home buying and selling

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:57 pm

for people with recent experience buying and/or selling a home -- what do you think of using a totally online agency like redfin or ziprealty as opposed to the traditional commission based agency? redfin in particular claims to have salaried agents and is supposed to give you money back both as a buyer and a seller and these amounts are non-trivial. i am in the process of both selling and buying and i am not entirely sure what a traditional agent who works on a 4-5% commission brings to the table. we eliminate so much by just looking at the listing and mapping it on google -- power lines, busy roads, railway lines, electric/propane heating, kitchen that looks like a time warp, direction etc. we pretty much know the town/s we are looking at thoroughly. traditional agency seems like such a dinosaur.

by harharmahadev Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:12 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:for people with recent experience buying and/or selling a home -- what do you think of using a totally online agency like redfin or ziprealty as opposed to the traditional commission based agency? redfin in particular claims to have salaried agents and is supposed to give you money back both as a buyer and a seller and these amounts are non-trivial. i am in the process of both selling and buying and i am not entirely sure what a traditional agent who works on a 4-5% commission brings to the table. we eliminate so much by just looking at the listing and mapping it on google -- power lines, busy roads, railway lines, electric/propane heating, kitchen that looks like a time warp, direction etc. we pretty much know the town/s we are looking at thoroughly. traditional agency seems like such a dinosaur.

Are you a buyer or seller? If you are a buyer, you don't pay any commission. Only sellers do.

by doofus_maximus Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:09 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:for people with recent experience buying and/or selling a home -- what do you think of using a totally online agency like redfin or ziprealty as opposed to the traditional commission based agency? redfin in particular claims to have salaried agents and is supposed to give you money back both as a buyer and a seller and these amounts are non-trivial. i am in the process of both selling and buying and i am not entirely sure what a traditional agent who works on a 4-5% commission brings to the table. we eliminate so much by just looking at the listing and mapping it on google -- power lines, busy roads, railway lines, electric/propane heating, kitchen that looks like a time warp, direction etc. we pretty much know the town/s we are looking at thoroughly. traditional agency seems like such a dinosaur.

i don't know about online agencies. But we got rid off of our agent after a month or so when we were looking for houses. We did all the work. We looked online, checked locations, proximity to highways, etc etc..and then would call and let him know. He would just take us to the showing by following our car. That is all he did. All the information we needed was provided by the sellers' agent on site. So we got rid off him.
I have no experience selling a house.

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:11 pm

i know that in principle buyers don't pay a commission, but in practice they do because the commission still comes out of the check that the buyer and his bank are going to write to the seller. in other words the commission that the seller negotiates with the agent has an effect on his bottom line which is going to affect the sale price and hence the buyer's net outlay.

my question was NOT about commission structures; i already know all that. but redfin has a totally different method of operating. i was wondering if anyone here has used them.

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:13 pm

doofus_maximus wrote:
i don't know about online agencies. But we got rid off of our agent after a month or so when we were looking for houses. We did all the work. We looked online, checked locations, proximity to highways, etc etc..and then would call and let him know. He would just take us to the showing by following our car. That is all he did. All the information we needed was provided by the sellers' agent on site. So we got rid off him.
I have no experience selling a house.

this is exactly why i want to use redfin rather than a traditional agent; so in your case you negotiated directly with the seller's agent?

by Hellsangel Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:13 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:i know that in principle buyers don't pay a commission, but in practice they do because the commission still comes out of the check that the buyer and his bank are going to write to the seller. in other words the commission that the seller negotiates with the agent has an effect on his bottom line which is going to affect the sale price and hence the buyer's net outlay.

my question was NOT about commission structures; i already know all that. but redfin has a totally different method of operating. i was wondering if anyone here has used them.

Once upon a time, there was Foxton's which tried a very different method. I think as far as home buying is concerned, it still helps to have a traditional agent.

by Nila Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:00 pm

Unless otherwise you commit to your traditional agent they wouldn't commit to you...

When you tell the buyer's agent that your agent is redfin...he would not care much for you and he/she would rather not have any offers, coz most of them don't how how this redfin works?! Imagine when most of them don't know anything about the properties they sell...how can you expect them to understand redfin.

Also, you being an elite and all is having a little confusion about redfin and imagine about the poor realtors?!

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:04 pm

Sasthi wrote:Unless otherwise you commit to your traditional agent they wouldn't commit to you...

When you tell the buyer's agent that your agent is redfin...he would not care much for you and he/she would rather not have any offers, coz most of them don't how how this redfin works?! Imagine when most of them don't know anything about the properties they sell...how can you expect them to understand redfin.

Also, you being an elite and all is having a little confusion about redfin and imagine about the poor realtors?!

eh? if i decide to go with them, redfin will be MY (i.e. me the buyer) agent. so i am not sure what you mean by "When you tell the buyer's agent that your agent is redfin..".

and what exactly does "Also, you being an elite and all is having a little confusion about redfin and imagine about the poor realtors?!" mean?

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:05 pm

hellsu: never heard of foxtons. when i google them they come up as a UK website.

by Nila Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:09 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:
Sasthi wrote:Unless otherwise you commit to your traditional agent they wouldn't commit to you...

When you tell the buyer's agent that your agent is redfin...he would not care much for you and he/she would rather not have any offers, coz most of them don't how how this redfin works?! Imagine when most of them don't know anything about the properties they sell...how can you expect them to understand redfin.

Also, you being an elite and all is having a little confusion about redfin and imagine about the poor realtors?!

eh? if i decide to go with them, redfin will be MY (i.e. me the buyer) agent. so i am not sure what you mean by "When you tell the buyer's agent that your agent is redfin..".

and what exactly does "Also, you being an elite and all is having a little confusion about redfin and imagine about the poor realtors?!" mean?

sorry it is supposed to be seller agent. (seller buyer confusion!)

I meant that Athi BudhiSaliyana UngalaMadhiri PeriyavangaLuKKellam Puriyalana...Sadarana Relator'sKKellam Yeppadi Puriyum?!

by MaxEntropy_Man Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:17 pm

i do understand how redfin works; since i discovered redfin only recently, my question is: why work with a traditional agent at all? they don't do much more than call and schedule an appointment, open the house and show you around. we do much of the prior work which is basically eliminating what we don't want to see by ourselves. also we know the towns where we want to buy like the back of our hand; we are not a relo case. things like property assessments, prior sale data, general neighborhood comps etc. which traditional buyer agents used to provide are all readily available on the internet these days. really the only purpose these days other than scheduling viewing appointments for a traditional agent is to act as a buffer between the buyer and the sellers and their agent and ferry offers and counteroffers and do a bit of negotiation. redfin can do that too and can put money back in the buyer's pocket.

by Nila Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:43 pm

If I were you I would try to find a desi agent who would give back 2% rather than go with redfin. You can find one chinku or desi agent easily...atleast in BA.

by Nila Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:45 pm

I wonder why you need to ask an agent to call the buyer...can't you call them directly and tell them you don't have an agent and might work with them for 2% back...no?

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