Ruthless

I think if you are being "told" 8% is "usual", then you are probably dealing with LAND and not a HOME? Cheboygan is NOT Alaska and I even think the Alaskan agent I've seen on here might even take offense. Contact Gary. He's trustworthy (from my experience with him on here) and ethical. I think Gary was "selling" because he was HINTING that you might be getting taken advantage of. Or maybe 8% is "usual" for a mobile home but not your typical residential home.

Some areas stay pretty firm at 6%, other areas 5% for full service agents. Some superior agents charge a premium and there are also discount agents. So you could expect commission to range from as little as a couple hundred bucks flat fee to even 10% for something requiring excessive time, money for marketing or such a low price just to make it worth the agents time.

According to Steven Cook, a Vice President of the National Association of Realtors in a letter in May 2007, he said, "All real estate commissions are negotiable and the average is 5.1 percent, according to the most recent available data."

I hope that helps.
Ruth - Wed May 21 2008, 20:10

Kelli:
Your response seems to be blatant promotion of your profession. You are not even in the seller's area. You didn't even answer the question. And this was an old question. Was there a purpose for you posting to this question?
Ruthless - Wed May 21 2008, 10:36

It won't sell at all because you scared everyone away. I did that as a FSBO testing the market using a flat rate MLS listing service. I had the Realtor open house and everyone commented "good luck". No one actually said it was overpriced, but I panicked and dramatically dropped my price from the higher range of the CMA suggestions to the lowest CMA suggestion. What happened with me, was that in the MLS you can be categorized as a "new listing" OR as a "price reduction". Because I reduced the price, I lost my new listing status.

Hindsight is 20/20 but I still don't know 6 months later if those "good luck" comments were a polite way of saying I was over priced OR that NOTHING is selling in THAT price range or if they were sincere comments that EVERYONE NEEDS LUCK in order to sell a house these days. What I DO KNOW is I made THREE mistakes:
1) pricing too high initially
2) lowering the price too soon
3) testing the waters as a FSBO for 2 weeks before turning it over to my chosen Realtor (there is a ton more involved with this one and you would have to sift through my 600 posts to piece together even part of the whole story.)

You are working with hindsight as well. You can't change what happened last week even though you think you made a mistake. You want to correct that mistake but there is no way to change a first impression. Unfortunately, you have to "suck it up" , "pay the penalty", "live with it" or whatever other cliche would be appropriate.

IF you are NOT in the MLS, take it off the market and start over and get a REALTOR for credibility. If you are in the MLS - wait at least 30 days before dropping your price. Either way, contact the 8 potential buyers and ask the old car salesman line, "What will it take to get you into this house today?"

You might find out that all 8 say, "Someone has to buy my house first." Will a price reduction do you any good then? NO. A couple of people might say, "Nothing, I'm really not interested." A few might say, "A price reduction." Or maybe, "If you pay all the closing costs" or "a trip to Hawaii" or a credit to build a deck, add a half bath or whatever objection they had with your home or incentive another seller was offering.

"Good luck" and I mean that in the very sincere way that EVERYONE needs luck to sell a home these days.
Ruth - Wed Dec 19 2007, 08:58

Thanks, good clarifications as well. But since things are slowing for the rehabbers and the market is slow for them being hired to do home improvement jobs, are they getting jobs at McDonalds (especially with the greater loss exposure) or changing their philosophy and buying and holding?

Personally, I grew up with a high risk land developer father. I married a conservative pension sort of guy. Unfortunately, when pensions died he found "religion" in real estate. I've changed my philosophy too because "their not making anymore land" isn't true anymore (Dubai) and there are too many amateurs getting into real estate. I've always been an entrepreneur but the real money is in getting ahead of the curve. I have that ability outside of real estate but it "takes money to make money".

Any thoughts?
Ruth - Thu May 15 2008, 11:23

Please be aware that I wasn't saying that your mortgage interest rates would go up, I was making an analogy between mortgage fine print and credit card fine print. I was also attempting to make any future foreclosed person aware that all their other future credit rates would/could go up (credit card, auto, etc.).

Steve makes an extremely good point that you don't even read the mortgage contract until way into the process. Here in IL, I don't think I have actually read the real and complete mortgage contract until the closing. Prior to that you sign disclosures and good faith estimates and ask important questions such as "Is there a penalty for early payoff?" or "Is this fixed, adjustable or a balloon?" or "Is it assumable?" The day before the closing you get the HUD statement and look at the numbers. But how many people even read the entire mortgage document? In IL the title company or the attorney explains the finer points but don't go over every single detail. Here are some comments I remember hearing in my closings:
"Signing this means that you didn't lie or are not committing fraud."
"Signing this says you will pay this amount by this date and if you pay late your penalty will be x"
"Signing this means that everyone makes mistakes and if we made one you will let us correct it."
"Signing this means that if you sell your home, refinance or close your account in less than 3 years, you will pay a penalty."
"Signing this means that when you add in all the fees, you are actually paying interest on the fees as well which makes it look like you are paying an interest rate of 6.125% instead of 6%."

But do they explain what the ramifications are if you did lie on your application or don't make your monthly mortgage payments? No, I think not! And you are not about to ask because that would be embarrassing or incriminating. That is why this forum is so great!!! You can anonymously ask those questions (of course every responsible person will tell you to contact an attorney).

My main point is to find out (from an attorney) under what conditions can the mortgage company "CALL IN THE LOAN"? I know almost all of them say that they will call in the loan if you
1) sell the house
2) don't make your monthly payments
3) at the end of a set balloon period
4) if you don't insure the house
and/or
5) if you don't pay your real estate taxes.

Since there is a foreclosure crisis, isn't it possible that some mortgage company might slip into the fine print of their new mortgage documents a clause stating that if a foreclosure appears on your credit report that they have the right to call in the loan?

Steve also adds a question that I have not asked before, "Is this loan secured solely by the property or is it secured by my *good name* as well?"

I also think Ute's point of possible fraud is something that the hurting mortgage companies will be pursuing in greater numbers in the future. I believe previously they reserved this avenue for "criminals" and "con artists" but will now be attacking the everyday, "I didn't know?" consumer.

Ruth - Thu May 15 2008, 11:01

Ute:
Very nicely said.

Jane & others:
I haven't read all my mortgage documents in a while but I wonder if they have any sort of similar clause that credit card companies have? I know mortgage companies have a "due on sale" clause. What other clauses and causes do they have to call in the loan? With a credit card, if they see that you defaulted on different credit card or mortgage, suddenly your 1.9% interest rate jumps to 22%. Can a mortgage company do the same thing?
Ruth - Wed May 14 2008, 19:48

YES!!! Excellent question!!!

You could also be talking about vacant homes not yet rented and mail going to resident or names you've never heard of. I had the mail being forwarded to me that was addressed to me. However, someone knew the house was vacant and may have requested a credit card in their name but the vacant home's address. I was concerned that somehow the same address could come back to me. My short term suggestion would be a vacation hold if you don't want to do the forwarding or P.O. Box. Then once a week or so, just go pick up your mail.

Good luck,
Ruth - Wed May 14 2008, 20:20