What is the point of a real estate agent? Obsolete position

[MuscleXtreme]

Before the internet, I understand using a real estate agent to find a residential or commercial property. But now, with Zillow or MLS you can find any house listed, schedule your own appointment, and use Legalzoom for your purchase agreement and use your own title company, probably costing $2000 total.

Or you can spend $22,500 to have some ex-bottle girl be your real estate agent and spend 15 minutes filtering houses for you on Zillow.

Total waste of money in 2023 and should go the way of stone wheel maker.

[PaulJerome]

Before the internet, I understand using a real estate agent to find a residential or commercial property. But now, with Zillow or MLS you can find any house listed, schedule your own appointment, and use Legalzoom for your purchase agreement and use your own title company, probably costing $2000 total.

Or you can spend $22,500 to have some ex-bottle girl be your real estate agent and spend 15 minutes filtering houses for you on Zillow.

Total waste of money in 2023 and should go the way of stone wheel maker.

OK, so I should put a for sale sign up and post my $3.2mm home on Zillow? Got it.

[guest89]

Seller pays real estate agent. Hiring a real estate agent cuts a lot of hassle out of the process.



How many houses have you bought/sold with an agent and how many have you bought/sold without one?

[ArnoldLibCuck]

Their main function in a practical sense at this point is to create space between sellers and buyers. Many sales are helped along by not having buyers and sellers meet directly until the very end.

[Chowboy]

Related: US jury finds realtors liable for inflating commissions, awards $1.78 bln damages


https://www.reuters.com/legal/missou...es-2023-10-31/

[P51]

Such a fuken scam, especially since its a %. They use the same cookie cutter forms if its a $100k crack den or a $5M mansion.

I don't even know what my realtor does for me. He sends me houses after zillow sends them to me 5 mins earlier. The only benefit to him is has been doing it for 20 years and owns his own company so he offers some feedback when touring a house. 3% worth of feedback? Fuk no. I understand I don't pay him, but the seller obviously builds that 3% into their asking price.

[XcelerateNYC]

OP is a false prophet.

[FAPhaggot]

Parasites drinking off the $5T money printer firehose the Fed shot into our economy.

Or rather, borrowed from our future. They took out $5T in loans in your children's name, shoved it into real estate, and realtors took a 6% take of your kids' future money. Clown world.

[MuscleXtreme]

OK, so I should put a for sale sign up and post my $3.2mm home on Zillow? Got it.

Pay $2500 do it yourself or pay $192,000 for a real estate agent to do it.

I mean this is a no brainer.

[MuscleXtreme]

Parasites drinking off the $5T money printer firehose the Fed shot into our economy.

Or rather, borrowed from our future. They took out $5T in loans in your children's name, shoved it into real estate, and realtors took a 6% take of your kids' future money. Clown world.

Pretty much. Don’t get me started on the US Postal Service another near obsolete organization who are bilking the tax payers for billions.

[PaulJerome]

Pay $2500 do it yourself or pay $192,000 for a real estate agent to do it.

I mean this is a no brainer.

It's a no brainer if your opportunity cost is low because you don't have a high income.

[iamdetermined]

There are so many variables that can come up during a transaction, an experienced realtor is invaluable. It's not as sexy as it looks on House Hunters and it's a lot more technical than those shows let on. People just sign papers and show up to closing without knowing how much goes into getting it done. Either way most people use a realtor. You'd get eaten alive going up against a realtor on your own.

[MuscleXtreme]

It's a no brainer if your opportunity cost is low because you don't have a high income.

It’s a year 1 $189,500 opportunity cost, which could be over a $2M opportunity cost over 5-10 years.

So yeah it’s a no brainer.

[MuscleXtreme]

There are so many variables that can come up during a transaction, an experienced realtor is invaluable. It's not as sexy as it looks on House Hunters and it's a lot more technical than those shows let on. People just sign papers and show up to closing without knowing how much goes into getting it done. Either way most people use a realtor. You'd get eaten alive going up against a realtor on your own.

Oh please. What are some specific variables that pop up that your average person can’t handle?

We all know plenty of people who have done their own real estate transactions.

Have your own lawyer review papers.
Hire your own title agency.
Hire your own home inspector.
Do a basic research on Zillow about the neighborhood and look up zoning on the county assessors site. Use Chat GPT to review city/county ordinances and state law that pertain to that type of zoning and location.

It’s 2023 not 1973.

[friesbruh]

Seller pays real estate agent. Hiring a real estate agent cuts a lot of hassle out of the process.

How many houses have you bought/sold with an agent and how many have you bought/sold without one?

Their main function in a practical sense at this point is to create space between sellers and buyers. Many sales are helped along by not having buyers and sellers meet directly until the very end.

There are so many variables that can come up during a transaction, an experienced realtor is invaluable. It's not as sexy as it looks on House Hunters and it's a lot more technical than those shows let on. People just sign papers and show up to closing without knowing how much goes into getting it done. Either way most people use a realtor. You'd get eaten alive going up against a realtor on your own.

these/thread.

OP has never partaken in one single real estate transaction and without googling, cant even tell me what the laws are around a seller's property disclosure or SWA (source of water addendum) as an example.

plus the fact that as a listing agent you have a chit load of work to do or the fact that the contract to buy and sell is anywhere from 15-20 pages long (not counting the Exclusive Right to Sell) and in total you probably have 40ish pages to read and comb thru right off the bat.

but yeah no OP have at it. then watch you come b1tching here when you dont understand something and get screwed over cuz you "used Legalzoom for your purchase agreement"

lmao, couldnt imagine being that much of a tard - using Legalzoom - instead of my own state's Contract To Buy & Sell Real Estate.

[DarthCholo]

while i'm not ready to say it's a zero value add position, for the price they charge, it's 100% not worth what they charge. The real boss is the bank and the appraiser. They're the ones who care more about if you get a good deal or not. Next time I buy i'll look for an alternative to a traditionally compensated agent. Somebody who charges a flat fee or I get to buy hours of time like a lawyer.

[Abzu]

There are a lot of useless jobs in the world economy, I just called a guy to seal marble counter tops, I asked him if they sold the product they use to seal them and he told me yes but it must be used by a "qualified" technician lol. I told him quote me now because if you are going to say something like 5K then it's a no for me man. He told me to send him pics and then quoted me $3,500 lol.

There is no way the "qualified" tech will be here more than 4 hours and I could likely buy the sealing solution for less than 10% of the total cost lol.

I know you can but sealants from Home Depot but that is not the point of my post lol.



There are also jobs where the best interest of the worker and the best interest of the client diverge, in real estate for example, your agent may try to push you to sell the home at a lesser price because though you would make more and he would get more commission, the extra amount of money in commission does not make the agent richer, if you wait to sell then he has to devote time and energy into getting a small increase on your home sale at the expense of selling another home and getting a much larger commission.

[SirFapsAIot]

You mean to tell me HBB real estate agents who you bang while touring a house are obsolete? News to me.

[Basedbaby]

Tell me you’ve never owned property without telling me you’ve never owned property

[PaulJerome]

while i'm not ready to say it's a zero value add position, for the price they charge, it's 100% not worth what they charge.

I own a real estate brokerage; I don't like to tell people that IRL because then they want me to find them a home. That's not what I do. I don't list homes and I don't work with buyers. I flip properties around the state of Florida (some more than 4 hours away). I have a dozen agents in various parts of the state that work for other brokerages and they are willing to drive 1 hour away for my deals.

A typical transaction is I buy it for $57k on a Wednesday and it's under contract at $130k by Saturday. Last flip I made $124k net. I have multiple transactions going at once. The overwhelming majority of them are not good enough deals for me but below 80% LTV so a good deal for another buyer. I spend 5 minutes on the phone with the property owner, conference call my local agent, make the introduction and I'm done. Typical sale prices are $150k-$400k and I make 1.25% co-broker fee for a 5 minute phone call.

Do you still think it would make sense for me to sell properties FSBO? lol I couldn't afford the pay cut. I prefer to invest 5 minutes of my time into a transaction without getting my hands dirty while I oversee everything from my ivory tower.

[Basedbaby]

I own a real estate brokerage; I don't like to tell people that IRL because then they want me to find them a home. That's not what I do. I don't list homes and I don't work with buyers. I flip properties around the state of Florida (some more than 4 hours away). I have a dozen agents in various parts of the state that work for other brokerages and they are willing to drive 1 hour away for my deals.

A typical transaction is I buy it for $57k on a Wednesday and it's under contract at $130k by Saturday. Last flip I made $124k net. I have multiple transactions going at once. The overwhelming majority of them are not good enough deals for me but below 80% LTV so a good deal for another buyer. I spend 5 minutes on the phone with the property owner, conference call my local agent, make the introduction and I'm done. Typical sale prices are $150k-$400k and I make 1.25% co-broker fee for a 5 minute phone call.

Do you still think it would make sense for me to sell properties FSBO? lol I couldn't afford the pay cut. I prefer to invest 5 minutes of my time into a transaction without getting my hands dirty while I oversee everything from my ivory tower.

I have a few questions
Did you become a broker just to make it easier to flip properties without having to deal with another broker?
Also where do you find such good deals? And what part of Florida do you work in?
Do you make improvements to the properties before you sell them?
Are you larping?

[Zackad]

Their main function in a practical sense at this point is to create space between sellers and buyers. Many sales are helped along by not having buyers and sellers meet directly until the very end.

This

many sales have also fallen apart when the seller and buyer are allowed to interact with each other. They also help make sure all the proper documentation is executed, and everything is handled legally within compliance. Or at least they should, but that much of the time falls on escrow or attorneys.

A good realtor will also know the market and neighborhoods you're looking in well enough to adjust their offerings for your needs, so you're only seeing properties that match what you're looking for. They will negotiate for you, and guide you through the process. But those are pretty rare these days.

All that said, many of them get paid way more than their worth, while many get paid way under. Since it's usually a flat percentage, and many transactions are fairly standard, agents are usually doing the same amount of work on a $100k home vs a $1mil home. The only difference in those scenarios is how connected they might be with their client, which could lead them to do more work to accommodate said client.

[r32gojirra]

OP has clearly never been on the buy or sell side of a real estate transaction

A good real estate agent is both a marketer and negotiator, and in the best case an advisor

If you find one you stick with them because they’re very rare

A good salesman is part psychologist. I’m a terrible salesman and hiring a good one is worth well more than you pay them.

Their main function in a practical sense at this point is to create space between sellers and buyers. Many sales are helped along by not having buyers and sellers meet directly until the very end.

^^^this

[PaulJerome]

I have a few questions
Did you become a broker just to make it easier to flip properties without having to deal with another broker?
Also where do you find such good deals? And what part of Florida do you work in?
Do you make improvements to the properties before you sell them?
Are you larping?

I own a brokerage so that I can legally make 1.25% of the sale price when I refer out to my agent on the deals that I don't want to buy. I have 7 people who work for me. 2 of them make telephone calls to property owners and on Monday we sent out over 6,000 postcards to people in foreclosure around the state. I cold call too but only cherry picking the ones I call. No one is as good as me on the phone.

The ones you make the most money on are properties that are in foreclosure and the owner was served by constructive service. This means the foreclosure case continues even if the property owner has no idea. We skip trace, call neighbors, call possible associates and track the seller down. I'll typically make my offer like this:

Me: "my offer is to pay off your mortgage, all the past due interest, the property taxes, forced placed insurance, attorney fees, court costs and all of the closing costs and your check will be $50,000. Will you be good with $50k?"

Property Owner says "yes"

Me: "good. Then sign here"

[MuscleXtreme]

these/thread.

OP has never partaken in one single real estate transaction and without googling, cant even tell me what the laws are around a seller's property disclosure or SWA (source of water addendum) as an example.

On matters of real estate laws, you want me to trust the opinion of a real estate agent who had to take a 40 hour class and pay $100 license fee and will charge 6% of the home price.

Or hear me out. Hire a lawyer, who has passed the bar and who is specialized in real estate law, and will probably charge $2500 - $5000 to do it.

I get an expert in real estate law and for cheaper than a real estate agent.

No brainer.

[DarthCholo]

I own a real estate brokerage; I don't like to tell people that IRL because then they want me to find them a home. That's not what I do. I don't list homes and I don't work with buyers. I flip properties around the state of Florida (some more than 4 hours away). I have a dozen agents in various parts of the state that work for other brokerages and they are willing to drive 1 hour away for my deals.

A typical transaction is I buy it for $57k on a Wednesday and it's under contract at $130k by Saturday. Last flip I made $124k net. I have multiple transactions going at once. The overwhelming majority of them are not good enough deals for me but below 80% LTV so a good deal for another buyer. I spend 5 minutes on the phone with the property owner, conference call my local agent, make the introduction and I'm done. Typical sale prices are $150k-$400k and I make 1.25% co-broker fee for a 5 minute phone call.

Do you still think it would make sense for me to sell properties FSBO? lol I couldn't afford the pay cut. I prefer to invest 5 minutes of my time into a transaction without getting my hands dirty while I oversee everything from my ivory tower.

Sounds like a savvy business model, but what exactly do you do to add value to the industry? I assume you'll say that you connect willing buyers with willing sellers in a more efficient manner that's worth the combined commission of all the middle men.

[DarthCholo]

I own a brokerage so that I can legally make 1.25% of the sale price when I refer out to my agent on the deals that I don't want to buy. I have 7 people who work for me. 2 of them make telephone calls to property owners and on Monday we sent out over 6,000 postcards to people in foreclosure around the state. I cold call too but only cherry picking the ones I call. No one is as good as me on the phone.

The ones you make the most money on are properties that are in foreclosure and the owner was served by constructive service. This means the foreclosure case continues even if the property owner has no idea. We skip trace, call neighbors, call possible associates and track the seller down. I'll typically make my offer like this:

Me: "my offer is to pay off your mortgage, all the past due interest, the property taxes, forced placed insurance, attorney fees, court costs and all of the closing costs and your check will be $50,000. Will you be good with $50k?"

Property Owner says "yes"

Me: "good. Then sign here"

If these people in foreclosure decided to consult a real estate agent before taking your offer what would that realter tell the seller?

[OliverHeldens]

There's absolutely no requirement that you hire an agent. Nobody is stopping you from buying or selling a property on your own.

The thing is, good agents are well worth the cost to anybody who has high income and doesn't have the time to do these things themself.

I have a client who sent me a list of properties today, and the prices he is willing to pay for them. My job is to get in touch with the owner and convince them to sell for around the price he's offering($800k-1.5M). And If I can do it, he will pay $25-50k to me per property. He seems to be extremely happy paying those prices.

[PaulJerome]

No brainer.

Why do you keep telling us you have no brain?

The most expensive home in my area was bought by a real estate tycoon from a baseball player a few years ago at $16.5mm. It is the largest property on the beach. Two lots, has a bowling alley, a guest house bigger than most of the other homes, a lazy river running through the entire house, etc.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...6_M69828-50889

Was sold, get this: by a realtor

The house was so exclusive that they didn't want it on the MLS. Instead the listing agent made $10k worth of professional books at $500/bk and would fly with the book to pitch the potential buyer. Do you get it now?

[PaulJerome]

Sounds like a savvy business model, but what exactly do you do to add value to the industry?

I find properties that are in foreclosure with more than 20% equity. ll you have to do is find the deal. Everything starts with finding the deal.

If these people in foreclosure decided to consult a real estate agent before taking your offer what would that realter tell the seller?

Then they wouldn't want my offer. Case in point why you should hire a realtor, right?