Friday, December 08, 2006

More Tools To Help Lower Real Estate Commissions

As we all know, the standard 6% realtor commission has been a 2-edged sword. In a lot of cases (including now, when sales are at rock bottom), Realtors have to work extremely hard to market and sell a house. The buyer's agent? I still haven't been sold on that one.

In most cases, however (especially over the past 3 years, when mortgage lenders were giving away money like Halloween candy and houses were selling in weeks), the difference between the amount of work done and the reward of the 3% commission has been a complete joke.

Now, Zillow.com is getting in on the act. From CNN/Money:

'The Web site Zillow.com, most known for its "Zestimate" price valuations for nearly 70 million homes, launched several new services for home sellers Thursday.

Sellers can now post their home for sale at Zillow - free of charge. Sellers can add details to a page that already includes basic details, such as square footage, number of beds and baths and sales history. '

Sounds good. But wait! There's more!

'And there's something else new - and radical - they can do: "We're encouraging homeowners to post 'Make-me-move' prices," says Zillow's CEO, Rich Barton.

He suggests that owners just toying with the idea of selling can enter an extremely high make-me move price. Then, if they get an offer that blows their socks off, they can make a very profitable sale.'

I like the approach, but these guys obviously haven't paid attention to the market. Unless a house is extra-special (in price, location, or both), it could sit on the database for years. Still, the idea of cutting out the middle-man and saving several thousand dollars is a beautiful thing. And then there's this:

'It's almost the flip side of a service launched this summer by another real estate Web site, Reply.com.

There, buyers are encouraged to make unsolicited offers on any houses they want. Buyers pick out a number of homes, 15 or 20 say (just one or two is too few to work), that they would like to make offers on. They decide just how much to bid on each convey the info to Reply.com. For a fee of $24.95, Reply will deliver a package containing the offers to each of the homeowners.

The company catchword for the service is, "Every home in America is up for sale."

Hmmm...will this drive the total inventory numbers up?

Full Article

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I don't know about all that Jay. I've been watching a house using ziprealty and they've got it listed 15,000 less than the zestimate and it's still not selling. The zestimate dropped approx. $900 last month.

I LOVE zip realty and all this new stuff. It opens up a world of information that you can't get on Realtor.com. You can't even get an ADDRESS at Realtor.com!

Crazy called it yesterday--I think this will change real estate. You can see how much the houses in the neighborhood have sold for much easier than going to the appraisers web site.

Anonymous said...

Jay, maybe zillow was helpful at the tip of the bubble, but now, quite frankly it's worthless. Especially if you are in Florida! Now I think people are finding their home is worth what someone is willing to pay for it and quite honestly, it's substantially less than zillow estimates!

Anonymous said...

I love it....

The guy admits to being a Professional RealWhore.....

He prostitutes himself, for money, and tells you, your getting market value for it....

They've got the pimps, out pumping appraisals, to make it all look legitmate, .....so you get your moneies worth, and walk into your dream home , with that smile, that only people who have experienced the ultimate pleasure display....

And the RealWhore, drives off in their fancy pimp mobile cruising the streets for the next sucker....

===================================

A real appraisal, would start from the ground up....How much for a lot, how much for the lumber + the labor to build it.....What's the [real] value of the location... +/-.....True value of all the landscaping, etc, etc, etc.....
Adding in all the upgrades appropriately....
Truthfully, Zillow, can't give a fair appraisal, any more than a realtor is able to....
===================================

THE STARK REALITY, IS THAT REAL ESTATE, IS CONSIDERED AN ASSET.....MUCH THE SAME AS STOCKS, AND BONDS, ETC......
AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, THE PRICE IS DETERMINED BY WHAT SOMEBODY/ANYBODY IS WILLING TO PAY FOR IT....

IT'S """NOT"" THE REALTOR, IT'S ""NOT"" ZILLOW
IT'S ""NOT"" THE APRAISSOR

IF SOMEBODY/ANYBODY ISN'T WILLING TO BUY IT...IT AIN'T WORTH NOTHIN...PERIOD...

|||||READ YOUR HISTORY BOOKS ||||.....150 YEARS AGO....BANKS """DIDN'T"" LEND MONEY ON REAL ESTATE BECAUSE THEY KNEW THIS.....
Are we again going to be forced to write another chapter, with a footnote!!!

>>>>>>>A REALWHORE MADE ME DO IT<<<

Anonymous said...

OOHHH!!! YES..

I've got Jay's telephone number to post on bathroom walls.....

The ole saying:::

|||||| A mans ambition, must be small, to post his number on a bathroom wall!!! ||||||

Anonymous said...

Andy boy, listen up here:

15% of the realtors [REALLY] sell, 85% of the properties.....

All the rest are Johnny Come Lately's....

Above all else, Crazy wants to know, why they post all those pictures, of stupid looking people in the real estate section...

Man O' Man...it's like walking into a 'HORE' house, with them all lined up.....

PICK ME, PICK ME!!!!

I'm the best....I'll show you my [????]!!!!, if you show me yours [$$$$]!!!!....
===================================
Andy!!!! You crack me up!!!! You give him credit, for prostituting himself????
THE LOWEST OF THE LOW, IN PROFESSIONALISM HAS BEEN JUST DISPLAYED BY JAY!!!!

HOW CAN THEY ASPIRE TO LICENSING AND PROFESSIONALISM, WITH DISPLAYS OF THIS MAGNITUTUDE....
Call Me!!!! I got such a deal for you????

Anonymous said...

SSO!!
In our delvelopement, there is one particular realtor, who has a significant amount of the listings....
She works for one of the MAJOR Brokerage Firms, and has her own webpage....
>>>>>"""SHE CLAIMS, RIGHT ON HER WEBPAGE.....|||| HIGHEST LISTING PRICES |||||"""<<<<<

One of the realtors we have worked with in here says: "" Yah, see gets all the listings, and we get all the sales!!!""""

When I first saw the webpage, my first thought was, why would I want to buy a house from/thru her??? I would be paying the highest prices and commissions!!!!

Realtors, are what they.....In another 10-20 years they will be gone, like all the leaches and parasites of the planet!!!!

SKB said...

Just a test to see if I have fixed the problem.

Anonymous said...

Andy boy:

Being out of the country for 5 years, I'm sorry you didn't learn something....

Here's what to do!!!!

Send them an e-mail,,,,tell them you saw the house, and have an interest in it...and when they are ready to negoitiate a price to let you know!!!!
DO NOT MENTION A PRICE!!!!

LET THE SELLER COME TO YOU!!!!

WHEN AND "IF" THEY EVER SEND YOU AN E-MAIL BACK...."""AGAIN""" DO NOT MENTION A PRICE...."""PERIOD"""

KEEP ON """"ASKING""""

DO NOT ANSWER QUESTIONS...."""ASK""" QUESTIONS...



After the first or second offer from them....""then"" make a counter offer less than theirs....

You probably may NOT get the house, ""BUT"" you will learn something about human nature, and have FUN doing it!!!!

This process with them alone may take 3 - 5 months..[or more]....

Say to yourself...."if" I get the house by the middle of next year, at my price, I'll have been a success...

Anonymous said...

So, in Japan, after their financial markets popped in 1990, their central bank lowered interest rates to .0025% [1/4%]...

AND YES!!!! THEIR HOME PROPERTY PRICES DROPPED 16 YEARS IN A ROW...

Their interest rates are still less than 1%.....and their market still stinks.....

What's going to happen here????

Can't tell you till 'most' of the empty houses sitting are gone.....

When is that going to be????

>>>>>>>> """" YEARS FROM NOW """"<<

Anonymous said...

Crazy is going to tell you the ""WHEN"" things will start happening!!!!

>>>When the housing market quits going up

>>When the Stock Market quits going up

>>When the bond market quits going up [interest rates quit going down]

""WHEN"" all of those thing are done....and we may NOT be to far away as of NOW!!!....

YOU WILL KNOW, YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT THE WHEN!!!!!

|||||IN OTHER WORDS, ""WHEN"" THE CREDIT MARKETS ""STOP"" EXPANDING, AND START CONTRACTING, WILL BE ""WHEN""...

Anonymous said...

To take a page from Crazy's forth coming book;

This whole NAR promotional thing is just ""CRAZY""

Soo!! They say NOW is a good time to buy a house......
Well!! Crazy asks, how many houses do they want people to own???

My land lord has got 2, + his residence, in Conn.....the landlord from across the street has got 5, + his residence in Calif......Another investor in my townhouse unit has got 5, + his residence in W. Palm....Another guy down the street has got 5, with his residence....Another guy, has got 1, + his residence....

Soo!!! Crazy's crazy question is.....How may houses do they want people to own???? ANYWAY!!!

OOHH YAH!!!! Your asking about the book.....
Well, I got the title picked out, but all the page remain empty...kinda like my brain...

The title is:::: """You wouldn't believe it""...The only reason I picked that is, because I don't...

Anonymous said...

SSOO!!! """ CLASS """ CLASS"""

Your word for today is ""CONTAGION"""

It's kinda like a disease, that spreads.....You know like STD's....

You may have heard, or read about a few sub-prime lenders folding up....well, next in the contagion process is the paper they sold, as MBS, CDS, etc. etc.....

Well, this whole thing is going to unravel, albeit, at a snales pace...and when all is said and done, this is going to make the S & L crises of the 1980's look like a rehersal, for the real thing.....

>>>> 10 YEARS BEFORE THIS IS ALL DONE AND WRAPPED UP <<<<

I have no idea what Florida will look like 10 yrs from NOW....
""BUT"" it won't be pretty or a paradise, I'm afraid!!!!

Anonymous said...

"I emailed this seller and I asked if they had a type 0 on this price and asked if they actually meant 30,000."

LOL!

I looked at it. Truly a piece of shit. Might justify such a cost if it were on 1/2 acre canalfront near the ocean with a boat dock. But damn, get a load of those outdated cabinets! Gonna take a lot more than a stainless fridge to sell that POS at $300k!

Ha! Bungalow! Bwahahaha! Indian for "a very small house". Why only nighttime pictures? Nice. Some people are just plain crazy I guess.

Anonymous said...

"I told them sorry, I had been out of the country for five years and back then a POS like theirs was worth 30,000."

THAT is one of the funniest stories I've read in a while. Thanks Andrew, for making my Monday.

SKB said...

Glad to have made your day Sandi.


SKB

SKB said...

Here is another lovely gem, everything (INCLUDING the land) except the kitchen sink.
This one is ONLY 32,000.

I would not take this POS for free, talk about something for the wrecking ball. The land is probably a sink hole in the Glades.

Reminds me of "I have some lovely swamp land in Florida for sale".

SKB

SKB said...

Here is the link:

http://tampa.craigslist.org/rfs/247616834.html

BTW, you can get creative financing with this deal!!

" HURRY!!"

Anonymous said...

Another nice one, Andrew. I wanna know what the insurance on a dump costs?

SKB said...

That is a good question.

BTW,

My sign in kept defaulting to my son's log in name (andrew)
I think I have it corrected now finally.

Cheers,
SKB

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