patrick.net

Why would you hire someone that thinks like this?

So, if you love something you see, let’s steal it now, because its going to keep going down. Let me know!

If the price is going to keep going down why buy it now? Why not wait until the price is lower?

Wow, I'd at least give it a shot. That's great that you found someone like that. Typically, when I contact someone they give the "bidding wars now" speech.

This is what I said in the other "lowball" thread. Insiders KNOW the mid-high end is cracking big time. I know several builders/investors in the Diablo Valley that specialize in Lamorinda and Danville/Alamo, it's going down. One recently bought an acre lot to build his retirement home on in Lafayette for 150k.

Wow! That is an excellent deal Tude. I think I am going to give this woman a chance. She is literally the 1st agent who hasnt put the buyer side into the "weak" position right off the bat.

"Typically, when I contact someone they give the “bidding wars now” speech."

Time to play poker and call it a bluff... Tell them your all CASH buyer but you want
confirmation with names and how much each bid is. Tell them your lawyer will confirm
the list and offer amounts.

Lets see if they break a sweat on that one.

Sounds like the flip side of the same coin. Instead of buy now before you're priced out its buy now because its going down again!

Why do you want a house in the first place? if you know where you want to buy, and you know what a good deal is, then what the heck do you need a realtor for in the first place. 5% is a ton of money to waste for a couple of phone calls and a few pieces of paper.

No realtor is EVER going to get you a deal. If its that hot they'd buy it themselves. Seriously, if someone offered you $100,000 for $50,000, would you be content with 5% on $50,000, or would you keep the 50k and then get 5% on 100k?

knewbetter says

Sounds like the flip side of the same coin. Instead of buy now before you’re priced out its buy now because its going down again!
Why do you want a house in the first place? if you know where you want to buy, and you know what a good deal is, then what the heck do you need a realtor for in the first place. 5% is a ton of money to waste for a couple of phone calls and a few pieces of paper.
No realtor is EVER going to get you a deal. If its that hot they’d buy it themselves. Seriously, if someone offered you $100,000 for $50,000, would you be content with 5% on $50,000, or would you keep the 50k and then get 5% on 100k?

If it's that hot they'd buy themselves? Realtors don't have real jobs, can't buy real property any more. :)

Now who can argue with that! The last person I'd trust is a realtor. It may not have been so at one time or another, but when I think of them now I think of a vast hoard of zombie-like plague carriers, intent on "buying the lie".

If you don't know what something is worth to you, why in the hell would you trust someone on commission? AND NO MATTER WHAT, DON'T BELIEVE THE BUYER'S REP LIE. A realtor's job is to sell you a house, or sell your house. End of story.

They don't work for you. They work for their broker.

I'd hold out for a little longer and let the current owner sweat a little. The price is still pretty high. Lamorinda is holding tight for now but I think its going to slip in the upcoming months. (At lest you see houses in the $500Ks now. Last year at this time the only SFR in the 500s was an Orinda 1200ft 2bed/2ba off a 'steep slope').

If you have the time (and inclination), go get yourself a real estate Broker's license. It takes about 6 months and costs about $1500 (course fees, licensing and MLS fees so you can level the playing field with the other realtors). What you'll get for your time and $1500 is the 'Information' that you supposedly pay the commission for and being a broker, you can go see whatever house you choose and write whatever offer you think is appropriate.

Also, see if this realtor is part of the lendingtree.com airline miles program. If you're not going the broker route, at leas the lendingtree program will get you enough airline miles for a couple of first class air trips to Europe (which should at least make the commission a little easier to swallow).

Bap, this is far wide spread, and not just local to you. I agree with the common sense approach your taking.

Well, I've tried emailing 4 agents so far in the south bay, essentially saying we'd like to pay about 20%-30% below most list prices today...only 1 response so far and he essentially said 10% max drop over years. Not that I believe him, but my doubts about 25% below list price right now continue to grow. In a year, when things get rougher, I hope that will be the case, but right now, not so much.

10% max drop in the south bay? That area is more inflated then Lafayette and Alamo and not as nice. The homes there are tiny and on postage stamp sized lots. I really dont get why people want to live there. It is also really far from San Francisco. Well, I suppose if they work in the area it makes sense. I would feel like such a schmuck if I paid over 1MM for one of those tiny, ugly suburban homes in Cupertino.

hah! Bap33: "Verbal" legally means written. "Oral" legally means spoken. So, the RE Agent actually, whether she realized it or not, orally agreed to give you a written response.

Politically, it wouldn't surprise me if NOTHING is done re the real estate cartel. The profession provides a way for certain politically connected groups to advance economically without much education, as a re-entry career for newly-divorced women, or as a post-profession for retired persons. Change will n.e.v.e.r happen.

"No realtor is EVER going to get you a deal"

Its a shame that some of you were not here in California living in San Diego, LA or SF Bay Area when we saw prices decline 15-40%... I guess realtors didnt give out deals back then either.

But now the bubble is far bigger! They cannot control gravity you kow!

Agents have to deal with both sides essentially. At this point sellers have been hurt pretty badly already (I agree, more to come). If one party needs to change their views to make a sale happen, which is more likely to do that? The one already in pain, or the one who is in a position to buy and has already seen some seller concessions just from year over year valuations going down?

I would say, the agent has a better chance of convincing the buyer to change their expectations, than to get further concessions from the seller.

They have three options when they start talking to you:
Commission on $0
Commission on $100K (Obvious place to start)
Commission on $50K

If you point out that you aren't budging, then the seller is the only one who can budge. Right off the bat you're changing the commission structure to two options.

Commission on $0
Commission on $50K

They now have a choice between a sale or not. Before even presenting you to a potential customer, they know you aren't moving, and the only way to get a sale will be in moving the sellers price. It might be more work, but when the options are 0 or something, something usually wins.

pkennedy I agree with you but for some reason they choose $0 rather than put in a little effort to make something. The whole NAR is built this way. For a year they chose to tell people to wait out the downturn, next year will be better. That took a bunch of sellers off the market which resulted in less sales meaning less money for the agents. They aren't a logical bunch.

Yah, Realiartors aren't known for saying "Get out while the gettin's good!"