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Updated over 6 years ago on . Most recent reply

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Shalom Afraimian
  • Flipper/Rehabber
  • Houston, TX
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Sellers agent - a need or a rip-off ?

Shalom Afraimian
  • Flipper/Rehabber
  • Houston, TX
Posted
Lately I have started to list my properties by myself. When saying by myself I mean either a flat fee service or using a realtor that his name is on the listing but my number and email are there and all communications are going to/through me. I have stated 3% going to the buyers agent of course, but for some reason I feel like this kind of listings are slower (all though the mechanism is the same and the exposure is the same as if I had a sellers agent). What led me to decide to do that was the feeing that a 3% for seller agent is going mainly to put it on the market with a lockbox and most of the job later would be of the buyers agents who actually going and showing etc. Needles to say once there is a contract the communication is mainly with the title co and scheduling inspection/appraisal if needed and that’s it. I just couldn’t understand the sellers agent part. Do you believe or think that buyers agents trying to avoid showing and dealing with direct seller? I’ve been told that a lot of them don’t want to “deal” with someone who might be emotionally invested in the transaction... Thanks for your thoughts - great community

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Russell Brazil
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Washington, D.C.
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Russell Brazil
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Washington, D.C.
ModeratorReplied

If the decision is between doing it yourself or hiring a bad agent, of course do it yourself. If the choice is between yourself and a good agent, then it depends on your skill level. There is a reason why top agents are able to sell properties for more money than some guy who sells 2 or 3 houses per year. Any monkey can put it on the mls, and sometimes thats enough. But there is a reason why some properties sit on the market for months while others sell in days for the same price and in the same location. 

There is also the liability issue. While I wouldnt do this to a fsbo, I do do it to the discount agents or agents I dont like.....I negotiate them so hard, and I get them on every single regulation they and their seller screwed up on. I closed a deal earlier this year and brought up an issue at the closing table that ended with that seller writing a $15k check to my buyers because they didnt disclose a particular issue that they were not aware the law required them to disclose but I was aware. I got a lot of referrals from my buyer off of that. That was almost his entire down payment returned to him because that agent and seller didnt know what they were doing.

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