3 ms·

The new first rule of home buying: fire your realtor

3 points by harambae 3y ago

elmerfud 3y ago
I can relate to some of what this author is saying about a Realtors. I bought a house last year and it was the first house I bought in many decades. Dealing with various Realtors was an annoying experience. Instead of acting like my agent and a fiduciary for me they acted like a used car salesman. Within a couple of those interactions they were gone I had nothing more to do with them because that's not what I wanted. I was looking at various places around the country for the right house and I knew my criteria. I was looking for boots on the ground essentially to look at places and give me accurate feedback as if I was looking at it. I didn't need someone to sell me on a place I just needed them to tell me about it. I did end up using a realtor and I found a very good one. He was exceedingly helpful he looked at a dozen or more properties for me and gave me the exact feedback that I wanted as if I was there. Not trying to sell me of whether it was good or bad just feeding me information about the property things that he saw the neighborhood and other things that weren't easy for me to know just from looking at the pictures. Nearly every property was one that I sent to him because I saw the pictures and I was interested. He was very interested in learning my needs and finding my fit rather than finding something to sell to me just to get a commission. The house I ended up buying when he went and looked at it I got a call within an hour and the first things out of his mouth was you are going to want to buy this house. When I flew into inspect it personally he was absolutely right because he took the time to get to know me and what I wanted it. I absolutely understand that is not the normal experience and I had to go through a number of Realtors to get to one that could give me that level of experience. Unfortunately it seems all too easy to get a real estate license and to throw yourself out there to make easy commissions in a booming market.
robocat 3y ago
In New Zealand agents earn more if they turn over properties quickly. The agents financial motivation is to get a deal done quickly and most don't care much if they are screwing over the vendor (although repeat customer and reputation matter somewhat). Commission is a percentage of sale price so most people incorrectly think the agents incentive is to sell for a higher price. Agents earn more by doing less hours and selling more properties more quickly: so the agent convinces the vendor to take the first offer and bring date forward. I learnt that watching a realtor called Andrew Swift screw over a little old lady (she had dementia so Andrew had an easy job whitewashing the children with power of attorney). We don't have buyers agents in New Zealand and the commissions are nowhere near 6%, so the dynamics are somewhat different. Lots of agents will undermine their vendor - you see it often when talking with the agent. You can find good agents with integrity, but they are not common.

3 points by harambae 3y ago

I can relate to some of what this author is saying about a Realtors. I bought a house last year and it was the first house I bought in many decades. Dealing with various Realtors was an annoying experience. Instead of acting like my agent and a fiduciary for me they acted like a used car salesman. Within a couple of those interactions they were gone I had nothing more to do with them because that's not what I wanted. I was looking at various places around the country for the right house and I knew my criteria. I was looking for boots on the ground essentially to look at places and give me accurate feedback as if I was looking at it. I didn't need someone to sell me on a place I just needed them to tell me about it. I did end up using a realtor and I found a very good one. He was exceedingly helpful he looked at a dozen or more properties for me and gave me the exact feedback that I wanted as if I was there. Not trying to sell me of whether it was good or bad just feeding me information about the property things that he saw the neighborhood and other things that weren't easy for me to know just from looking at the pictures. Nearly every property was one that I sent to him because I saw the pictures and I was interested. He was very interested in learning my needs and finding my fit rather than finding something to sell to me just to get a commission. The house I ended up buying when he went and looked at it I got a call within an hour and the first things out of his mouth was you are going to want to buy this house. When I flew into inspect it personally he was absolutely right because he took the time to get to know me and what I wanted it. I absolutely understand that is not the normal experience and I had to go through a number of Realtors to get to one that could give me that level of experience. Unfortunately it seems all too easy to get a real estate license and to throw yourself out there to make easy commissions in a booming market.

robocat 3y ago

In New Zealand agents earn more if they turn over properties quickly. The agents financial motivation is to get a deal done quickly and most don't care much if they are screwing over the vendor (although repeat customer and reputation matter somewhat). Commission is a percentage of sale price so most people incorrectly think the agents incentive is to sell for a higher price. Agents earn more by doing less hours and selling more properties more quickly: so the agent convinces the vendor to take the first offer and bring date forward. I learnt that watching a realtor called Andrew Swift screw over a little old lady (she had dementia so Andrew had an easy job whitewashing the children with power of attorney). We don't have buyers agents in New Zealand and the commissions are nowhere near 6%, so the dynamics are somewhat different. Lots of agents will undermine their vendor - you see it often when talking with the agent. You can find good agents with integrity, but they are not common.