Not to worry, you’re not alone in this ugly housing market…and…there’s some terrific news coming your way today.

This blog is for sellers who want to save as much of their hard-earned equity they can, and, for buyers who want the best deal they can get. Hang on, you will definitely like the ride…this blog site will be worth thousands of dollars to you!

The market is, and has been changing on a near daily basis. If you had the opportunity to read Malcolm Gladwell’s book, "The Tipping Point," you’ll be ahead of the curve on what we’re about to discuss. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you do.The real estate business is nearing it’s tipping point, a point at which it goes in an entirely different direction.

Big brokers in the business are having trouble with their bottom lines. All the marble, expensive woods and elaborate buildings have to be paid for - paid for by the real estate sellers and buyers, via the enormous commissions these firms charge their clients.  The real estate selling and buying public is better informed now…they’re no longer so willing to ‘kick in’ for these broker luxuries.

Big realty firms are constantly recruiting as they have been for years.  But today, many new, independent brokerages are offering the agents they recruit, 90% to 100% of the listing or selling agent’s commission. This, opposed to the old 50% to 75% commissions most of the bigger brokers pay their agents. New ball game; agents are no longer fooled by the "flag waving" brokers. They realize - they are also paying for the elaborate bricks ‘n morter, via their watered-down commissions.

Behind the curtain, you’ll find some other reasons that agents are leaving, or not joining these brokers.  The brokers often prevent their agents from accepting less than a certain % of commission, set by the brokerage house, for the agent’s listing or for the agent selling another broker’s listing.  In these cases, the agent can’t negotiate.  Most any professional agent can see a good number of situations where the need for negotiating a lower commission is reasonable.

Years ago, real estate brokers and agents had a coveted list of homes for sale. The general public didn’t know where to find these.  When you were looking for a home, there was no internet to search on.  You called or walked into a real estate office and an agent would show you addresses and pictures of what they had for sale.  Quite a powerful card they held…you were "captive" to their system.  It’s different now, isn’t it?  Most statistical sources today say…that well over 80% of home searching is done on the internet.

When a traditional realtor talks to a prospective listing customer, they often extol on their sales record, claiming they sell X number of listings each year.  If you looked inside the record books, you’d find the average agent sells only 20% or less of their listings.  The majority are sold by other agents.  And where does this idea come from that agents sell homes?  Really?  Can anyone believe that an agent can talk someone into buying a home they don’t want?  The real truth is, "Homes sell themselves," people only buy homes they really like!  We don’t get sold…we buy.  And, the agent is greatly rewarded for the decision we make. If you’re a buyer who received a part of the agent’s commission when you bought…you’re in the minority…most buyers don’t get a penny from their realtor.  That needs changing!

Sellers are often impressed when a realtor tells them, "we’ll do X open houses for you."  The truth is; very few homes are sold as a result of an "open house."  Recent stats on this, claim; less than 7% of homes are sold as a result of an open house.  More truth, when I worked in a traditional realtor out of a large broker’s office, the more seasoned agents would put up notice that they had a home some other agent could do an open house in.  Why didn’t the listing agents want to do them?  I’ll tell you more and show you some behind the scenes evidence that open houses are a waste of time.  Look for that info on 8/25.

There’s a lot to cover folks, and…we’ll get it done.  We’re sure that when you’re better informed, you’ll be in a position to save thousands of dollars of equity and get cash back at closing for participating in a property search.

Respectfully,

Ed Klein

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 11:37 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.