Realtors list the house for what you want to sell it for. They can give you advice, but you don't have to follow it.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show QuoteHere is a portion of my rant on Realtors. (And screw off if you start reading this thinking I'm saying "all Realtors = bad").
It's too easy to become a realtor and it attracts the wrong kind of lazy people who think they can #MakeMoneyFromHome which leads to WAY too many Realtors overall which their association shouldn't allow because it's too hard for that number of them to make a living at it.
Aside from word of mouth, there's no good way to pick a realtor and no one has that option when moving to a new city they've never lived in. So there are signs on buses and billboards and hot females who scrape by selling only a few houses a year because many people can't weed out the lazy, part timers.
There's a fundamental dichotomy in saying "I'm the best listing agent because I can sell your house for the most money" when your other brochure says "I'm the best buying agent because I can bargain you into a house below market value". Plus, their fee is a % of the selling price so it's also tough to argue any of them want to see houses selling well under listed prices.
Here's where many many of them really get greasy... They undervalue houses to make quick sales which makes them appear like marketing geniuses when all they really did was give your house away. That's stealing from clients and it needs to stop but it won't because they are rewarded for it. That quick sale only cost the realtor a few hundred bucks from their overall commission but now they can brag "I am expert cuz I sell your house in average <7 days!!!" No shit you did! I can sell my Volk TE37's for $1,000 cash money in 10 minutes if I wanted to. It doesn't make me a gifted seller, it makes me an idiot for leaving money on the table. But... If the money I'm leaving on the table wasn't mine - I am motivated to care a lot less.
Three of these "esteemed professionals" tried to list the last house I sold. Each told me it was worth $30k-$50k less than what I wanted (and knew) it would sell for. I used a friend who had a realty license. He charged me less than half the standard fee and my house sold for more than 15% higher than the three other "esteemed professionals" said they would list it for. Three of them tried to get me to walk away from tens of thousands of dollars. My house also sold within the average selling time period. I didn't need to sell it in a 48hr bidding war to pay back a loan shark before he cut off my fingers. It sold in less than 90 days and in the winter.
So the industry really needs to clean itself up and their professional association needs to take a lot of this blame. I'm glad there are excellent Realtors but there are far too many predators and instead of the association dealing with it, they are trying to cling to their Golden Goose while new undercutting vultures are moving in to correct their market share.
*AGAIN - no hurt feelings reports needed from any Realtors in this board. I'm not painting YOU with this brush. I don't know any of you but I sure remember who tried to screw me and I refused to lay down and take it. I'm tens of thousands "richer" now for it.