All Forum Posts by: Rudky Martin

Wow thanks for links, Lynnette, I really appreciate.

Thanks a lot Lynnette.
it makes sense to me. I am in San Jose, CA. If so I guess it is more common to get a refund. I will shop around for another agent as this current agent refused to give me back any money.

Even in Redfin they advertise they will give me back ~$2000 if I choose a Redfin agent.

Best,

Hi Russell,

Thanks for the quick response. However regarding the excerpt I quoted from BiggerPocket’s guide book:

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11. Get a 50% refund on real estate agent commission fees

By far the largest single fee you’ll pay when buying a home is to your agent. For each property sold, the agents representing the buyer and the seller split a commission equal to 5–6% of the purchase price, so each agent gets 2.5–3% of the purchase price in cash at close. (It’s a misconception that the seller pays this fee; it comes out of the money paid by the buyer and is built into the price of the home!)

Traditional agents don’t want you to know that this amount is completely negotiable.

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Do you think if the advice above is rarely applicable?   in what situation, a buyer agent will agree to rebate?

Sorry if these are dump questions, I am totally new in real estate and your answers will mean a lot for me to learn and get ready for my first house purchase.

Best,

Hi Russell,

Thanks for the response. Because this is my first house purchase, i may not understand the convention.

He hasn't created an offer yet except he sent a comp report to me which I hadn't asked him to do. Does it already mean I already hire him to be my buying agent?

Is it Ok to look for another buying agent at this point it he doesn't give me a rebate?

Anyway I still want to learn how to negotiate the fees with a buying agent. Is it common to ask him to show me his contract? And on average how much an agent gives back to his client?

this is useful knowledge for me for my future purchase.

Thanks

Hi Zana,

thanks for the response. But I heard everywhere even here in BiggerPocket's guide books for buyers that buyers often get rebates from buying agents. 

here is the quote:

By far the largest single fee you’ll pay when buying a home is to your agent. For each property sold, the agents representing the buyer and the seller split a commission equal to 5–6% of the purchase price, so each agent gets 2.5–3% of the purchase price in cash at close. (It’s a misconception that the seller pays this fee; it comes out of the money paid by the buyer and is built into the price of the home!)

Traditional agents don’t want you to know that this amount is completely negotiable.

thanks

I am new in real estate and about to buy my first house. The house’s listing price is 800k. I found this house in Redfin and saw it by myself in it’s open house alone. My buying agent was involved only after I decided to buy the house. He gave some suggestions mostly to encourage me to buy the house with higher price than the Listing price. He told me he spent 4 hours running a comparable tool to generate a report. 

Now when I ask him a rebate in case I can get the house. He said that there is no rebate because he would suffer heavy taxes and his net earning from the deal is very little compared to his effort.

Can I ask him to send me a copy of his agent contract so that I know how much percent of commission he will get?

On average how much a buying agent will rebate to the buyer?

Thank you.

Thanks Edward for great advice.

I am a novice investor. I am looking around to buy my first rental property. I see some single family houses in neighboring cities which can be in my budget. However I am not sure if it is easy to rent it out and how much I can expect from the rent. Should I go there and ask the local people there or something else more practical?
Could you please share your tips how do you learn these things to calculate cash flow before purchasing a property?

Thank you.

Thanks guys for the advice. They are useful. I went back but the seller had already accepted an offer. It is a good experience for me for next chances though. 

Best,

Hi all, I am looking around to buy my first house for living. I just found a good town house with reasonable price (850k) at a very good location in Bay area. The seller even dropped the price by 20k recently after it had been in the market for a while. However its inspect report shows that it has drywood termites and fungus in in the wall of garage and some places in the house. The wall was made of wood btw. In the disclosure report, a pest controller estimated the cost to fix the termite issue is > 10k.

Although my agent tried to convince me that it is not a big issue as in California termite is just normal for any house older than 30 years, I was still scared and decided to not pursuing this house.

Could you please tell me if what my agent said is true? I read inspection reports of some much older single family houses but none of them had termite issues. Also I read everywhere saying that termite is a serious red flag to purchase a house. What I am worried the most is even after paying 10k as the pest controller estimated, termites may come back soon, probably from its neighbors.

However as a novice buyer, I am now not sure if I made a right decision. Maybe I was over worried and lost a good deal. 

What would you do if the house you really liked had a termite report as in my case? 

Thanks a lot