13 Comment

• commonsense July 11, 2016 at 9:01 am

  Theresa Roemer is a cartoon character with delusions of grandeur. She listed the house for $12 million which it was never worth, $3-$4 Mil is fair market value. Auction sale is a clear sign of desperation in real estate world.
• JT100 July 11, 2016 at 9:42 am

  I see an analogy somewhere between that image and the state of Houston’s sidewalks/bike lanes…
• Toby July 11, 2016 at 11:08 am

  Why do realtors still get 6% of the transaction?
• commonsense July 11, 2016 at 11:55 am

  @Toby, because it’s a cratel, a remnant of times long gone when one needed realtors. These days they provide no value added, you can find your own home easily online, all pertinent contracts are free, and the title company handles all the details of the transaction. But they will not let you list a home for sale on MLS unless you go through a realtor, herein lies the racketeering part of the outdated model.
• Rafael July 11, 2016 at 3:01 pm

  @Commonsense that is an asinine comment.. You make it sound like selling your house is that easy. Documents that TREC provides in selling your house are always changing and realtors are mandated to be kept up to speed with these changes to provide this knowledge to their clients. Also, market knowledge and comps are also beneficial when hiring a realtor. Title companies can only do so much and its foolish not to have someone on your side guiding you through the process. There is always FSBO websites where people try to sell their homes on their own to save a few bucks and don’t have the exposure of the MLS. Most of the time they end up hiring a realtor to make life easier for them! You probably think hiring a lawyer is outdated too since you get can forms on legalzoom and do everything ProSe. Good luck!
• Bulldoze Culture July 11, 2016 at 4:11 pm

  Rafael, read up on the Agency section of any realtor’s contract, they’re on your side up to a point. I have found them hopeless to digesting comps, I usually set my own buy/sell price. They just typically lasso x properties in x area and sweep them into the average, regardless of attributes unique to the neighborhood or market. They’re transaction facilitators mainly and should be compensated as such so 6% is too high.
• HeyHeyHouston July 11, 2016 at 4:14 pm

  @Rafael – All of the services you describe should be able to have fixed reasonable prices. Not 3-5 years of *hopeful* home appreciation in the form of a % commission.
• spiteful July 11, 2016 at 4:16 pm

  what is asinine is fools like rafael feebly attempting to perpetuate the fallacy that a realtor somehow deserves to be paid 6% of a real estate transaction for the little amount of work that they actually do. if my house is worth $500k, does a realtor REALLY do $30k worth of work during the transaction? even if you give them a very generous hourly rate of $100/hr (generous because very little training is required to obtain a real estate license vs a law degree or a cpa), that would mean they would have had to do 300 hours of work! there’s no way a realtor puts in that much time in a transaction.

  commensense makes plenty of asinine comments on here, but the rants about real estate commissions are atypical in that regard.
• commonsense July 11, 2016 at 7:11 pm

  @Rafael. TREC contract is very simple, plus despite realtor lies, you don’t have to use it in Texas, you can use ANY buy/sell agreement.

  You can find comps on any number of websites including many other useful tools realtors don’t use or possess.

  Title companies handle all the important paperwork and carry the liability, realtors carry Zero liability even if they majorly screw up, so their advice is useless.

  FSBO websites do not list MLS sales and cannot list to MLS websites that’s why they always fail. The monopoly of the cartel does not like competition.

  I also find it laughable that realtors claim they represent YOU, where in fact their paycheck depends solely on closing the deal whether it’s a good deal for you or not. New naive realtors may believe in the whole “ethics oath” they take, but after a couple of years in the business it becomes all about closing the deal, collecting commission, and moving onto the next one.
• Fernando July 11, 2016 at 7:54 pm

  Rafael, sorry, but I disagree. I bought my first home sans realtor from a builder w/o any issues. I recently purchased another home; every house I looked at was because I found it on HAR and asked my realtor to schedule a showing (since listing agents didn’t want me going on my own). Every house she sent me didn’t even meet my criteria. When it came to negotiating, we got the house for at least $15K less than she expected (much lower than list price) and only because I chose the numbers (she refused to even provide input on whether or not it was a decent number). The agency contract and title company contracts are meant to protect themselves more than they are to help the buyers/sellers out. If there wasn’t a cartel around HAR/MLS, it’d be much easier to sell a home sans realtor. Wealth Management advisors typically charge <1%.
• meh July 12, 2016 at 7:42 am

  TREC is a perfect example of regulatory capture. When 2/3 of your regulatory commission is composed of people with a vested interest in making as much money as they can in the industry they regulate, the natural course of events is for more regulation. There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t be able to get accurate information about sale prices and make an informed decision *by myself* as to what a fair price is….like any other functioning market. The fact that MLS in Texas hides sale price data behind a real estate sales license would be criminal if it were some other industry. Imagine going to a car dealer and being told you have to use one of their licensed sales people if you want to find out how much other people paid. It’s BS, pure and simple, and the explosion of “documents” that TREC continually requires is nothing more than a protectionist game that’s designed to intimidate consumers into using an agent.
  .
  And don’t get me started on title companies in Texas….you want *how* much for a lien search and insurance on a nearly nonexistent risk?
• BayouFrontProperty July 12, 2016 at 8:01 am

  If you need help valuing your property for sale, call an appraiser for a private market value appraisal. They’ll provide all the MLS/market data info you need. For $300ish you’ve eliminated the only real advantage to having a real estate agent. If marketing times are over 2-3 months in your neighborhood, get an agent. That way they’ll actually have to work for their commission.
• MrEction July 12, 2016 at 8:12 am

  @Rafael You actually used MLS listing as a reason to use a realtor. A whoosh that big could have knocked some trees down this morning, so everyone be extra careful on their drive into work.