Battle to Unlock Housing Market - RE Agents Watch Out

[JordanLotoski]

Originally posted by sputnik
I recently bought an older home and have come to the conclusion that if it wasn't for the MLS monopoly realtors do little to help buyers and sellers.

We sold our house with a realtor. Now he may have done a great job with the paperwork he didn't exactly do much other than create the MLS listing and schedule showings. So after 18 days on the market it was sold and $17,000 was dispersed between the buying and selling realtor.

When we were buying our house the realtor did even LESS.

They have a system called Keystone Matrix now and essentially they plug in a bunch of data and the website filters out MLS for you and sends an email notification when there is a new listing. We would look through the listings and call him to let him know which houses we wanted to look at. Other than accompanying us to the listings he did very little work.

As fate would have it we ended up buying a private sale which basically went like this...

- Visited the open house (which had 20-30 groups of people visit)
- Met and talked with the owners
- Had our lawyer draft an offer letter ($125)
- Submitted the letter to the owner
- Owners accepted and we signed it then they sent it to their lawyer
- Had our lawyer complete the paperwork prior to possession ($600)
- Moved in on our possession date.

So how exactly are realtors worth the money?

Sounds like you had the wrong agent.

Heres my plan with sellers

-meet client to view home

-go over staging ideas and preping the home for sale, forcasting the demographic that will be most likely buying the home (staging for that age group.

-Going over all comparable comps to ensure home is priced right

-arrange professional photography so that the mls listing looks absolutly perfect.

-Drop off professional quality feature sheets

-arrange open houses

-keep client informed once possibly twice a week on market conditions and whats sold

-arrange all showings wtih seller

-the biggest one is when an offer comes in the negotiation of the offer.

-I dont fluff no bullshit anything about the sale or their home, I tell it how it is so there are no false expectations. You can ask any one of my clients.

Sure most of you think you can do everything stated above, the one difference is i work and live this industry. I know most neighborhoods like the back of my hand i know wht factors will influence the sale of your home

For the buyer

-As a buyers agent its not about selling just a house to my clients its about selling an investment. I want that inventment not only to be suitable for my buyer to live in for the next 3-5 years but to be great investment for the future. I have talked my clients out of lots of homes based on location or floorplan. Over the years I have made my clients alot of money based on getting them into the "right" home.

So I think when you say why do we need realtors...I guess "you" dont, perhaps your grouped in the 2% of people that are confident to take the largest investment of their lives and sell it. the other 98% of the population would rather leave it in the hands of a professional who lives , breaths, sleeps real estate as i do.

If you think there is no need for real estate agent perhaps there is no need for any sort of sales job, in fact iam sure we could cut 50% of the jobs and replace them with some sort of vending machines and or computer programs.

We are here and will continue to be here for those who choose to use our services. As posted above about being able to list and sell your home for 1000.00 on mls. That can all be done now. Call COM FREE they will provide those services for you. I always look at it this way, if i was to ever get a divorce you can bet your ass i wouldnt be using the COM FREE of divorce lawyers. Id be using the best damn lawyer in the city with hops that lawyer would looks after my best interests and get me everything iam entiltled to.

One last question. Whats your address and what did you pay. Ill do a little reasearch to see if you could have benifited from the services of not just a realtor but a good realtor.

[JordanLotoski]

Also if you feel there is no use for realtors you wont be needing the useful information I provide in my theads, information that you have requested from a useless realtor



http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...=&pagenumber=9 (see last post)

haha iam just messing with you.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by JordanLotoski
Also if you feel there is no use for realtors you wont be needing the useful information I provide in my theads, information that you have requested from a useless realtor



http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=9 (see last post)

haha iam just messing with you.

rofl. nothing like asking for help, then bashing the person that helps you.

[JordanLotoski]

Heres another way to think about it guys.

The MLS is a privately owned website, owned by CREA. All CREA has to do to allow the general public access to their website is charge for use. Could be a annual fee or monthly fee. whos to say that fee cant be 1000's of dollars. Which will give the public no guarantee that they will sell their home so most will hire a realtor over aking a risk of going FSBO and losing money.

There is no way CREA will roll over and die. They will be fighting this for years.

It would be like any other paid website on the web

[barmanjay]

Well Said Jordan!

[Redlyne_mr2]

A good realtor is worth their weight in gold.

[barmanjay]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
A good realtor is worth their weight in gold.

..... and drives a JAAAAAAAG!!!

[sputnik]

Originally posted by JordanLotoski
Also if you feel there is no use for realtors you wont be needing the useful information I provide in my theads, information that you have requested from a useless realtor



http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=9 (see last post)

haha iam just messing with you.

I had no choice.

That information isn't available to the general public.

The monopoly FORCES us to use realtors to get market information.

Open up the MLS database and the need for a realtor drops dramatically.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by JordanLotoski
Heres another way to think about it guys.

The MLS is a privately owned website, owned by CREA. All CREA has to do to allow the general public access to their website is charge for use. Could be a annual fee or monthly fee. whos to say that fee cant be 1000's of dollars. Which will give the public no guarantee that they will sell their home so most will hire a realtor over aking a risk of going FSBO and losing money.

There is no way CREA will roll over and die. They will be fighting this for years.

It would be like any other paid website on the web

Then let the general public have access to the MLS information.

How much do you pay per month to have access to it?

[JordanLotoski]

Originally posted by sputnik


Then let the general public have access to the MLS information.

How much do you pay per month to have access to it?

Id say my fees are about 12-15k per year which includes Maxwell, CREB and Arix (which is our insurance fund)

Its a privately owned site. i dont know how the government can force them to let the public use it for free. CREA will want a hefty fee for the public to use it, the average joe ill not pay and either use one of the discount brokrages and get bare bones service, welist or contact an agent.

.

[JordanLotoski]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
A good realtor is worth their weight in gold.

Thanks. I feel the same with any good sales person in any industry.

[Fivewayradio]

Originally posted by JordanLotoski



Sounds like you had the wrong agent.

Heres my plan with sellers

-meet client to view home

-go over staging ideas and preping the home for sale, forcasting the demographic that will be most likely buying the home (staging for that age group.

-Going over all comparable comps to ensure home is priced right

-arrange professional photography so that the mls listing looks absolutly perfect.

-Drop off professional quality feature sheets

-arrange open houses

-keep client informed once possibly twice a week on market conditions and whats sold

-arrange all showings wtih seller

-the biggest one is when an offer comes in the negotiation of the offer.

-I dont fluff no bullshit anything about the sale or their home, I tell it how it is so there are no false expectations. You can ask any one of my clients.

Sure most of you think you can do everything stated above, the one difference is i work and live this industry. I know most neighborhoods like the back of my hand i know wht factors will influence the sale of your home

For the buyer

-As a buyers agent its not about selling just a house to my clients its about selling an investment. I want that inventment not only to be suitable for my buyer to live in for the next 3-5 years but to be great investment for the future. I have talked my clients out of lots of homes based on location or floorplan. Over the years I have made my clients alot of money based on getting them into the "right" home.

So I think when you say why do we need realtors...I guess "you" dont, perhaps your grouped in the 2% of people that are confident to take the largest investment of their lives and sell it. the other 98% of the population would rather leave it in the hands of a professional who lives , breaths, sleeps real estate as i do.

No one would say that what you do has no value. That's not the point. The point is that the consumer has only one choice. It's been said in this thread many times already: "if you don't like it, go fuck yourself". How is that possibly good for the consumer? What other service-based business can you get away with that attitude in?

Many of the things you said you do ARE valuable and best left to a pro, but many of them can be done by someone who's diligent and has done their homework. Some of those things can be done over the internet, and some of them are just busywork.

The problem is that the current system doesn't allow consumers access to information without holding them ransom for all the other services they may or may not need. Consumers should have access to information that allows them to make good decisions (and yes, they should pay for it if it's proprietary.) And based on that information they should have the choice to decide what they need, what they don't, and be able to pay for those services accordingly. The current model doesn't allow for that, which means the current model is broken. Obviously the REAs don't want to fix it.

And just an aside, you pulled numbers out of your ass to bolster your argument. If you're going to do that, please take the high road and back them up.

[Cos]

I agree, CREA does not have legistlation saying you cannot sell houses unless you sell through CREA/AREA/Etc, so how can they say the public must have access to it.

Same thing goes with ticketmaster, as much as I hate ticketmaster and most places have decided to go with ticketmaster I am stuck with them. However anyone with a good idea can come and put them out of business.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by JordanLotoski
Id say my fees are about 12-15k per year which includes Maxwell, CREB and Arix (which is our insurance fund)

That's nice. My barber pays $500/month for his chair at the salon, but it doesn't mean my sister can't cut my hair for me if she wants or that clippers can only be sold to certified hairstylists.

Just because you pay a hefty fee for your Maxwell brand and your CREB designation doesn't mean that the average homebuyer benefits that much from it. At the end of the day they are both businesses looking to make profit and currently that is the going rate.

Originally posted by JordanLotoski
Its a privately owned site. i dont know how the government can force them to let the public use it for free. CREA will want a hefty fee for the public to use it, the average joe ill not pay and either use one of the discount brokrages and get bare bones service, welist or contact an agent.

Of course it is a private site. No one is saying the information should be free. However access to see the previous sale prices or to see historical data shouldn't cost that much. Hell at even $100-200/month for access it could be a very valuable tool for a private seller. Unfortunately CREA is also a big business and are taking advantage of their monopoly by making certain data only available to those part of the CREA cartel.

[barmanjay]

Originally posted by sputnik


.......Unfortunately CREA is also a big business and are taking advantage of their monopoly by making certain data only available to those part of the CREA cartel.

Damn, I feel like I'm part of the Mob,.. LOL




You forget, the city has data made for the public to use,.. as well as previous sales stats and etc.

You have every opportunity to go there and get your information you are looking for.

[Stubby]

People are just damn well lazy and if they can't get spoon fed every piece of information that they would like, they bitch and complain about it until the sun goes down... especially if they get charged for it.

The world revolves around making a profit, know matter what you do.

Put yourself in the shoes of who governs the CREA and if you were asked to make everything public but it would cost X number of dollars in losses because it was once a paid premium, everyone would tell you to pound salt.

It has been said countless times, you can access all the information you generally need when buying/selling. All it takes is for you to get off your ass and make a couple phone calls.

Nothing is FREE in this world, especially on a corporate scale where millions of dollars is involved.

The same goes when people try and buy a car or w/e that is strictly commission and the person negotiates to death with you to get you down and down and down on the price. You are being disrespectful to their job to help you in your sales especially when the commission on the sale is their source of income. Most sales professionals will cut you a brake because they are making a profit. Some people will just try and get blood out of a stone and it comes down to it that people in society today are f***ing cheap and if they would kick you while you're down so they could save an extra buck.

/rant

sorry, just frustrating sometimes.

[extm88]

Well i would hate to think the + $10,000 000 that realtors will be paying in legal fees will go towards nothing.
If all you want is solds and current listings in a neighborhood contact 1 of the thousands realtors who offer this on bus stop benches or in Jordans thread. I dont think he charges for every person whom asks.
You can sell your home with a realtor for under $1000 on the list side if you wish. So cost to list is something that should not be a complaint.
2 of the biggest debates were just extinguished above.

[Fivewayradio]

Originally posted by Stubby


The same goes when people try and buy a car or w/e that is strictly commission and the person negotiates to death with you to get you down and down and down on the price. You are being disrespectful to their job to help you in your sales especially when the commission on the sale is their source of income. Most sales professionals will cut you a brake because they are making a profit. Some people will just try and get blood out of a stone and it comes down to it that people in society today are f***ing cheap and if they would kick you while you're down so they could save an extra buck.

/rant

sorry, just frustrating sometimes.

On saturday I sat at my dining table with some smug prick who was presenting a low-ball offer on my house. He spewed ten minutes worth of bullshit about his client's needs, the (lack of) value of my house, and all sort of other useless, random crap. All the while I sat there thinking that this fat, cheap cologne-wearing cocksucker, is trying to fuck me out of tens of thousands of dollars. He's insulting my property, my intelligence, my realtor's intelligence and he's trying to screw me out of my money because his cheapskate clients are vulturing for a deal. And on top of that, if I accept this offer, I'm paying a guy to pay this prick to lowball me! I'm actually paying a guy to pay another guy to fuck me out of my hard-earned money! I'm a fucking retard.

So really, that shit works both ways. Your sob story doesn't work here.

Oh, and the house sold yesterday for list price.

[Stubby]

Originally posted by Fivewayradio



On saturday I sat at my dining table with some smug prick who was presenting a low-ball offer on my house. He spewed ten minutes worth of bullshit about his client's needs, the (lack of) value of my house, and all sort of other useless, random crap. All the while I sat there thinking that this fat, cheap cologne-wearing cocksucker, is trying to fuck me out of tens of thousands of dollars. He's insulting my property, my intelligence, my realtor's intelligence and he's trying to screw me out of my money because his cheapskate clients are vulturing for a deal. And on top of that, if I accept this offer, I'm paying a guy to pay this prick to lowball me! I'm actually paying a guy to pay another guy to fuck me out of my hard-earned money! I'm a fucking retard.

So really, that shit works both ways. Your sob story doesn't work here.

Oh, and the house sold yesterday for list price.

That Realtor was most likely doing what his clients wanted him to do, thats their job, present the offer to the seller.

When it comes down to the low ball. If you concerned about paying your realtor the commission that gets split with the client that low balled you.. all you have to do is say no and tell them to pound salt, especially when you are losing money.

All in all, from what I gathered, you pretty much said what I said. You just made it more personal and wordy.


We are on the same page within reason

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by Fivewayradio



On saturday I sat at my dining table with some smug prick who was presenting a low-ball offer on my house. He spewed ten minutes worth of bullshit about his client's needs, the (lack of) value of my house, and all sort of other useless, random crap. All the while I sat there thinking that this fat, cheap cologne-wearing cocksucker, is trying to fuck me out of tens of thousands of dollars. He's insulting my property, my intelligence, my realtor's intelligence and he's trying to screw me out of my money because his cheapskate clients are vulturing for a deal. And on top of that, if I accept this offer, I'm paying a guy to pay this prick to lowball me! I'm actually paying a guy to pay another guy to fuck me out of my hard-earned money! I'm a fucking retard.

So really, that shit works both ways. Your sob story doesn't work here.

Oh, and the house sold yesterday for list price.

Where was YOUR realtor during this? if someone had done that last time I sold a house, my realtor would have shown them the door.