Real Estate agent question...

[nippyjun]

My friend is looking for a house and the agent he is working with said to my friend that there is a $250 fee that the agent charges to the buyer once they get a house. Is this reasonable since the agent is getting a comission anyway?

 

[Muadib]

Heck No!! Tell him to find another agent. That one is slime.

 

[kt]

No such thing. Tell your friend to look for another agent. No real estate agents should be charging you any fees ontop of their commission, that is just bullcrap.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
My friend is looking for a house and the agent he is working with said to my friend that there is a $250 fee that the agent charges to the buyer once they get a house. Is this reasonable since the agent is getting a comission anyway?

No, my mom has been a real estate agent for 20-25 years now... She works off of straight commission, no fees.

 

[ndee]

Originally posted by: aphexII

Originally posted by: nippyjun
My friend is looking for a house and the agent he is working with said to my friend that there is a $250 fee that the agent charges to the buyer once they get a house. Is this reasonable since the agent is getting a comission anyway?

No, my mom has been a real estate agent for 20-25 years now... She works off of straight commission, no fees.

yay... your mum... yaya

 

[AbsolutZero]

Maybe it was misunderstood? The seller pays the comission to both agents. THere are such things as buyer's agents, but they charge 1%. In some cases, you can make up for the 1% b/c the buyer's agent will get you a better price. Also some employers might comp that.

 

[nippyjun]

Here's a little more info he just found out. It's coldwell banker as the broker and the $250 is charged to both the seller and buyer upon selling the real estate.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Total BS. I have never paid that kind of a fee when buying or selling a house. It's covered in the sellers contract of 6-7%.

 

[nippyjun]

Ahh, now it may make more sense.. The comission is 5-6% not 6-7%.

 

[soccerbud34]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
Here's a little more info he just found out. It's coldwell banker as the broker and the $250 is charged to both the seller and buyer upon selling the real estate.

My mom is also a real estate agent.
If your friend is looking to purchase a house, he or she should not pay any fee.

The agent's commission should be covered by the seller of the house.

 

[rh71]

We just bought a house (in-contract, waiting for the closing day).. and in our experience... real estate agents were nothing but a reason to pay more for a house. We were being shown houses not worth their price tag because of the 6% commission and because the good ones were already gone with the "multiple listings". Take this experience for example...

We saw an ad for sell-by-owner for $319k. 5 weeks later, the ad is still there... we call him up... he tells us he just went and listed with an agency. His price is now $369k. Are you f$@king kidding me? We saw the house based on his promise to sell to us for only $319k anyway... if we wanted it. We show up, and the place is worth < $300k in our eyes.

Sellers jack up the price so ridiculously to "make up" for paying that 6% commission. In the seller's eyes, it's comparable to having to make up for a deductible on insurance when you claim more than you actually lost. My advice is to look for sell-by-owners and visit a lot of them.

We bought ours for $330k from sell-by-owners while the same house down the block in MUCH WORSE condition/setting (we saw it thru Century21) was going for only $7k less. Needless to say, that one is still on the market.