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New York City Council Votes to End Broker Fees Squeezing Renters

(www.bloomberg.com)
258 points JumpCrisscross | 1 comments | 13 Nov 24 21:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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zjp ◴[14 Nov 24 00:00 UTC] No.42131619[source]▶
Based. Why the fuck do you deserve $10,000 for unlocking the door to an apartment I found myself?
replies(2): >>42132034 #>>42132172 #
nxm ◴[14 Nov 24 01:02 UTC] No.42132034[source]▶
Same thing could said of real estate agents
replies(3): >>42132138 #>>42132174 #>>42133136 #
lolinder ◴[14 Nov 24 01:16 UTC] No.42132138[source]▶
Our real estate agent more than earned her commission when we bought in 2021. There was zero chance we'd have landed a house that year without her help, and landing when we did got us a record-low mortgage rate that has more than covered the commission already.
replies(6): >>42132212 #>>42132397 #>>42133158 #>>42133722 #>>42134194 #>>42134733 #
1. kelnos ◴[14 Nov 24 02:00 UTC] No.42132397[source]▶
The problem is that there's no consistency, and you end up paying the same price regardless of how much value the realtor provides. When I bought my current house, it was the second one I looked at, out of several listings that my partner and I found on Redfin ourselves.

Our realtor's expertise was useful when we were making an offer, and when dealing with financing and paperwork, but I don't think she provided $50k of value. If I were paying a fairly generous hourly rate for her time, she would have made less than $5k.

Sure, sometimes a buyer's agent spends 100 hours helping their clients, finding and showing property after property after property, and has to deal with tricky negotiations, and is maybe worth the 2.5% commission.

But I don't want to pay $50k for 10-15 hours of work; that's ridiculous. (And of course I was paying for the seller's agent's commission as well.)

Another house I was involved in buying was similar: second house we looked at, only one counter-offer needed.

If/when I buy again I will likely not use an agent. The new rules around not foisting the commissions onto the buyer will help too.