Can you negotiate a Realtor fee? How can you save?

Question

We want to relocate but need a certain amount of money to do so. The realtor fee would keep us from making the amount we need. Besides selling your house on your own can you nogotiate their fee. What are flat rate fees? Any ideas on how to save about $5000

Answer 1

You can offer less then the going rate if you wish. However, the commission is clearly stated in the MLS. It is not harder to sell a house for full commission then it is for less, and with many to choose from you will find that not many agents include you in the homes they show their clients. You will save more in the long run by paying a fair commission, you will sell the house much faster.

Answer 2

Depends a little on the market. Normally you can negotiate a little, but realtors run a high overhead business so they need their fees to keep operating. Don't kid yourself, realtors first off, share 1/2 the commission if there's another realtor involved. On top of that they usually have to pay a % to their sales office and all their other expenses. If they advertise in local newspapers or other venues to generate leads thats costly too.

I would look for some commission free type of advertising like comfree.com or some other places where you pay a flat fee until your house is sold. Especially look for one that offers a front lawn sign. Most sales happen as a result of people driving by and seeing the house with the sign on the front lawn.

There's alot of other ideas you can use to decorate your house when showing the place. If you show the house yourself, act like a realtor. If you're not sure how they act, find a professional realtor and get them to show you a few places and you'll see what I mean.

Answer 3

You can but oftentimes you get what you pay for. You could try selling it for sale by owner and then once you find a client, some agents will write up the contract for you for a lower fee. I've done it sometimes for 1% or so if there isn't that much involved. A good realtor really is worth the money. Flat fee agents usually just put you in the MLS and do nothing else to market your home. Sometimes they don't even do that. Start interviewing agents in your area and compare their price and what you get for it. Remember that when you move to a new place, you don't pay the realtor fee to buy your new house!

Answer 4

The realtor commission is a 'guide'. In the Ohio area, it is around 7% of the sale price of the home.

However, when I sold my home this summer, I had negotiated the commission down to 4.5%, by assuring the realtor that he would be included on the purchase of my new home. This was put in writing in our contract. If I had gone on to buy a new home without his assistance, I would have had to pay him the remaining 2.5%.

Remember that the commission is split between the two realtors (the one representing the seller and the one representing the buyer). While my guy agreed to take less as his share, the buyers realtor did not get shorted. (She got 3%, he got 1.5%). Since my deal was with MY realtor, I couldn't cut the buyers' representative out of the deal or reduce her compensation.

Then, when I was the buyer for my new house, my guy got 'his half' of the 7% that THAT seller paid, so in the big picture, he made more in total (and didn't have to find another customer to work with!).

My realtor had also represented my ex-husband when he moved out/ bought his own -- so we had a history with the agency. In all, this realtor got commissions from a total of three transactions in 6 months, so he had a little more room for flexibility.

BUT, bottom line, $5000 is a LOT to try to save. For a home that sold for $150,000, thats half of the commission -- meaning your realtor would have to work for free. Good luck!

Answer 5

Try and negotiate a flat fee with a realtor. Keep in mind that the listing agent unless he/she represents both the seller & buyer will also have to pay the agent who produces a buyer, we also cover the avertising charges as well. Any how a flat fee might be do-able depending on your loan to value & and the properties actual selling price.

Answer 6

It really depends mostly on the market conditions. If it is a seller's market and you can expect multiple offers on a property, well sure you can negotiate the fee because realtors are eager for listings. On the other hand if it is a buyer's market and there are lots of houses for sale for months - why would anyone work harder for less?

Likely you will get what you pay for.

Answer 7

Yes you can negotiate or go with a discount broker (i.e. $500 gets you in the MLS), just expect to get what you pay for. An agent who accepts less commission will compromise their normal level of service to accommodate the reduction in payment. A discount or flat fee broker will often expect payment upfront, meaning that you’re out that cost no matter what. So if you never get so much as a showing from this listing, you’ve still lost that payment. Discount brokers also offer next to no service beyond listing you in the MLS, making everything else your responsibility.

What concerns me most is that you’re entering this deal saying you must make X amount. If that’s your mindset, you may find it very difficult to sell. No buyer cares what you need to make; they only care what the home is worth to them and they aren’t going to overpay simply because you “need” that set amount. They'll just go buy someone else's house.

Answer 8

Realtor fees are always negotiable, but you can also expect to get what you pay for. A reduced rate may well provide you less advertising and promotion, as well as fewer buyers. Why?

Because a reduced fee percentage reflects on any agent who might bring a buyer to your property. With the huge inventory of properties on the market, any agent with a functioning brain is going to give preference to those properties which will earn him a greater commission percentage.

Answer 9

Realtor fees are usually 6 or 7 percent of the sale price, split between the buyers agent and the sellers agent. I've heard that you can negotiate them down to 5 percent, but you may receive reduced services (less spent on advertising, etc.).

Answer 10

In general, the listing broker gets 55% of the commission and the selling side gets 45%. They each split the commission with the sales person who wrote the listing or contract.

A real estate sales person is going to show the houses that are offering them the most commission. If there are 3 houses with 7% commission and one with 6%, which house am I going to promote?

If you want to try to sell it yourself, you may regret it. A lot of people do sell their own homes, but I think that's taking a risk with the biggest asset you own. Remember that there's no multi-list or lock box, so anytime you aren't home, your house is effectively off the market.