Commission for Real Estate Agents

[rvenug]

Hi bdasites,
Gud to hear from you since even im against 2% brokerage until and unless they give some value added services and show the houses honestly till the end without cribbing abt us (like we ll never get a suitable house with all facilities etc). Even im searching for a house since 4mths with lots of brokers who r willing to negotiate on their brokerage. why dont all genuine direct buyers get in touch with each other and share the info on the <20% houses sold by direct sellers without the broker interference as it ll help honest buyers from being misguided

[hrman]

I have been in the market for the past 6 months for an apartment/ house for purchase. My experience says that most brokers will charge 1% as commission. Please do not go with agents who charge 2% from the buyer. If we all collectively boycott them,they will be automatically weeded out from the system.
Btw, for the 1% the broker needs to at least provide the following services:
1. Contact with Owner
2. Help in negotiating price
3. All documentation from owner to buyer
4. Help with Legal and statutory approvals and checks
5. Full documentation and coordination in registration of house
6. Full support in taking loan from financial institution and procurement and movement of documents related to the same.

am strictly against paying 1% only for providing contact number of owner.If all of the above points are met, then I think its ok to pay the 1%.
And this is negotiable. There are agents with whom you need to specify the kind of services required and depending on that you can bargain for less than 1%. But be upfront to avoid confusion later.

And talks of agents who pressurize owners into going with agents, well it depends upon the urgency. Today with internet being widely used as a medium of communication, you are within your rights to specify in the ad that you are not interested in going with brokers. Be firm on the phone as well. In case some agent is confident to get you customers and close the deal, specify to him what would you pay for this. In my opinion, it should be a flat amount not more than 10-15k in my opinion.
For those who are looking for independent houses and have an area identified, do some leg work. Visit these areas personally and ask around. Small kirana shops, paanwalas, local maids, workers will usually know which houses are available for rent or sale. You can contact the owner and if the deal works out, pay a small appreciation amount to the Paanwala or shop-owner..

[ragsaol]

I completely agree with hrman. Best source to get the contact details are kirani shops, Iron shops etc., they have good contacts or even u can approach security person he will be very interested if you can tell him i will give some money. There are many sources where we can find the direct owners...one of the site which recently found was bangalore.localtiger.com (plz i am not promoting any sites here just suggestion) where you can get good contacts...but this principle may not apply for sites..this i had experienced while searching site in BSK 6th stage..where in i dint not find single direct owner even if i get they are quoting same rates as broker...

Regards,
Raghu

[serukula]

Most of them are suggesting how to avoid broker and brokerage. If you met a professional, trustworthy and service oriented agent you definitely change your opinion.
They know how to reduce your cost, what best options available and what are issues with those properties, mainly he will be with you till the end of the deal, until Katha Transfer. You will feel like your brother or expert with you (be half of you).
Finding such agent is difficult but not impossible. There are agents entering into this profession after good professional experience on different fields. Well educated, hard working, not only working for brokerage working for self satisfaction.
Get reference from your friends, who met such professional agents and experience with their transactions.
Thanks every one…

[msn1270]

dear serukula

In my last 6-8 yrs experience, whenever I check with agents for any property, every agent first talks about his commission(Not less than 2%), and he himself wants to finalize the price. If we agree to the price & pay the token advance of 5k or 10k(non-refundable), then only he will give the basic paper copy. Regarding the services he provides limits just to finalize the price, providing basic paper set(Not all necessary sets as per Bank's need) and physical presence at the time of registration, nothing more. If we ask for any particular docs, they comes up with a list of charges for that separately.

In many cases they try to lure the customers saying there is a desperate sale at attractive price. But 99% of them are disputed properties or doesn't have even the basic titles to take it forward.

If we insists for a meet with the property owner for negotiation, he will arrange one of his networked person to pose as the owner. In many cases, before starting the discussion, when we asked for the Identity proof of the so called owner, matter ended there itself.

Another dirty trend with some of the high tech agents, we need to register our name along with a fee to make any property enquiries and they even try to charge Rs. 250 or Rs. 500 to show each property

As you said, if at all any professional people available to us, definitely we change our mindset. But where are they.

[chidu]

msn1270,

your comments appear as generalized inference based on individual experiences which need not necessarily be the experience for everybody, all the time. Infact having been on both the sides, my experiences are that there are a lot of good people in real estate, if we treat them good, world is a reflection of us isn't it? If someone treats a customer relations officer at an international bank with acrimony and disregard, the officer would probably do the same. There are many software engineers and NRIs that I have met who come with an attitude, but making a generalized statement that all software engineers are egoists would not be correct. There is no free lunch anywhere, ultimately everyone is in business and to make money - be it Big builders, IT, BT, Apparel - so what is wrong, if an RE agent does it. One can always make clear the list of services and the charges associated upfront before getting into any engagement. I can refer very professional RE agents if you are in need.

[parkom]

Serukula and Chidu, with all due respect to you guys, I don't understand why you are talking about referring other professional brokers, when you yourselves have registered yourselves as RE agents as I can see from the profile beside your posts.

[MNRS]

Serukula and Chidu you guys are kidding

You might want to say the opposite, like why sellers are preferring the Agents, instead of why Purchasers has to prefer the agents. So far I am seeing the Agents who exhort the prices but never in favor of purchasers. Yes, sellers will prefer them as they get more money and don't mind to pay more brokerage. Also, in some cases they want to get rid of some properties that they can't sell on their own and want the agents to find Bakaras to buy the property.

I have seen the agents who increased the price of a property from actual selling cost of 45Lakhs to 60 Lakhs and yah plus 2% commission.

[msn1270]

Chidu,

My experience is not refferring to Any corporate Service companies(I've dealt with them also),
who provides end to end solutions with clearly agreed Roles and accountability. They promptly
provide the Tax Receipts for their service Charges.

I'm sharing my experience mainly related to the Agents who are dealing around BSK 6th Stage and SMV Layout.
Who doesn't even know what exactly is the responsibility of an agent w.r.to dealing with clients, when someone
approaches with an expectation. Their one & only goal is how much they can exploit their clients (Commission
as well as margin between the prices of Seller and the Buyer) by all means.

Its surprise to see, you are demanding customers to royally treat the Agents unconditionally. Its always mutual.
If you give prompt/honest service, definitely people revisit you and also refer to their known circle, who are in
need of similar services.

[bdasites]

Have been searching for houses/plots for the last 1.5 years and yet to come across any professional real agents.Even those referred by collegues saying i know him from childhood etc. Sad to say, all are just waiting for an opportunity to cheat you.

2% commission is too much when they already hike up the price and take a portion of the profit from the owner.

My few cents:
what about banning all real estate agents from this site who charges 2% comission? 1% comission is good enough or even more for the service they offer.
what about making it mandatory when real estate agents post ads on what their comission is and ensuring its not 2%
with 5000 strong members, we should have some influence to bring about some change.

Thanks