Realtor fees: negotiable?

[gingib]

I know the generic realtor fees are 6-7%. Are these negotiable at all? Anyone had experience negotiating them?

Knocking off 1-2% ends up being alot of extra cash and in the end thats alot.

In such a hot sellers housing market, I am thinking about trying to negotiate or work with someone with lower fees.

Any advice is appreciated.. Thank you

[solocam_aggie]

It can be negotiable. When my folks had their land for sale, the realtor agreed to 3%. But this was a much bigger sale than they are use to here, 3% would still be one heck of a paycheck.

[Grayson]

Yes, everything's negotiable, but in a "hot market," I wonder (1) why someone would agree to drop their fee for one house but not all houses, and (2) what level of service you would get at 4% vs. the level of service someone else would get at 6%.

The more valuable the house, the more likely you'll get someone to drop their rate, IMO.

[kyle1974]

I negotiated my last deal to 4.5%... most people research homes online, then ask a realtor to unlock the door so they can go inside. that 6% rate was fine before ALgore invented the internet. These days, it's silly.

[BigWes]

It's typically 6% of your sale, 3% to the selling agent, 3% to the buyers agent. Just like with anything else, it's negotiable, but you tend to get what you pay for. This isn't always the case, and you can try, but a good agent is worth it.

[gingib]

I negotiated my last deal to 4.5%... most people research homes online, then ask a realtor to unlock the door so they can go inside. that 6% rate was fine before ALgore invented the internet. These days, it's silly.

Can you explain how you did that? Did you negotiate just on your selling end or also on the buyer?

We will be selling so I dont know how I can negotiate the buying realtor fees, if I even can.

[Mr. Whiskers]

My wife is a realtor and she negotiates for friends and family. If it is a huge sell, you might be able to negotiate with your realtor.

[kyle1974]

Can you explain how you did that? Did you negotiate just on your selling end or also on the buyer?

We will be selling so I dont know how I can negotiate the buying realtor fees, if I even can.

I told the listing agent I wasn't going to pay them 6% when houses in my neighborhood were selling in less than 30 days.

We put it on the market, and I had 2 full price offers in less than 2 weeks. after I accepted an offer, I actually had someone come in and make an offer $5,000 over the asking price I think once a buyer's agent finds out the commission is lower, they'll try to steer them away from it, so be aware of that also.

it depends on the market... the realtor I used literally did nothing but put take some photos, and put it on the MLS. (like 90% of them do).

[Smokeater]

When we sold our house in Richardson, I put a by owner sign out front. Week or so later an agent knocked on my door and offered to do it for 3%. Happened to be in an area that was selling good, not many available. Was gonna let him do it then a coupla weeks later, got another knock and ended up selling it! Very lucky, I know. Went to the title company and they did the rest. Didn't cost much at all for that part of it either, compared to 6%.

[Randy]

If its that hot of a market sell it yourself.

Strike a deal with someone and walk into a title company.

[Chance Love]

Can you explain how you did that? Did you negotiate just on your selling end or also on the buyer?

We will be selling so I dont know how I can negotiate the buying realtor fees, if I even can.

As a seller, the fee you are paying goes to the listing agent. He/she will then generally split that fee with a buyers agent if there is one involved in the transaction. You are not negotiating the buyer's agents fee. If you list at 6%, typically there will be a 3/3 split. If you list at 4% where the listing agent is pretty much forced to offer a 2/2 split...that doesn't offer much incentive for a buyers agent to show your property when he can show something nearby and get his 3. Make sense? I'm not saying it's right since as Realtors we MUST put our client's interests above our own, but it happens. If you are so concerned with that 1 or 2 %, why not just build it into the price?

[C.W.Ashby]

PM sent

[tigerscowboy]

We build and sell product from the $400k to 1.4 mil and most of our realtor fees are negotiated. On our side, it is always 2.25-2.5% if the buyer has a realtor. We are required to pay that broker 3% unless they elect to gift some of that back to their customer, the buyer.

If the buyer does not have a broker, we pay ours 3%.

This has been our practice since '99

[Fishndude]

Just sold my house Saturday. We had a 5% deal. We are buying and selling thru the same agent.

[JHT]

I know the generic realtor fees are 6-7%. Are these negotiable at all? Anyone had experience negotiating them?

Knocking off 1-2% ends up being alot of extra cash and in the end thats alot.

In such a hot sellers housing market, I am thinking about trying to negotiate or work with someone with lower fees.

Any advice is appreciated.. Thank you

If its a hot market and inventory is low you should be able to wiggle it.

Call 3 or 4 agents. Let them fight it out.