Gas Pricing? That ain't nothing compared

[Irishmist]

to real estate commissions. Yeah, gas prices recently went through the roof and who would have thought we would be so ecstatic when it came down to a 'reasonable' $2.00 per gallon? But hold on. What about the real estate industry? I can't be the only one that gets a little miffed when I contemplate the huge commissions that are made on home sales. Now admittedly, some agents do a much better job than others. But, unfortunately, the well guarded commission structure does not discriminate between good and bad agents. Now I understand that some agents will actually refuse to show a property if there is a chance their commission will be adversely affected! Any other thoughts? all the best, John.

[cracker]

I blame it on them self's....They created the feeding frenzy of real estate.
let them all suffer, And starve, They made a aftificial market, and made Billion's, In funny money.
Last week they said the bubble burst!!!, Good.
It will take a Decade for wages to catch up with the market.


GOOD JOB GREENSPAN

[amickracing]

I don't have much respect for real estate people.

We sold a house we ended up with when a loved one passed away. We just wanted to sell it to get out of the payments, weren't planning on making any money really. After that one jack butt (censored for you people in Ill.) realtor was done we almost ended up oweing money after the house was sold!

We recently purchased some land to build our house on. After 2 days of price dealing we came to an agreement.... then we spend the next 3 weeks playing phone tag and jumping through the hoops and waiting for the realtor to get her crap together to sell it.

One of the few area's you can have no experience yet be in charge of millions!

[Midwest]

I was pleasantly surprized when we signed a sales agreement with our realtor. Instead of the 6% commission we have always paid in the past, this agency contract was for 5%. I kept looking for hidden fees, but couldn't find any. We have to provide certain expenses at the closing, mortgage insurance, flood certificate and all that other crap that they add on, but I guess that's expected. Still, 5% for only one showing that resulted in a nice offer is a pretty good deal for the agent. We figured it would either sell right away or sit forever and thank goodness it was the right away option. Now, so long as the closing goes off without a hitch, we got it made.

Now on another note, we're selling at a local auction facility some collectibles, antiques, furniture, junk tools (don't buy my old miter saw if you come- it's dangerous and worn out), and other stuff we don't want to hassle with moving. Now, those auctioneer b@$t@rd$ are hammering home the bucks! We're all in the wrong business. They get a 20% commission, we share advertising expense with the other sellers, pay them to unpack and display the goods or do it ourselves at their facility, etc. Those guys are raking it in by just 'singing for their supper' for an afternoon. We're getting bent over and having it broken off inside over selling those items! But unlike a garage sale, which we've already had one, there should be nothing left over at the end of the day. So it might be worth it after all to just have it over and done.

[rivethog]

I sold my last house on my own. Sold it for a little less than appraised market value within 3hrs of recieving the appraisal. I made some money, the buyer got a good deal, no one got any commissions.