Finally, a friend of mine took my advice and sold his house without a broker. He sold his house in 3 days for 500k, and saved himself around 30 grand by selling it himself. Last I checked, that is a lot of money.
The 5-6% "standard" real estate commission is one of the biggest sucker plays in our economy. Most people don't even realize that the commission is negotiable - it is not "standard" as agents will glibly claim. I guess the average person is preyed upon by this scam because how often does he actually sell a house? Perhaps only once so far in their life.
My standing advice is to always try to sell your own house, at least for a few weeks. The thing about real estate agents is that when the market is good, you don't need them, and when it is bad, they can't help you.
The whole real estate commission haggling reminds me of diamond ring appraisal at Macy's. Their jeweler will appraise your ring and his charge will be 1% of whatever he appraises it at!!!!!!
A dopey guy I know, took his fiancee's ring there, got it appraised at $15,000 and was ecstatic because he only paid $9,000 for it. For his ecstasy, he was charged $150. I guess a good transaction is not when everybody wins, but rather when everybody thinks they've won.
I would almost bet my life that that ring is not worth more than $7,500. HAHA.
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