IF all of a sudden real estate agents vanish from the face of the earth, what would happen to people buying houses? How would they defrauded of their life’s earnings?
I apologize if this is an oft asked question in this sub, but I couldn’t see if in the FAQ. Feel free to point me to any previous discussion if you need to.
I could be completely wrong here obviously, I feel like agents don’t do anything, like nothing at all. People know where they want to live and do all the research about the area. With redfin and other sites, they do all the research about houses and already know which houses they want to look at and all the people I spoke to never needed one input from their agent. Agents tag along just to take the cut while providing nothing.
They don’t assume any legal liability for any fraud that might happen, there are lawyers and underwriters for that. Buyers do all the research, but this mafia type organization has a strong grip on the industry and demands the 6% cut of every transaction. Why hasn’t this been obsoleted till now? Just does not make sense. For all the free market and capitalism shit that is bandied about, that 6% is such a scam and they don’t let the market decide the percentage. At least then the agents would actually provide some value to the buyer and accordingly charge the percentage fee. I am amazed that this is a fixed value and not set by the market
EDIT:
Here are a couple good articles to read —
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/15/economy/real-estate-commissions/index.html
https://thecollegeinvestor.com/9084/real-estate-agents-anymore/
Apparently this has been going on since 1800s. So in the last 200 years the 6% has endured. Its amazing even the internet has not change anything. Its high time this industry sees a change.
For all the responses here saying, the fee is negotiable, apparently the average fee paid is 5.7% in 2021. Here are some stats — https://www.statista.com/statistics/777612/average-commission-rate-realtors-usa/