JonboyE

Using a 6% commission rate this is a $467k house. Not too many of those in NS I suspect. In BC this would be an $800k house. Even then, this is not cash in their jeans as they have all their other business costs to pay out of this.

I also suspect that very few realtors sell 15 houses a year. Some do, for sure, but they work very hard to build up their business over many years, mostly by gaining a good reputation within their neighborhood. I don't begrudge them their success.

$30 an hour is $62,400 a year. Whilst I don't underestimate the value of the work you do, you have to compare apples with apples. You work in a protected, unionized environment with guaranteed terms and conditions of employment. A realtor lives by the seat of their pants and can work for days, even weeks or months, for nothing.

Good realtors make good money, bad ones make very little. That is the way it should be.

Look, this is the way real estate works in North America. Like car insurance, the sticker shock is enormous after being used to UK prices. But, the system serves the market well and we might as well work with it rather than against it.

I've seen places with FSBO signs. They are there week after week after week. A couple of months later the FSBO sign is replaced by a realtor's sign. The next week there is a bright new SOLD sticker on the sign. It is just how things work.

PS I am not a realtor. <Thanks God for small mercies>

Jay Bird

One of the real estate people who came to see us on Friday told us she sold 40 houses last year and that she is named as one of the best 50 real estate agents in Ontario for the 3rd year running! The one who sold us the house a few years ago has been up in front of the ethics committee, or board, or whatever you call it. Hmmmm...

kastan

I was not born yesterday,i had 3 realtors value my house and i added $10,000on top of there highest valuation.So actually i am $42000 better off.

Jay Bird

Wow! Good for you.......I must admit, I'm beginning to think it's the way to go. I've asked a third agent to come see us tomorrow, then we'll make The Decision. I'm going to PM you with a question.......

Paradisefound

Property Developer/Business Advisor/Life Coach/Tourism developer/ member of many boards and associations.
If I choose to give up any of my time spent with my children, this is what I spend it doing, whether for payment or not. I have never seen anything I spend my time doing as work or a job. Life is too short for that.

R I C H

Oh dear, pass me the Kleenex.

If you don't like the negotiation, you don't have to deal. Your roast beef and potatoes stay intact.

Are you looking for sympathy for working hard to earn a decent living

Poppy2

More than anything I was just speculating and not meaning to make it personal to you, but a reflection upon the whole process. I was taking a random number there. I meant the individual realtor took home after tax that amount, just as a speculative figure, based on a house sale in the $400,000's. I certainly dont want to bang on about my unease in the process, I had a bad experience in NZ and I dont want to be a seller for a very long time. All too fresh for me really. I guess what it boils down to for me, and I suppose the OP, is that regardless of the actual service (fantastic,great, good or indifferent)it feels like such a large lump is then parted with, by the vendor. Just as you may only expect 5 sales a year, there may well surely be people who come to you to be the finder of properties, and there you have that finder's fee. Though it is split into many hands and though realtors may be living on bread and water all year long () waiting for a sale in a small community, it still feels hard to part with tens of thousands of dollars. I know you have to understand that feeling, even if you feel you can make a good reasoned arguement for why.

Nope, Healthcare is a real vocation alright, but well paid, no! Although there are shades of grey and some do get a comfortable income even so, very few.

This thread has strayed a little - OP, did you get some ideas of what to do next?

Novocastrian

Well, it's not really. The selling price is simply 6% higher than it would otherwise be. For example in Germany, the listed price is before the commission is added (just like all prices here are advertised before GST is added) and the buyer pays the agents fees directly. Same difference at the end of the day.

Either way, if you are selling a house you bought recently, you need to sell it for (at least) 6% more than you paid to break even. 'Twas ever so.

Jay Bird

So, really when an agent gives you a valuation, it isn't really a valuation of the property alone, but a valuation inclusive of the expected (5%) commission! Which should still be negotiable..... On top of that are the taxes...........PST & GST? Or just GST?

Jay Bird

Hi Poppy2....yep...have a go at selling it ourselves!

daft batty

I have my moments tho...........

Jay Bird

!!! Do you ever sleep?

No1_mom

[QUOTE=JonboyE;6168490]Using a 6% commission rate this is a $467k house. Not too many of those in NS I suspect. In BC this would be an $800k house. Even then, this is not cash in their jeans as they have all their other business costs to pay out of this.


sorry I don't understand your calculations - if it is 6% commission, then on a $467k house that would be a total of $28020.

I dread paying over $12000 to sell the house which I have had less than a year - I will certainly be getting quotes from everyone. Put it this way it might be money out the realtors pocket but it is money in mine to help settle my family in a new location and afford the house we want.

You are right though re the nurses salary, unless they work less than the normal 40 hours per week.


I have seen house in my area still be there nearly a year later or others who change from realtor to realtor and still don't sell - and this is quite often with some of the top sellers in the area..

daft batty

oh my goodness, is there a "starving realtors in Nova Scotia" fund??

Novocastrian

That's how I would interpret it. I suppose the GST/PST thingy varies provincially though.