
Possibly, but that needs to be negotiated before you sign a
listing. I once listed a house with one of the more active
brokers in the area that offered a three tier commission
agreement (different offices, same office - different agents,
same office - same agent) as business as usual.
> 3. There is a realtor which will be placing my home on the market soon. She
> wishes to put her sign up immediately, even though I'm not ready to have the
> home on the market for another two weeks. Is there a disadvantage for me if
> she erects her "for sale" sign without the home being in the MLS?
You don't say whether you have signed a listing or not. If you
have not signed a listing, I would guess she probably wants to
get your name on the contract before someone else offers you a
package that sounds better to you.
>
> Thanks.
Kevin D. Poster
> 1. What is the average or typical
> commission that is charged by most
> realtors? Will a typical realtor drop
> the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
Typical around here (Minneapolis/St. Paul) is 7%. Will a Realtor(r) drop
the percentage? Like just about everything else in life, that commission is
negotiable. On our second-most-recent house transaction, the agent dropped
his commission to 6% because he handled both the sale of our old house and
the purchase of our new one. On the sale of that house, the agent offered
to drop the commission but made it clear that the sale would not receive
his full attention. We stayed at 7% and sold the house quickly for more
than we thought we'd get for it.
>
> 2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
> fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
> that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
> the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
I don't think so. In this case, two separate parties are paying the agent.
But isn't this called "dual agency," and don't states have rules about
that? I'm pretty sure Minnesota does.
> 3. There is a realtor which will be placing my home on the market soon. She
> wishes to put her sign up immediately, even though I'm not ready to have the
> home on the market for another two weeks. Is there a disadvantage for me if
> she erects her "for sale" sign without the home being in the MLS?
If you are not ready to show the house, forgo the sign or the MLS listing.
Get the house ready first, because if it is at all desirable, the most
traffic will come in the first couple of weeks. You don't want to have
people walking on threadbare carpet or past scuffed walls and the like if a
week or so will fix that.
OTOH, if you're ready to show, then I wouldn't mind a sign on the property
before the MLS listing. The listing doesn't always happen immediately
anyway, and who knows who'll see the sign before they talk to an agent? The
ad for the house will say "Just listed!!!" anyway ...
--
"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."
-- Harlan Ellison
Mel Meer
privat...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> 1. What is the average or typical
> commission that is charged by most
> realtors? Will a typical realtor drop
> the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
In a market where sellers are scarce and buyers plentiful (and that's
how it's been in many places for a few years--and brokers are making
cold calls asking if people want to sell their houses) you can be
certain that the commission is VERY negotiable.
>
> 2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
> fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
> that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
> the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
It is quit common, especially where one broker is involved (who won't
then have to split his commission) for a broker to "help" make the deal,
by lowering his commission, when seller and buyer are a small number of
dollars apart and can be brought to a deal if he chips in.
Mel
>
>
butt...@powerpuff.com
offer a carpet allowance to prospective buyers instead of buying new
carpet. Your choice in carpets might not be what the buyer would chose
if given the choice. I know I would rather have had beige carpet
instead of the brown the previous owner of my last house installed right
before listing it for sale. I would have replaced it if it hadn't been
brand-new.
privat...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> I'm not quite finished cleaning up the back and putting away junk. I also
> need to have new carpet installed.
>
>
Walt
Around here it is normally 6%, but it is negotiable.
However, be careful, especially if heading into MLS. If
you are offering only a 4% or 5% commission, and a similar
house in MLS is offering a full 6% commission, guess which
house will shown more often by agents?
Craig Lund
difference.
no spam
privat...@my-deja.com wrote:
> 1. What is the average or typical
> commission that is charged by most
> realtors? Will a typical realtor drop
> the commission one percentage point if he wants to be my selling agent?
>
In my area, between 6 and 6.5 %, but definitely negotiable, especially in today's
hot market. Realtors are chomping at the bit for listings.
>
> 2. For sake of discussion, let's say a realtor charges a 5% commission and
> fortunately for that realtor he is *both* the buyers and sellers agent, under
> that circumstance would that realtor (or average realtor) be inclined to drop
> the 5% commission a percentage point or more?
>
Depends on the realtor, and the relationship you have with him or her. I sold my
last house and bought the one I'm in now eleven months ago. I have had a long
standing friendly relationship with my realtor for about eight years and the
purchase and sale of five properties. She told me that, had she brought me a
buyer for the home I had listed for sale, she would have taken less than the 6%
commission.
>
> 3. There is a realtor which will be placing my home on the market soon. She
> wishes to put her sign up immediately, even though I'm not ready to have the
> home on the market for another two weeks. Is there a disadvantage for me if
> she erects her "for sale" sign without the home being in the MLS?
It depends on your house, your location, and your market, but in general I would
say, wait until you're ready. In hot areas, houses are being listed on a Friday,
having an open house on a Sunday, and sellers are reviewing fistfuls of offers on
a Monday morning-- no exaggeration.
If your house is listed, but coded as no showings until further notice and/or a
certain date, you may lose some of that initial momentum.
no spam
listing contract is signed and a contract for sale is signed, and changes made in
the time the contract for sale is signed and settlement occurs.
A seller can make any changes in the property he/she wants until a contract for
sale is signed. Once the contract for sale is signed, one of the understandings
of that contract is that offer and acceptance is made on that property "as is."
Any changes made to the property between the time the contract for sale is signed
and settlement may be breaches of the contract for sale, because the property is
not being delivered to the buyer at settlement in the same condition it was at the
time the contract was signed.
C. Brunner
Say that a realtor shows your home to a prospective buyer on Friday,
and the buyer is interested but wants to think about it over the
weekend. You don't know that, though; and it wouldn't matter anyway,
because there's no signed "contract for sale" yet (as per your
statement). So, on Saturday, you dig up most of the flowering shrubs,
and take down all the curtains and curtain rods and ceiling fans, and
swap out the dining room chandelier for a cheaper model from Home
Depot, and pull out the stone pavers you just installed last month
(having intended, all along, to move these things to your new house).
On Monday, you get a call from your realtor saying that the buyer who
saw your house on Friday has made an offer (he/she has signed a
contract to purchase your house) and you need to look at it right away
because it's a great offer.
The buyer, of course, based the offer on the house he/she was shown on
Friday. See where I'm going with this? I believe that the listing of
the house for sale implies that the condition of the property will not
change substantially once the marketing process begins. In fact, I
think our listing agreement (which was a contractual agreement) even
had a statement to that effect, prohibiting removal of shrubbery or
flowers or "permanent" indoor accessories (ceiling fans etc.) once the
listing period began. Certainly, the buyer will conduct a
walk-through just before closing, to be sure that everything is as it
should be, and he/she will probably request an inspection. Also, a
seller can exclude certain items from sale (e.g., keep the ceiling
fans) and disclose those exclusions in the marketing information and
on the sales contract. But it's a lot simpler to make those changes
before anybody has even looked at the house. That's what I meant.
C. Brunner
On Tue, 28 Mar 2000 15:57:39 -0500, no spam <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>I think you may be confusing changes made to the property during the time a
>listing contract is signed and a contract for sale is signed, and changes made in
>the time the contract for sale is signed and settlement occurs.
>
>A seller can make any changes in the property he/she wants until a contract for
>sale is signed. Once the contract for sale is signed, one of the understandings
>of that contract is that offer and acceptance is made on that property "as is."
>Any changes made to the property between the time the contract for sale is signed
>and settlement may be breaches of the contract for sale, because the property is
>not being delivered to the buyer at settlement in the same condition it was at the
>time the contract was signed.
...
no spam
precise when you're throwing around terms like "breach of contract." There are stupid
things to do, and illegal things to do, and sometimes they aren't the same. I agree
with you that it's dumb to make material changes to the property after it's listed, but
making material changes to the property isn't necessarily legally actionable.
Your example scenario reads like a law school exam question, and there is no easy
answer to the problem you've posed. As you've noted, it's to prevent such an
occurrence that your listing contract prohibits you from making material changes to the
property-- the realtor wants to prevent a stink over conflicting expectations between
buyer and seller, which could potentially void the contract if there is no "meeting of
the minds" (in the legal term-of-art sense). All the things you've mentioned are what
are known as "appurtenances" to a house, and are included with the home unless
specifically excluded by the contract of sale. Therefore, if the buyer had seen the
house, and made an offer with all these things in place, if the seller accepts the
offer without excluding the things he intended to take with him, he may be REAL busy
reinstalling curtains, ceiling fans, chandeliers and pavers! I got the impression,
however, (perhaps you got a different one) that the original poster was not talking
about things he wanted to take with him once the house was sold. He was discussing
cosmetic improvements and repairs to the property, not appurtenances to the house that
may be bargaining points in a negotiation on a contract for sale.
That said, I definitely agree with you that it's a bad idea to have a listed house
where the property is materially changing from showing to showing. It's just a bad
business decision. Realtors preview houses for clients, keep properties in mind for
particular buyers, get impressions about houses when they see them for the first
time... if a house materially changes from showing to showing, realtors may not be
aware of the changes, and may have already eliminated the house from consideration for
a particular client. I definitely think the original poster should get the house in
order, then list it.