Re: Realtors ...
 

The realtor who already has 20 likely buyers in his contact book is the one you want, not someone sitting waiting for the phone to ring after posting a few low res pictures on the MLS listings.

Re: Realtors ...
 

Quite. We recently had over 60 viewings of our perfectly normal middle of the road house.

Re: Realtors ...
 

Exactly. You can hardly dictate to the prospective buyer how often they visit, or how much engagement they need to make their mind up.

Re: Realtors ...
 

I think the misconception here is that the selling agent will be happy to knock a few grand off the price in order to keep the whole of the commision to themselves.

If you are interested in the house at the asking price they know that a few grand wont be a deal breaker I suspect.

Re: Realtors ...
 

The agent gets the listing, phones the 20 people, all 20 want to see it (!) They all choose different days and times. What's the agent to do? Break it to the sellers gently that they'll be cleaning it 20 times, that's what.

Re: Realtors ...
 

It's not the selling agent's decision though, it's the vendor's.

I cannot begin to imagine how much of a PITA it would be to have to call up every listing agent and schedule viewings with them on the day of the viewings. That alone would be worth paying nothing to the realtor one uses to purchase the house.

Re: Realtors ...
 

Do I believe I can draft (or have a lawyer do it) a purchase contract for less than zero? How am I supposed to answer that question?

I never said it was silly not to use one when selling. I never mentioned selling. I may or may not use a realtor when selling- I'll review my options if/when the time comes.

How would I obtain access to a property? I'd call the listing agent... :confused:

Re: Realtors ...
 

And if you buy the house and don't have your own agent the listing agent gets to keep both the buyer's and seller's commissions.

Re: Realtors ...
 

Huh? $35K for a half day exercise. Can I be your realtor

Now, I think I get it, you're not talking a simple house sale, you're talking a business. That's a little differnet.

Re: Realtors ...
 

I suggest "Yes" or "no" or something like "Why bother, I can do it myself".

The point is that you said you would not use one when purchasing. You do not pay commission to a realtor when purchasing so, in essence, the purchase costs you nothing insofar as your realtor's commission is concerned (I accept that it is possible to argue that the amount you pay for the property includes commission).

As you won't be using a realtor for "free" do you believe you will be able to secure the services of a lawyer or another to draft the contract for "free" or will you have a bash yourself? That was the question.

I suggest you review what I wrote. I never suggested that you would not use one when selling.

That is what I suggested below. As I also stated, I can only imagine that it would be a real PITA to have to schedule lots of viewings in a single day. Fine if you only have one property to view, not so fine if you have multiple properties to view. Of course, you would then have the listing realtor behind you at all times.

Each to their own, I just find not using a realtor to buy a strange decision. I understand why some people don't want to use one when selling.

Re: Realtors ...
 

It's not that hard, I've done it twice.

Again, it's not that hard or that time consuming.

'cus you can negotiate the fees that would normally go to the buying agent. I've split that percentage with the selling agent and they are then more motivated to take your offer.

Re: Realtors ...
 

I have seen enough go wrong that I disagree with you, actually, it is quite difficult.


That depends upon how valuable your time is. Don't forget, the realtor costs you zero.

I suspect that this is location dependant and, again, it is not the realtor's decision, but that of the vendor.

Re: Realtors ...
 

Just out of interest which way do you think the market in Calgary is heading? Did you get many offers out of the 60 viewings?

Re: Realtors ...
 

That's the lawyer in you talking ;)

True, but you could be getting a better deal by not using one.

And who do you think that advises the vendor on what the best deal is - the realtor.

Like you said - to each their own. Like I said - I've done it twice and it's not that time consuming or hard for the money you save.

Re: Realtors ...
 

We did. That was because we wanted a very quick sale and I was happy to have it listed quite a bit below our competitors. I believe it was probably listed at market value -5% and most of our competitors were at market +10%

We listed in early October (IIRC) and had it sold within a month. Our realtor was of the view that the time of year we listed was good to weed out those that were "just looking" and was of the view that those that were viewing were serious about buying. Another advantage was that lots took their properties off the market in the lead up to Christmas.

We actually had a specific acreage in mind when we listed our property but, unfortunately, it was leased for 6 months half a day or so before we finalized our acceptance of the offer.

In direct answer to your question, I suspect the market will continue to rise very slowly. I know that the received wisdom is that spring of next year will see a large increase, I just don't see that.

We bought almost at the top of the market in early 2007, which continued to rise throughout 2007 until it went down. We sold our property for $6,000 more than we paid for it so, over 5 years, lost money on it once commissions are taken into account.

Our new property is outside of the City and, as I have no intention of ever leaving it, I really don't care what the market does.