All Forum Posts by: Steve Milford

If it was me, I'd keep both and look for any opportunity to both raise the rent on the townhouse and refi the sfh asap. With rates continuing to drop over next 6 months, home prices will jump again. That being said, buyer availability is low. Since cash flow seems like the current need, focus on that, take "negative cash" flow out of your vocabulary.

@Julie Philpott Maybe hire a property manager?

Congrats! I become a mortgage loan officer recently to be more knowledgable. That has been a serious eye opener as well!

I see it the other way, he gets first crack at a listing you bring. If he has a buyer willing to accept the price the listing is at, it is an easy win, minimal effort for you. 

I am assuming with my answer that you are marketing it through the MLS yourself and through your own efforts. If he controls access to all that, then this is a different story. In my world, all properties go to the MLS and that platform pushes the data through IDX to individual brokerage websites, including my own.

Whatever you work out is what it is. Its all a worry for nothing in my opinion. Easier to see in dollars and cents. If the traditional model is used, hypothetically if gross commission for the whole transaction was $10,000 split evenly between listing and selling agent, each side would receive $5,000. Initial split means that he would receive $1,750, leaving $3,250 for you. Now if all the $10,000 commission goes to the same brokerage, he receives $6,750 (as principal and buyer's broker) with $3,250 remaining to you. In the end you made the same.

If he is NOT the Buyer's broker, then he is then he only receives the initial 35%. In the end, it doesn't matter because if another agent at another brokerage presented the offer, you would be splitting the gross commissions with them.  

You should still be able to market it as you see fit, appropriately. He may provide oversight as your brokerage would be providing dual-agency, but it is your duty to represent the seller as their fiduciary. If not, I would find a different brokerage. 

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Quote from @Steve Milford:

Just reposting an idea I had in another thread. 

Since the MLS is a subscriber database that I pay a lot of money into, it should shut down the public IDX feeds, and be a benefit to subscribers only. That would make it truly a competitive situation. Someone wants to list their house without an agent and deal with all the snickering and bickering, and sniveling that goes with it? Go for it, they can create a personal website and list it on Google, put their phone number in there and deal will all the tire kickers who have no intention of actually buying. What do I care? Everyone forgets, the MLS is a database for agents, for agents to communicate to each other and attract buyers, not for the public. Yes, it provides an IDX feed - shut that down, now every web site out there is worthless, including Zillow. And Sellers can spend all the marketing dollars they want to attract people to their houses. Who will win? The MLS' because they will push for more members. Lol. In the end, this is no different than lawyer-land, it doesn't mean people pay less, it just changes how people get paid. I have no problem haggling, let's get on with it already! Here is another bit, yes your home will be worth less, because the appreciation rates will fall without agents pushing prices higher. Lol, another win! Think about it, to find a house, the average Buyer without an agent has to contact

Something else at the state or county level would take over as an information feeder. We're in the age of tech, if you shut down the MLS and make it an exclusivity thing then something else will appear.

Oh, I didn't say shut down the MLS, just shutdown the free public data feed. We agents enter the data into the platform, it doesn't get there magically. It still has to be collected, but the MLS works because we all agree to enter the data in a standardized way. This coud it be completed with machine learning yes, but it is the sales agents that push data toward the platform. And why do salespeople do it? For easier compensation! Why do lawyers push for class action lawsuits, for more compensation! 

Just reposting an idea I had in another thread. 

Since the MLS is a subscriber database that I pay a lot of money into, it should shut down the public IDX feeds, and be a benefit to subscribers only. That would make it truly a competitive situation. Someone wants to list their house without an agent and deal with all the snickering and bickering, and sniveling that goes with it? Go for it, they can create a personal website and list it on Google, put their phone number in there and deal will all the tire kickers who have no intention of actually buying. What do I care? Everyone forgets, the MLS is a database for agents, for agents to communicate to each other and attract buyers, not for the public. Yes, it provides an IDX feed - shut that down, now every web site out there is worthless, including Zillow. And Sellers can spend all the marketing dollars they want to attract people to their houses. Who will win? The MLS' because they will push for more members. Lol. In the end, this is no different than lawyer-land, it doesn't mean people pay less, it just changes how people get paid. I have no problem haggling, let's get on with it already! Here is another bit, yes your home will be worth less, because the appreciation rates will fall without agents pushing prices higher. Lol, another win! Think about it, to find a house, the average Buyer without an agent has to contact every listing agent or Seller by themselves, and deal with all the snickering and bickering, and sniveling that goes with it, and hope that the Seller doesn't misrepresent or hide defects. Have fun! Who wins again? The lawyers! Lol.

Some thoughts that I haven't seen yet.

1) Currently the MLS is a public facing, yet member-driven database. Who is to say it doesn't become a closed database? I pay a lot of money for access, so if there is no collaboration between agents, what do I care if the database closes to the public. Most people don't realize that the majority of web sites get their info from the MLS' for almost nothing, including Zillow. It's called the IDX data exchange. In my opinion, close it down. Its funny that I can make a change, requested by as Seller, in one spot, and every real estate website in a short time updates too. Forget that, just allow subscribers-only access, forget the rest and now I can charge whatever I want, because there will be no standard.

2) As others have mentioned, this settlement just says "no advertised rates". In my area, rates have long been able to be negotiated, but now every agent will ask have to ask EVERY seller if they will accept pay X amount. And if Buyer can't pay and Seller won't pay then the Buyer can choose to go it alone if they want.

3) This will just change the order of the conversation. I have long used a buyer's agreement and in it, it says, my rate is X, and if sellers do not want to pay, then Buyers pay stated rate. Everyone agrees, but when I go to show a house by a FSBO, and when a Seller tells me, "No", when I inform Buyers, most Buyers say, "Oh I don't want the hassle." I don't care either way, my fee is still a cost in the transaction.

4) The biggest reasons that agents and anyone in business fails is many do NOT like conflict, many do NOT like solicitations, and many hate asking for money. That's why people love stated prices with everything. That's why many people don't like going to estate sales where are no prices. Most hate to haggle. I love to haggle, let's do this!

5) I see a lot more lawsuits against Sellers for misrepresentation, and hiding material defects. Real estate agents are going to have contracts that are going to save their bacon, the rest are going to flap in the wind.

6) Who stands to lose the most? Buyers because they won't know what they are signing, few actually read contracts so why do we think that will change?

In the end, I will adapt whichever way it goes, but I don't think many have really thought this out.

Listing in the spring brings more tire kickers versus listing in the fall, not necessarily better buyers. A higher factor is where are the interest rates and whether the list price is appropriate. If the list price is pushing the envelope high as is usual fashion in Portland Metro, it will just sit without many showings at all, until price is lowered, all the while teetering on the "what's wrong with it" days-on-market pendulum . With so much inventory currently on the market, there are lots of choices for buyers. Most Sellers want today's prices with the buyers that existed 2-3 years ago. Whenever I see a home go fast, I often see a home underpriced versus sales comps. Most of the time prices start higher, then are pushed down for urgency and lack of movement.

Whether or not your offer is appropriate is relative. You might just offer they buy, if they can get financing and you offer to pay some of their closing costs, as this often happens with a Realtor too. Most people I talk with don't end up selling once they truly consider how much it costs, unless they are moving out of the area. If you still want to do that, options I offer, 1) if you want to sell the home FSBO, I can put it in the MLS for a low few, 2) Realtor Walk-Away Full-Service Option. Feel free to call me.

@James Robert What is the point? To say you have $300k? Yes you can sell your primary, but where are you going to live? Gotta live somewhere.

Once you figure that out, then you will know if it is worth it.

In my market, once rates come down, prices are going to shoot up, we just don't know when. Maybe that is same for your market?