What if there were no real estate agents. Buyers and sellers could meet and hash it out. Let the smarter person win. Let the more educated person take advantage of the lesser. Would it be better or worse? Well I was thinking of what buying a car is like since that’s the second biggest purchase we make in a lifetime and we don’t have representation for that. hmm..

If buying a house was like buying a car?

• You would just accept that when you walked out of closing on your new house, your home’s value dropped 10%.
• Your salesperson would add costs to your purchase if you wanted the home cleaned and give it a fancy name like “detailed.”
• Home values would come out once a year in a blue book for the public.
• A second black book would come out each year for salespeople with the values that the brokers, builders and investors should pay.
• Instead of the HUD, seller’s property disclosure, and square footage disclosure, you’d get a wink, a knod, and a receipt.
• Once you established a price with the salesperson, a second obviously superior salesman would come out to finalize the deal. He would scrap what was agreed upon and play the “I’m going to write a number on a piece of paper” game.

I can’t help but think that agents came into existence out of neccessity. The first ‘agent’ was probably a friend who happened to know more about the subject and didn’t want to see his friend get taken. Sellers would take advantage of first time buyers because they had been through it before and knew the ins and outs. Buyers would make low offers without even being prequalified and waste everyone’s time. Any way you look at it, buying a home is often ten times more expensive than buying a car. You could be paying for the home for the next thirty years; it’s certainly worth having some real estate expert in your pocket.

I would even pay something to have a buyer’s representative when buying a car. Could give me comparable sales, show me what else is available and consumer reports articles on the car I wanted. They could check title and the ‘car history report’. Most of all, they could make sure I get the most from my negotiation, then show up for closing to make sure the paper work all checked out.

Technorati Tags: Buying, Home, Car, Realtor, Agent, Why_Use

I’ve never met a seller who doesn’t want top dollar.  Some understand that top dollar in two weeks will be lower than top dollar in two months but they all want top dollar.   Whether you’re selling your first home or working on your 1st fix-n-flip, knowing what the market will bear is the starting point to a successful selling plan.   But establishing what top dollar is an art not a science.  On paper, prices for a neighborhood can usually be ‘ballparked’, usually within 5-10% of the home’s value.  Once you get inside a home, prices can get a little fuzzy.  Evaluating how much an improvement will raise the value of a home is tricky.  Any improvement to a house will improve the value, the question is, how much? Will you even get your money back and is it worth it before putting your home on the market? A recent cooperative study between Remodeling Magazine and the National Association of Realtors (Realtor Magazine) has produced a Cost vs. Value Report for 2006.

 Remember, in most cases you won’t see a dollar for dollar return on investments.  There is an invisible price cap usually dictated by what comparable homes with similar quality features are selling for.   Consider improvements to your home a neccesity if you want to sell your home at all in the current market.  Especially if you want the highest price for the neighborhood.  But remember,…

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