Rick Moore

Realtors, if doing their job professionally, are spending more time, travel, gas, advertising and marketing dollars for a longer period of time to get a home sold. If anything it would be higher, however it seems to currently be the same.

Though saying that, all commissions are negotiable. If your home does end up selling quickly you may be able to request a deduction in commission as less money may have been spent to sell your home. Always have that conversation with your realtor up front and have the end result in writing. Be sure to have your home ready before you have it on the market. Cleaned, staged and priced aggressively. - Wed Jul 23 2008, 10:33

If you are financing the loan for the purchase your lender should be hiring an appraiser to ensure the value is there. Ask your lender for a copy of that appraisal. You could also contact a few local realtors and ask them to do a comparative market analysis for you on the home. Compare the appraisal and the 2 or 3 reports you receive to find out if you have paid too much.

You may also want to speak with other new home owners there to find out what they really paid or what incentives they recieved. Be sure to take all aspects of the compared homes into consideration. Home size, lot size and location, number of beds, baths, garages and interior amenities. Not all homes are created equal.

Unfortunately if you have passed the deadlines for all of your contingencies there would be no way to back out of the transaction without losing your earnest money. In regards to the agent who said not to negotiate the price that is definitely a mistake. You can always try to negotiate the price especially with new construction and even more so in the current market. It doesn't mean you will get what you ask for but you never know unless you ask. Along those same lines you should go to the builder and discuss the price/incentive differences with him. He may not move since you are locked in but it may be more important to him to have a happy buyer and may meet you half way. - Fri Apr 18 2008, 08:36

Linda,

As Julie mentioned there are no common practices. This is something you should discuss with your agent prior to hiring them.

However, it is not assumed that the commission would be waived in multiple real estate projects. The realtor is doing the same amount of work as if he/she were listing two houses and purchasing another with three different clients. Especially in the case of listings. If you have a good realtor they will have a strong marketing and advertising plan and there will be costs associated with each listing.

Also take into account that they may not normally work three projects at once and will be managing two listings while helping find a home for you and negotiate all of the contracts once a purchase and sale is in place for all three properties.

Having said all of that commissions are negotiable and if you have the discussion up front your realtor may be willing to work with you on the commissions as a thank you for trusting them to help with so much of your real estate plans.

Do keep in mind though you are paying for a service and as is in most service industries you get what you pay for.

I hope that helps. - Thu Apr 17 2008, 15:07

I believe that is a personal preference for most. There are good and not as good points to both options.

First ask yourself, 'Do you like to garden, mow, weed, fertilize, seed, etc." If not, you may want to settle for a smaller plot of land or go with the home across from the park.

The question about the park is, "Are there specific hours it is open to the public, will there be kids hanging out after hours, will it attract trouble, do you mind having a lot of strangers hanging out across the street from your house, will you use the park yourself."

If the answer to the majority of those questions is no, again you may want to go with a smaller plot of land or buy the home with the large yard. It comes down to which you enjoy more, yardwork, or people? - Wed Apr 2 2008, 12:06

I don't know what the market is doing in the rest of the country but I know it's still moving along here in the Puget Sound Region of Washington State.

Despite the national media who are lumping all real estate markets into one, we know that real estate markets are local and can not be managed or tracked outside of their individual locales.

Currently the Kirkland, Lake Washington and Seattle areas are still plugging along. While the inventory dropped over the holidays with many sellers taking a break, a large number of those homes have re-listed yet not all at lower prices. All along the inventory has been up from the same time in 2006 with fewer buyers looking due to economic fears and waiting to hear how the lending business will turn out.

However, even with the higher inventory we are definitely seeing more traffic through our local listings. Agents are getting back to work and previewing the inventory readying themselves for when that buyer comes along. Buyers are starting to take a look at what is available and talking once again with loan officers about their options.

You can feel the momentum in the market and smart buyers are educating themselves with accurate information not just about the national economy but about the strength of their state and regional markets as well.

On the Eastside of Lake Washington we have had regular sales of homes, since the first of the year, in the first time homebuyer prices, which here runs between, 350-450k for a single family home. It's still a buyers' market due to over supply and under demand, but sellers aren't exactly slashing prices so we'll see how long before the market truly equalizes. - Fri Feb 8 2008, 12:23