Why Pay a Commission?
It has generally been true that many people wonder, especially when home prices have skyrocketed, why they should pay a commission to a real estate professional or work with a mortgage professional when there are cheaper ways to buy, sell or finance a home.
It has generally been true that many people wonder, especially when home prices have skyrocketed, why they should pay a commission to a real estate professional or work with a mortgage professional when there are cheaper ways to buy, sell or finance a home. The reader won’t be surprised that this article argues for making the best possible use of your real estate and mortgage advisors. In fact, several such articles will be found in these pages as time goes by.
The first thing that needs to be said is: Good point. Real estate and finance advisors are generally paid quite well for their services and the size of the payment rises as the price of homes rise.
But there is much to say here and little space. The first point that needs to be made is simply that a large number of very reliable surveys have shown in recent years that the proceeds from the sale of a home are significantly larger when a real estate professional assists in that sale. And that’s after paying the commission.
As real estate prices have risen, the complexity of the transaction has taken quantum leaps. Most home sellers and buyers have found that they save money, rather than paying more, by calling on the services of a trusted real estate and mortgage advisor. That’s the bottom line. For more information call Beth at 425- 450-5208 and visit her website at www.bethbillington.com.
I’m a big fan of Redfin (http://www.redfin.com/), and I look forward to them providing great competitive commission rates across the country to the traditional brokers. (If your not familiar Redfin, refunds 2% of the commission price back to the buyer…in a sellers case, it is a flat $4,000 fee to list with Redfin).
With the accessibility of the Internet, users can research properties on their own, and there really is not as much of a need for agents to do as much work for the customer as they once needed.
There is still much need for brokers and their expertise! I just think that some customers are more informed than others. Not every broker deserves a 3% commission.
I look forward to seeing what happens in the coming years, as technology places a very important role in the real estate market!