Should I get my own real estate agent?

In reply to SVreX :

Generally agree but they do help on some levels like getting property in front of prospective buyers, sales negotiations , financing locators (particularly for newbies to RE purchase), etc.  But I do agree, 6% commissions are a bit high for what they do on typical home purchase.  As a RE closing attorney youre right....on typical $200k sale with an FHA loan I had a tremendous amount of work and not insignificant professional exposure and my fees would be maybe $750...maybe $1,000 if I wrote title insurance.  Whereas RE commission would be $12,000

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

I'm not saying they are bad. I'm saying they are tremendously overpriced for what they do, and that their system is obsolete. 

An automated system like Zillow can easily reach 1000X as many potential buyers than any local MLS system, and do it for free. 

$12K is absolutely obscene. 

In reply to SVreX :

I agree, but you have to look at how that $12k is (or can be) split up.  The broker gets his cut off the top and if there are two agents, they split the rest.  I have known realtors who have spent many, many days showing clients houses.  I also have known realtors who I wouldn't trust to sell a dog house.   Glad you found a good one.  We have had a couple of good ones too. One sold our house within a week for full price when I ahd gotten laid off.  The next house, we were getting close to closing on our current house (31 years ago) and the berkeleying bank kept asking for more and more stupid E36 M3.  We were using a lady who shopped at my F-I-L's meat market where we were moving from.  We finally called our realtor who got a loan with a local bank within a week.  She said she used up a lot of favors doing that.  Of course that would never happen today.                      

In reply to spitfirebill :

Like I said- I was a Realtor. I know exactly what it takes. 

I have less issue with the Broker's share. He's paying for the building, light bill, website, training, liability, etc. 

"Many, many days showing houses..." So, let's see... A $3000 commission divided by $200 would mean a Realtor should consider it  REASONABLE to spend 15 FULL 8 hour days working with a single customer for every sale to earn a $50,000 annual salary. 

Yeah, right....

SVreX said:

The seller's agent has nearly completed their work once the property is listed. Do you mean unlocking the door??

The work at the time of the sale is on the attorneys, not the real estate agents. 

Once again, this varies by state.  No attorneys involved in a typical real estate transaction in CA.

In reply to codrus :

Ok, Title Company. 

Dies that change the role of the Realtor?  

Robbie said:

Ovid_and_Flem said:

In reply to Robbie :

Not with RE agents around here...they're vicious about their commissions 

No commission if I don't buy. Do they want a sale or not? If I approached the selling agent directly and said I don't want a buyer agent and they refused, insisting that they would play as a dual agent and take double commission, I'd walk, and id be vocal to the owner of the property why I was walking. 

Get that crap to stop real fast.

This

I have an extremely low regard for real estate agents and realtors

In reply to SVreX :

Then don’t use a realtor to sell your house. You aren’t going to pay them when you buy.  

A few years ago we sold a house without a realtor after a highly respected realtor (sister of one of my wife’s best friends) told me we could not ask what we wanted for it because we could not justify it.  It was a REO we bought at the bottom.