# How much do u pay to sell house?



## contrarian (May 20, 2017)

It's 1.6 acres Langley bc. Worth about $1m. Old house on property worth zero. 
Is 1% reality best option. I don't want to sell myself. It's hard to believe it takes $10k in Labour to sell.


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## TomB19 (Sep 24, 2015)

I've never sold through a realtor.

It's amazing how much interest a simple for sale sign in the front window will do. We sold one using comfree, once. They are an incompetent organization but the go-to web site after mls in my city.

Bc seems to use propertyguys. Not sure about anywhere else.

If you don't feel like doing the work, why are you complaining about the price? The guy who you pay 1% to will get a quarter of that. He's not going to run any open houses or make any recommendations dations for that. That's a commodity price. The realtor may never see your house.

I think there is a way to list on MLS, even if you're a nonrealtor. I've never had to do it but it would be interesting to hear from someone who has.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

There are "standard" rates, but these are mostly negotiable. Comfree has the ability to get MLS listing for a flat fee. Everything usually depends on the market. In a hot market, selling yourself can be easy. In a slow market it can be harder (but it's also harder with a realtor). 

Remember there are two realtors usually on every sale. The buyers agent and the sellers agent. The seller puts up the listing, advises you on pricing and that's about it. The buyer's agent talks the buyers into paying you. They split the commission usually 50/50. I know many buying agents who won't show houses to their clients if the commission is too small in their opinion. You can negotiate both sides of the commission, but the selling agent (yours) is usually easier to convince to cut their rates. You never bargain with the buyers agent, it's just listed what you're willing to pay.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

I was under the impression that the 1% or 2% commish guys only referred to the sellers commission. You would still have to pay full or nearly full commission to the buyers agent.

Yes, realtors shouldn't be on a %, but rather a flat fee. You want drone or video shots? Sure, that's an extra XX$.


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## sofia403 (Apr 6, 2016)

When I was selling my house, I listed with 2% realty. It was suppose to be 1% for Seller Agent and 1% for buyer. 
Every time there was an interested buyer, the Buyers agent would ask for a full commission to bring the buyer to close the deal. I had to sign the disclosure saying that I would agree to pay his full commission.
And I don't know how many prospective buyers I missed because the agent might off avoided showing my house due to lower commission. I ended up selling the house for slightly higher price to pay off the full commission to the other agent.


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## contrarian (May 20, 2017)

Most buyers know what is for sale by viewing realtor.ca. Seems to be a lot of Realtors posting nonsense on this thread.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

I've sold several houses, always used a realtor and consider the cost worthwhile. As noted, if you are trying to do it on low comm, it's unlikely you'll have any realtors bringing you potential buyerst. I have one going on listing tomorrow. The comm is 4.5%. Will have another in July.
I wouldn't say you can't DIY, just that I don't mind paying the comm to let them handle it, esp. for out of town RE.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

True, people can see every house listed on MLS by looking directly, however not every buyer looks on MLS themselves. Many go to a realtor and say I want to buy a house for around $X in a certain area. Their realtor then goes on MLS and provides them with a bunch of places that suit their request (plus a few outside). He then arranges the showings and uses subtle influence to encourage or discourage the selection.

Now, there are realtors who will show every house, because they feel that is in the best interest of the client, and there are some who'll only show full commission houses because that's in their best interest. These guys are salsesmen, same as a used car salsesman or any other type of one (vacuume cleaner, spice mix, whatever). The good (successful) ones tend to be those who can sell more than others which means that they will have a bag of tricks to maximize their profits. Those tricks, aren't always in the best interest of the buyers.

Now, five the huge rise in housing prices, not every realtor needs to be as tricky to be successful. Here's a big difference in take home pay when the average house price rose from $150k to $450k, without a significant increase in costs or workload. However, the world is starting to wake up to that fact too, thus the calls for lower commissions...

The days of easy money for realtors is coming to an end. I think most realtors realize that, most selling agents won't ask for a full commission (but they also won't tell you they'll take less either) but are resisting cutting their profits like anyone would.


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## Mortgage u/w (Feb 6, 2014)

The government puts their nose in everything and it surprises me that they have not regulated the realtors commission. In a time where rising prices is an issue, this is the first place they should have turned too.

I totally agree; percentage commission should be a thing of the past. Realtors should be forced to charge flat fees. This would reduce the number of realtors (hopefully eliminating the incompetents) and reduce the negotiation pressures, ultimately and somewhat regulating the housing prices. Less commission can lead to a more fair selling price.
You will also have less people (or none) trying to sell and buy on their own since it will become affordable to hire a competent agent.


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