# Realtors are the ones causing price hikes ?



## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

I just had my realtor put in an offer about 5% below full ask with no conditions on a place on Van Isle. The listing realtor didn't even respond before the deadline. Then later, advises my realtor that they are not going to respond. Whats with that. Seems like they are just trying to raise prices even higher. Gotta keep those fat commissions growing, lol.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

Yep and it's not legal, my understanding is that all offers must be registered. I would suggest getting a copy of your offer and putting it in their mailbox if they live there. Jerks. The owners may not even know about your offer.

It's about time they stopped this circle jerking practice and I hope OREA goes the same way soon. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real...ming-to-real-estate-industry/article30681945/


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## mordko (Jan 23, 2016)

It's the listing agent's job to get the price as high as possible for his client. 5% price difference does not make a lot of difference to the commission; imagine the agents would rather sell quickly and move onto the next deal.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Mechanic said:


> I just had my realtor put in an offer about 5% below full ask with no conditions on a place on Van Isle. The listing realtor didn't even respond before the deadline. Then later, advises my realtor that they are not going to respond. Whats with that. Seems like they are just trying to raise prices even higher. Gotta keep those fat commissions growing, lol.


You know, it's quite possible the seller isn't entertaining offers below their listing price and felt insulted that you offered 5% below.


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## Bowzer (Feb 25, 2015)

5% under asking is like a $375 difference to the selling agent in commission for the selling agent on a $300k property. They'll still pocket over $7k. 

For an offer with no conditions, I'd think any selling agent would take a quick sale for a few hundred less. So there is more going on.


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## Emjay85 (Nov 9, 2014)

Bowzer said:


> 5% under asking is like a $375 difference to the selling agent in commission for the selling agent on a $300k property. They'll still pocket over $7k.
> 
> For an offer with no conditions, I'd think any selling agent would take a quick sale for a few hundred less. So there is more going on.


It is all aspects of the sale that come into play after the sale, not just the commission. They are able to promote themselves, that they get x amount of asking price on x amount of sales type of promotion to help them drum up more business, more sales, more clients, and it snowballs. Of course every agent wants in on that kind of action. They talk clients, on both sides, and agents for that matter, to get on board with all the pricing BS and like magic everyone is ok with bidding wars and sales over asking price. It's a slimy game. I do believe RE agents are a lot to blame for the overpriced markets out there.


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

The sellers eal estate agent has a duty to present all offers. It is up to him to give advice to the seller. 
The seller has no obligation to respond to any offer.
Not sure where you are but the listing agent may have listed the house just under market value to try to attract multiple bidding offersto get a higher price.

The sellers may also have decided, being a strong market, that they won't look at any offer under their asking.

You don't really know who is driving this - the agent or the seller.

If the home was a new listing, sometimes the owners are not prepared to reduce price at all. Once a house has been on the market a while they develop more flexibility.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

It sounds pretty simple. The sellers have instructed their realtor they don't want to be bothered with offers of less than the full listed price.

Perhaps they believe they priced the property lower than market value to initiate a sale and won't accept anything less.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

Update. The property still hasn't sold and came through my listings a couple of days ago with a 3% price drop. I'll see if it's still for sale in a couple of weeks. If I haven't bought another property by then I may put in another offer but there's no way I'm paying full ask. I'm tempted to track down the seller and ask if they even saw my original offer.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Boy wouldn't it be great if real estate agents set the price. Last year I sold a house after 3 years on the market, and discounting the price from $245000 to $185000. A beautiful 3 bedroom bungalow with large garage on a lot with 265 feet of water frontage on the Moira River. 3 different agents in 3 years, all agreed it was good value for the asking price. No buyers.

Sorry folks the buyers set the price. If you happen to be in a hot market with lots of crazy buyers prices can go to extremes. The present low interest rates and easy money policies aren't helping.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

If they only dropped the price by 3% it would tell me the sellers are holding close to their asking price. The 3% drop in price probably reflects the agent accepting a slightly lower commission as well.

If you knew something about the sellers it might be helpful. In this day and age it isn't unusual to find buyers who have maxed out their mortgages with HELOCs and "must" get a certain price or will owe the bank after the sale.

Or maybe they have lots of equity and just couldn't care less when their home sells.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

The realtors aren't the only cause, but they are certainly part of the problem in hot markets like Vancouver, GTA, Calgary. Realtors for both vendor and buyer have a vested interest in setting prices as high as possible. Their fees are also not fixed - they are a percentage of the selling price. In a hot market the vendor's realtor will encourage owner to set a high asking price; and buyer's realtor will tell their client: "You know, it's a hot market - you better offer close to asking price or someone else will snap it up. "

As noted in the example given by Rusty O'Toole, in a not-so-hot market realtors have to persuade owners to be more realistic in their asking prices, or no one will buy.


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