Muskoka

Yup. Although "traditional real estate broker" could be argued.

Bleifuss

I know the new owner of Zoocasa through a mutual friend and the intention is definitely to disrupt the real estate purchasing process as we know it today.

I think many people can agree that the amount of money agents make doesn't correlate to the amount of value they provide. They enter your search criteria in a system that automatically sends you new listings and they chaperone you to view the property (something you don't really need them for). When you're ready to put in an offer, they input all the contract terms in an automated system with a few clicks and hit print.

As far as negotiating goes, in this market, buyers don't get to negotiate and sellers wait for the highest offer. So explain to me why an agent should get 5%?

For anyone who doesn't like my comments above, I used to have my real estate license many years back. It's a very shady and disingenuous business filled with more crooked agents than I could have ever imagined.

PPo

Solid...

PPo

I live in Leslieville, and I swear that if I put a badly painted sign out on Friday morning that said "House for sale - all bids must be received by Sunday 9pm at this address." I would end up with a closed deal close to what an agent would pull.

Do agents adjust their commission as the price/market rises? "Why should we?" says the agent...

If they would stop showing their money with tasteless expensive cars, clothes, hair/breast implants, cosmetic surgery, and cocaine laced XO cognac shots, perhaps the great unwashed would have more respect for them... sorry, the cognac shots are fine... just share okay?...

Perhaps I just need to find a female real estate agent girlfriend... cause I am too lazy to sell houses.

Turbodan

Agents can help identify good and bad houses. they can help where to come in on an offer or where to price it. many have gotten bad recommendations from agents and many have gotten good. The good ones earn their commission. They watch the market all year long and can share market opinions. I know of a few real estate investors who listen to their brokers because they make them money and don;t buy problem properties.
Unfortunately you sound jealous of the successful agents in the business. And yes there are many unethical brokers out there, and I certainly do not support that.
As an aside, my new next door neighbors did not have the highest bid but the sellers liked the kids and wanted them to have the house. I realize this is unusual but the buyers agent helped with this situation.

Muskoka

I don't disagree with you. There are some good ones who add value. However, is their value greater than paying a house inspector $1k to do a detailed evaluation, and spending an hour or two on google to find about demographics, school zones, crime rates, amenities, etc.? I'd argue no.

An average Toronto house is $1mm, and at 5% the brokers earn a combined $50k. Let's call it $25k each. Now, I'll make another assumption here (you know what they say about assumptions...), and assume that it takes 2 weeks to sell a house. That means that a full-time agent who sells average houses and takes 4-weeks of vacation a year will make $600k before taxes and expenses.

I know the agent only gets a fraction of that, but that number doesn't look right. When people/industries pull in more money than they should, someone will find a solution to undercut them. It's just a matter of time.

BioBanker

I would say that I had a **** POOR experience with my agent who sold my house in the Beaches. They're on your side until the first offer comes in (before an open house even) and then *the market is crashing* and *that house down the street is nicer for less than this offer* and *your first offer is almost always the best offer* and *I think that you should take this and just move on*... My TO agent was a dufus and not worth half of what I paid him.

My Vancouver agent for my purchase was awesome - exactly what I would have hoped for in an agent. HE was worth it.

When you look around and real estate agents are driving GT3RS, there's a problem. No one graduates from university and says to themselves that they want to be a real estate agent. Its a second job or its a job between jobs. The market is all wrong when they're making real money.

Only1

Spot on. I don't understand how the agent's make significantly more than the lawyers on a real estate transaction considering the amount of documentation and time involved.

Scotty2H

I don't know about BC, but here the buyer doesn't pay the agent, the seller does, so the seller may have a different opinion on how worth it they were.

This is my fundamental issue; take a $1M house and standard 5% commission. It gets split 50/50 between selling and buying agents which means $25k per agent.

$25k to the buyers agent who is required to represent the interests of the buyer, i.e. minimize purchase price, bully offer to get it, whatever. They setup an automatic email from MLS with houses matching the original conditions. Buyer chooses what to see, agent thows their 2 cents in. If you're lucky your agent is an ex-contractor or something and can make some general comments on state of repair of the house, etc. They'll regurgitate census data about avg. household income, education levels, langagues, etc. for the neighbourhood. Maybe they're real students of the game and can give further insight. None of that is worth $25k. You can get a professional home inspection for <$1k. You can read your own census data, hell most of it is in MLS. You can talk to neighbours. Walk the area. You can drive your own *** over to the open house; and if that doesn't work, Uber it and you'll get the same cheesy small talk. Same result.

Then, $25k to the sellers agent. This person needs to net me more than $50k extra than selling it myself else I'm loosing money. How do they do that? Nice photos? pro photographer <$1k. Slick write up? copy + paste. Provide lock box? yeah...

So, how exactly do these folk earn $1k per hour or more in most cases for bringing people together? It's bananas. I might, might be able to understand if you're relocating from far far away and have no concept of the lay of the land. That's rare.

If you're at the top of my profession; 20 years + of experience, good standing, you might might be able to pull a few hundred an hour as a contractor and the responsibility, liability, and capability required is so far beyond a realestate agent it's boggling.

So, ripe for disruption. Agents add very little value that couldn't be overwhelmed by the creativty and drive of an open system and motivated sellers and buyers.

I don't blame them for taking advantage while they can but this system's days are numbered; at least at a residential level.

user 723923490

House inspectors can be pretty sketchy. They catch the easy stuff but leaky basements, roofs, eaves troughs, windows, basically the expensive stuff you need to know what to look for yourself.
I have been burned a few times.

Brian 162

I'd like to hear Teds take on this discussion.

GT63TT

I come from a family of developers in the greater Toronto area and can attest to the strong real estate market there due to foreign buyers w money to spend. Particularly Chinese buyers; There's an active restriction in China right now that was passed in 1998 restricting the over purchase of their own residential development. They're done this to control the "bubble".

beetleything

What? Where are you in Canada?

I know of one who takes on average 5 hours and does video as well as a written report. I do not think there is anything he wouldn't find if it was a problem in a house.

I am in Vancouver and would happily recommend him.

user 723923490

Toronto.
Hey dude I got the whole fancy binder with lots of detail etc. He missed my leaky windows, leaky basement and eaves troughs.
Also came highly recommended.

BioBanker

It's the same in BC, selling agent splits the commission with the buyers agent. But that's irrelevant because everyone pays. If commission was less, then the seller would take less to offset. I knew what the house was worth. I knew what typical commission was.

Mechanically the seller pays but it all comes out in the wash in the end.

And Vancouver commission percentages are about half of Torontos.