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Canadian here too. I only ever bought one house, in 2005, and I'm still living in it. But I seem to recall that the agent - a good one, referred by friends, a

Canadian here too. I only ever bought one house, in 2005, and I'm still living in it. But I seem to recall that the agent - a good one, referred by friends, and referred onward - had a boilerplate contract in which I was responsible for his commission even if I independently bought a FSBO (pronounced "fizzbo" in realtor lingo, i.e. completely off-system For Sale By Owner house) during the contract period. I had that scratched out before signing. For realtors it's very simple. Why spend time on something they won't get paid for? Why bother arranging a tour of a FSBO house, unless that one says "agents welcome" in its listing which means they will pay the buyer agent fee. But if that contract is standard, what's the disincentive? Just the unpleasantness of actually enforcing it when necessary? Common here seem to be "flat rate MLS listing" services, where you pay a few hundred dollars and they list it, and you're your own selling agent. You still pay the 2.5% to the buying agent and say so in the listing. And yeah, the dream customer of every selling agent is a clueless first-time buyer who just calls up the agent on the for-sale sign. Double commission!

llm_nerd 3y ago
>For realtors it's very simple. Why spend time on something they won't get paid for? Isn't that almost everyone doing work? I don't do work for free. >the dream customer of every selling agent is a clueless first-time buyer I've purchased multiple homes without a 'buyer's agent'. I'm certainly not clueless. It's actually a great negotiating tactic and often yields real savings. Agents are grossly overpaid, but buyer agents in particular are just an enormous waste of time. It was actually our first home purchase where we did use a buyer agent and it was...eye opening. People under illusions that buyer agents are actually informed or acting in the buyer's interests are the most clueless of all.
- MarkusWandel 3y ago
  It does depend on the agent. I trusted mine and saw no red flags during, or after the transaction. He was referred to me by a colleague who is a serial house ownership addict, and I referred him on to several others, and all were pleased. My own house was listed at $X, so I simply asked him "what's it really worth?" He said $Y, where, at the time, Y<X and houses took time to sell, and we went through a few rounds of the haggling thing with the seller until they counteroffered $Y, and then accepted, easy peasy. And the house I now live in is one he added to a tour of several I had picked, and THAT was the one I instinctively liked and still do. That's really how it's supposed to go, right?

llm_nerd 3y ago

>For realtors it's very simple. Why spend time on something they won't get paid for? Isn't that almost everyone doing work? I don't do work for free. >the dream customer of every selling agent is a clueless first-time buyer I've purchased multiple homes without a 'buyer's agent'. I'm certainly not clueless. It's actually a great negotiating tactic and often yields real savings. Agents are grossly overpaid, but buyer agents in particular are just an enormous waste of time. It was actually our first home purchase where we did use a buyer agent and it was...eye opening. People under illusions that buyer agents are actually informed or acting in the buyer's interests are the most clueless of all.

MarkusWandel 3y ago
It does depend on the agent. I trusted mine and saw no red flags during, or after the transaction. He was referred to me by a colleague who is a serial house ownership addict, and I referred him on to several others, and all were pleased. My own house was listed at $X, so I simply asked him "what's it really worth?" He said $Y, where, at the time, Y<X and houses took time to sell, and we went through a few rounds of the haggling thing with the seller until they counteroffered $Y, and then accepted, easy peasy. And the house I now live in is one he added to a tour of several I had picked, and THAT was the one I instinctively liked and still do. That's really how it's supposed to go, right?