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6% !??!? Australian here: on my last house sale, I did a deal with the agent where if he got a price above a quite-high threshold that he would get 3% instead

6% !??!? Australian here: on my last house sale, I did a deal with the agent where if he got a price above a quite-high threshold that he would get 3% instead of his usual rate. This was seen as a remarkably generous offer, unheard of in the industry. I've only once seen someone use a buying agent: husband and wife were both hospital doctors with three young active kids and they figured they valued their time enough that they would pay for a real estate agent to short-list properties for them. I wonder what is so much more difficult about real estate in the USA that it requires so much more in the way of services.

jacalata 10y ago
Australian who lives in the US and is looking at buying a house. What's different? Almost everything, starting from the basics like there aren't auctions, you have to submit a secret bid that the seller will read and then tell you if it was accepted or not. Factors that can affect acceptance include what percentage of your purchase will be made with cash, whether you are willing to buy it without bothering to inspect the house first, and how many days it will take for you to close the deal if accepted - and of course, everything else like whether you are the kind of nice quiet couple they think their neighbours want to live next to, whether you have the same name as their brother-in-law, and whether you are the kind of person they want to imagine living in their house once they are gone.