Hi,

Feeling overwhelmed by all the real estate lingos.
I signed an 'exclusive agency listing and right to sell' agreement with
a realtor. (What's the difference between a realtor and a broker
anyway? Are they the same?) The commission is 6% which covers buying
and selling.

I am trying to understand exactly what this means - especially on the
buying part. Is the guy produces a buyer, he gets all 6%, of course. If
some buyer happens to see the 'For Sale' sign on the front lawn, calls
him up and offers to buy, he gets the 6%, that I can also understand.
What if another borker sees it on the MLS and produces the buyer? I
certainly hope I will not have to pay that other broker on top of the
6% that I will have to pay my owner broker. Please help me understand!


John

"John" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

Feeling overwhelmed by all the real estate lingos.
I signed an 'exclusive agency listing and right to sell' agreement with
a realtor. (What's the difference between a realtor and a broker
anyway? Are they the same?) The commission is 6% which covers buying
and selling.

I am trying to understand exactly what this means - especially on the
buying part. Is the guy produces a buyer, he gets all 6%, of course. If
some buyer happens to see the 'For Sale' sign on the front lawn, calls
him up and offers to buy, he gets the 6%, that I can also understand.
What if another borker sees it on the MLS and produces the buyer? I
certainly hope I will not have to pay that other broker on top of the
6% that I will have to pay my owner broker. Please help me understand!


John

The 6% is split between the two.

-al sung

On 18 Apr 2005 13:09:23 -0700, someone wrote:

What if another borker sees it on the MLS and produces the buyer?

Doesn't it say right in the listing agreement what the split for a
"co-broker" is?

Your post is a good example of why people should have LAWYERS as they
approach the biggest transaction in their lives, where they are being
called on to sign legally binding CONTRACTS that it turns out they
don't understand. And don't just get the lawyer AFTER you have signed
averything - BEFORE is the right time.

People will go see a doctor to get "checked out" for the most minor
possible thing, yet won't spend the money for a lawyer BEFORE they
sign a contract....


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

With a second broker producing the buyer, the 6% is split between the
two, generally 50-50, but as seller, you never pay more than the 6%.

Thanks, all. Do you think it is justified for the realtors to make
that much? Don't they just do some paperworks? I know it is all about
supply and demand. Still 6% is a lot. Can realtors take advantage of
you financially in some other ways? Or am I just too paranoic?


John

"John" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks, all. Do you think it is justified for the realtors to make
that much? Don't they just do some paperworks? I know it is all about
supply and demand. Still 6% is a lot. Can realtors take advantage of
you financially in some other ways? Or am I just too paranoic?


John

not to be rude, but why don't you go into that business if you think it's so
easy and lucrative?

" Thanks, all. Do you think it is justified for the realtors to make
that much? Don't they just do some paperworks? I know it is all about

supply and demand. Still 6% is a lot. Can realtors take advantage of
you financially in some other ways? Or am I just too paranoic?

John "

It depends on many things. I've bought and sold homes with and without
brokers. The first thing you have to ask yourself is how much you know
about engaging with sellers, marketing a home, doing open houses,
knowing what simple things to fix that could make it sell quicker, how
to negotiate and qualify buyers, having an idea of what to put in a
contract, etc. If you're comfortable with at least most of that and
its a hot market, IMO, you can do a FSBO and save money. How much
depends on a lot of things. IMO, it's hard to justify paying a $36K
commission on a $600K house in a hot market like the northeast of the
past few years. On the other hand, if you don't know what you;re
doing, paying someone $9K to move a $150K house quickly in a tough
market may be money well spent. The one big advantage to going with a
realtor is that you will be listed in the MLS, which only they have
access to and is used by all the brokers to find homes.

A broker is the real estate agent's boss. The broker provides their
agents with office space and papers and common help such as closing
attorneys. The agents provide the broker with business, usually in the
form of a percentage of the percentage made on home sales. Brokers in
small offices also do their own listings.

The commission is split between the buying agent and selling agent. If
you agent sells a house to someone with their own agent, your agent
gives part of their commission to the other agent.

6% is common.

Well, I think your post basically covers whether it is feasible to pay a
realtor 6% commission -- they do do alot of work -- if you can't or aren't
willing to invest the time to do it all then the 6% is reasonable for some.
However, commission as with everything else is negoitable -- depending on
where you are there are some brokers willing to take less, you just have to
look around.

wrote in message
oups.com...
" Thanks, all. Do you think it is justified for the realtors to make
that much? Don't they just do some paperworks? I know it is all about

supply and demand. Still 6% is a lot. Can realtors take advantage of
you financially in some other ways? Or am I just too paranoic?

John "

It depends on many things. I've bought and sold homes with and without
brokers. The first thing you have to ask yourself is how much you know
about engaging with sellers, marketing a home, doing open houses,
knowing what simple things to fix that could make it sell quicker, how
to negotiate and qualify buyers, having an idea of what to put in a
contract, etc. If you're comfortable with at least most of that and
its a hot market, IMO, you can do a FSBO and save money. How much
depends on a lot of things. IMO, it's hard to justify paying a $36K
commission on a $600K house in a hot market like the northeast of the
past few years. On the other hand, if you don't know what you;re
doing, paying someone $9K to move a $150K house quickly in a tough
market may be money well spent. The one big advantage to going with a
realtor is that you will be listed in the MLS, which only they have
access to and is used by all the brokers to find homes.

In article .com,
wrote:

market may be money well spent. The one big advantage to going with a
realtor is that you will be listed in the MLS, which only they have
access to and is used by all the brokers to find homes.

I've seen sites that will list houses in the MLS for a flat rate, and I
have looked at MLS listings on realtor.com. So the 'only they have
access to' seems slightly off. What is it that they *really* have
access to that the average person can't access -- exclusive listings on
the MLS you have to be a real estate agent to see?

Cheers,
Kendall (IANAR *)

* I am not a realtor ;-)

--
Kendall P. Bullen http://www.his.com/~kendall/
kendall@---^^^^^^^

Never e-mail me copies of Usenet postings, please.
I do read the groups to which I post!

"I've seen sites that will list houses in the MLS for a flat rate, and
I
have looked at MLS listings on realtor.com. So the 'only they have
access to' seems slightly off. What is it that they *really* have
access to that the average person can't access -- exclusive listings on

the MLS you have to be a real estate agent to see? "

The advantage is that only realtors can list a home in the MLS and
being in the MLS gives your property broad exposure. There are some
realtors that will list a property for less than the std 6% commission,
but I haven't seen any that do it for a flat fee, at least here in NJ.
If you have more info on that, I'd be interested in seeing it

In article .com,
wrote:

The advantage is that only realtors can list a home in the MLS and
being in the MLS gives your property broad exposure.

Hmm, as I said, I've seen sites that claim they'll list you in the MLS
for a flat fee...I never thought about it, so I guess you're saying they
must have a realtor working for them.

I've also read about listing agents working for a flat rate...perhaps
they don't do 'as much' (whatever that means), I dunno. I think TIME
Magazine had some info on discount and flat-fee agents.

Thanks,
Kendall

--
Kendall P. Bullen http://www.his.com/~kendall/
kendall@---^^^^^^^

Never e-mail me copies of Usenet postings, please.
I do read the groups to which I post!

On 20 Apr 2005 10:54:34 -0700, someone wrote:

Thanks, all. Do you think it is justified for the realtors to make
that much? Don't they just do some paperworks?

Well, you are welcome to sell your house without a Realtor. Or try to
get one to list it for cheaper.

How much is the "right" amount for someone to be paid (for any job) is
certainly a fair subject for negotiation in a market economy.

For example, how much should a car salesman make at a car dealer, or
for that matter ANY commission sales person. Should they get paid by
the hour and not by the deal? But then a slow performer would get
paid more for each deal than a faster one. If you want it to be their
incentive to SELL, then you pay commission on the deal.

Do you suppose accountants or lawyers shouldn't make much either,
since they too just do paperwork?

This could go on and on.


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.