Real Estate Agents - Anyone have this career?

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Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
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For god sake learn the island. Also the language. Not joking when I say you should buy and read this cover to cover.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004UBFVEK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

p-3012-1253252295-5505-0-470x504.jpg


NoAc ! Fucking haole!
 

iannis

Musty Nester
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It honestly sounds like a pretty terrible job. More like a lifestyle.

You'd have to be selling a few houses every month to make decent money. And if you divide it out by the hours you put into it... the salary probably suuuuuuuuucks.

Of course you are your own boss, and that counts for a lot.
 

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
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It honestly sounds like a pretty terrible job. More like a lifestyle.

You'd have to be selling a few houses every month to make decent money. And if you divide it out by the hours you put into it... the salary probably suuuuuuuuucks.

Of course you are your own boss, and that counts for a lot.

commission is around 5% split between buyer and sellers agents I think, average home cost on Oahu is $800K. It's a decent chunk of change. BUT competition in Hawaii Real Estate is insane.
 

Asshat wormie

2023 Asshat Award Winner
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I work in real estate. All realtors are scumbags. Congrats on joining the ranks.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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I feel like companies like OpenDoor and OfferPad are going to destroy this industry in most major metro areas.

When most realtors are useless, there can't help but be a better model that comes along and replaces them. Only industries that won't die are those protected by law like car dealerships.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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I could've bought my house without a realtor. I feel like maybe they're more useful to the non-internet generation
 

Vinen

God is dead
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I could've bought my house without a realtor. I feel like maybe they're more useful to the non-internet generation

Thats very not true. You purchased a cheap house in a shitty area.

My realtor definitely has earned the ~35K commission she is getting from the house my wife and I are purchasing.
 

Vinen

God is dead
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What did your realtor do?

  1. Drive us around to ~25 open houses.
  2. Arrange visits to ~20 houses that didn't have open houses
  3. Handled communication with the Sellers Agent (obv)
  4. Drove us around the general neighborhoods of the area we were looking at multiple times at various times of the day.
  5. Provide detailed recommendations on property and why.
NOTE: We were searching for 6+ months and we spoke with her weekly. We were also looking at a 1-1.5m houses.

We also trust her opinion. As I've stated in the past I consider her more of a friend and this is the second house we have purchased with her as our buyers agent.

Keep in mind my wife and I both incredibly busy and dealing with phone calls is not what we want to be doing. Handling the mortgage, etc was annoying enough.

//Time is money
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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Doesn't seem like $35k of work for me but that's your money. Also when you constantly degrade where I live, how much I make, and where I work it makes you look like the piece of shit anyways.
 

Vinen

God is dead
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Doesn't seem like $35k of work for me but that's your money. Also when you constantly degrade where I live, how much I make, and where I work it makes you look like the piece of shit anyways.

Says the person who comes here and calls Realtors worthless without actually understanding what they do.
 

Vinen

God is dead
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Says the person who wouldn't use 99% of realtors

rofl

Well true. Most people don't understand a good realtor till they met one.

Will agree most are trash. Hopefully Xarpalarp can fall into the good realm after a few years of experience and understanding the actual community.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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While I did like my realtor since I was relatively unfamiliar with the area I purchased in I could very easily see the profession being dead in 20 something years
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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There's a LOT of law involved with real estate. We aren't legally allowed to tell you which areas are good and which are bad. The *only* thing we can legally do is suggest a potential buyer goes to the area the house is at for various times of the day. Morning, afternoon, night. Get a feel for the neighborhood. Then the potential buyer can check police records to determine if an area is good or not.

"Are there many kids in this neighborhood?"
The only answer I'm allowed to say is I don't know. Why don't we drive around and see if we spot many, or if there are parks in use, or if people have swing sets in their backyard. We really aren't able to give the potential homeowner any information except on the quality of that particular house. And even then, we can only go off the records. Unless of course, you have a history with construction, you are not allowed to give judgement on anything as a realtor.

6 Ways to Avoid Illegal Steering

EDIT: The reason why there are so many scummy realtors is because the barrier for entry is set so low. And yes, this is the primary reason that I took this job. However, as the previous vice president of my company, I've always been very ethical. So no problem there.

One of the other reasons why most realtors are scummy is because they are independent contractors. A question was asked about what it would take to make Realtors a more ethical group, and the answer was if they became employees of the broker they practiced under. If they had to follow the directions of said broker. Unfortunately, they don't. A broker can offer guidance, but the agent is under no responsibility to listen. It's pretty sad, really. But as a result of there being so many horrible agents out there, if you become a good ethical one, you will stand far above the crowd. That's what my goal is. And I hope my honesty shines through to any potential buyer or seller.
 
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Vinen

God is dead
2,782
486
There's a LOT of law involved with real estate. We aren't legally allowed to tell you which areas are good and which are bad. The *only* thing we can legally do is suggest a potential buyer goes to the area the house is at for various times of the day. Morning, afternoon, night. Get a feel for the neighborhood. Then the potential buyer can check police records to determine if an area is good or not.

"Are there many kids in this neighborhood?"
The only answer I'm allowed to say is I don't know. Why don't we drive around and see if we spot many, or if there are parks in use, or if people have swing sets in their backyard. We really aren't able to give the potential homeowner any information except on the quality of that particular house. And even then, we can only go off the records. Unless of course, you have a history with construction, you are not allowed to give judgement on anything as a realtor.

6 Ways to Avoid Illegal Steering

EDIT: The reason why there are so many scummy realtors is because the barrier for entry is set so low. And yes, this is the primary reason that I took this job. However, as the previous vice president of my company, I've always been very ethical. So no problem there.

One of the other reasons why most realtors are scummy is because they are independent contractors. A question was asked about what it would take to make Realtors a more ethical group, and the answer was if they became employees of the broker they practiced under. If they had to follow the directions of said broker. Unfortunately, they don't. A broker can offer guidance, but the agent is under no responsibility to listen. It's pretty sad, really. But as a result of there being so many horrible agents out there, if you become a good ethical one, you will stand far above the crowd. That's what my goal is. And I hope my honesty shines through to any potential buyer or seller.

I honestly never noticed how our realtor worded stuff. She was def staying within the bounds of the fair housing act. It also explains why she changed the subject when my wife and I asked certain questions...
 

Cad

<Bronze Donator>
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I don't think realtors are worth anything either, but I was familiar with real estate transactions already. I didn't have a realtor with my first house and worked directly with the listing agent and got them to cut their commission with my second. I think listing agents have their place, buyers agents are just silly. Do your own fucking research, agents know jack shit in my experience.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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How competitive of a market Cad? The good thing about my agent is I could tell him I want to see a house (often times before listing actually went generally public) and he'd get me in to see the house. Without a buying agent I wouldn't have been able to see nearly the volume nor would I have had a shot at even writing an offer since the homes here go into escrow less than a week after listing.
 

Cad

<Bronze Donator>
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How competitive of a market Cad? The good thing about my agent is I could tell him I want to see a house (often times before listing actually went generally public) and he'd get me in to see the house. Without a buying agent I wouldn't have been able to see nearly the volume nor would I have had a shot at even writing an offer since the homes here go into escrow less than a week after listing.

Every house I made offers on had multiple offers.

At least in TX offers are made on a standard form that is all boilerplate and you fill in basically like 5 blanks. Any monkey could write an offer.

It might just be the way you phrased it, but if you knew about the house before the listing generally went public (hip pocket listings are common) and not your buyers agent, what value was he? You could have called the listing agent yourself.

I wasn't just looking for "a house" I was being very particular and wanted very particular things, and getting driven around to 20 houses would have been a complete waste of my time.