Fred Rodriguez

For 1% the listing agent gave us a ton of tips on how to stage our home and what to fix. We did that in 3 days and he put up the sign in front. We got two offers immediately (during the first 6 days) and sold the house for $1k more than we paid the previous year in a market that had already lost at least 10%. We carried both home for just 16 days between one closing and the other. Success. Fred R. - Fri Aug 20, 2010

I think it would be foolish for a listing agent not to show one of their listings upon receiving a call from an interested party. I recently decided to look for another house with a broad golf view in the $550k range in Bridgemill, Canton, GA. I looked for those homes listed on MLS that met my criteria and called each listing agent to view the homes. All were very accomodating and pleasant. I didn't reveal any information about my qualifications when I made the appointment. We looked at 4 houses in the Woodstock and Canton area. We made a verbal offer of $550k on one house listed at $629k. Our offer was with a contingency of 90 days subject to renewal, as we would have to sell our current home that we bought in Aug. 2007. That offer was accepted verbally. Before we decided to put it in writing, we went to see another house nearby that was listed at $600k. This was a much better house, much bigger, and in a better street, surrounded by $800k + homes. We verbally offered $525k with a contingency. After some negotiating we ended up at $550k without a contingency for a closing in Sept. 08. We now have a binding contract. The listing agent reduced the commision to the seller to 4%. We don't have a buyers agent. That listing agent is going to charge us 4% to sell our house (3/1%). We will put our house for sale later this month. We got approved for a mortgage and have a commitment letter in hand. Once we sell our house (probably at a loss) we will apply the proceeds towards the mortgage on the newly purchased home. The moral of the story is that an agent really never knows where a seller is going to come from, therefore, it is to their benefit to attend to any prospective buyer regardless of where the buyer comes from or how he got to the agent. - Sun Aug 3, 2008

My answer is from a buyer's perspective. I too have the same feelings. I know that a buyer's agent is there to help as long as it takes, but as a buyer you feel that you have to make a decision in a reasonable time because be it real or not, you feel that the agent could be helping someone else. I prefer to do the homework myself, the internet is a great thing, and trulia.com is a tremendous tool. Once I find the home I like to make an offer on then is when I call the agent to represent me in the negotiations and the many details for a successful closing. In some cases, I have found that by calling the listing agent one may be able to negotiate a deal where the listing agent takes a cut of say 2% in the commission, down to 4% and that is still a good deal because they are getting 1% more that they would if another agent gets involved. I have a situation now where a house is listed by a team. A member of the team is acting as the buyers agent for me, and an other member of the team was the actual lister, and they have agreed to a 4% commission on a $450k purchase. - Sun Jul 6, 2008

Igor, the handyman, but keep the flies away. - Thu Jul 24, 2008