https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:59:20 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895350 Fri, 23 Aug 2019 14:59:45 +0000 LadyDi 2895350@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JennyPenny: That's really interesting about Zillow. I knew they did that but never really thought their offer would be that competitive.</p> <p> @nwm: Thank you! That's how I felt about our last realtor. He was fine, but didn't do much guiding and we bought an old home so we could have used better advice. </p> <p>@periwinklebee: This is really helpful, thanks. It seems like you really lucked out with your realtor! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895306 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 21:13:18 +0000 periwinklebee 2895306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>There is a major over-supply of realtors and I think a lot of them honestly don't have much in the way of relevant expertise. </p> <p>In our market realtors will sometimes give a rebate on their commission, i.e. typically the buyer's and seller's agent each get 2.5%, But may rebate back .3% of the sale price. </p> <p>We went with a realtor, both for buying and selling, who was a former construction supervisor. This was SO useful. For buying, he could instantly point out all the places where corners had been cut that would cause problems down the road. All sorts of important stuff about construction I would have never dreamed to pay attention to. For selling, he told us exactly what renovations would pay, which painter, plumber, etc, would give a good price while doing quality work, and supervised all the details of it. </p> <p>The other thing that was great about him was that he was very social and plugged into the realtor community. So he could talk up our property to his friends before it was even listed, and heard about properties for us to see before they came on the market. In many states you should be able to look up online all the properties where a realtor has been a buyer's or seller's agent in the past X years, and I think you want someone who does a decent business. </p> <p>We got a 0.3% rebate from him. Had another agent offer a much larger rebate, but after seeing a couple of properties with her I realized she was not very knowledgable and offering a large rebate because she was desperate for business. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895288 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 16:21:08 +0000 nwm 2895288@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would definitely shop around. We had a few realtors who we were kind of unhappy with. We felt like their advice was totally slanted toward moving a house quickly to get them a fee for minimal work, rather than maximizing our return on the house, so actually encouraging us to price it too low. I would meet with a few to give you their best list price and practical pointers for updates, etc., and get at least a gut feel for who is looking out for you and has the best judgment. It might help you inform where to list it as well. In our buying/selling process there were a lot of judgment calls that turned out to be very consequential, and we could have really used experienced advice on, but by that point we sort of didn't trust our realtor and she was reluctant to give clear advice anyway, so we really didn't have anyone guiding us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895281 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 15:20:43 +0000 JennyPenny 2895281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We recently almost listed our home but backed out at the last minute. We had a real estate agent look through the home and she gave us what she thought we could get based on different levels of repairs. Like minor repairs vs more substantial updates. We also tried a Zillow offer and were very impressed with that experience. They do an evaluation and give you a final walk-away sum. No worrying about what it may or may not sell for, and no showings. Also no updates on your part. It was competitive enough that we were going to take the Zillow offer before we decided not to sell. The one thing is that we had like 2 weeks from when they made the offer to when we had to make a decision so I wouldn't contact them until you're ready. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895278 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:27:49 +0000 LadyDi 2895278@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Ajsmommy: Thanks, this is helpful. It's definitely a seller's market in our area right now so I am hoping what we need to do is minimal. I pay attention to listings in our area, so I have an idea of what we should list it at, but I am interested to see what an actual realtor has to say. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895276 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:11:41 +0000 Ajsmommy 2895276@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We interviewed multiple realtors and each one will give you what they think you could list it for. Be careful of any that promise you wayyyy more money than it's actually worth bc they are just trying to land your listing. They will tell you their fee up front as well. Most in our area were 3-6%. They will also tell you anything they think you should update or change. We met with them way early on and it gave us time to repaint the entire house, replace carpet and do a few other little things they suggested. I think it all depends on the market in your area.. if it's a sellers market you might not even need to do a thing!! However, if there are lots of like homes at a similar price you'll want to do somethings to stand out and hopefully sell. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895274 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:04:31 +0000 LadyDi 2895274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Sams Mom: I think just minor things. We have some water damage to repair on one of our ceilings, paint to touch up, we should probably power wash our porch. I am actually excited to have an excuse to declutter, but doing this with three kids gives me major anxiety. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895273 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:52:49 +0000 Sams Mom 2895273@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: for my area I would say yes, but it probably depends on how saturated your area is with Realtors 🤷🏼‍♀️. Do you anticipate needing to do anything major that could take months to do? Or is it mostly decluttering, painting, and minor repairs?</p> <p>If there is anything major, I'd maybe contact late September? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895272 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:50:31 +0000 LadyDi 2895272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Sams Mom: Thank you! Do you think now is too soon to start contacting realtors if we want to list in March or so? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895271 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:48:22 +0000 Sams Mom 2895271@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Commission is a standard percentage in any case I've seen, they don't really vary on that part. As to finding one you like, I would ask amongst your friends and family for recommendations first, do some research on the suggestions, then call and talk to the ones that stick out. </p> <p>The 4 times we've bought and sold, we've used the same guy, but he comes over and takes a look. We go over things we need to do, what is required, what is nice to do, what isn't necessary; then talk price estimates then go from there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/realtor-questions-1#post-2895269 Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:44:34 +0000 LadyDi 2895269@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So we're thinking of listing our house in the spring of next year. How far in advance should we contact a realtor? Should we interview multiple realtors? What should we ask them? I was kind of hoping a realtor could come to our home, tell us what he or she thinks we should list it for and maybe tell us what we need to do to get it ready to sell. We had a realtor when we bought the home but he wasn't very impressive so I'd prefer to use someone new.</p> <p>Also, this is probably a dumb question, but how does a realtor make a commission? Should we be concerned about one realtor "costing" more than another one? </p>