Realtor Rant
So, during the time the big house was being sold, I came home one day after it had been shown to a prospective buyer only to discover that someone had taken my Martin D-28 guitar from its case and made two significant dings on the top. Now, that anyone would remove your guitar from its case without your permission is the mental equivalent of rape. And, to physically damage the instrument without accepting responsibility is downright callous and cowardly. I was, needless to say, less than pleased.
Yesterday I took the instrument to our excellent local luthier, Ben Runkle, for repairs. One ding was cosmetic but the second had resulted in a small crack in the wood grain. Both are repairable ... for a fee, of course. So sez I to me, "Why not call the realtor for restitution since the damage occurred on their watch?"
Well, you can just imagine how that went. Their insurance does not cover damage to personal property, blah, blah, blah. And, then came the utterance that really frosted my cake: "Besides, how would we know that it happen when the house was being shown?"
Meltdown.
I counted to 10 ... twice ... before saying "Well, guess you will just have to take my word on that."
I didn't say "Just like I trusted you to actually be holding the escrow when I signed the contract when, in fact, you didn't have it."
And I didn't say " Just like I trusted you to get the proceeds of the sale into my account when, in fact, it didn't happen until weeks later."
I did say that I would never again use a realtor to sell real property and that the fees they charge these days are grossly excessive for the services rendered.
And, I did say that it's downright criminal that the seller pays the commission of the agent representing the buyer. Whereupon the realtor sez, "Well, it has always been that way." To which I replied, "No, it has not always been that way and, in fact, in the days when commission were much lower, the realtor represented only the seller."
This realtor thing these days is a total scam. The going rate is 2.4% for the seller's agent and 2.4% for the buyer's agent, the total 4.8% being paid by the seller. That comes to $4800 on a $100,000 house and $48,000 on a $1,000,000. No way is it $41,200 more expensive to sell a $1,000,000 house than a $100,000 house. Not even the lawyers are that unreasonable with their fees! In fact, it makes the legal beavers look like downright good guys.
Of course the realtor's response about the seller paying the buyer's fee was that you are going to pay for it either way, meaning, as a charge to the selling price or as a reduction in selling price. Whereupon I replied that that ain't necessarily so because if buyer and seller have the good sense to avoid realtors altogether, we both save 2.4%.
What would seem reasonable to me is for realtors get paid a fee commensurate with their efforts. That means something less than a flat percentage of the selling price. Something in the range of, say, $2,000. And, of course, the realtor would work only for the seller who pays the fee. If the buyer wants to hire an agent, they would be free to do so on their own nickle. Is it really worth 2.4% for you to ride in a realtor's Lexus and look at houses? Not even a ride in an undertaker's limo is that expensive.
What's that I see? Oh, it's just steam rising from the headquarters of the NC Association of Realtors up in Greensboro.
Nothing to worry about, folks. Happens all the time in an alligator swamp.
Realtors.
Yuck!
Yesterday I took the instrument to our excellent local luthier, Ben Runkle, for repairs. One ding was cosmetic but the second had resulted in a small crack in the wood grain. Both are repairable ... for a fee, of course. So sez I to me, "Why not call the realtor for restitution since the damage occurred on their watch?"
Well, you can just imagine how that went. Their insurance does not cover damage to personal property, blah, blah, blah. And, then came the utterance that really frosted my cake: "Besides, how would we know that it happen when the house was being shown?"
Meltdown.
I counted to 10 ... twice ... before saying "Well, guess you will just have to take my word on that."
I didn't say "Just like I trusted you to actually be holding the escrow when I signed the contract when, in fact, you didn't have it."
And I didn't say " Just like I trusted you to get the proceeds of the sale into my account when, in fact, it didn't happen until weeks later."
I did say that I would never again use a realtor to sell real property and that the fees they charge these days are grossly excessive for the services rendered.
And, I did say that it's downright criminal that the seller pays the commission of the agent representing the buyer. Whereupon the realtor sez, "Well, it has always been that way." To which I replied, "No, it has not always been that way and, in fact, in the days when commission were much lower, the realtor represented only the seller."
This realtor thing these days is a total scam. The going rate is 2.4% for the seller's agent and 2.4% for the buyer's agent, the total 4.8% being paid by the seller. That comes to $4800 on a $100,000 house and $48,000 on a $1,000,000. No way is it $41,200 more expensive to sell a $1,000,000 house than a $100,000 house. Not even the lawyers are that unreasonable with their fees! In fact, it makes the legal beavers look like downright good guys.
Of course the realtor's response about the seller paying the buyer's fee was that you are going to pay for it either way, meaning, as a charge to the selling price or as a reduction in selling price. Whereupon I replied that that ain't necessarily so because if buyer and seller have the good sense to avoid realtors altogether, we both save 2.4%.
What would seem reasonable to me is for realtors get paid a fee commensurate with their efforts. That means something less than a flat percentage of the selling price. Something in the range of, say, $2,000. And, of course, the realtor would work only for the seller who pays the fee. If the buyer wants to hire an agent, they would be free to do so on their own nickle. Is it really worth 2.4% for you to ride in a realtor's Lexus and look at houses? Not even a ride in an undertaker's limo is that expensive.
What's that I see? Oh, it's just steam rising from the headquarters of the NC Association of Realtors up in Greensboro.
Nothing to worry about, folks. Happens all the time in an alligator swamp.
Realtors.
Yuck!
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