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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: 0.205s | 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?
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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 #
abduhl ◴[14 Nov 24 01:31 UTC] No.42132212[source]▶
>> There was zero chance we'd have landed a house that year without her help

Of course there was zero chance. Real estate agents regularly refuse to show homes to or entertain offers from buyers that are not represented by a real estate agent (unless they’re hoping to represent the buyer too - then they get both commissions!).

“I never would have been able to do business in a monopolized market without doing business with a monopolist.”

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1. lolinder ◴[14 Nov 24 02:16 UTC] No.42132488[source]▶
First, as noted by lotsofpulp, this isn't accurate: seller agents were always perfectly happy to deal with lone buyers because there's no other agent to share the commission with.

Second, to the extent there is monopolistic behavior that gets in the way (and there definitely is), that's not what I'm talking about. The market that year was completely insane because of the interest rates, and there is no way we could have navigated it ourselves, real estate agent monopoly or no monopoly.

I'm very glad that they've been forced to allow competition, and most real estate agents are horrible and should be avoided. All I'm saying is that in some markets a good real estate agent is absolutely worth their commission.