Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve
syracusa - If you are sure you know exactly what you want and have the time and knowledge to fully evaluate potential homes on your own, that's terrific. Don't use an agent.
Many people, however, myself included, don't fit that description. When we bought our house, we were first-time home buyers. We didn't know the first thing about the process. I seriously doubt that we would have ended up with the home we got without the help of our agent. We both work full time. Neither of us had the time to search listings, make phone calls, schedule appointments, map out routes for viewings, etc. The agent took care of all of that for us. He gave us info about the neighborhoods, traffic patterns, local schools, etc. Lots of stuff that would have been very difficult to learn on our own without a great deal of effort. A good agent knows the area and is prepared to answer any questions you have not just about a particular house but about the area in general that can help a lot in making your purchase decision.
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I understand that very well. But this is a choice you made for yourself, that furthered your own interests, and the person you buy from should not have to pay
anything that would go towards your REA's commission. That was my point.
However, on a side note, it is interesting to see the kind of luxuries that people in this country can still afford, even during a so-called "recession" - which is to get involved with middle men who cost them a lot - just because they do not think they have the time, disposition, knowledge, etc to decide what kind of house they are looking for and to do the search for themselves. People in other parts of the world work full-time jobs too and deal with quite heavy households, problems, complications and responsibilities; and yet, they cringe at the thought of paying such huge commissions to real estate agencies, so they learn to do the job for themselves when they get on the market to buy/sell. They simply have the guts to go to the buyer/seller and say "I am interested but please keep agents out". When everyone has that mindset, then the middle man is eliminated.
When you think about these commissions that REA end up with...how much time, work and moderation would it take for an average Joe to just save that kind of money for himself? Those are not pennies we are talking about, right?
I still think it is irrational behavior but I respect someone's choice to hire an agent. I just would like to NOT be forced to pay for their choice.