HawthorneVillager.com

Hi all, I will be selling my home in burlington soon (planning on finding something in milton) so I am on the agent search. So far, I have spoken with 2 agents, both of which want 5% unless I buy through them then they will go to 4%. Anyone know of any cheaper agents? I don't want to do the forsale by owner thing since I want to sell in 30-60 days.

Any way, any input is appreciated...

No clue about Burlington, but I've seen a lot of signs in Mississauga and Milton for a few different 1% companies ... although 1% really means 3.5% since you still pay 2.5% to the buyers agent.

We sold in Mississauga with one of the 1% homes, but can't really tell you how good their service is, we had a bidding war two days after putting the house up for sale so we hadn't even got the pictures back or a single advertisment beyond an MLS listing without pictures. Although I guess we were happier paying 3.5% than 5% considering

Any names you can provide?

I'll check on the way home for the one in Milton, but for Mississauga... ugh, brown sign with a big 1%, and they had a website...

OMG, I think a burst a blood vessel trying to remember this one, but I did, and it looks like they do lots of Burlington/Oakville too..

http://homeatease.ca

Those were the guys we sold with in Mississauga.

Ok, on the way home the sign said "MinMaxx 1%", so I assume that's the company.

Thanks man, I appreciate the loss you suffered on my behalf (blood vessels of course)

No problem... it was one of those things where you just can't remember, but it drives you nuts until you do remember

Whoever you choose, make sure the agent doesn't convince you your home is worth less than market value. There's one in the HV area who's constantly listing homes under market value, BUT he only charges 1%.
Sounds like a great deal when in reality the home owners are losing as much as $20,000 by listing too low. Sure they sell fast and sometimes slightly over asking but wouldn't it be better to take a few extra days and net thousands more?
Here's an example: a Larkin was listed by the 1% guy at $319,900 about 2 weeks ago. It sold in 3 days over asking for $321,000. I would have listed the same home for $329,900 and most likely sold it in about 3-14 days for around $328,000+. Sure I'm a full service realtor but do the math. Who would have netted more for the homeowner, me or the 1% guy?
The funny thing is, I can point out over half a dozen listings like this in the past 2 months.
If you sell your home fast, that's great - if you sell your home fast, at or above market value, that's even better. DO NOT leave money on the table!

Sorry for the mini rant ...

Cliff

_________________
Cliff Barron
Selling in Milton for over 14 years!
Sutton Group - Summit Realty Inc. Brokerage
#1, 07-18 company wide!

cbarron@sutton.com
http://www.callcliff.ca
905-286-5888

CLiff, you bring up a good point. There was a minmax sale on my street recently.
It sold over 100% asking price, fairly quickly.

THey listed so low that it affected people I know trying to sell their house.

At the end of the day, they got (my friends) 40K more (300 Sqft difference) then the other house (MINMAX). Soooooo, the MINMAX people got 1%, the purchasing agent got 2.5% so they paid 3.5 commision on a sale price that was 40K less then was possible for them to get. Do the math.... they would have recevied a cheque for a heck of a lot more if they listed with a real agent....

I urge people to get 3 quotes from agents. It takes them 20 minutes to look around your place and do some online research and give you an estimated sale price.

Matt

PS. I have no association with any real estate agent or agency, just common sense and street smarts!

Thanks all, I have contacted Gary to see what he has to offer. I will also take the advice of others to get 3 appraisals. I guess if you go with a reduced commision agent you could just tell them the price you want to list for based on the appraisals right?

I would have some loyalty and choose who does the best presentation and would represent your house the best. The lowest commision will not necessarily be the best. You do not necessarily have to go with the highest appraisal either, a lot of agents tell you what you want to hear or higher, just to get the listing, then they lock you into a contract.

Commision should be 50% on what you judge your agent on.

Matt

Cliff... you have a very good point, but in my experience, long before there were 1% agents there were some always some agents that would push for a low price to move it fast and some that would say "let's take a little longer to sell and make some more money". And let me stress, I'm not knocking what you personally bring to the table, because I read nothing but kudos about how great your service is, which says to me you're worth it. I just have the feeling that there are lots of agents out there charging the highest prices that aren't.

Steve,
I know exactly what you mean and I agree with you. The thing that most people don't know is that when a realtor sells their own home, it's generally on the market longer and they sell for as much as 3% more on average than a non realtor.
If you really only want to hire a discount broker because you want to "save money", get an appraisal from 3 realtors and pick the cheapest one. Tell him/her what price you would like to list at and don't let him talk you down. Since he has no budget for home staging, marketing, virtual tours, personal showings, open houses, phone calls, emails, feature sheets, web updates, etc., there's a good chance it won't sell at that high price. And, when you try to get in touch with him/her on a regular basis to see why the home isn't selling, he/she mysteriously doesn't return the page or email. Why? In order to survive he/she relies on volume and has no choice but to list it and disappear to find another listing to feed the machine.
Obviously there are exceptions to the rule when a discount realtor doesn't manage to convince a client to list low, the house is listed at the correct price and it sells in a relatively quick amount of time. But, in anything, you have to way out your options and consider the probabilty - the probability of this happening is very low. IF it doesn't sell, who's holding the bag? You, the homeowner. You now have a stale listing on your hands and people are wondering what's wrong with your home. They never consider the fact that your agent did close to nothing to promote the home. After all, all agents are the same right?

Sorry for the rant again...

My whole point to all of this is who cares how much commission you pay? That's totally irrelevent. The main thing is how much you are going to net in your pocket when it's all said and done, how stress free the experience is going to be and how long it's going to take.

Cliff

_________________
Cliff Barron
Selling in Milton for over 14 years!
Sutton Group - Summit Realty Inc. Brokerage
#1, 07-18 company wide!

cbarron@sutton.com
http://www.callcliff.ca
905-286-5888

Cliffb your points are well taken. The only issue I have is in regards to you saying low commision agents net you less. First off, is thier anything you are basing this on (I would really like to know so I can make a more informed decision, definately not trying to be confrontational)? As well, for me, I see it this way (which has not been mentioned), if I have a house I expect 300,000 for, thier are 2 base cases
1. Agent at 5%
List $315,800
Commision $15,800
Net $300,000

2. Agent at 3.5%
List $310,900
Commision $10,900
Net $300,000

From the above I guess you could say, yes the one with the lower commision does sell for less, but the bottom line is the owner still nets the same.

I think the real question here is the following, what would an agent at 5% (I won't even say full service since not all seemed to be trimmed down) to earn $5,000 more then the other agent at 3.5%

Remember, I am just trying to educate my self here, if thier is precieved value, I am willing to pay, I just won't throw money away.

Thanks!!

Cliff, all your rants say to me is that you are an agent that really cares about your clients and that's why seeing them lose out burns your chaps... you'd have written it differently if you didn't. In my particular case, noone I knew could recommend a good agent, and this was long before this forum was around, so if I'm going to go with a random agent, may as well go with a cheap random agent.

All I can say is I never plan on selling this house, but if it happens, I'll definately give you a buzz, try to get a better rate since I'll have it perfectly staged (pristine clean and all the clutter moved elsewhere) , and will probably list with you just because having someone who is highly recommended is my #1 criteria.