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Real estate agents have three things they offer that until recently you could not get on your own. The first is listing on the MLS. The second is the MLS lock

Real estate agents have three things they offer that until recently you could not get on your own. The first is listing on the MLS. The second is the MLS lockbox so other realtors can easily show the listed house. The third is access to the negotiated forms. All of these you can now get from a startup called Savvy Lane for a flat fee. We listed our house in Portland, paid Savvy Lane $495, and it sold 11 days later. I paid a full 3% to the buyer's agent (the buyer's agent actually plays a bigger role in selling your house than your agent), and still saved like $18k. I'm a big fan of Savvy Lane and hope they do well. Realtors are paid way too much for what they do, particularly on the seller's side.

dpcan 8y ago
When we sold our house, we found an agent who was also his own broker. We paid him $500 and he did exactly this. Gave us the forms, put the house in the MLS showing a buyer-side 3% commission, and then made a note that we were representing ourselves and we listed our phone number to call if you wanted to show it. I think we signed something saying he wasn't representing us too. We had our house listed with a REALTOR for about 2 years prior to that (keep in mind this is during the market crash). But within about 2 months on our own, the house sold.
sgc 8y ago
The catch is you don't know whether you under priced your house for that or well more than that unless you paid an appraiser or broker to help you set the price. Most FSBOs sell for under market.
- cheerlessbog 8y ago
  You don't need an agent or broker to get an appraisal. In fact an agent arguably has a conflict of interest because a lower priced house will sell faster with little effect on their payout.
  - sgc 8y ago
    I did mention that option. It is funny how some people are upset that agents might want to force the price up, and others that they might want to force the price down. Agents have a fiduciary relationship. They must look out for their client's best interests by law. Some are not great, some are not honest. But that is the same for any field. In my experience most are honest and hard working, but the few with less scruples tend to be the highest volume agents. If someone were looking for an agent, if I knew nothing about anyone involved, I would recommend to start looking with agents with a number of years of experience but just average sales. A large reason for their average sales might just be integrity. Newer agents can be great as well because they will work three times as hard, but they are newer for better and for worse.
- _fizz_buzz_ 8y ago
  You also don't know if you under priced your house if you go through an agent.
  - sgc 8y ago
    Normally your agents pulls comps from the MLS and can articulate their pricing strategy to you. They also watch the market and can articulate to you why or why not their should be a price change during a listing. Again, on average, FSBOs sell for less, enough to make up the difference on agent commission.
- richjdsmith 8y ago
  You can get a house appraised for around $1200 CAD in the town I used to work in real estate in. Pay that instead.
stirbot 8y ago
If you use a flat fee broker on my local MLS, you must respond to all requests for information or showing within 24 hours or the MLS will pull your listing. I was warned that agents are very aware of this and that you better be ready to answer calls at all hours, return every call you receive and to document the entirety of that process. Google Voice has been very useful in that regard.

dpcan 8y ago

When we sold our house, we found an agent who was also his own broker. We paid him $500 and he did exactly this. Gave us the forms, put the house in the MLS showing a buyer-side 3% commission, and then made a note that we were representing ourselves and we listed our phone number to call if you wanted to show it. I think we signed something saying he wasn't representing us too. We had our house listed with a REALTOR for about 2 years prior to that (keep in mind this is during the market crash). But within about 2 months on our own, the house sold.

sgc 8y ago

The catch is you don't know whether you under priced your house for that or well more than that unless you paid an appraiser or broker to help you set the price. Most FSBOs sell for under market.

cheerlessbog 8y ago
You don't need an agent or broker to get an appraisal. In fact an agent arguably has a conflict of interest because a lower priced house will sell faster with little effect on their payout.
- sgc 8y ago
  I did mention that option. It is funny how some people are upset that agents might want to force the price up, and others that they might want to force the price down. Agents have a fiduciary relationship. They must look out for their client's best interests by law. Some are not great, some are not honest. But that is the same for any field. In my experience most are honest and hard working, but the few with less scruples tend to be the highest volume agents. If someone were looking for an agent, if I knew nothing about anyone involved, I would recommend to start looking with agents with a number of years of experience but just average sales. A large reason for their average sales might just be integrity. Newer agents can be great as well because they will work three times as hard, but they are newer for better and for worse.
_fizz_buzz_ 8y ago
You also don't know if you under priced your house if you go through an agent.
- sgc 8y ago
  Normally your agents pulls comps from the MLS and can articulate their pricing strategy to you. They also watch the market and can articulate to you why or why not their should be a price change during a listing. Again, on average, FSBOs sell for less, enough to make up the difference on agent commission.
richjdsmith 8y ago
You can get a house appraised for around $1200 CAD in the town I used to work in real estate in. Pay that instead.

stirbot 8y ago

If you use a flat fee broker on my local MLS, you must respond to all requests for information or showing within 24 hours or the MLS will pull your listing. I was warned that agents are very aware of this and that you better be ready to answer calls at all hours, return every call you receive and to document the entirety of that process. Google Voice has been very useful in that regard.