patrick.net

Liz Pendens says

That’s the thing with these leeches - they are ‘experts’ when you question the amount of their commission, claim they know all the unfathomable ‘intricacies’ of selling a house that you supposedly shouldn’t even try to market on your own. BTW, in NY they learn all this through a 40 hr. class that requires no HS diploma prerequisite

Getting a real estate license in CA is one notch above a barbers.

thomas.wong1986 says

Getting a real estate license in CA is one notch above a barbers.

Full time barber/cosmetology schools take 9 months: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_education_and_training_is_required_to_become_a_barber

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070219095128AAr0JAB
Full time Realtor Courses can take as long as 67 hours.

elliemae says

Full time Realtor Courses can take as long as 67 hours.

True, but not really relevant.

Success for a realtor is performance based. I'm sure each person in their area has noticed that although most realtors seem to be of modest means, there are a few who consistently make a healthy 6 figure income. If you can sell you are successful, level of education has nothing to do with it. Now some highly educated people may be bothered by the high earning realtors. After all, when one puts all that effort into getting an engineering degree, one should make lots more dough than the non-graduate who cannot even sum moments about a point or calculate geometric dilution of precision.

And like most successful sales people, the key to success is charm. That is, the customer likes the salesman, and is convinced the saleman likes him back. Such a good buddy saleman will certainly consider this client special, and put the client's interest ahead of his own.

So Burritos, when you say this hard working realtor (who puts you first) says a house is overpriced or has a bad smell, are you sure she is not just steering you to houses that has a better commission split? Will she tell you about a good deal she sees that happens to be "For Sale by Owner?" Now it could be that she is a bit enlighted, and does not want to sell you a dog if that means losing your future business.

I do not dislike realtors, but it is important to realize who they are and the inherent conflict of interest when you deal with them.

elliemae says

Actually, he’d be a schmegegge.

Nice comment from the "I don't call people names" lady. LOL

Tenouncetrout says

So in that context, what they are doing is nothing short of Fraud, I wish there was a Government that gave a good greasy crank for me to report them to.

Tenouncetrout says

So in that context, what they are doing is nothing short of Fraud, I wish there was a Government that gave a good greasy crank for me to report them to.

There is: contact the real estate commission in your state. Be prepared for them to respond with a good laugh. Look up the meaning of the word "fraud." What happened to you isn't fraud. But of course, you won't agree. What you don't know is that information available in the MLS typically has nothing in it regarding the condition of the property. That's why you have to VISIT the property for yourself. Your ranting in here sounds like a tempestuous little child that has been wronged, when in fact you haven’t been wronged at all. You only think you’ve been. Someone needs to tell you this for your own good: if this is the type of thing that gets you all riled up, you need to chill out a little and get a life.

Duh Mr. Freakin Obvious, so what you are effectively telling me, is you bring nothing to the home buying equation, other than sending me a link I found before you did. If I can find these homes, go look at them and decide if I want them or not. They why can't I contact the Selling agent direct? Why do we need two Realtors?

Why do we even need "ONE", with the internet, making sure you get your listing to a larger audience.
The internet is 1000% more efficient than a team of Realtors could ever be. Even City tax records are on line. I can find leins, tax troubles, I have to inspect my self. In fact with the invention of the Internet, we are doing 100% of Realtors job. The only work you have to do is sweat your bills, until a sucker calls for you, because the system is so rigged now we have to.

I wouldn't be surprised if either one of two things happens.
People start recognizing the ridiculousness of having a Realtor when the internet makes them redundant. There will be a call to review how RE is sold. Especially as more and more homeowners have to continue shaving value off their still over inflated houses. When the Governments interference in the free market stops. They are not going to be so happy having dead weight ridding the Coat tail, when they can list a house them selves, or at least demand the ability to do so.

But I suspect by that time, the NAR will go to Washington and give Congress a Hand-job, to get them to protect MLS listings from the internet from our prying eyes. It's hard for the Wizard to control the effect, when every one can see.

elliemae says

Sure, his time is worth more. But he’s investing money, sight unseen, based on someone who only gets paid if he buys something. And ultimately, she’s not liable if she’s wrong about something and he’s stuck with a negligible asset.
I’m glad he likes his realtor and that he’s happy. Maybe she is awesome. I actually helped someone about a week ago to list his house in another state. He’s not able to travel and can’t do it himself. There’s no family to help him out. But do I trust realtors as a group? Hell no.

It would take a prohibitive amount of time, effort and money for me to fly out there back and forth to check out every property I might consider. Most of these properties are either short sales or bank owned and my going out there doesn't guarantee me a sale. I know that most here would advise against 99% all RE investments and 110% of all RE investments outside of your state. I understand the buying sight unseen perspective. But I have over a million bucks in in stocks and mutual funds. I've never visited any of these companies or spoke to any fund managers or CEOs. I doubt Steve Jobs would return my email if I had a question about why the stock is doing this or that. Good thing I bought it in 1997 without visiting the headquarters. Maybe that's foolish too. I guess I'm a tool for not spending all my time on DD for all my investments. So with my RE investments, I'm glad I can have instant feedback from my realtor and property manager whenever I have a question or need an issue/problem managed. This gives me a lot of free time, time I can spend with my toddler and newborn.

Last year my wife and I were looking for a house to purchase (this was before I snapped out of the "Home Ownership Trance") . I got a Realtor recommendation from an acquaintance.

She was very nice. She asked what areas we were looking into and what we were looking for in a home. She gave us all the listings in nice organized packets and would chauffeur us around to show the properties. She did a good job picking houses that fit our taste. She gave us good information on taxes. She was never pushy and seemed very honest.

But that's all she really did. I actually already knew what the tax rates were. She couldn't answer any specifics about the properties other than what was on the sheet or what was right in front of us already. I was actually much more familiar with the area than she was (I had to guide her to the correct streets many times). The houses she did pick for us, I already saw online many times. I asked her questions about the area that I already knew, but she wasn't able to answer them.

Now finding the properties and preparing all the information for us to review is certainly work. Driving us around was nice too. But is it worth 3% of the purchase price (over 3 grand in our case)? No way.

In the end, I realized that I did not have to be a home-owner and be a debt slave (thanks to this site). I'm now renting a decent house in the same area for much less than what I would be paying for a mortgage and taxes. But my experience with the Realtor was a good learning experience. I realized I don't need one as a buyer, especially in an area I'm familiar with.

Burritos' realtor is the proverbial exception that proves the rule: You should generally not trust any realtor.

I'm always surprised by people who do not understand the difference between "there exists" and "for all", in the mathematical sense. These may be strange concepts if you have not heard of them, but they are also intuitive. To wit:

Just because there exists ONE realtor that has not screwed you, it does not imply that ALL realtors will not screw you. There is no logical connection between the two. And in fact, the evidence is that most realtors will screw you if that is what it takes to earn a commission.

The San Diego fake-runaway-Prius guy was, you guessed it, a realtor.
At least he probably wasn't smug (obscure joke alert).

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Submitted by FormerOwner on March 12, 2010 - 11:56pm

"We did some public records searches (thanks to the help of Gawker's John Cook) and found Sikes and his wife Patty found themselves, like many in the California real estate business, on the bursting side of the real estate bubble last year. The two declared bankruptcy in June of 2008 and have a combined liability of over $700,000 dollars in debt."

http://jalopnik.com/5491101/did-bankrupt...

Another example of why only a realtor can be trusted to help you make the biggest purchase of your life!

---

elliemae says

thomas.wong1986 says

Getting a real estate license in CA is one notch above a barbers.

Full time barber/cosmetology schools take 9 months: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_education_and_training_is_required_to_become_a_barber
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070219095128AAr0JAB
Full time Realtor Courses can take as long as 67 hours.

HeadSet says

True, but not really relevant.

It was relevent to the comment about barbers.

I do realize that a realtor's pay is performance-based. I get it that they only make money when they sell a property. However, they aren't marketing professionals IMHO. They're opportunists. They list a home, then sit waiting for someone to buy it. They also drive people around, help them write offers on pre-printed forms and refer them to lawyers if they need legal advice, inspectors for inspections, and title companies for closing. I've yet to meet a realtor who is worth paying the 6% fee for this service when I can make phone calls myself.

In the case of Burritos, he's satisfied with his purchases and trusts his realtor - but he posted this on a housing crash board that is decidedly anti-realtor. He started by saying, "There’s been a lot of bashing of realtors on this board and often justly so."

We should all "stick it" to the realtors by taking a weekend class and getting our own realtor license and earning the 6% ourselves ! We all have computers and cell phones, what do we need realtors for ?

Power to the People !

End The Fed.

^ I took the first class in the sequence last year at a CC. Reasonably useful, but it's probably more time efficient just taking the classes online.

The salesperson license requirements have been upped since 2006, now you need 3 courses to sit for the test.
The broker's license is 8 courses and if you have a 4-year degree you don't need salesperson experience.

AFAICT just being a salesperson is kinda useless, you still need to work under a broker, which unless you know someone isn't free.

For buying, I would think the best strategy to save the realtor® markup is to contact the owner directly and tell him you will make a binding offer after his current listing agreement expires. Realtors® can only "earn" commissions off of the potential victims they name upon contract termination.

justme says

The San Diego fake-runaway-Prius guy was, you guessed it, a realtor.

At least he probably wasn’t smug (obscure joke alert).

Bwhahahahahahahaahahahahahahaah!!!! Good one!

—-
Submitted by FormerOwner on March 12, 2010 - 11:56pm
“We did some public records searches (thanks to the help of Gawker’s John Cook) and found Sikes and his wife Patty found themselves, like many in the California real estate business, on the bursting side of the real estate bubble last year. The two declared bankruptcy in June of 2008 and have a combined liability of over $700,000 dollars in debt.”
http://jalopnik.com/5491101/did-bankrupt…
Another example of why only a realtor can be trusted to help you make the biggest purchase of your life!
—

elliemae says

elliemae says

thomas.wong1986 says

Getting a real estate license in CA is one notch above a barbers.

Full time barber/cosmetology schools take 9 months: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_education_and_training_is_required_to_become_a_barber

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070219095128AAr0JAB

Full time Realtor Courses can take as long as 67 hours.

HeadSet says

True, but not really relevant.

It was relevent to the comment about barbers.
I do realize that a realtor’s pay is performance-based. I get it that they only make money when they sell a property. However, they aren’t marketing professionals IMHO. They’re opportunists. They list a home, then sit waiting for someone to buy it. They also drive people around, help them write offers on pre-printed forms and refer them to lawyers if they need legal advice, inspectors for inspections, and title companies for closing. I’ve yet to meet a realtor who is worth paying the 6% fee for this service when I can make phone calls myself...

There is another creature on Earth that hunts the same way that RealWhores do... It's called a spider.