Nov 13, 2023

100% of buyers now shop for homes online, new report says

All homebuyers now use the internet to find a house, according to a
new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Why it matters: A bombshell verdict could upend America's broker fee
system, which has stayed about the same, even as house hunters
increasingly scroll listings online.
...
...
...
Driving the news: A federal jury found powerful trade group NAR
conspired with two of the country's largest brokerages to keep
commissions on home sales high,
...
...
Between the lines: One report predicted legal challenges could cut the
$100 billion a year paid in commissions by 30%, the Wall Street
Journal reports.

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/homebuyers-online-data-report-housing-market-nar

Via online shopping, a buyer's agent is really not needed....just
about 3% more to pay for a home/etc. I believe most/all state laws
have standardized the typical real estate contract

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JAB <here@is.invalid> wrote:

Via online shopping, a buyer's agent is really not needed....just
about 3% more to pay for a home/etc. I believe most/all state laws
have standardized the typical real estate contract

Never understood why it's so expensive in the US to sell a home. The UK average seller's fee (2018) is 1.18%+VAT = 1.416%: https://www.theadvisory.co.uk/estate-agents/fees-what-should-you-pay/#the-uk-average-estate-agent-fees-survey

That's the total fee, there's no buyers fees. There are separate legal fees for doing the transaction, which you pay to a lawyer of your choice.

What do you get for your 6% in the US?

Theo

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On 14 Jan 2024 00:13:37 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

What do you get for your 6% in the US?

A buyer might have an agent find a house, and then show it to them.
So, the buyer's agent could have spent several to many hours looking
for a house.....money is paid to real estate agents and the companies
they work for. Problem here is home values have increased (due to
inflation), and this 6% has never changed.

When looking online for a home, most listings have enough details and
pics, so a buyer's agent is not needed. The homeowner's selling agent
is doing all the legwork (info/pics), but 6% of selling price is fed
to these seller/buyer's agents and their companies.

.

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JAB <here@is.invalid> wrote:

On 14 Jan 2024 00:13:37 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

What do you get for your 6% in the US?

A buyer might have an agent find a house, and then show it to them.
So, the buyer's agent could have spent several to many hours looking
for a house.....money is paid to real estate agents and the companies
they work for. Problem here is home values have increased (due to inflation), and this 6% has never changed.

Surely that should be an optional service? If the buyer has a vague brief
like 'find me somewhere within 1 hour of $city close to water with a grocery store within walking distance' then I could imagine you need some human
help, but if it's 'find me something more than 2000sq ft in lower Manhattan
for less than $10m' then surely an online search would easily find that? If the buyer wants to employ somebody to do the first search then that's
up to them.

Is it possible to buy without a buyer's agent? If not, what happens if you found the property yourself - can you use a barebones buyer's agent that
just does the minimum amount of work and charges a low fee?

Or does this not help you if the fees are paid by the seller? If it's a seller's market and property is in hot demand, can they announce that
they're not going to pay buyer's agent fees? (but maybe will reduce the selling price to compensate)

Theo

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On 14 Jan 2024 14:30:16 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Is it possible to buy without a buyer's agent?

Do I need a Realtor to buy a house? https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/should-i-buy-house-without-realtor/

Surely that should be an optional service?

It depends upon the contract the seller signed, and/or which state a
person lives in. Real Estate Laws are state based, so each state
could have different laws for this/that aspect.

The US state I live in has a standardized form. I have no idea what
other US states do it.

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On 14 Jan 2024 14:30:16 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

then I could imagine you need some human
help, but if it's 'find me something more than 2000sq ft in lower Manhattan >for less than $10m' then surely an online search

Why would a person want to live in lower Manhattan, when this is
available with 30,000+ square feet of space, and cost less?

Granite Ranch
$8,995,000
9400 Macleod Road, Jackson, WY

Only 26 miles from downtown Jackson,
It has 30,000+ square feet of space between 23 structures dating from
the 1930s to 2018 and can sleep 100 people. https://www.livewaterjacksonhole.com/jackson-hole-property/granite-ranch/?mod=article_inline

In December through April, the only access to the ranch is over snow,
on a groomed trail eight miles down a dirt road, he said. "It's
actually faster than the dirt road in the summer." https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-34-acre-wyoming-ranch-surrounded-by-national-forest-is-on-the-market-eb3c3338

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JAB <here@is.invalid> wrote:

On 14 Jan 2024 14:30:16 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Is it possible to buy without a buyer's agent?

Do I need a Realtor to buy a house? https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/should-i-buy-house-without-realtor/

<quote>:

A buyer’s agent can also help homebuyers in a host of other areas. Here are some of the tasks you’d have to do yourself if you were to buy a home without a Realtor:

Find a home that matches your budget and needs. Real estate search
sites give you a sampling of what’s available, but determining whether asking prices are justified takes research. Your agent will do this for
you based on comparable home sales in the area, saving you time and
offering the benefit of their professional expertise.

The first you can do with a web search, the second you can do with a
database of comparable sold properties in the local area. Such data is published by the government in the UK.

Dig up facts on a neighborhood, including ones that a seller might not disclose that could be important to you. Your agent can share insight you might not have thought to ask about, too.

Again there are websites with this kind of information (like schools,
transit, taxes, crime figures, etc). Or join the local Facebook/whatever groups.

Negotiate an offer, including the price and other clauses and contingencies in the purchase agreement.
Navigate the home inspection, and negotiate repairs or credits with the seller.
Decipher paperwork that could be filled with complex jargon and terms you don’t fully understand.
Request and review seller disclosures. You might not know what to ask for, or what sellers in your state are required to disclose, but agents do.

These are done with your lawyer (aside from the initial offer). That costs £1k-2k to do all the legal checks, negotiate the contract and handle the
money (including receiving from the mortgage if needed).

For such little work your buyer's agent gets paid say $30k on a $1m deal?

Theo

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On 15 Jan 2024 16:04:40 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Your agent will do this for
you based on comparable home sales in the area,

Where I live, I can go online to the local "taxing agency" and find
out what they think the property is worth, as based upon comparable
home sales.

The above again, is pure bullshit...most all realtors do not do this,
and if they did, they would use either their database, or the local
taxing agency. Further, its not to their economic interest to suggest
a lower price (many listed homes are higher than taxing agency's).

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On 15 Jan 2024 16:04:40 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

Your agent will do this for
you based on comparable home sales in the area, saving you time and
offering the benefit of their professional expertise.

Above is trade bullshit....most homes are bought with a loan, and the lender/banker has an appraiser do this legwork.

The first you can do with a web search, the second you can do with a
database of comparable sold properties in the local area. Such data is >published by the government in the UK.

Databases do exist, but at a local level, not federal. But again, an
appraiser will sort this out.

Dig up facts on a neighborhood, including ones that a seller might not
disclose that could be important to you. Your agent can share insight you >> might not have thought to ask about, too.

Again there are websites with this kind of information

If moving from one city to another, the above would apply to those
people. But, I believe most people who buy homes are locals. People
who live in an area generally know the facts.

For such little work your buyer's agent gets paid say $30k on a $1m deal?

It's a rip-off...."Most REALTORS worked 30 hours per week in 2022." https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/quick-real-estate-statistics

Home prices vary across the US, but typical prices are in the $160,000
to $330,000 range. In California locations, these same type homes
might cost one million dollars.

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On 14 Jan 2024 00:13:37 +0000 (GMT), Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

What do you get ....

So, does this agency get a bigger slice of the pie?



'James Bond' Actor Roger Moore's Former English Country Home

The late British movie star rented the pretty house in rural
Gloucestershire for a couple of years in the 1960s

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/james-bond-actor-roger-moores-former-english-country-home-asks-2-1-million-0eeb89d7

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