I sold mine by myself. I had and attorney draw up a sales agreement and look everything over. IIRC it was $150. This was sixteen years ago and things may have changed. But it was no problem back then.
I have bought and sold land several times. That wasn't a big thing. Never sold a home that way so I don't know for sure about them.
All that being said, if you have a good realtor they're worth it when buying for the most part. Unfortunately there's way more bad ones than good ones. So if you decide to use one do your homework. I personally have fired a few who couldn't quite get the heads out of thier rearends. Our last one worked her butt off for the comission she got. We looked at well over 100 homes before buying. Once again we were buying, not selling.
All that being said, if you have a good realtor they're worth it when buying for the most part. Unfortunately there's way more bad ones than good ones. So if you decide to use one do your homework. I personally have fired a few who couldn't quite get the heads out of thier rearends. Our last one worked her butt off for the comission she got. We looked at well over 100 homes before buying. Once again we were buying, not selling.
I am in the real estate business. As a builder/developer/investor, not as a realtor. I have gone from like many here desipising realtors, to thinking they are a necessary evil, to now and more correctly realizing that they can be an invaluable business partner.
Just as many of us have long standing relationships with business partners, so do realtors. They may have a client they have worked with for a long time that would be a potiential buyer for your property.
It is quite possible that you can sell your house faster and for more money using their services. And you can negotiate the fee up front too. I never give over 5% when listing a house and structure it as 3% to selling agent and 2% to listing agent. 4% cap if the listing agent is the selling agent.
Also, when I am buying a property that is a fsbo, I know I am going to immediately offer you less anyway. Usually owners always think their properties are worth more than they are.
So for all your supposed savings, you lose all of a professional's advertising, connections, the higher volume of traffic of potiential buyers. Plus you have to deal face to face with guys like me who love negotiating.
Just as many of us have long standing relationships with business partners, so do realtors. They may have a client they have worked with for a long time that would be a potiential buyer for your property.
It is quite possible that you can sell your house faster and for more money using their services. And you can negotiate the fee up front too. I never give over 5% when listing a house and structure it as 3% to selling agent and 2% to listing agent. 4% cap if the listing agent is the selling agent.
Also, when I am buying a property that is a fsbo, I know I am going to immediately offer you less anyway. Usually owners always think their properties are worth more than they are.
So for all your supposed savings, you lose all of a professional's advertising, connections, the higher volume of traffic of potiential buyers. Plus you have to deal face to face with guys like me who love negotiating.
A good realtor will get your house sold QUICKER and generally for a premium over what you can do yourself (That offsets some of that 6%).
I am not a realtor (although I own many properties) and I use realtors for all property sales...(I do purchase without a realtor, though)
I am not a realtor (although I own many properties) and I use realtors for all property sales...(I do purchase without a realtor, though)
I see the need for realtors... Though I still don't understand the need for a commission based payment as opposed to a fee based structure for certain levels of service.
Within certain price levels, do realtors not perform close to the same level of service? I understand higher costs for homes in the 500k+ range if they're having 'fancier' open houses with 'wine instead of bottled water' and the need for different types of contacts, but to charge someone twice the commission for doing the same thing just because their home is $250k instead of $125k seems a bit ludicrous to me.
Can one of the realtors on OSA give some insight to the different levels of service at different price points?
Within certain price levels, do realtors not perform close to the same level of service? I understand higher costs for homes in the 500k+ range if they're having 'fancier' open houses with 'wine instead of bottled water' and the need for different types of contacts, but to charge someone twice the commission for doing the same thing just because their home is $250k instead of $125k seems a bit ludicrous to me.
Can one of the realtors on OSA give some insight to the different levels of service at different price points?
I've used realtors in the past and not been satisfied with the ROI. We started doing it ourselves and have been much happier. We did a realtor free transaction on our current home and both parties came out thousands ahead. It really wasn't very hard once we did the reasearch.
Quite frankly, Oklahoma has done everything they can to discourage this. Our paperwork requirements are quadruple what's required in neighboring states. I'm sure there were perfectly plausible explanations for requiring all this paperwork, but the net result is job security and more profits for realtors and title companys.
I'm sure realtors work very hard to earn their money. But if you're a reasonably intelligent person, there's not enough value in their services to justify paying for one. JMO, YMMV
Quite frankly, Oklahoma has done everything they can to discourage this. Our paperwork requirements are quadruple what's required in neighboring states. I'm sure there were perfectly plausible explanations for requiring all this paperwork, but the net result is job security and more profits for realtors and title companys.
I'm sure realtors work very hard to earn their money. But if you're a reasonably intelligent person, there's not enough value in their services to justify paying for one. JMO, YMMV
I'm not aware of any private citizen being able to list their home on the Multilist system. Years ago before the crash I got a realtor's license for the purpose of flipping real estate and I had to be a member/pay annual fees, etc, in order to list and view properties on the multilist.
Has that somehow changed? I ask because the multilist is the #1 internet source of homes for sale.
Has that somehow changed? I ask because the multilist is the #1 internet source of homes for sale.
Oklahoma has a long and sordid history of enacting regulations to benefit service providers at the cost of buyers. In fact, the SCOTUS case validating a state's authority to do so came from Oklahoma. In Williamson v. Lee Optical, 348 U.S. 483 (1955), SCOTUS upheld an Oklahoma law prescribing that fitting of glasses (not eye exams, just the physical fitting) only be done by an ophthalmologist or optometrist. Needless to say, that benefits the MD/OD community by putting lower-cost opticians out of business.
Rent-seeking is alive and well in Oklahoma.
you still have to be licensed to use the MLS.
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