Please support your local realtor

Um, ouch. I'm surprised the NAR hasn't come out in support of re-starting foreclosures full speed ahead.

I'm all faklempt.

schadenfreude

"Um, ouch. I'm surprised the NAR hasn't come out in support of re-starting foreclosures full speed ahead."

You're kidding, right? Here's their press release from about a month ago:

NAR Says Families Will Suffer if Foreclosure Freeze Continues
http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2010/10/foreclosure_freeze

The quote from the president doesn't quite use the words "full speed ahead", but si "should move ahead quickly" close enough?

“There are valid foreclosures that should move ahead quickly, and we shouldn’t lump them in with mortgages that are suspect. That would cause deep problems in an already fragile market and throw many families into uncertainty,” Golder said.

OK,
back to foreclosures.
Does clearing the system have benefits to the economy... I'll say yes.
Is it right that people who aren't paying their mortgage get to stay in their house free....I'll say no.

Does either of two make a strong argument for violating rule of law and allow servicers and lenders
to foreclose without due process and present proof they hold the lien and the promisorry note and have filed the proper afidavits.....

I'll say No!

I think the most interesting thing about this data is that seems to point to very little change in commission rate.

Rather, it seems like realtors are making less because fewer homes are getting sold, and those homes are priced lower.

If that's the case, that continues the pattern of historical commission rates, which tend to fall in boom times (houses are easier to sell, so why pay the realtor a lot?) and rise in tough times (you pay the realtor more because he/she is marketing the house for a longer period of time).

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

My take is that the brokerages have made commission rate a sort of maginot line. The industry would prefer to make fewer sales. The securities act of 1975 deregulated commissions on the stock side. This terrifies realtors.

riversider, it's possible that commission rates are where they are because of antitrust problems, but it's also possible that they are where they are because they represent a decent compensation for the work being performed. Computerization -- which has changed the industry greatly -- should in theory provide for greater liquidity, faster deals, and thus lower commission rates. Instead it's created as much labor as it's saved, as customers who have access to more information insist that agents go through more listings that don't fit.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Flmaoz. The last recession that mattered I was using 1200 baud Internet connection from aol with a compaq. There was no redfin, helpusell, and 50 other borkers for every listing. Flmaoz.

Anti-Trust more like it
---------------------------------

Michigan's largest multiple listing service has been named in an antitrust lawsuit that claims MLS policies allegedly aimed at hindering limited-service brokers stifled competition, resulting in tens of thousands of home sellers paying inflated commissions to full-service brokerages.

Realcomp II Ltd. has not yet filed a response to the Oct. 8 lawsuit, which seeks class-action status to represent anyone who, during a four-year period ending on April 27, 2007, hired a real estate brokerage to help them sell a home in the four-county area in Southeastern Michigan served by Realcomp.
http://www.inman.com/news/2010/10/18/michigan-mls-hit-with-antitrust-suit

Ali i think rates are where they are because the big guys more or less have it that way. Also since all the larger firms merged, you are left with really a few big guys who have no interest in lowering the rate.

I am sure that if more agents/brokers when out on their own the commission level would come down.

Even in manhattan the apartments that are meant to sell, priced right, show well, etc, sell quickly even in an environment as crappy as this. Which means that the money paid in commissions is not even close to being on par with time spent, as we have gone through before the numbers do not work.

And to say that a customer insists on going through more listins, i am not sure i understand. the goal of an agent is to show you everythign that may be right. If you are saying in the old days it was better if a client was not a aware that #10 which you decided not to show them actually turned out to be the perfect apartment, because they did not know it existed? I would think it is your job to take people around, especially if they have an idea but since there are sometimes apartments that have difrences to them you show them all.

Flmaoz. Imagine if they lose the streeteasy can very well become the private label MLS. Thank you Ali for contributing to the demise of MLS.

w67:

If you owned a nice, good-sized Manhattan condo today and wanted to sell, what would you do? FSBO? Something else?

Find the top 10 brokers in a neighborhood and bid them against each other - whoever bids the lowest commission wins the listing.

FSBO is certainly worth exploring.
It's important to recognize if you have the time to put in and understand how to market your unit to it's natural audience. One needs to look at the various media, internet, papers , word of mouth, and building postings.

Topper as of yet, the mkt is inefficient so I must play by inefficient rule. But my cash only position and excellent board approvability is worth 10% to the right seller.

On a same line sale with a comp above or below prospective unit, I'd structure it this way. Pay 70%, 80% or 90% upfront. When comp sells with borker, buyer to pay residual to come to 97% of closed price. This way seller keeps 3% and buyer saves 3%. But gets complicated if units are far apart in quality views. But in units like lincoln towers, 1965 bway, 101w 67 with very little variations except height it can be a way to stop the inefficiencies. Seriously, would you pay 6% to buy an iMac?

Don't count on your excellent board approvability.
Shady business dealings, lack of employment, lots of legal activity, IRS concerns, general lack of hygiene, inappropriate nudity, "thousands of people who have touched [your] wife", estranged parents, ...