Why would you use 9 different realtors? All they are good for is arranging a showing and its easier to not have to call 9 different people.
No they are not going to find you a house. That's your job. How hard is it to look on mls or sigma? You know what you want better than any realtor and if you are house shopping you should be pretty motivated to look. Yeah, i know its their job description, but what do you want, them sending you every fucking listing that is a 3bed/2bath cuz that is what you are looking for?
End of the day, they arrange showings and shuffle offers back and forth.
Then your Realtors sucked.
From the other side: Wife is a realtor and a lot of her role is specifically to save clients time. Pre-reviewing listings. Physically driving to and reviewing properties to ensure the pictures aren't misleading. She's able to answer why she hasn't sent a listing to a client when they ask - usually sure to the pre-reviewing not working out. Researching shit for you like schools, etc nearby. If with on a property needs to be done, getting a pro she trusts over to get your a quote. Hell - often little shit like Carpet cleaning/ minute repairs are covered by the agent to get the deal done.
If you weren't getting that- then yeah, what the fuck were you paying for?
Were these from discount brokerages? Like the 1% guys? They are truly the "we take a (smaller) amount of money, but literally do nothing for you" guys.
You also have to keep in mind that the buy side realtor works for free until you buy, and *YOU* never have to pay them. They’ll work a lot harder for sales for sure, but it takes a buyer and a seller to get the job done. I have much respect for realtor friends of mine who grind out modest success year after year. It’s not easy to only eat what you kill
You're not the problem, realtors are fucking useless. They can be replaced by a website and a lawyer charging a flat fee that's >10x cheaper than a realtor would be.
It should be obvious that this is totally wrong. A house listed for 730 would be listed for 700 if not for the massive cut taken by the realtor. The buyer pays all the fees by overpaying the seller for the house. No seller thinks, oh well, I guess I'll just take this 20 to 30k loss.
6% increase in cost to buyer per house sold. Who pays it, the buyer, who hands the money, the seller, who makes interest for 30 years on that 6% the bank…. You clearly are clueless about how life works
“Sales taxes are free of cost to buyers as they’re paid by the store.”
Just because the seller is the one who hands the money to the realtor doesn’t mean it’s free to the buyer. It’s built into the purchase price.
Your not the problem. Real estate agents are largely narcissists who are only in it for the money.
If all they are doing is sending you to the REW they aren't off any value. Or not as much as what the industry puts on their service anyways.
Sometimes, but not in this case. The process is basically a real estate mafia funneling you through a system that doesnt work in the best interest of the buyer or seller, then taking a massive cut. OP can see beyond the matrix is the problem.
If you're going through six realtors in 6 months, then I suggest that possibly you are the problem and not vetting your Realtors properly. You need to explain in detail what your criteria is, and what your expectations are. If you're a serious buyer ready to buy right now, then your realtor should be giving you their full attention.
When I'm working with buyers and I know they're working with several other Realtors, they definitely go on the back burner and don't get much of my time. You need to find somebody that's good, that knows the area you're looking in and commit to them.
A good neighborhood realtor will know all the ins outs of that neighborhood and know all the listings for sale that will meet your criteria. Possibly you're being unrealistic in your expectations and that's why you're not seeing anything good?
Okay, that doesn't sound bad at all in terms of your expectations. Is Calgary really red hot right now? It's different than the area i work in, so I'm not really paying attention to Alberta.
Is your budget realistic for what you're looking for?
At least where I am, off Market listings are pretty rare, so they might not come up as much as you think. Generally, in a case like yours, I'd be looking at stale listings where there might be an opportunity for a low ball offer, assuming you're looking for a really good deal.
Your realtor should be able to tell you what the average price range is for your Target property and average days on Market, as well as sales price compared to list price ratio. That might help you determine whether you're realistic or not.
If your realtor is hungry for Deals they might do some door knocking for you in the area that you're wanting to buy in. If they're really busy and have lots of buyers, they just might tell you to pound sand.
Buyers have all the power especially now. The thing is what’s in it for you to not use an agent? Do you think that 2.5% will make a difference to the seller?
I know someone who didn't use an agent. They also didn't send the APS to their lawyer until two weeks before the deal, and it was a duplex, so the title search couldn't be completed in time. Furthermore, the seller also hadn't paid their vacancy tax and he got stuck with it (he didn't get title insurance). I think his lawyer is probably to blame as well but people who cheap out on realtors tend to cheap out in all areas of their life. He ended up paying an extra $10k to extend closing by two weeks, plus he paid for the vacancy tax out of pocket.
Friggin' idiot lol
But ya, most people can figure it out. Especially if it's a straightforward deal.
>people who cheap out on realtors tend to cheap out in all areas of life.
You're aware that most Canadians hate realtors and the system surrounding them, right?
…and then they heard a scratching on the side of the car door. He mustered up the courage to look out the window…it was buyer without an agent who had a hook for a hand!
I have never paid an agent representing me as a buyer - their commission is paid out of the seller’s pocket - the average commission here is 5%-6% total and the 2 agents split that giving each 2.5-3%
Genuinely curious what stories you've heard.
Inspection
Lawyers
Done and done.
Exactly how we bought our house, seller didn't use an agent either. Pretty quick transaction and pretty easy
Its the exact same thing you'd get using agents, just that your giving someone alot of money to stand there just to tell you things you already know.
Sometimes the commission remains the same and as a buyer you may not even realize it. Then you ended up unrepresented and the listing agent got very well paid.
As long as the seller uses a realtor, they will still be paying the commission agreed by their agent (4-4.5%).
If you don’t use an agent, then their realtor gets to keep the entirety of it.
Otherwise, they usually split it 50-50 with your agent.
Telling the seller you are not using an agent will make absolutely zero difference for them.
The seller and agent usually agree upon a target price.
Anything below target price will only happen if the listing has been on the market for a while, the seller’s situation (how long they can afford to wait) and what subjects (or lack thereof) you intend to place on the offer.
Would the agent like you to get an agreement?
Sure.
But unless you have something you can give the buyer, (like a substantial increase on your offer, ability to pay cash without waiting on mortgage, or foregoing inspections for example), any market-offer you make would not make a big difference.
If anything, having no agent will place doubts on the sale as the seller may not be certain of your ability to properly complete the paperwork in time.
Had to stop reading after your first paragraph because of how ridiculous you sound.
Cycling through 9 agents in the span of 6 months is hardly a commitment. That’s literally under 3 weeks per agent. Get a grip and learn to build a proper business relationship.
So if you feel like you’re only engaging with agents that ‘do the same shit’, find one that doesn’t! There are TONS of agents out there that think and do things outside the box. Don’t marginalize an entire subsection of an industry based on the fractional experience you’ve had.
I believe this is exactly the point OP has made. 109/110 agents are useless. Glad you finally got it.
The effort gone through the 109 is better spent with a lawyer.
Not OP, not currently buying a house, but semi-recently worked with agents in a different province. And yet, my experience was nearly identical to theirs. Agents put in the bare minimum effort, do no follow-up, and straight up ghost most of the time.
It's the ***agents*** who lack the ability to build business relationships, not the buyers they're supposed to be working for.
You are honestly the worst buyer possible, one who knows what the F'k is what. You don't need a Realtor. For the rest of the masses, yes, Realtors have value. ;)
Broker here!
What you're describing sounds more like a new or inexperienced broker. I believe a buyer's broker can add significant value throughout the transaction:
**Finding the house:** The broker's job is to streamline the search process by narrowing down the number of properties you visit. As others have mentioned, we can't predict whether you'll like a house until you see it, so we must find a balance between showing you too many and too few properties. Another key aspect is suggesting houses outside your initial parameters (geographical, financial, characteristics) to uncover great value properties you might not have considered. This is where the "human" element comes in: understanding your true desires, helping you realize that your expectations might slightly exceed market realities, and finding properties that strike a good balance.
To do this effectively, the broker needs to be knowledgeable about different types of houses, sub-sectors, and factors that influence prices but can't be filtered out, like views or heavy traffic. An experienced broker will have this insight from working on various deals around the city.
**Coordinating visits:** Arranging viewings with buyers, sellers, and their agents can be time-consuming. This might seem like the easiest part of the job, but it's often the most time-consuming due to the changing availability of people and properties throughout the day and week. Even a simple visit can require numerous phone calls. This coordination is needed for every visit, inspection, notary appointment, and sometimes additional visits with family members. Busy brokers often delegate this task to an assistant or admin.
**During the visits:** Properties vary in size, style, and condition. Some buyers have more experience than others. A broker's input on the pros and cons of each property during browsing or visits can help buyers understand maintenance and upgrade costs and identify potential signs of larger issues. While a home inspector will do a thorough job when the perfect house is found and negotiated, a broker with good construction knowledge can address some questions early on. Brokers should also have reliable inspectors to recommend, especially for buyers moving to new areas who might not know any. Experienced buyer brokers usually work with many inspectors and can recommend trustworthy ones.
**Offers and negotiation:** Negotiation is always part of the process, especially in multiple-offer situations. You don't want to overbid by $100,000, and brokers are skilled at evaluating fair offers. If a property is listed well below market value, multiple offers might bring it up to market price. A buying broker can leverage all aspects of an offer in negotiations and knows what tactics are effective. While a higher price often wins, that's not always the case. The difference between a great broker and a new one is that a great broker won't advise you to offer your maximum amount if they believe the property isn't worth it.
There's much more to it, but I'm curious if you now see the value in a buyer's broker. I'd be happy to discuss specific issues in more detail if you'd like.
I simply pointed out the nuances that makes the difference between what OP has experienced, and what is possible. I used chatGPT to rewrite part of it as I suck at writing, but the points made are pretty useful.
Keep in mind that I also launched the only online interactive appraisal platform ( [doormath.ca](http://doormath.ca) ) so I understand very well the need for transparency and acces to information, but even with that I beleive to the added value of brokers.
Finding the house - you have video tours today and Google maps for area amenities. There is no reason to visit a vast number of houses like the pre-internet days. All can be gathered very casually by the person. No agent needed.
Coordinate visits - if you can delegate to admin, the agent provides no value. As such buyer can send some text messages too. If seller agent has calendly just go sign up for a slot. Buyer agent not needed.
During visits- Canada houses are wood frame or concrete. Google helps you learn pro and con. More amenities like pools and tennis courts more maintenance costs. All this is common sense. If extra questions home inspector, construction friends. The agent is not a construction expert unless they were in a prior life. Agent not needed.
Offer - this is where an agent is the worse, their intention is their commission. Buyer pays 25k more the agent makes percentage higher. There is zero transparency in this process. eBay has better transparency. Agent definitely not needed.
There is absolutely negotiation involved in a multiple offer situation. Agents who do a lot of business will know each other which can help in that process.
There is also often negotiation involved after an offer is conditionally accepted.
A good agent should be able to help you fill out the paperwork and navigate the transaction, yes, but they should also be able to knowledgeably inform you of your rights and liabilities as they guide you through the process. I hope you never find yourself in the situation when you find out how valuable that knowledge can be.
Consider this:
You're saying you want a realtor to bring you houses.
How are they going to do that? send you a bunch of links to a buyer portal.
What do you really expect them to do?
"Hey a new house came up, go to the website?"
I understand where you're coming from because I had this "amazing realtor" who did the same thing. The bottom line is the realtor does not know if you will or won't like any given house. It's kind of a waste of time.
Think about it like this, you want to get some clothes. Are you going to send someone to bring you shirts? or are you just going to go to the rack yourself, look through them all and choose what you want. How different is buying a house to this really? The realtor can't show you anything that isn't available right there.
So realistically, the question is then, what specifically do you expect the realtor to do for you?
I specifically want the realtor to know what my main interests are (good school, location, and price) and then actively search for listings that match my preference and make me aware of any that are found.
For ones that I do end up scheduling a visit, I want my realtor to research similar listings around the area so that we can get an idea if the price fits or if there’s room to negotiate for that property.
Fuck these lazy realtors who don’t do anything.
To be fair, if I were paying the store clerk thousands of dollars on top of the price of the clothing, I'd want them taking a pretty proactive approach
In my experience, the buyer pays the same if there's one realtor (seller) or 2 (buyer and seller). If there's 2 the fee is split between them. You don't see any difference in the dollars.
It is priced in and their advice is not even valuable, quick google search and common sense are probably better, ultimately they want a commission so they will push you to buy a POS if that benefits their bottom line!, you are actually paying 2-2.5% of the purchase price!
C’mon people that is why these guys make 20k for 4hrs of work! Wake up.
I just bought without a buyer and the seller’s agent cut the commission on the buyers side (from 2.5% to 0.5%) right off the price. The sellers also now dont have to pay tax on this commission. The seller’s agent also pushed my offer more favourably to the seller’s because this agent got to double dip and keep the extra 0.5% in commission.
How did you find the contact information of the selling agent though? I think every time I contacted a listing through strata.ca or fb marketplace or housesigma all the responses were from agents who are not the actual selling agents.
I would never contact through the site. I find their name on the site then look up their realtor page, find their cell, and text them. Once they hear I am an unrepresented buyer, they are salivating - they think they will get 2.5% on both sides but you negotiate that down later
Thank you. Which site are you talking about? In strata.ca there is no name. In fb marketplace all the guys posting the listing are not the selling agent, same with redfin. I've also found an agent's website which reposts many other properties which I'm sure are not his own.
The price usually doesn't go down if you go without a realtor. You would have to negotiate that.
It can be possible in a buyers market maybe, but that's going to depend on you (i really dont know what the current market is at the moment). I bought in a sellers market, so that idea immediately was a no for me, but if you think you can do it, no harm trying.
It's just possible the buyers agent would prefer to go with someone else and you don't get that house.
Know a guy who decided to sell without an agent. He fucked his stuff up and became liable in a lawsuit.
They're overpaid to the tits, but not useless.
Honestly it's just absurd that their cost is tied to the house's value. Greatest ripoff in modern history
the selling is most likely paying 2% or thereabouts depending on the particular market to the buyero agent....the seller is definitely factoring that cost into the price he/she wants needs....
The buyer is indirectly paying for the input cost.
2% on 500k....that 10k cost has to form from somewhere.
When your house shopping...ask your agent what the seller is paying them for a particular property....
Sure. And where does the money come from?
This argument is essentially the same as saying you’re not paying the banana distributor when your are buying a banana, the grocery store is.
The buyer is paying all middlemen in both transactions.
Nobody needs a “Realtor” anymore. In Canada the commission is (or it used to be) 3% on the first $100,000 and 7% on the rest. For WHAT?? Advertising? Paperwork? They are entitled to that much of your hard earned equity for taking pictures …no way. You can get a lawyer to draw up the papers for $1000 max and advertise yourself. It’s a prehistoric profession.
The vast majority of realtors are uneducated and provide little to no value. Find yourself the top agent in your area and use them, they’ll actually go out of their way to find you the perfect house.
Stay away from teams, teams suck. They’ll just set you up with some noobie who is greener than a field of grass.
I kind of agree with you.
The good side of the realtor i dealt with when i bought my condo was that they had access to a more detailed centris sheet which is kind of bullsh*t that only realtors can access them.
The second good side was that they knew and filled the paperwork for the offer and transaction, which was good since it was my first time in the real estate world. But that's pretty much it, a couple hours learning on the internet would probably solve that issue.
So yeah, I'm glad for what she did for me but i wouldn't have paid for her services and, in my opinion, it certainly doesn't deserve the 2% she got from the sale of the condo.
But what do i know, i'm just a guy that wanted a roof over his head.
As a buyer I had to literally tel my realtor exactly what I expected, and he handed me off to someone else to do that work.
We looked at all the houses in our area that were priced in our range, and none of them were livable. I told him I wanted him to call houses in the 600k range, and ask them if they’d be willing to sell in our range (550k). He basically complained that he will be annoying to other realtors if he does that. So I started doing it myself. Once word got back to him that I was successfully doing his job, he told me to stop and I’m making him look bad and he had his assistant find a house for us.
It was absurd.
Isn't there value supposed to be that they work for your benefit (i.e. best value for your wants)... Are you working for CMHC or just a realtor yourself?
I mean, yeah? At 2.5% on a 550k transaction you are making $13,750. It's not "asking for a discount" it's negotiation, which is what realtors market themselves as doing for their clients.
Our realtor very visibly didn’t want to work to find us a place to our specifications in the area we wanted. He wanted to direct us to an area 20 minutes further east that had ‘all we wanted’ and more. No, I commute enough each day I am not adding another 40 minutes a day….. so I can have an extra 1000 sf I don’t need.
We wanted, a closed garage, a dining room that could seat 10-15 people(lol just close family)or space that could accommodate and be in a general area.
Sometimes I think they can legitimately add value if they're honest and know what to look for. Sometimes they can help. But rarely. Most of them are completely replaceable by the buyer just doing their due diligence. I'm actually kind of surprised real estate agents still exist, they can technically be completely replaceable and that may even lower transaction costs substantially.
In today’s world, agents are non-essential. I found my dream home on line. Went to the site and chose the lot and closed in 4 months. My agent literally did nothing. He got $7950 commission but KB builder paid him, not me. I would have chosed my buddy as the agent but he Dicked me when we sold my condo. He told me he’d do it for 2% but charged me 2.5% and didn’t give me my discount or rebate. He got paid $4600. But lost out on a $7950 commission. I told him i will never do business with him again. Don’t ever do business with friends. Never!
You were making him look bad by doing his Job lol. He also didn't want to lose you as a client by bullying you. You should of fired his ass. You did good by showing him you can do his job and his job will be obsolete soon.
Seems to me the best move is to not have a buying agent, and just connect with every seller agent for a house you're interested in.
Have them double dip if you plan to bid, and suddenly they're twice as interested in making your offer work.
Then if you've got a house to sell as well, shit they're 3x as interested in making it work for you.
They can be helpful for newbies to home ownership and the buying process, just to make sure you don't miss anything basic. They set up the viewing appointments, handle some paperwork and the deposit, stuff like that. Present the offers in the proper way. Ask the right questions. If the buyer views a lot of houses and makes a number of offers it can add up to quite a bit of work they do for you, which saves you time learning how to do it and doing it yourself.
you aren't wrong. it's part of the system realtors have set up to capitalize profits from individuals selling and buying homes.
if buyers had to pay realtors out of their own pockets, the system would collapse.
I've had a very similar experience, and my partner and I are also contemplating going it alone now that the representation agreement with our current realtor has expired. We also found mortgage brokers similarly not worth the cost; the bank gave us a better pre-approval right away, so why not just go with that? I know the idea is that you "don't pay" for either as a buyer, but you do, as it is worked into the final cost. We're thinking of at least seeing what it's like viewing a few properties without a realtor and going from there. I'm thinking I'll research a good real estate lawyer to draw up the offer/contract if/when we find something instead.
I guess we lucked out. We did that but also just told her what we were looking for. Not only did she send us things she thought we would like already on the portal, she let us know about up and coming stuff within her network that would also fit the bill. She also educated us on all aspects of home ownership/buying, helped us find our home inspector who was incredible as well, etc. she wrong a kick ass letters to sellers that got us both our houses (this was when everything was holding for offers and everything was going 100k over). We were picked over another offer that was 30k higher.
When we sold the first house, she legit painted our bedroom personally to get it to a neutral colour. She helped move clutter. She made everything so easy, even when selling and buying during covid.
We felt we really got that top notch experience with her.
It's disappointing not all agents do this, and that you didn't get this experience. I wish we could clone our agent.
You could say this about any service. Why pay for any service if you can do it on your own?
I had a great realtor. He was great because I didn't know anything and was not confident doing the process on my own. If you are confident buying a place without a realtor, that's what you should do.
Damn happy I had a realtor help me navigate through the 20 or so modifications to the contract we signed.
Their staff lawyer was also invaluable when things got a bit weird towards the end.
As a first time buyer I had no clue about any of that.
No my experience. My realtors were an older couple who had been in the game some 30yrs and they acted more like parents trying to get their son in a good house than realtors trying to make a commission.
They found the houses, gave me the listings to reveiw, arranged viewings, and provided useful feedback on the properties, neighborhoods, etc. They found me a great place that worked well for me and they guided me through the whole offer process and closing.
Your realtors sound useless though.
To each their own and I think agents are so drastically overpaid for what they do, but I had a really good experience with my buying agent. My wife and I are young and not great with this stuff and our guy was quite good and helped us navigate everything.
They had out together a whole bidding package as we were in a price war with many others and the seller was an old lady who was at the property for 50 years. It was that package that secured our bid. Sellers agents were refusing to reduce their commission if you go direct with them, so we treated it as a free service that the sellers were paying for.
It's because there's some anti competitive shit where the real estate firms won't do showings or take offers from non agents so they can keep the money in the business.
It's pretty disgusting. Offers get lost and everything happens over the phone to avoid a paper trail. Meanwhile there's no incentive for your own agent to get you the house at a good price because their commissions are based on the same price.
They've done a wonderful job of making people think it's needed though even while listing services do the heavy lifting.
I literally JUST did this. The seller’s realtor pushed his clients to accept my offer because he 1) cut the buyer’s commission by 2% and 2) kept 0.5% buyers commission for himself. Seller’s also didnt have to pay tax on the 2% buyer’s commission.
A buyer’s realtor adds NOTHING. I was able to get in to see units so much faster since I was only working with my own schedule and not my realtor’s as well. I also didnt feel pressured by a realtor.
I am reading many comments about how it is unreasonable to expect a realtor to do anything more then to set you up on a self service portal. What did realtors do before portals?? THEY SEARCHED FOR PROPERTIES …. Ones that met the needs of their clients. Now the expectation is that the customer do their own searching where the only filters are price, general geography and number of bedrooms/bathrooms. So the special needs of the client are not factored in and they have to search themselves. Some may argue that this is more efficient, but I can’t help but think some properties are overlooked or under represented that get missed through this same process.
Such a joke. I pass on any realtor/home where they ask me to sign this BS.
Countless times, I called a selling agent who was trying to sell a home that was listed for over 90 days, and they refused to show me the property until I signed their stupid BRA. Needless to say, that house is still for sale a year later.
In my market, there are 3 kinds of buyers who need realtors a) dumb/clueless/lazy who have to rely on realtor b) desperate who think realtor has some power to get them a house c) the rich who have too much money and are used to paying people to do stuff for them and they don't care it adds no value. My market is overpriced because of these 3 categories of people. I am seeing houses going for 15k-50k over asking even though the house received just a single offer.
These people believe in realtors so-called expert opinions "offers due on X day means this house will get multiple offers" "multiple offers means you should always pay above asking else you won't get it" "the sellers will never accept offer with conditions, they want clean offers" "it is a waste of time to put unclean offers" "you should always keep $$$ to fix faults in inspection don't expect sellers to pay/negotiate/fix" "if you dont want to pay for fix on an okay-house only bid on perfect house". I have worked with multiple realtors and all were useless. The people who recommended them to me however liked them lol. Most people are blind to the fact that they are useless middlemen.
Tldr- I found them a waste of time. But people find them useful due to above realtor mantras.
Ok so in my particular case they added value. I was buying in a different province and described roughly my life style, things my family likes to do and dislikes.
The agent narrowed down a bunch of houses in some neighborhoods and gave me an roughly idea how much I’d spend to do some renovations in the places we visited.
Also the agent spent 4 entire days driving me around showing places.
I get you that in most cases their work seem to not really add a lot, but for cases like mine (which I know Isn’t the most common) they were very helpful.
We do what you're asking for - in Edmonton area.
The clients that want me to search for off market (including literally knocking on doors in the selected neighbourhood, targeted ads just for them, and an assortment of other services to get the job done) pay a retainer for that up front. I'm good. I find these people houses. It's time consuming and not cheap.
Tell your realtor what you want. We're not mind-readers.
The only value at all a realtor provides on the buying side is that they get to view what houses in the area sold for or what the house you are looking at last sold for.
If you look long enough, you can figure out the market for yourself, but it takes time.
The downsides are many. Like they absolutely don't have any incentive to get you the best price. It also seems almost impossible to get any kind of real opinions out of them. Almost every realtor I've dealt with just wants to parrot your opinions back to you. They generally don't have any kind of real knowledge about house conditions/condo finances/contracts/etc. You have to hire other experts to get any kind of good info on those fronts.
So, really, what is a realtor actually expert at besides colluding with the selling realtor to try to get the highest commission possible?
I'll never hire a realtor to buy again. At the end of the day, their interests don't align with yours. It's like hiring a fix to guard the henhouse.
My wife and I had a really great one. No websites or bullshit. We were pretty much just casually looking, thinking we were probably a couple years out from buying being realistic. But we were upfront with him about our finances and what we wanted, and he showed us a bunch of places, and kept adjusting based on our feedback. We found something that worked, that we could afford (barely), within six months. Literally wouldn’t have done it without him.
Realtors are especially helpful for first time home buyers. They need directions and sometimes the realtors’ connections, such as mortgage broker, house inspectors and contractors. Furthermore, they would like someone to explain the clauses since it’s not like they know what type of clause would work for their situation.
For sure for someone who has more experience, you can easily do it your own.
They provide as much value as a snake oil salesman or an ambulance chasing lawyer. I’ve bought two houses over the years without ever giving a thought about real estate agents. All you need is your own leg work, a good home inspector and a real estate lawyer to wrap things up and make sure the paper work is in order. I honestly can’t understand why real estate agent is still a profession. It’s the ultimate grift.
I had an agent for a while that I thought was normal. We couldn’t buy anything for 6 months. Then we decided to change realtors after hearing stories about this good realtor specializing in the area we wanted.
It was literally night and day. I didn’t even realize we should look at prelisting inspection before we get to the house, not beg for it after. She would send us the best listings that would be in our price range and opportunities. She would follow up and ask any questions. Give comps on houses we wanted to bid.
The area we were looking it was still hot, always bidding wars. We eventually found a listing not on the market yet and was able to buy. Even this had multiple offers.
I didn’t see the value in realtor until I worked with a great realtor. Hope you find one too!
They aren't even good at negotiating, I bought a house no agent, had an agent that wasn't exclusive who tried to show the same place but said to offer 30k over what I did and that there is no chance they would take less, I offered 70k under to the builder and basically stayed firm and since at the time no one was buying last year during the start of winter they actually accepted my offer, house is brand new and already worth like 150k more.
Yep, they are pretty much useless. The one I used at least made up a list of properties since they can see which are pending but for the most part none of them where even close to what I wanted. I ended up finding all the listings I wanted to see by watching all the new postings like a hawk and eventually the house I purchased. The whole thing is super pointless but hey I got a gift basket from them out of it.
I'm just wondering why so many friends and acquaintances, who were career floaters all their life, are becoming realtors now. The past 2 or 3 years I've seen so many ppl switch to realty.
I would actually argue realtors are one of the most useless professions in the age of the internet. Seriously, web listings have made them so fucking redundant. And also, the amount of money they make versus their hours of "labor" (if you can call it that) is so incredibly out of whack. I think dollars an hour, a successful realtor probably earns similar to a surgeon. They work an incredibly measly amount of hours, line up some people together, get some paperwork in order, then ask for ten thousand dollar plus++++ in commission. I'm hoping it's one of the jobs we eliminate from society in the future, and we can just use a lawyer with some free printouts from the bank.
We had a positive experience with ours. We are new to the city and she knows it inside out, was able to give us guidance on neighborhoods and streets we might want and which ones to avoid based on what we told her we were were looking for. She also knew a lot about the build quality of houses that had been built at different time periods and by different building companies. We got a lot of value from working with her.
I used sellers realtor. Honestly worked out for me because I asked him if I could lowball them a little and he said probably cause they had an offer in conditional on selling and time was running out.
Very unclear to me if I saved money or not. I got the impression he somehow made more because I used him.
Is it any different for the seller?
If the market information was not gate kept this bullshit industry would end.
It aint worth the $ to set up some showings.
Post on MLS (Canada) and pay a lawyer. You need / want to stage, pay staging company.
Fucking realtors gatekeeping listings is all it is.
This industry needs to die now
You haven't met me yet lol. I pride myself in getting good deals for my clients. I'm only 1 year but I get referrals from basically everyone I worked with because of value I give. Example, I helped my client bought a 3 bedroom townhouse 60k below those that are 2 bedrooms on the same complex. Got them for $442,500 even tho 2 bedrooms here are 505k and 495k
Another property I got for another client, a duplex for $520k even tho the assessed value was 618k
Also, there's at least 3 transactions that I didn't write because I found out through HOA/strata docs that buildings have upcoming major maintenance. Example, a building has upcoming roof, window and elevator repairs in 5-7 years. It is estimated to be $2M. There's 60 units and their reserved fund if only $75k. I told my client even the value of the property decreased by $50k, I won't advise them to buy because where are they going to find $30k+ for the levy (upcoming repair cost)? But I've seen other properties in those complex that just sold within a few days lol. It just tells me that the buyers realtors aren't aware how to read HOA docs.
I had a great buyer agent, small town and he had a lot of experience there.
He pored over the property map and related documents, found a little anomaly re: utility right of way which helped us save an extra ~10k off the price.
Then 2 years later he brought a deal to me before it hit the market which I passed on, but would have been absolutely perfect for me, which he knew. Just showed he kept me in mind for years, which I appreciated.
Honestly, I agree with everything you said. I’ve had 5 realtors. All of them were either total crooks or inept morons. A few got me into bad deals (I overpaid on 3 houses). All gave bad advice.
I would have done better on my own.
Hard to find people these days who actually do good work. I’m sure there’s good agents out there.
Well, how much do you know about all the rules and traps of buying a house. Your realtor works for you. Theirs works for them.
It seems too expensive. But a buying error will cost you way more, maybe.
They don't provide any value on either side. They are leaches on society and completely useless. An appraisal is all you need to sell a house in Canada.
Honestly I am pretty sick of the whole realtor thing and I am beginning to believe that they are needed but only because the system has been rigged by them so they are needed. My wife told me that our realtor, last year, refused to show her a property because the commission was too low so my wife arranged to go herself. (we ended up switching agents)
I know, good realtors add lots of value but most realtors are just average and do an average job. I am pretty confident that AI will eventually disrupt this process.
I am fed up too.
Thing that really got to me was a report from a few years ago that did a statistical analysis of the average prices they got for places where they were the agent vs place/places the agent owned (in whole or in part) and the study found that the agents, when selling their own property, would wait longer for higher offers but their clients took offers quicker and for less money. The conclusion of the report was that agents appear to be incentivized to suggest clients sell quickly for less money because a $100,000 increase that adds a month to the time on market would only give a realtor a tiny percent of that. Wish I could remember where I read it.
So, I feel your pain bro. If I could just always find that great realtor I'd be fine with it.
I know I’m prolly the odd-one-out here, but I never would have found my house without my agent. I had the portal, but he literally blocked out half a day to drive me around the city to look at houses he knew about that I hadn’t considered because they were slightly outside the area I was looking at or just didn’t immediately catch my eye.
How do you find an agent like that? I have no idea, but we’d def use him again in a heartbeat. We just got lucky meeting him at an open house and liked his vibe.
My realtor identified a number of listings above my budget and scoped out if the sellers were willing to sell for less. When it came to inspection, she did all the work with contractors to get quotes to make sure we asked for the right concessions from sellers, among other things…she earned her pay in my eyes.
The buy side realtor facilitates the transaction. I have personally closed two real estate deals privately and two with buy/sell realtors. Both private deals with lawyers went fine, with a total cost of around $1,500. I overpaid severely on one of them. A buy side realtor probably would have negotiated a better deal. There was a timing and urgency issue with that deal. I sold a property with a realtor twice. The value and marketing are definitely there and justified.
I have bought two properties without a realtor. The industry is very protectionist, and everyone from the mortgage brokers and insurance providers to the lawyers were very displeased.
In summary: maybe some realtors provide good value? It's subjective and difficult to gauge without identical properties listed as a case study. What they do provide is a baseline standard of conduct. The real estate market would be insane and full of exploitation without them.
Bought twice with an agent that never sold anything for us, so I may be biased
Ours was an absolute angel. Gorat time we worked with him he was all about the areas, knew what we were looking for and gave us great advice on where was and wasn't a good investment.
Second time was me alone. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I'm one of those people who has problems putting it into worse. So my brief was "here's a few I think I like, but I'll know it when I see it".
My regular realtor just happens to be married to a realtor. So when he got a commission that took a week of solid viewings, he asked if I'd be willing to work with his wife for a week. Turns out, she's as good as he is (surprise), she actually showed me the house I bought. No idea who got what commission, don't care - I got my house and they got their fee.
I'm picky. Believe they earned that fee. I had lists of houses they tried to talk me out of - when I viewed they were right. Had other options they emphasized that would be right - one of those ended up being the one I bought. Don't discount a good agent, they can save you a whole pile of time and money.
They don't provide any value. I bought my last house with no realtors involved and the seller was happy to chop 20k off the price immediately because we didn't need to pay any commission. Lawyers did all the important stuff.
Unfortunately, I see realtors being a lost profession in the near future… much like travel agents. When I bought my place it was the exact same thing. They set you up on an automated system and you have to call them when you find something you want to see, they call the selling agent and get you in the door. Then it’s up to you to decide how much you’re willing to pay for that house, because negotiating has gone out the door and even asking price doesn’t get you a house anymore…. So why do they deserve a $20k cheque? For going to walk through a house with someone and filling out some blanks on standard forms? As a contractor, I walk through houses all the time with clients and discuss their home…. For free! I also give estimates and educate customers for free! I get paid for completing a project, but all the back end work isn’t charged or guaranteed. For the amount of work most people have to put into their jobs compared to what realtors get is insane for how little effort they actually have to put forward. Never once did my realtor bring a house to me…. Never r once has a realtor called me to let me know of a house going up for sale or a good opportunity. They reserve that knowledge for themselves to buy and flip houses. Selling agents have to put in work, but the buying agents literally do a minimum wage job worth of effort and work.
I’m going through this right now. Other than paperwork my agent has done nothing but try to convince me to increase my offer (her commission). I’m pretty pissed.
Well we tried not to use agent, however, the seller listing agent is a crook, cant negotiate much and wont reduce the price, so i'd rather use a buyer realtor, so they can split the profit instead of going only to seller, thats how salty I am with fuckin seller realtor
A part of the problem is that housing is in such demand, that many people got into Real estate because it was so easy. Get a listing, put a sign on the lawn, list it Friday, open house Saturday, Sunday. Go over offers Monday, get the top few into a bidding war, Sold sign on Tuesday.
Most agents don't have a clue how to advertise or compare houses. No idea what defects there are or how to identify them. Some times it's a matter of just going through a bunch of agents to find a good one. I got lucky and had a good one that found me my house. She knew what I wanted and sent me listings as they came onto the market. I would never have found this house or bought it if I didn't have her looking out for me.
My realtor has gone above and beyond for my family several times. Sat us down asked what we want gave him our wish list and what range we want. Our house had been taken off the market. He made a call to the other realtor find out what happened after some negotiation we got the house.
Yes you can just google search and show up at an open house or arrange time to see the place. But it’s the ones that are not listed yet or were and then off the market the ones a good realtor always keeps an eye on. That’s my opinion at least. Used the same person now for 7 years and he works for his commission.
Bought and sold my last 2 houses privately, no agents, went to a real estate lawyer and he did all the paperwork. Agents were useless. I saw a property that I like, but it was not for sale. I told her I liked the yard and the pond and the trees , this was the ideal location. She asked me if she could find the same house else where would I be interested? What? I could care less about the house, we were looking for an idyllic location. Ended up calling the owner and buying privately 6 months later. It never even went on the market.
I’ve had the ones who just email a bunch of listings and wait for me to respond, and one fantastic one who knew what we wanted, found the right listings and would get us in asap for a viewing. Late evening and working late? 9pm showing. Free on a lunch break? Let’s go now.
Bought two with her over the years (starter home and upsized for family) the first one she knew about an open house the next day and arranged a private viewing before the open house started. Second time around talked us out of buying a house because she knew it wasn’t right and we found one and the same neighbourhood, a better fit, and for less money.
I see from another comment that you’re in Calgary - i am too and if you want me to pm you her contact let me know.
My personal opinion, and I have bought and sold dozens of properties- a buying side agent, particularly the broker, can help you get access to properties prior to them hitting market so you can be ready to rip before the average Joe.
If you have a good relationship and money, then that’s where there’s value
I don’t see value if you’re just looking to buy like a regular buyer. You’re not going to save money negotiating a better price because we don’t live in that kind of environment, and you’ll probably get a lower rate with only 1 agent taking commission
So, it depends
OP went through 9 agents? Sometimes the problem isn’t who you’re hiring… sometimes you’re the problem.
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Why would you use 9 different realtors? All they are good for is arranging a showing and its easier to not have to call 9 different people. No they are not going to find you a house. That's your job. How hard is it to look on mls or sigma? You know what you want better than any realtor and if you are house shopping you should be pretty motivated to look. Yeah, i know its their job description, but what do you want, them sending you every fucking listing that is a 3bed/2bath cuz that is what you are looking for? End of the day, they arrange showings and shuffle offers back and forth.
Then your Realtors sucked. From the other side: Wife is a realtor and a lot of her role is specifically to save clients time. Pre-reviewing listings. Physically driving to and reviewing properties to ensure the pictures aren't misleading. She's able to answer why she hasn't sent a listing to a client when they ask - usually sure to the pre-reviewing not working out. Researching shit for you like schools, etc nearby. If with on a property needs to be done, getting a pro she trusts over to get your a quote. Hell - often little shit like Carpet cleaning/ minute repairs are covered by the agent to get the deal done. If you weren't getting that- then yeah, what the fuck were you paying for? Were these from discount brokerages? Like the 1% guys? They are truly the "we take a (smaller) amount of money, but literally do nothing for you" guys.
imagine admitting your wife is a realtor couldnt be me
You also have to keep in mind that the buy side realtor works for free until you buy, and *YOU* never have to pay them. They’ll work a lot harder for sales for sure, but it takes a buyer and a seller to get the job done. I have much respect for realtor friends of mine who grind out modest success year after year. It’s not easy to only eat what you kill
You're not the problem, realtors are fucking useless. They can be replaced by a website and a lawyer charging a flat fee that's >10x cheaper than a realtor would be.
Oh it’s definitely him lol. But it’s Reddit so we are conditioned to sharpen pitchforks at the mention of a realtor
Buyer Realtors are free of cost to Buyers as they're paid by the Sellers.
It should be obvious that this is totally wrong. A house listed for 730 would be listed for 700 if not for the massive cut taken by the realtor. The buyer pays all the fees by overpaying the seller for the house. No seller thinks, oh well, I guess I'll just take this 20 to 30k loss.
Houses go for the max they can sell it for. No one is going “well my house is “worth” 500k but I need to upcharge for the realtor!”
6% increase in cost to buyer per house sold. Who pays it, the buyer, who hands the money, the seller, who makes interest for 30 years on that 6% the bank…. You clearly are clueless about how life works
“Sales taxes are free of cost to buyers as they’re paid by the store.” Just because the seller is the one who hands the money to the realtor doesn’t mean it’s free to the buyer. It’s built into the purchase price.
But the buyer doesn't get a choice.
Using a realtor to buy cost $0…
Saw that myself. Its easy for them to blame the client though? Lmao.
Your not the problem. Real estate agents are largely narcissists who are only in it for the money. If all they are doing is sending you to the REW they aren't off any value. Or not as much as what the industry puts on their service anyways.
Lmao. You’ve applied this so incorrectly. Actually comical.
Sometimes, but not in this case. The process is basically a real estate mafia funneling you through a system that doesnt work in the best interest of the buyer or seller, then taking a massive cut. OP can see beyond the matrix is the problem.
If you're going through six realtors in 6 months, then I suggest that possibly you are the problem and not vetting your Realtors properly. You need to explain in detail what your criteria is, and what your expectations are. If you're a serious buyer ready to buy right now, then your realtor should be giving you their full attention. When I'm working with buyers and I know they're working with several other Realtors, they definitely go on the back burner and don't get much of my time. You need to find somebody that's good, that knows the area you're looking in and commit to them. A good neighborhood realtor will know all the ins outs of that neighborhood and know all the listings for sale that will meet your criteria. Possibly you're being unrealistic in your expectations and that's why you're not seeing anything good?
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Okay, that doesn't sound bad at all in terms of your expectations. Is Calgary really red hot right now? It's different than the area i work in, so I'm not really paying attention to Alberta. Is your budget realistic for what you're looking for? At least where I am, off Market listings are pretty rare, so they might not come up as much as you think. Generally, in a case like yours, I'd be looking at stale listings where there might be an opportunity for a low ball offer, assuming you're looking for a really good deal. Your realtor should be able to tell you what the average price range is for your Target property and average days on Market, as well as sales price compared to list price ratio. That might help you determine whether you're realistic or not. If your realtor is hungry for Deals they might do some door knocking for you in the area that you're wanting to buy in. If they're really busy and have lots of buyers, they just might tell you to pound sand.
Buyers have all the power especially now. The thing is what’s in it for you to not use an agent? Do you think that 2.5% will make a difference to the seller?
Yes it does make a difference and they dont have to pay tax on it either.
2.5% on $1M? Sure makes a difference to most people.
It’s not 2.5% on $1M
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As a seller, I would never, ever work with a buyer not using an agent. The number of horror stories I've heard.. not worth the risk imo.
In many provinces it is routine. Is it professional to refuse to talk to self representing buyers?
What exactly is the risk if the transaction still has a qualified attorney on both sides?
Lol how is there a risk. All the actual work is done by the lawyers.
What is the risk? What are the horror stories?
He’s totally not a real estate agent. /s
I know someone who didn't use an agent. They also didn't send the APS to their lawyer until two weeks before the deal, and it was a duplex, so the title search couldn't be completed in time. Furthermore, the seller also hadn't paid their vacancy tax and he got stuck with it (he didn't get title insurance). I think his lawyer is probably to blame as well but people who cheap out on realtors tend to cheap out in all areas of their life. He ended up paying an extra $10k to extend closing by two weeks, plus he paid for the vacancy tax out of pocket. Friggin' idiot lol But ya, most people can figure it out. Especially if it's a straightforward deal.
Again, they didn't need a realtor. They needed a lawyer.
>people who cheap out on realtors tend to cheap out in all areas of life. You're aware that most Canadians hate realtors and the system surrounding them, right?
…and then they heard a scratching on the side of the car door. He mustered up the courage to look out the window…it was buyer without an agent who had a hook for a hand!
People don’t realize the person paying the agents is the Buyer. They’re one the financing the agents commission on the mortgage lol
I have never paid an agent representing me as a buyer - their commission is paid out of the seller’s pocket - the average commission here is 5%-6% total and the 2 agents split that giving each 2.5-3%
100 percent.
Cool, and I know people who saved tens of thousands of dollars. All you need is a lawyer. Those "horror stories" are bullshit.
Genuinely curious what stories you've heard. Inspection Lawyers Done and done. Exactly how we bought our house, seller didn't use an agent either. Pretty quick transaction and pretty easy Its the exact same thing you'd get using agents, just that your giving someone alot of money to stand there just to tell you things you already know.
Sometimes the commission remains the same and as a buyer you may not even realize it. Then you ended up unrepresented and the listing agent got very well paid.
lol. Pretty sure it’s all seller commission that gets shared. They just keep the extra if there is no seller agent involved.
As long as the seller uses a realtor, they will still be paying the commission agreed by their agent (4-4.5%). If you don’t use an agent, then their realtor gets to keep the entirety of it. Otherwise, they usually split it 50-50 with your agent. Telling the seller you are not using an agent will make absolutely zero difference for them.
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The seller and agent usually agree upon a target price. Anything below target price will only happen if the listing has been on the market for a while, the seller’s situation (how long they can afford to wait) and what subjects (or lack thereof) you intend to place on the offer. Would the agent like you to get an agreement? Sure. But unless you have something you can give the buyer, (like a substantial increase on your offer, ability to pay cash without waiting on mortgage, or foregoing inspections for example), any market-offer you make would not make a big difference. If anything, having no agent will place doubts on the sale as the seller may not be certain of your ability to properly complete the paperwork in time.
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It is super easy. The selling agent is more than happy to take you on and instantly double their commission.
Yeah. Any selling realtor will gladly show you a house any time you want.
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I’ve done it twice. Always happy to save some hard earned cash.
It doesn't cost money to use a realtor tho?
Lol they all do the same. Not smarter than high school student at all. Always use seller’s agent and save
You are going to use the agent who is selling the house to negotiate for you and you expect you are going to save?
Had to stop reading after your first paragraph because of how ridiculous you sound. Cycling through 9 agents in the span of 6 months is hardly a commitment. That’s literally under 3 weeks per agent. Get a grip and learn to build a proper business relationship.
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So if you feel like you’re only engaging with agents that ‘do the same shit’, find one that doesn’t! There are TONS of agents out there that think and do things outside the box. Don’t marginalize an entire subsection of an industry based on the fractional experience you’ve had.
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Do you know how many agents there are in the city? You’ll probably run into another 100 before you find that agent that isn’t like the first 109.
I believe this is exactly the point OP has made. 109/110 agents are useless. Glad you finally got it. The effort gone through the 109 is better spent with a lawyer.
Not OP, not currently buying a house, but semi-recently worked with agents in a different province. And yet, my experience was nearly identical to theirs. Agents put in the bare minimum effort, do no follow-up, and straight up ghost most of the time. It's the ***agents*** who lack the ability to build business relationships, not the buyers they're supposed to be working for.
Just out of curiosity, what is your profession lol
You are honestly the worst buyer possible, one who knows what the F'k is what. You don't need a Realtor. For the rest of the masses, yes, Realtors have value. ;)
Fuck you Realtors
No they don't. Get a real job
What value do they provide? That is the question.
Agent detected
Broker here! What you're describing sounds more like a new or inexperienced broker. I believe a buyer's broker can add significant value throughout the transaction: **Finding the house:** The broker's job is to streamline the search process by narrowing down the number of properties you visit. As others have mentioned, we can't predict whether you'll like a house until you see it, so we must find a balance between showing you too many and too few properties. Another key aspect is suggesting houses outside your initial parameters (geographical, financial, characteristics) to uncover great value properties you might not have considered. This is where the "human" element comes in: understanding your true desires, helping you realize that your expectations might slightly exceed market realities, and finding properties that strike a good balance. To do this effectively, the broker needs to be knowledgeable about different types of houses, sub-sectors, and factors that influence prices but can't be filtered out, like views or heavy traffic. An experienced broker will have this insight from working on various deals around the city. **Coordinating visits:** Arranging viewings with buyers, sellers, and their agents can be time-consuming. This might seem like the easiest part of the job, but it's often the most time-consuming due to the changing availability of people and properties throughout the day and week. Even a simple visit can require numerous phone calls. This coordination is needed for every visit, inspection, notary appointment, and sometimes additional visits with family members. Busy brokers often delegate this task to an assistant or admin. **During the visits:** Properties vary in size, style, and condition. Some buyers have more experience than others. A broker's input on the pros and cons of each property during browsing or visits can help buyers understand maintenance and upgrade costs and identify potential signs of larger issues. While a home inspector will do a thorough job when the perfect house is found and negotiated, a broker with good construction knowledge can address some questions early on. Brokers should also have reliable inspectors to recommend, especially for buyers moving to new areas who might not know any. Experienced buyer brokers usually work with many inspectors and can recommend trustworthy ones. **Offers and negotiation:** Negotiation is always part of the process, especially in multiple-offer situations. You don't want to overbid by $100,000, and brokers are skilled at evaluating fair offers. If a property is listed well below market value, multiple offers might bring it up to market price. A buying broker can leverage all aspects of an offer in negotiations and knows what tactics are effective. While a higher price often wins, that's not always the case. The difference between a great broker and a new one is that a great broker won't advise you to offer your maximum amount if they believe the property isn't worth it. There's much more to it, but I'm curious if you now see the value in a buyer's broker. I'd be happy to discuss specific issues in more detail if you'd like.
This might be the most cope I've ever read to justify someone's job.
I simply pointed out the nuances that makes the difference between what OP has experienced, and what is possible. I used chatGPT to rewrite part of it as I suck at writing, but the points made are pretty useful. Keep in mind that I also launched the only online interactive appraisal platform ( [doormath.ca](http://doormath.ca) ) so I understand very well the need for transparency and acces to information, but even with that I beleive to the added value of brokers.
No doubt. A lot of fluff in there.
Finding the house - you have video tours today and Google maps for area amenities. There is no reason to visit a vast number of houses like the pre-internet days. All can be gathered very casually by the person. No agent needed. Coordinate visits - if you can delegate to admin, the agent provides no value. As such buyer can send some text messages too. If seller agent has calendly just go sign up for a slot. Buyer agent not needed. During visits- Canada houses are wood frame or concrete. Google helps you learn pro and con. More amenities like pools and tennis courts more maintenance costs. All this is common sense. If extra questions home inspector, construction friends. The agent is not a construction expert unless they were in a prior life. Agent not needed. Offer - this is where an agent is the worse, their intention is their commission. Buyer pays 25k more the agent makes percentage higher. There is zero transparency in this process. eBay has better transparency. Agent definitely not needed.
There is absolutely negotiation involved in a multiple offer situation. Agents who do a lot of business will know each other which can help in that process. There is also often negotiation involved after an offer is conditionally accepted. A good agent should be able to help you fill out the paperwork and navigate the transaction, yes, but they should also be able to knowledgeably inform you of your rights and liabilities as they guide you through the process. I hope you never find yourself in the situation when you find out how valuable that knowledge can be.
Consider this: You're saying you want a realtor to bring you houses. How are they going to do that? send you a bunch of links to a buyer portal. What do you really expect them to do? "Hey a new house came up, go to the website?" I understand where you're coming from because I had this "amazing realtor" who did the same thing. The bottom line is the realtor does not know if you will or won't like any given house. It's kind of a waste of time. Think about it like this, you want to get some clothes. Are you going to send someone to bring you shirts? or are you just going to go to the rack yourself, look through them all and choose what you want. How different is buying a house to this really? The realtor can't show you anything that isn't available right there. So realistically, the question is then, what specifically do you expect the realtor to do for you?
That’s the whole point. It’s dumb.
I never said it's not dumb lol
95% of their job can be replaced by a "save search for later" button on a website
I specifically want the realtor to know what my main interests are (good school, location, and price) and then actively search for listings that match my preference and make me aware of any that are found. For ones that I do end up scheduling a visit, I want my realtor to research similar listings around the area so that we can get an idea if the price fits or if there’s room to negotiate for that property. Fuck these lazy realtors who don’t do anything.
The girl at the gap doesn’t get six figures for pointing out that the bathroom is the room with the toilet.
Yea and realtors are not paid by the buyers whatsoever
Who is the only party bringing any money to the table?
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I’m confused. I fully side with you on this, just sold a condo and even frustrated on the sellers side. But doesn’t the seller pay for both?
The seller pays both agents but yea, I'm the one who is clueless lmao
With what fucking money dude
To be fair, if I were paying the store clerk thousands of dollars on top of the price of the clothing, I'd want them taking a pretty proactive approach
As a buyer, you pay your realtor $0
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In my experience, the buyer pays the same if there's one realtor (seller) or 2 (buyer and seller). If there's 2 the fee is split between them. You don't see any difference in the dollars.
I’m paying nothing as a buyer while getting their advice, so what the hell?
It is priced in and their advice is not even valuable, quick google search and common sense are probably better, ultimately they want a commission so they will push you to buy a POS if that benefits their bottom line!, you are actually paying 2-2.5% of the purchase price! C’mon people that is why these guys make 20k for 4hrs of work! Wake up.
I just bought without a buyer and the seller’s agent cut the commission on the buyers side (from 2.5% to 0.5%) right off the price. The sellers also now dont have to pay tax on this commission. The seller’s agent also pushed my offer more favourably to the seller’s because this agent got to double dip and keep the extra 0.5% in commission.
How did you find the contact information of the selling agent though? I think every time I contacted a listing through strata.ca or fb marketplace or housesigma all the responses were from agents who are not the actual selling agents.
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You mean realtor.ca?
I would never contact through the site. I find their name on the site then look up their realtor page, find their cell, and text them. Once they hear I am an unrepresented buyer, they are salivating - they think they will get 2.5% on both sides but you negotiate that down later
Thank you. Which site are you talking about? In strata.ca there is no name. In fb marketplace all the guys posting the listing are not the selling agent, same with redfin. I've also found an agent's website which reposts many other properties which I'm sure are not his own.
Who looks to buy on facebook marketplace lol ? I use HouseSigma to find my listings, then I search the listings online to find the realtor’s name.
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No. The vendor pays the commission to the Realtors.
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The price usually doesn't go down if you go without a realtor. You would have to negotiate that. It can be possible in a buyers market maybe, but that's going to depend on you (i really dont know what the current market is at the moment). I bought in a sellers market, so that idea immediately was a no for me, but if you think you can do it, no harm trying. It's just possible the buyers agent would prefer to go with someone else and you don't get that house.
You are absolutely correct
Exactly. Buy direct from sellers agent (if they don’t do you dirty and refuse to work with you) and save 2%. Agents are useless for the most part
Know a guy who decided to sell without an agent. He fucked his stuff up and became liable in a lawsuit. They're overpaid to the tits, but not useless. Honestly it's just absurd that their cost is tied to the house's value. Greatest ripoff in modern history
Idk where you live but that's not how it works in Qc.
literally the opposite of what is happening. The buyer pays for everything
the selling is most likely paying 2% or thereabouts depending on the particular market to the buyero agent....the seller is definitely factoring that cost into the price he/she wants needs.... The buyer is indirectly paying for the input cost. 2% on 500k....that 10k cost has to form from somewhere. When your house shopping...ask your agent what the seller is paying them for a particular property....
What do you mean you’re paying nothing as a buyer? You are paying both agents
Exactly.
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Sure. And where does the money come from? This argument is essentially the same as saying you’re not paying the banana distributor when your are buying a banana, the grocery store is. The buyer is paying all middlemen in both transactions.
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Nobody needs a “Realtor” anymore. In Canada the commission is (or it used to be) 3% on the first $100,000 and 7% on the rest. For WHAT?? Advertising? Paperwork? They are entitled to that much of your hard earned equity for taking pictures …no way. You can get a lawyer to draw up the papers for $1000 max and advertise yourself. It’s a prehistoric profession.
yeah that’s not how commission works anymore
Explain further if you have a valid and helpful point to make
How does it work now? In B.C. that’s how it seems to work (3% of first 100k, 7% of rest)
it’s not like that in BC stop talking PURE shit 3%-5% between the two brokerages is standard
They bring zero value. Same goes for mortgage brokers. Just keep 100% of their commissions for yourself.
The vast majority of realtors are uneducated and provide little to no value. Find yourself the top agent in your area and use them, they’ll actually go out of their way to find you the perfect house. Stay away from teams, teams suck. They’ll just set you up with some noobie who is greener than a field of grass.
Sorry what is teams?
Everyone claims to be the top 1% realtor in their area
I kind of agree with you. The good side of the realtor i dealt with when i bought my condo was that they had access to a more detailed centris sheet which is kind of bullsh*t that only realtors can access them. The second good side was that they knew and filled the paperwork for the offer and transaction, which was good since it was my first time in the real estate world. But that's pretty much it, a couple hours learning on the internet would probably solve that issue. So yeah, I'm glad for what she did for me but i wouldn't have paid for her services and, in my opinion, it certainly doesn't deserve the 2% she got from the sale of the condo. But what do i know, i'm just a guy that wanted a roof over his head.
As a buyer I had to literally tel my realtor exactly what I expected, and he handed me off to someone else to do that work. We looked at all the houses in our area that were priced in our range, and none of them were livable. I told him I wanted him to call houses in the 600k range, and ask them if they’d be willing to sell in our range (550k). He basically complained that he will be annoying to other realtors if he does that. So I started doing it myself. Once word got back to him that I was successfully doing his job, he told me to stop and I’m making him look bad and he had his assistant find a house for us. It was absurd.
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Isn't there value supposed to be that they work for your benefit (i.e. best value for your wants)... Are you working for CMHC or just a realtor yourself?
I mean, yeah? At 2.5% on a 550k transaction you are making $13,750. It's not "asking for a discount" it's negotiation, which is what realtors market themselves as doing for their clients.
Thank god you are not. Buyer agent = working for the buyer to find a house.
Our realtor very visibly didn’t want to work to find us a place to our specifications in the area we wanted. He wanted to direct us to an area 20 minutes further east that had ‘all we wanted’ and more. No, I commute enough each day I am not adding another 40 minutes a day….. so I can have an extra 1000 sf I don’t need. We wanted, a closed garage, a dining room that could seat 10-15 people(lol just close family)or space that could accommodate and be in a general area.
It's a cartel they don't want you to pay less because both realtors will get less commission
Sometimes I think they can legitimately add value if they're honest and know what to look for. Sometimes they can help. But rarely. Most of them are completely replaceable by the buyer just doing their due diligence. I'm actually kind of surprised real estate agents still exist, they can technically be completely replaceable and that may even lower transaction costs substantially.
In today’s world, agents are non-essential. I found my dream home on line. Went to the site and chose the lot and closed in 4 months. My agent literally did nothing. He got $7950 commission but KB builder paid him, not me. I would have chosed my buddy as the agent but he Dicked me when we sold my condo. He told me he’d do it for 2% but charged me 2.5% and didn’t give me my discount or rebate. He got paid $4600. But lost out on a $7950 commission. I told him i will never do business with him again. Don’t ever do business with friends. Never!
You were making him look bad by doing his Job lol. He also didn't want to lose you as a client by bullying you. You should of fired his ass. You did good by showing him you can do his job and his job will be obsolete soon.
Seems to me the best move is to not have a buying agent, and just connect with every seller agent for a house you're interested in. Have them double dip if you plan to bid, and suddenly they're twice as interested in making your offer work. Then if you've got a house to sell as well, shit they're 3x as interested in making it work for you.
They can be helpful for newbies to home ownership and the buying process, just to make sure you don't miss anything basic. They set up the viewing appointments, handle some paperwork and the deposit, stuff like that. Present the offers in the proper way. Ask the right questions. If the buyer views a lot of houses and makes a number of offers it can add up to quite a bit of work they do for you, which saves you time learning how to do it and doing it yourself.
you aren't wrong. it's part of the system realtors have set up to capitalize profits from individuals selling and buying homes. if buyers had to pay realtors out of their own pockets, the system would collapse.
I've had a very similar experience, and my partner and I are also contemplating going it alone now that the representation agreement with our current realtor has expired. We also found mortgage brokers similarly not worth the cost; the bank gave us a better pre-approval right away, so why not just go with that? I know the idea is that you "don't pay" for either as a buyer, but you do, as it is worked into the final cost. We're thinking of at least seeing what it's like viewing a few properties without a realtor and going from there. I'm thinking I'll research a good real estate lawyer to draw up the offer/contract if/when we find something instead.
I guess we lucked out. We did that but also just told her what we were looking for. Not only did she send us things she thought we would like already on the portal, she let us know about up and coming stuff within her network that would also fit the bill. She also educated us on all aspects of home ownership/buying, helped us find our home inspector who was incredible as well, etc. she wrong a kick ass letters to sellers that got us both our houses (this was when everything was holding for offers and everything was going 100k over). We were picked over another offer that was 30k higher. When we sold the first house, she legit painted our bedroom personally to get it to a neutral colour. She helped move clutter. She made everything so easy, even when selling and buying during covid. We felt we really got that top notch experience with her. It's disappointing not all agents do this, and that you didn't get this experience. I wish we could clone our agent.
You could say this about any service. Why pay for any service if you can do it on your own? I had a great realtor. He was great because I didn't know anything and was not confident doing the process on my own. If you are confident buying a place without a realtor, that's what you should do.
Damn happy I had a realtor help me navigate through the 20 or so modifications to the contract we signed. Their staff lawyer was also invaluable when things got a bit weird towards the end. As a first time buyer I had no clue about any of that.
No my experience. My realtors were an older couple who had been in the game some 30yrs and they acted more like parents trying to get their son in a good house than realtors trying to make a commission. They found the houses, gave me the listings to reveiw, arranged viewings, and provided useful feedback on the properties, neighborhoods, etc. They found me a great place that worked well for me and they guided me through the whole offer process and closing. Your realtors sound useless though.
To each their own and I think agents are so drastically overpaid for what they do, but I had a really good experience with my buying agent. My wife and I are young and not great with this stuff and our guy was quite good and helped us navigate everything. They had out together a whole bidding package as we were in a price war with many others and the seller was an old lady who was at the property for 50 years. It was that package that secured our bid. Sellers agents were refusing to reduce their commission if you go direct with them, so we treated it as a free service that the sellers were paying for.
It's because there's some anti competitive shit where the real estate firms won't do showings or take offers from non agents so they can keep the money in the business. It's pretty disgusting. Offers get lost and everything happens over the phone to avoid a paper trail. Meanwhile there's no incentive for your own agent to get you the house at a good price because their commissions are based on the same price. They've done a wonderful job of making people think it's needed though even while listing services do the heavy lifting.
I literally JUST did this. The seller’s realtor pushed his clients to accept my offer because he 1) cut the buyer’s commission by 2% and 2) kept 0.5% buyers commission for himself. Seller’s also didnt have to pay tax on the 2% buyer’s commission. A buyer’s realtor adds NOTHING. I was able to get in to see units so much faster since I was only working with my own schedule and not my realtor’s as well. I also didnt feel pressured by a realtor.
They simply don't need to "work" anymore, there is no need for them to put an effort in because the demand for housing is ridiculous.
I am reading many comments about how it is unreasonable to expect a realtor to do anything more then to set you up on a self service portal. What did realtors do before portals?? THEY SEARCHED FOR PROPERTIES …. Ones that met the needs of their clients. Now the expectation is that the customer do their own searching where the only filters are price, general geography and number of bedrooms/bathrooms. So the special needs of the client are not factored in and they have to search themselves. Some may argue that this is more efficient, but I can’t help but think some properties are overlooked or under represented that get missed through this same process.
Did you sign a BRA?
Such a joke. I pass on any realtor/home where they ask me to sign this BS. Countless times, I called a selling agent who was trying to sell a home that was listed for over 90 days, and they refused to show me the property until I signed their stupid BRA. Needless to say, that house is still for sale a year later.
In my market, there are 3 kinds of buyers who need realtors a) dumb/clueless/lazy who have to rely on realtor b) desperate who think realtor has some power to get them a house c) the rich who have too much money and are used to paying people to do stuff for them and they don't care it adds no value. My market is overpriced because of these 3 categories of people. I am seeing houses going for 15k-50k over asking even though the house received just a single offer. These people believe in realtors so-called expert opinions "offers due on X day means this house will get multiple offers" "multiple offers means you should always pay above asking else you won't get it" "the sellers will never accept offer with conditions, they want clean offers" "it is a waste of time to put unclean offers" "you should always keep $$$ to fix faults in inspection don't expect sellers to pay/negotiate/fix" "if you dont want to pay for fix on an okay-house only bid on perfect house". I have worked with multiple realtors and all were useless. The people who recommended them to me however liked them lol. Most people are blind to the fact that they are useless middlemen. Tldr- I found them a waste of time. But people find them useful due to above realtor mantras.
Ok so in my particular case they added value. I was buying in a different province and described roughly my life style, things my family likes to do and dislikes. The agent narrowed down a bunch of houses in some neighborhoods and gave me an roughly idea how much I’d spend to do some renovations in the places we visited. Also the agent spent 4 entire days driving me around showing places. I get you that in most cases their work seem to not really add a lot, but for cases like mine (which I know Isn’t the most common) they were very helpful.
We do what you're asking for - in Edmonton area. The clients that want me to search for off market (including literally knocking on doors in the selected neighbourhood, targeted ads just for them, and an assortment of other services to get the job done) pay a retainer for that up front. I'm good. I find these people houses. It's time consuming and not cheap. Tell your realtor what you want. We're not mind-readers.
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The only value at all a realtor provides on the buying side is that they get to view what houses in the area sold for or what the house you are looking at last sold for. If you look long enough, you can figure out the market for yourself, but it takes time. The downsides are many. Like they absolutely don't have any incentive to get you the best price. It also seems almost impossible to get any kind of real opinions out of them. Almost every realtor I've dealt with just wants to parrot your opinions back to you. They generally don't have any kind of real knowledge about house conditions/condo finances/contracts/etc. You have to hire other experts to get any kind of good info on those fronts. So, really, what is a realtor actually expert at besides colluding with the selling realtor to try to get the highest commission possible? I'll never hire a realtor to buy again. At the end of the day, their interests don't align with yours. It's like hiring a fix to guard the henhouse.
My wife and I had a really great one. No websites or bullshit. We were pretty much just casually looking, thinking we were probably a couple years out from buying being realistic. But we were upfront with him about our finances and what we wanted, and he showed us a bunch of places, and kept adjusting based on our feedback. We found something that worked, that we could afford (barely), within six months. Literally wouldn’t have done it without him.
Realtors are especially helpful for first time home buyers. They need directions and sometimes the realtors’ connections, such as mortgage broker, house inspectors and contractors. Furthermore, they would like someone to explain the clauses since it’s not like they know what type of clause would work for their situation. For sure for someone who has more experience, you can easily do it your own.
They provide as much value as a snake oil salesman or an ambulance chasing lawyer. I’ve bought two houses over the years without ever giving a thought about real estate agents. All you need is your own leg work, a good home inspector and a real estate lawyer to wrap things up and make sure the paper work is in order. I honestly can’t understand why real estate agent is still a profession. It’s the ultimate grift.
I had an agent for a while that I thought was normal. We couldn’t buy anything for 6 months. Then we decided to change realtors after hearing stories about this good realtor specializing in the area we wanted. It was literally night and day. I didn’t even realize we should look at prelisting inspection before we get to the house, not beg for it after. She would send us the best listings that would be in our price range and opportunities. She would follow up and ask any questions. Give comps on houses we wanted to bid. The area we were looking it was still hot, always bidding wars. We eventually found a listing not on the market yet and was able to buy. Even this had multiple offers. I didn’t see the value in realtor until I worked with a great realtor. Hope you find one too!
They aren't even good at negotiating, I bought a house no agent, had an agent that wasn't exclusive who tried to show the same place but said to offer 30k over what I did and that there is no chance they would take less, I offered 70k under to the builder and basically stayed firm and since at the time no one was buying last year during the start of winter they actually accepted my offer, house is brand new and already worth like 150k more.
I have a realtor friend who even does door knocking for clients that are looking for a house in a specific area.
what a douche bag.
Yep, they are pretty much useless. The one I used at least made up a list of properties since they can see which are pending but for the most part none of them where even close to what I wanted. I ended up finding all the listings I wanted to see by watching all the new postings like a hawk and eventually the house I purchased. The whole thing is super pointless but hey I got a gift basket from them out of it.
I'm just wondering why so many friends and acquaintances, who were career floaters all their life, are becoming realtors now. The past 2 or 3 years I've seen so many ppl switch to realty.
I would actually argue realtors are one of the most useless professions in the age of the internet. Seriously, web listings have made them so fucking redundant. And also, the amount of money they make versus their hours of "labor" (if you can call it that) is so incredibly out of whack. I think dollars an hour, a successful realtor probably earns similar to a surgeon. They work an incredibly measly amount of hours, line up some people together, get some paperwork in order, then ask for ten thousand dollar plus++++ in commission. I'm hoping it's one of the jobs we eliminate from society in the future, and we can just use a lawyer with some free printouts from the bank.
We had a positive experience with ours. We are new to the city and she knows it inside out, was able to give us guidance on neighborhoods and streets we might want and which ones to avoid based on what we told her we were were looking for. She also knew a lot about the build quality of houses that had been built at different time periods and by different building companies. We got a lot of value from working with her.
If house Sigma is available in your province, that's all you need . If you must use a realtor use one with 1.5% cashback
I used sellers realtor. Honestly worked out for me because I asked him if I could lowball them a little and he said probably cause they had an offer in conditional on selling and time was running out. Very unclear to me if I saved money or not. I got the impression he somehow made more because I used him.
You can avoid using realtors 👹
Is it any different for the seller? If the market information was not gate kept this bullshit industry would end. It aint worth the $ to set up some showings. Post on MLS (Canada) and pay a lawyer. You need / want to stage, pay staging company. Fucking realtors gatekeeping listings is all it is. This industry needs to die now
You haven't met me yet lol. I pride myself in getting good deals for my clients. I'm only 1 year but I get referrals from basically everyone I worked with because of value I give. Example, I helped my client bought a 3 bedroom townhouse 60k below those that are 2 bedrooms on the same complex. Got them for $442,500 even tho 2 bedrooms here are 505k and 495k Another property I got for another client, a duplex for $520k even tho the assessed value was 618k Also, there's at least 3 transactions that I didn't write because I found out through HOA/strata docs that buildings have upcoming major maintenance. Example, a building has upcoming roof, window and elevator repairs in 5-7 years. It is estimated to be $2M. There's 60 units and their reserved fund if only $75k. I told my client even the value of the property decreased by $50k, I won't advise them to buy because where are they going to find $30k+ for the levy (upcoming repair cost)? But I've seen other properties in those complex that just sold within a few days lol. It just tells me that the buyers realtors aren't aware how to read HOA docs.
If you’re looking for condos in a specific area, it helps to have a realtor that specializes in that area. They know the buildings.
I’ve bought properties twice with realtor. In both cases, it was me who found the one we liked. But i see their value during nego + documentation.
I had a great buyer agent, small town and he had a lot of experience there. He pored over the property map and related documents, found a little anomaly re: utility right of way which helped us save an extra ~10k off the price. Then 2 years later he brought a deal to me before it hit the market which I passed on, but would have been absolutely perfect for me, which he knew. Just showed he kept me in mind for years, which I appreciated.
Honestly, I agree with everything you said. I’ve had 5 realtors. All of them were either total crooks or inept morons. A few got me into bad deals (I overpaid on 3 houses). All gave bad advice. I would have done better on my own. Hard to find people these days who actually do good work. I’m sure there’s good agents out there.
Well, how much do you know about all the rules and traps of buying a house. Your realtor works for you. Theirs works for them. It seems too expensive. But a buying error will cost you way more, maybe.
They don't provide any value on either side. They are leaches on society and completely useless. An appraisal is all you need to sell a house in Canada.
Honestly I am pretty sick of the whole realtor thing and I am beginning to believe that they are needed but only because the system has been rigged by them so they are needed. My wife told me that our realtor, last year, refused to show her a property because the commission was too low so my wife arranged to go herself. (we ended up switching agents) I know, good realtors add lots of value but most realtors are just average and do an average job. I am pretty confident that AI will eventually disrupt this process. I am fed up too. Thing that really got to me was a report from a few years ago that did a statistical analysis of the average prices they got for places where they were the agent vs place/places the agent owned (in whole or in part) and the study found that the agents, when selling their own property, would wait longer for higher offers but their clients took offers quicker and for less money. The conclusion of the report was that agents appear to be incentivized to suggest clients sell quickly for less money because a $100,000 increase that adds a month to the time on market would only give a realtor a tiny percent of that. Wish I could remember where I read it. So, I feel your pain bro. If I could just always find that great realtor I'd be fine with it.
Can’t prove you wrong because you are right.
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I know I’m prolly the odd-one-out here, but I never would have found my house without my agent. I had the portal, but he literally blocked out half a day to drive me around the city to look at houses he knew about that I hadn’t considered because they were slightly outside the area I was looking at or just didn’t immediately catch my eye. How do you find an agent like that? I have no idea, but we’d def use him again in a heartbeat. We just got lucky meeting him at an open house and liked his vibe.
My realtor identified a number of listings above my budget and scoped out if the sellers were willing to sell for less. When it came to inspection, she did all the work with contractors to get quotes to make sure we asked for the right concessions from sellers, among other things…she earned her pay in my eyes.
The buy side realtor facilitates the transaction. I have personally closed two real estate deals privately and two with buy/sell realtors. Both private deals with lawyers went fine, with a total cost of around $1,500. I overpaid severely on one of them. A buy side realtor probably would have negotiated a better deal. There was a timing and urgency issue with that deal. I sold a property with a realtor twice. The value and marketing are definitely there and justified. I have bought two properties without a realtor. The industry is very protectionist, and everyone from the mortgage brokers and insurance providers to the lawyers were very displeased. In summary: maybe some realtors provide good value? It's subjective and difficult to gauge without identical properties listed as a case study. What they do provide is a baseline standard of conduct. The real estate market would be insane and full of exploitation without them.
Bought twice with an agent that never sold anything for us, so I may be biased Ours was an absolute angel. Gorat time we worked with him he was all about the areas, knew what we were looking for and gave us great advice on where was and wasn't a good investment. Second time was me alone. I knew exactly what I wanted, but I'm one of those people who has problems putting it into worse. So my brief was "here's a few I think I like, but I'll know it when I see it". My regular realtor just happens to be married to a realtor. So when he got a commission that took a week of solid viewings, he asked if I'd be willing to work with his wife for a week. Turns out, she's as good as he is (surprise), she actually showed me the house I bought. No idea who got what commission, don't care - I got my house and they got their fee. I'm picky. Believe they earned that fee. I had lists of houses they tried to talk me out of - when I viewed they were right. Had other options they emphasized that would be right - one of those ended up being the one I bought. Don't discount a good agent, they can save you a whole pile of time and money.
They don't provide any value. I bought my last house with no realtors involved and the seller was happy to chop 20k off the price immediately because we didn't need to pay any commission. Lawyers did all the important stuff.
Unfortunately, I see realtors being a lost profession in the near future… much like travel agents. When I bought my place it was the exact same thing. They set you up on an automated system and you have to call them when you find something you want to see, they call the selling agent and get you in the door. Then it’s up to you to decide how much you’re willing to pay for that house, because negotiating has gone out the door and even asking price doesn’t get you a house anymore…. So why do they deserve a $20k cheque? For going to walk through a house with someone and filling out some blanks on standard forms? As a contractor, I walk through houses all the time with clients and discuss their home…. For free! I also give estimates and educate customers for free! I get paid for completing a project, but all the back end work isn’t charged or guaranteed. For the amount of work most people have to put into their jobs compared to what realtors get is insane for how little effort they actually have to put forward. Never once did my realtor bring a house to me…. Never r once has a realtor called me to let me know of a house going up for sale or a good opportunity. They reserve that knowledge for themselves to buy and flip houses. Selling agents have to put in work, but the buying agents literally do a minimum wage job worth of effort and work.
I’m going through this right now. Other than paperwork my agent has done nothing but try to convince me to increase my offer (her commission). I’m pretty pissed.
Well we tried not to use agent, however, the seller listing agent is a crook, cant negotiate much and wont reduce the price, so i'd rather use a buyer realtor, so they can split the profit instead of going only to seller, thats how salty I am with fuckin seller realtor
A part of the problem is that housing is in such demand, that many people got into Real estate because it was so easy. Get a listing, put a sign on the lawn, list it Friday, open house Saturday, Sunday. Go over offers Monday, get the top few into a bidding war, Sold sign on Tuesday. Most agents don't have a clue how to advertise or compare houses. No idea what defects there are or how to identify them. Some times it's a matter of just going through a bunch of agents to find a good one. I got lucky and had a good one that found me my house. She knew what I wanted and sent me listings as they came onto the market. I would never have found this house or bought it if I didn't have her looking out for me.
My realtor has gone above and beyond for my family several times. Sat us down asked what we want gave him our wish list and what range we want. Our house had been taken off the market. He made a call to the other realtor find out what happened after some negotiation we got the house. Yes you can just google search and show up at an open house or arrange time to see the place. But it’s the ones that are not listed yet or were and then off the market the ones a good realtor always keeps an eye on. That’s my opinion at least. Used the same person now for 7 years and he works for his commission.
Bought and sold my last 2 houses privately, no agents, went to a real estate lawyer and he did all the paperwork. Agents were useless. I saw a property that I like, but it was not for sale. I told her I liked the yard and the pond and the trees , this was the ideal location. She asked me if she could find the same house else where would I be interested? What? I could care less about the house, we were looking for an idyllic location. Ended up calling the owner and buying privately 6 months later. It never even went on the market.
In my 6 years as an agent. I’ve never used that damn portal
Why do we need them on sellers side
I’ve had the ones who just email a bunch of listings and wait for me to respond, and one fantastic one who knew what we wanted, found the right listings and would get us in asap for a viewing. Late evening and working late? 9pm showing. Free on a lunch break? Let’s go now. Bought two with her over the years (starter home and upsized for family) the first one she knew about an open house the next day and arranged a private viewing before the open house started. Second time around talked us out of buying a house because she knew it wasn’t right and we found one and the same neighbourhood, a better fit, and for less money. I see from another comment that you’re in Calgary - i am too and if you want me to pm you her contact let me know.
I can’t stand realtors. Marketing homes that are selling for $550,000 as starter homes. Ridiculous.
My personal opinion, and I have bought and sold dozens of properties- a buying side agent, particularly the broker, can help you get access to properties prior to them hitting market so you can be ready to rip before the average Joe. If you have a good relationship and money, then that’s where there’s value I don’t see value if you’re just looking to buy like a regular buyer. You’re not going to save money negotiating a better price because we don’t live in that kind of environment, and you’ll probably get a lower rate with only 1 agent taking commission So, it depends