I'm going to try to buy a home

[hilary1617]

Does the listing agent still get the standard 6%? And how do Buyers’ Agents fees work? Based on how much work they do? How much they save you? Sales price? I just always assumed I couldn't afford one...and they didn’t seem to be standard in my (low rent?) neighborhoods.

The listing agent splits the commission with buyer's agent. There's no additional fee.

I've never heard of a situation where the actual commission (split between both agents) paid out was 6%, though that's sticker price / full retail. Usually they say it is 6% then automatically "discount" it to the actual price of 5% usually as a "favor" - makes the clients feel like they got a bargain.

In one case, my buyer's agent had me offer 10k less than I was going to offer on one condo. Then, her inspector told me about a dipstick tube problem that got me a free new water heater and also got me $5k credit for a brick wall that he felt should be removed. They wanted the earnest money right away and I didn't have it on hand. So she offered to loan it to me out of her own bank account. She saved me $15k and cost me nothing.

In another case, my buyer's agent got me my current perfect-for-us home, which had exactly one agents' viewing day (no public open house). There was a bidding war with six other couples and my offer was the second lowest $. Location is prime for knock down. Couple had lived here for 30 years and was heading to retire in California. She knew they wanted someone who would preserve the architecture - so she had us include an letter about our intentions with our offer. I don't recall what the top offer was, but probably $25k-30k more than what we offered. We gave them peace of mind and an offer to come visit and have tea in their garden when they wanted to come visit it. They took us up on it once. When we moved in, they left us a bottle of sparkling grape juice in the fridge as a welcome gift.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

The listing agent splits the commission with buyer's agent. There's no additional fee.

I've never heard of a situation where the actual commission (split between both agents) paid out was 6%, though that's sticker price / full retail. Usually they say it is 6% then automatically "discount" it to the actual price of 5% usually as a "favor" - makes the clients feel like they got a bargain.

In one case, my buyer's agent had me offer 10k less than I was going to offer on one condo. Then, her inspector told me about a dipstick tube problem that got me a free new water heater and also got me $5k credit for a brick wall that he felt should be removed. They wanted the earnest money right away and I didn't have it on hand. So she offered to loan it to me out of her own bank account. She saved me $15k and cost me nothing.

In another case, my buyer's agent got me my current perfect-for-us home, which had exactly one agents' viewing day (no public open house). There was a bidding war with six other couples and my offer was the second lowest $. Location is prime for knock down. Couple had lived here for 30 years and was heading to retire in California. She knew they wanted someone who would preserve the architecture - so she had us include an letter about our intentions with our offer. I don't recall what the top offer was, but probably $25k-30k more than what we offered. We gave them peace of mind and an offer to come visit and have tea in their garden when they wanted to come visit it. They took us up on it once. When we moved in, they left us a bottle of sparkling grape juice in the fridge as a welcome gift.

Good info, but now I see that we’re on different pages?

We have often had a regular real estate agent that was not the LISTING agent. (I am likely lacking the vocab.). The type of Exclusive Buyer Agent we last dealt with was the kind of agent who NEVER took listings.

Often those agents work for agencies that never take listing...as in this kind from Nerd Wallet:

• A real estate agent often works for a company that can represent both sides of a deal. In fact, agents are eager to show listings held by their firm first, before all others. The fact is, they represent the seller, not you.
• An exclusive buyer’s agent frequently works for a company that doesn’t even accept sellers’ listings. They have no incentive to show you particular properties, other than those that best suit your needs. That means the agent will also help you find homes that are for sale by owner. A typical real estate agent won’t do that.

 

[hilary1617]

Good info, but now I see that we’re on different pages?

We have often had a regular real estate agent that was not the LISTING agent. (I am likely lacking the vocab.). The type of Exclusive Buyer Agent we last dealt with was the kind of agent who NEVER took listings.

Often those agents work for agencies that never take listing...as in this kind from Nerd Wallet:

• A real estate agent often works for a company that can represent both sides of a deal. In fact, agents are eager to show listings held by their firm first, before all others. The fact is, they represent the seller, not you.
• An exclusive buyer’s agent frequently works for a company that doesn’t even accept sellers’ listings. They have no incentive to show you particular properties, other than those that best suit your needs. That means the agent will also help you find homes that are for sale by owner. A typical real estate agent won’t do that.

Interesting. We're not that fancy. I've never worked with an exclusive agent that wouldn't accept sellers' listings. Just the best regular realtor I could find. She did show us homes that were FSBO and also a number that weren't ever listed on MLS, so not sure what those arrangements were. I suppose that if we had selected a property that was for sale by owner, we would have compensated her ourselves @ 2.5% of the end price - and figured that in the math in any offer to the seller. Prior to purchasing our current home, we were shown about 40 properties. Only a handful were listed with her company and there was no push in that direction. It was purely about matching our specifications and price range.

Same with our last condo. Saw plenty of options; very few of which were listed with the agent's company.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Interesting. We're not that fancy. I've never worked with an exclusive agent that wouldn't accept sellers' listings. Just the best regular realtor I could find. She did show us homes that were FSBO and also a number that weren't ever listed on MLS, so not sure what those arrangements were. I suppose that if we had selected a property that was for sale by owner, we would have compensated her ourselves @ 2.5% of the end price - and figured that in the math in any offer to the seller. Prior to purchasing our current home, we were shown about 40 properties. Only a handful were listed with her company and there was no push in that direction. It was purely about matching our specifications and price range.

Same with our last condo. Saw plenty of options; very few of which were listed with the agent's company.

How’s LIAM?

Meanwhile, the agent for THIS house worked for a broker who had lots of regular agents. But our agent took no listings and I think there was one other who only represented buyers.

I’m not sure we felt any more protected when all was said and done. But when I get rich, Imma get me an Exclusive Buyer Agent for everything...houses to Rubbermaid products.

 

[hilary1617]

How’s LIAM?

Meanwhile, the agent for THIS house worked for a broker who had lots of regular agents. But our agent took no listings and I think there was one other who only represented buyers.

I’m not sure we felt any more protected when all was said and done. But when I get rich, Imma get me an Exclusive Buyer Agent for everything...houses to Rubbermaid products.

Liam is still in the OR. They came out at 4pm, said that all was well and they will give us another update at 6pm, so hopefully not too long before we have contact again.

I'm Chief Procurement Officer in our household. If I had an Exclusive Buyer's Agent, I would't know what to do with all that free time!

ETA: Liam is recovering well and we have the best outcome possible.

 

[LorettaLynn]

So if a home purchase works out, will you rent out a room to defray your costs? I’ve mostly lived in one bedroom joints so not an option for me, but could help your financial position a bit if the roomie is reliable.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I would consider it, definitely.

 

[hilary1617]

Re selling

There are a lot of gotchas. I bought a condo to take a job miles from my "home". One attraction was its' price compared to others of its' size and quality.


Turns out the developer kept more than 50% of the units for rentals. If greater than a certain percent of the development is not owner occupied.. you can't get an FHA mortgage, which, for all practical purposes, means the buyer cannot get a mortgage. This made it extremely difficult to sell, limiting me to the cash only low end buyer.


At the time I got my mortgage from Wells Fargo, which was later prosecuted for bad mortgage practices. In the interim between my buying and selling the condo, Wells Fargo got caught


Caveat emptor

Am confused by the Wells Fargo comment. Is your thought that they shouldn't have granted your mortgage? Or were they the condo owners at time of purchase and they didn't disclose the % of rental units? What could/should they have done differently?

 

[JackieOnLine]

Caveat emptor

truth

 

[hilary1617]

They should not have given me the mortgage... the property was not FHA qualified..it was just part of their , WF, effort to get as many mortgages as possible to bundle into financial instruments... the cause of the 2008 crisis

No great shakes if they were still giving them out when it came time to sell.. but by then it was after 2008, and the financial crisis highlighted bad mortgage practice.. and I was stuck with property that buyers could not mortgage

Now you can get a non FHA mortgage, there is no law against it... it's just harder to sell because fewer people qualify

Thanks, now I follow!

 

[JackieOnLine]

Have you determined that you like the area well enough and job market is good enough to be the area you’d want to remain In even if things change with your job, (you want a different one, etc)?

You could still sell and relocate but not quite as easily as if just renting.

It’s a hard decision for sure.

I've changed my mind about staying here - it's too far north and I'm in a Gorge, and the shady side to boot. there are people and things I like here, but it's not going to work. and I can't work with this boss indefinitely even if the work hours stablize.

my depression isn't going away and if I need to get new job - and I do - I might as well look somewhere with more sun.

I feel very lucky I have had enough PTO (so far) to make up for the low hours. I'm hoping to limp through this winter and by Spring be hardcore looking for a better job.

my company - which I do like - currently only has jobs where it's more cloudy and more expensive to live: Seattle and San Francisco.

so I expect to expand my search to other companies and to areas that are way too politically red to be comfortable - like most rural areas are. but if they are sunny, I will make it work.

like everyone else, I sure wish I knew what was going to happen with the pandemic. keep getting worse, I guess.

 

[southernlady]

I've changed my mind about staying here - it's too far north and I'm in a Gorge, and the shady side to boot. there are people and things I like here, but it's not going to work. and I can't work with this boss indefinitely even if the work hours stablize.

my depression isn't going away and if I need to get new job - and I do - I might as well look somewhere with more sun.

I feel very lucky I have had enough PTO (so far) to make up for the low hours. I'm hoping to limp through this winter and by Spring be hardcore looking for a better job.

my company - which I do like - currently only has jobs where it's more cloudy and more expensive to live: Seattle and San Francisco.

so I expect to expand my search to other companies and to areas that are way too politically red to be comfortable - like most rural areas are. but if they are sunny, I will make it work.

like everyone else, I sure wish I knew what was going to happen with the pandemic. keep getting worse, I guess.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[JackieOnLine]

thank you, I will need it - I've been making not so great decisions for years now!

one thing I know for sure, I will never again sign on to relocate for a "full time" job without asking them to gaurantee a minimum of hours. Hard to be sure, but if a job is rural enough that they consistently have to pay for traveling therapists, it seems like paying me 30 hours (or whatever they will agree to) even when caseload drops would save them money in the long run.

at least, that's the theory.

 

[Munchkin]

Just MY experience. My first house was a mobile home. Bought it for cheap because it was less than rent in the college town I lived in. I learned the hard way that a 40yo trailer was no bargain and past the normal end of it's lifespan. It had all sorts of problems. My friend Diane came to visit and she was taking a bath. Well, the unthinkable happened and the floor gave way. She, the hot water heater, and the bathtub ended up under the trailer. She was naked, of course. and being a cautious individual, had locked the door before she got in the tub. So she couldn't get back in the house....

Luckily, a neighbor gave her a blanket.

There is a reason mobile homes usually depreciate. Promise.

 

[DianaCox]

A reminder that the Phoenix area is REALLY sunny, lots of old people who need therapists, and the prices here are more reasonable than many other places. Probably house sharing with financially comfortable older people who want to not live alone is possible.

But the summers suck.