A Parlour for a Plague

It was more like Deb said, an oof moment.

My realtor was showing me a house. For some reason, the other realtor that was selling that house felt she needed to be there. This woman was a royal pain in the ass. Everything you don't want a realtor to be. On top of all that, she was wearing a goddamn hat.

My realtor, Amy, and I have a good relationship. She knows what I'm looking for, and when we go in a house she hangs back, letting the buyer look, think, ask questions, etc.

This woman, Christ. She was right on top of both of us. From the first second she just had to be right there, never shutting up, just selling selling selling.
If it hadn't been for the fact I already knew the floor plan of this place, because of another one I'd seen, I totally wouldn't have absorbed everything there.

Amy was running interference, keeping this nut occupied so I could walk away and look.
She was the one who said that, as she knew it would shut her up for a minute, and it did. This other one was quite a bit older than me.

Amy was annoyed this other one felt she needed to be there too. Like she couldn't be trusted to do her job. They'd never met each other before.

When we left I said to Amy "Don't every wear a hat"
She was like "You got it"

How's Sebastian?

(Stares at screen)

Not needing heart treatment at this point...but they want to do the test again in 8 months. I need to find out a lot more, and he will have a good tranquilliser on board well before we get there.

He’s curled up on my left shoulder right now, because I’m reading and Viola got my tummy first.

I’ve been trying to give him walks between deluges with very little success! He needs a walk and Viola needs her little wander around that she gets when he’s on the leash. She stays with us or very close to home.

Small mercies, eh?

A cat on your lap AND on your shoulder. You'll be unable to move for hours: )

I like Amy. Sounds like a smart cookie.

I was thinking if I were Amy I would have pulled that lady aside and told her to shut up - "selling" will not work with my client.

But Amy handled it better - she might likely run into this idiot again so she can't burn bridges. I would take it that any "suggestion" on how to handle a client would not be well received by this woman.

It’s amazing how differently buying and selling realestate is done in each country

In England, the agent sends people round to look at your house with very little warning.

Here, the selling agent arranges open inspections at specified times, and you, as the home owner, disappear. The buyer doesn’t have an agent. You might have someone looking out and hoping to sell you a property they are selling, or their agency is, but you wouldn’t have an agent with you when buying.

If someone is interested, they often arrange a time to come and have another look, which your agent arranges with you.

Interesting.

Here, the looking at a house process can go a few ways. Depends on the situation.

If a house is vacant, you and the agent going over at any time is pretty much fine. She lets the seller agent know.
If it's occupied, the buyers agent contacts the sellers agent to arrange for a time when the owner won't be there.
That time can be anywhere from a few hours, to the next day.

For instance, Amy called me and said the buyers of my house wanted to come by, and we could do it that day, in like 2 or 3 hours, or the next day.
I opted to do it right away, and get it out of the way. Tidied up quickly and went out.

The agents with you because they have the access codes to the lock boxes to get in the house.
It's also nice to have the agent there to ask questions, bounce ideas off them.

For instance, right now I'm doing comparing and contrasting with her, and it's useful to get her professional input. It's easy to let my ideas wander, spiral off, forget something, and a good agent reins you back it.
She's been helpful in telling me things like that the selling agent, if it's someone she knows/worked with, told her the seller said this and such as far as motivation, etc.
They know a lot about properties that the buyer wouldn't be privy too.
She's worth every penny of her commission.

Amy's pretty savvy.
She gets most of her business from word of mouth.
My step daughter used, her. Step daughter chose her because of a friend, etc.

I’m confused. So Amy is selling your house and helping you buy another? Does she get a commission from both transactions?

I'll bet it's confusing if it's not the way it's typcially done wherever you live. I'm gonna ask you a couple questions after I explain the US way.

In the US, the buyer has an agent, and the seller has an agent.
The buyer and the seller never talk to each other, or see each other.

Neither the buyer or seller typcially sees or ever talks to the others agent.
That's why it was so strange that hat lady realtor was there are the house. Not typical at all.

At the closing of the sale, the seller pays Both agents commission, usually 3% of the sale price each. So the seller pays out 6% commission.

The buyer doesn't pay anyone commission upon closing the new house they buy, because it's taken care of by the seller.

The agents do all the talking to each other, and report back to you to get your feedback or directions.

Here's a for instance of why I find this useful.

The buyers for my house have that agent Juanita.
I can't say for sure, but my impression is Juanita is not as experienced as Amy in various ways.

The buyers are a couple from New York City.
Um. To put it mildly, right off the bat they were overly aggressive.
They offered a inappropriate low ball dollar amount, and made what sounded like demands of things that, quite frankly weren't stuff I felt particularly inclined to comply with.

In other words, they were acting like Yankees.

If Amy, or an experienced agent had been their agent, they would have told them essentially that (a) You're not going to get far being pushy and (b) Let's rethink what it is you want here. It's up to the seller to decide if the deal is good.
They were asking for stuff that made no difference to them, made work for the seller (me), and it felt like they were doing it to show they were in charge.
My opinion is if I had said ok to what they wanted, they would have just asked for more.

IMO, and I think in Amy's, Juanita shouldn't have even come to Amy with their demands. Instead working it out to something more reasonable before presenting to Amy.

Amy was obligated to tell me what Juanita said, but we both knew that wasn't going to happen. I was free to say to Amy "That's not gonna happen"

Then she was able to approach Juanita and let her know that her people need to back the **** off, this isn't a street fight.

When Juanita did that, it was reported back to me that they backed right down and became normal, reasonable, and actually nice.

In so many words they were told "You're not in NYC anymore. You're in Texas, and this isn't how things are done. BTW, how's your momma?"

Leaving the buyers out of it, I wouldn't have wanted to deal with Juanita myself, as I know nothing about her. I wouldn't want to deal with every single agent for all the various houses I may see. I've got Amy, she deals with it.

Also from a real estate legal view. I sure don't know enough about real estate law. That's the agents job to know, and explain to the client.

So my questions.
If you are buying a house, you're all on your own with looking, touring the home, finding out what that particular HOA provides and requires, if the house is in a flood (or other natural disaster) zone, etc etc?

Example. The very first house I looked at was really nice. But, in the listing the seller stated "this property is not in a flood zone, even though county paperwork doesn't reflect that/says it is" something like that.
Well, I'm not gonna be the one to figure out if that's true. I've got Amy.
She provided plat maps showing the property was like 2 mm over the edge.
What with climate change. I didn't feel good about that.

What I did was visit the neighborhood, and knock on the doors of the people on either side.
Turns out the creek behind us never does rise that high. However, they both pointed up the street that T boned at those 3 properties. It was at a noticeable downhill incline towards us.
"THAT's the problem." they both said. During heavy rains, water from the opposite direction from the creek would pour into the front of the houses.

I mean, Amy wasn't going to knock on neighbors doors, but she provided enough evidence to make me want to.

So. Do people in OZ feel knowledgeable enough to act entirely on their own behalf when buying?

What is the typical commission rate you pay your agent?

Ah! Here's another thing the agent does.
Arrange for the home inspection.

I'm just now signing the offer papers to present to the seller, and Amy added in, as well as my offer, that the house comes with the washer/dryer and refrigerator, and that the house will be professionally cleaned before move in.

Now starts the process to see if the seller accepts the offer, or makes a counter offer, done through his agent.

Usually only seller has an agent.

House is sold as is and it’s caveat emptor

The selling agent is not supposed to misrepresent the property. For instance, my last agent said my solar system was bigger than it was and that my main bedroom floor was real terrazzo. I made him correct both. He probably believed what he was saying but who knows?

Unless you feel really confident you’ll normally get a building inspection.

You both have a broker and your broker will warn you of easements and any legal issues.

So yep...buyers are out there in the wilderness relying on their wits

Sometimes an agent hoping for your business or recommendations will help but you’d want to know they knew their stuff.

If you are clever you’ll do your research re prices etc in the neighbourhood and look at lots of places and try to follow up what they sold for, or attend auctions and see for yourself.

My first house I paid too much for because of a rookie mistake, but they have tightened up laws on auctions since then. But I didn’t pay a lot too much.

This is my fourth buy and I haven’t had any problems previously

This is a new build and I’ve already had more problems than ever before, so I’m planning to get a bloody good building inspection before any warranties run out.

Problem is that’s expensive and I’m now poor. Hoping to get enough of my payout that tax took back to pay for it.

Some people sell without an agent but if they have one, you deal with their agent, not them.

Generally fixtures like lights, curtains, blinds, ovens, dishwashers, etc go with housebut not washing machines.

There are laws governing this.

People sometimes negotiate a bit

My last buyer was a first time and begged to keep one set of bedroom curtains! I loved the curtains I’d just put in, but of course explained to her that they were all hers! We met up for me to teach her how to work a few things and to see if she wanted some furniture I was getting rid of.

We sprang my agent in a big lie, the bastard. Both of us would have liked a long settlement but he told each of us the other wanted a short one. He wanted his money fast. They can be slippery bastards

Wow. So it’s quite different.

You’re right what you said about the buyer needing to keep their wits about them. I can imagine all kinds of ways they might not get the best deal.

I’m a pretty confident person, but I couldn’t handle buying on my own.
Too scary when you’re dealing with that much money.

So what is the usual commission structure for the agent?

Negotiable.

It varies with how hot the market is and if they’re competing hard for customers

I think I paid 4 or 5 percent last agent.

Americans used to be gutsy enough to do it that way. We're getting softer all the time though.

I don’t think it has much to do with being soft.

Ask anyone. I am no pushover.
But I don’t have the knowledge of real estate law, among other things, to not potentially make a potentially devastating financial mistake.

Just think, if I hadn’t had a realtor, I could have currently owned a home which could flood at a significant rain, and not from the obvious reason of the creek behind the house.

If being soft in my case means having the money which I earned with the hard work in my specific field, to pay a person in their specific field for their knowledge, then sure.

I seek less stress in my life. Not more. That’s priceless.

Borat’s system pays a second molar enough commission to the one agent that’s utilized. So it’s really not about the money.

Things work correctly in Australia, things work correctly in the US.
Things work correctly as far as real estate sales wherever you care to mention.

Second molar LOL
Damn autocorrect.

I negotiate a fee that I demand for flipping some properties. I own several beach lots that I bought as equity back waay back when I got divorced and lots were 15 k (I retained all ownership). Today, beach lots are a sellers market and I determine conditions (I like nat conservation equity statements built in for some fee considerations. My lots are HOT!! to the new folks looking to leave the Hamptons.