I've always wondered why savvy users couldn't post their own homes for sale on a common wiki or sorts, circumventing the MLS altogether. Of course, it requires enough people to use/view it for it to work.
Again, I know there's lots of reasons to have a Realtor....I just don't think the 6% paid out by the seller is necessarily worth the effort put into it.
Matt
--
PS - This is a tech board; I don't want the site inundated with Realtors looking for clients.
Submitted by springnet on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 9:38pm.
I found a realtor a couple of days ago who would list my home for sale for free in exchange for me building him a website and blog. That cuts 3% out of the 6% equation but it also eliminates the marketing that the realtor usually does. But since the marketing these days is mostly on the web this may work out. Also, it may be possible to offer a lower % for the sale, say 1 or 2 %
Nice. That's the way to do it. Saves you on taxes too (well, the money you saved / were "paid" for the website isn't income, so you're not taxed. Strange way to look at it, I know.)
Submitted by springnet on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 10:23pm.
Realtors need all the help they can get these days. The average Austin realtor makes about $4,000 a year. Of course a lot of realtors don't even try so they skew the average down. At least so far, Austin is about a year an half behind the national trends.
Submitted by softwarejanitor on Tue, 02/12/2008 - 10:43am.
The 6% is normally split 50-50 between the listing realtor and the buyer's realtor so they only get 6% if they sell their own listing (which is why they like open houses). So if they get 3%... the agency takes at least 1% of that and then they have a lot of expenses (milage, signage, advertising), so I am not entirely surprised at a number like $4k as a taxable income. They probably have to sell several $200k houses to make that.
I would say that probably most of the serious and active real estate agents make more than that... but when you figure the hours that most of them work, it isn't an easy business.
I've thought about packing in my IT career for real estate several times over the past few years, and I know several people who have done it. The main thing that has kept me from it is fear that I wouldn't be able to sell enough to make it.
I worked as an agent's assistant and I can tell you she worked some long, hard hours. Realtors don't get weekends off because they're showing people around (some very picky; making patience paramount) and doing open houses. The agent I worked with did most of her own marketing, too.
But if you're an independent contractor, like she is, then her slice of the 3% pie is a little bigger.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Submitted by softwarejanitor on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 12:49pm.
Yes, the slice of the pie is bigger if you are willing to have less of a safety net and assume more risk. While that is often good in good times, can be terrible in bad times.
So that tells me there are too many realtors in Austin per capita....which explains why all these "open" networking events (e.g. NetParty Austin) have so many realtors attending.
Of course, you also stated that there are some that "don't try" which would skew the results. Where are you getting your data from, if you don't mind me asking?
Submitted by RoundSparrow on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 1:23am.
Matt - entire agreement here. The internet is a serious thread to the many incompetent Realtors out there. Many Realtors can't seem to take decent photos of a house - yet they wonder why they have to spend so many long hours showing houses! Sorry, I can learn a LOT about a place without stepping into it - and can eliminate a lot of places without having to spend 90 minutes going inside it.
The pace of change is slow, but hard to think that Real Estate sales will be done the same way in 20 years as they are now.
There is a lot of opportunity for agents who do more than use the Internet to send me stupid email newsletters every week talking about the local market ;)
Submitted by springnet on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 11:22pm.
I went to the Austin School of Real Estate at 183 and N Lamar and several of the instructors threw that figure around to underscore the point that you have to work pretty hard to make it in real estate and that a lot of realtors never even get to first base. Too many. Definitely. A lot of failed tech workers have tried to turn to real estate lured by the apparent ease of making big sales. I wish I had a better cite for that figure but I couldn't find much by googling around for it.
We like to drive around looking at houses and surf on Zooven at the same time. Basically a mash-up between Austin MLS and Google maps. It's really pretty cool.
However, we have a mobile wifi hotspot.... in our car...
Submitted by springnet on Mon, 02/11/2008 - 9:05pm.
I use Austin Home Finders because it has a great email sign up and I get notifications of properties that match my criteria via email. Phil Artt's homecity.com is the most innovative and well developed Austin real estate site. It better be, he invested over $5 million in it's development.
http://agentgenius.com/ is a "collaborative real estate blog" and is topheavy with Austin realtors.
clamele... what did you do as a realtors assistant? Did you work on a commission based on sales or a salary? Did you go on to become a realtor yourself?
Submitted by ciamele on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 12:26am.
Aside from being defacto tech support, I did a lot of the marketing, sat in on property inspections, worked with the title companies and clients to finish off transactions. I never went on to become an agent; it never interested me. As nice as a big sale is, I like the comfort of collecting a paycheck on a regular basis.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Where do they draw the line Chris between what an assistant can do as far as talking to customers? What can't an assistant to that only the realtor can do?
Those who do not have real estate licenses cannot say, "this house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths," or similar statements. I always found that to be odd; what can be so wrong with stating hard facts? Nevertheless, that's the way it is. An assistant can hand a flier to the prospective buyer and say, "according to this flier, it has..."
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Submitted by Valerie826 on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 10:01pm.
When looking for a home to buy the question might be how do you find a decent buyer's agent. We had such a dismal experience last year we haven't tried again.
I'm still confused about needing a lawyer also. What is the agent for?
Submitted by Valerie826 on Tue, 02/26/2008 - 7:42am.
We decided that we needed to buy a house, pretty much any house in the $120,000 price range. We were smart enough to know we were not going to live in Westlake. The other catch was we had NO money for any costs. The agent we had was not up front about costs. Once we found a house we wanted to make an offer on we had to write out a check to the owner and then another one that was considered earnest money to the title company. We wrote the checks but two days later called and told the agent we just could not manage it.
Additionally, I thought the process was that the agent found us the house based on the questionnaire we completed. We did some research before going to an agent and knew that there were houses in areas we could afford. The agent just did not listen. He showed us houses that were clearly not what we wanted in areas we told him we did not like.
I think the biggest problem was that this agent could not use a computer to save his life and he wasn't capable of doing the necessary research. We will have to do a lot more research and get recommendations before we try this again.
I no longer believe that we have to own a house. Renting eliminates many of the "homeowner woes" that are plaguing others. Our tub needed to be recaluked and we called the office and two days later it was done. We did not have to be here or write a check.
From what I can tell, much of the problem was the agent. If your agent is not listening to you, then you need to find another agent. There are different kinds of agents out there; the ones that just want to make a sale, and the others that want to match up a family with the right home so that everyone is happy in the end. The best way to find the latter is to simply talk to your friends and have them recommend someone.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Submitted by RoundSparrow on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 1:29am.
I no longer believe that we have to own a house. Renting eliminates many of the "homeowner woes" that are plaguing others. Our tub needed to be recaluked and we called the office and two days later it was done. We did not have to be here or write a check.
A lot of people are waking up that idea.
Rent vs. Sales prices are way out of whack right now. It makes no sense to buy a house for $450,000 when you can rent it for $1500/month! This is the very definition economists (who aren't shills for the NAR) use to 'detect' a bubble in housing prices.
Austin is not in as bad a shape as much of the rest of the USA, mostly due to the very high property taxes in Texas - it keeps things from going as high as in California or other states. Insurance rates and taxes also can go up substantially. So even if you "own" a house, those things can ruin it in the future.
Submitted by Valerie826 on Tue, 02/26/2008 - 9:20pm.
I can tell you I learned one thing. Get recommendations and ask a lot of questions. We will not settle for the first one that comes along just because they are listing a house we are interested in.
Gary Young authored this app. His specialty is web development so he would be very grateful if you know of anyone that requires web development in PHP, Python, or Ruby or any Javascript work. He helped out my organization, SDS - http://StopDomainSubsidies.com , so now lets help him out by making a note of his contact information and getting him some referrals.
Submitted by RoundSparrow on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 11:13am.
I would pass back to Gary - there is a huge increase recently in Python web apps - given that Google Engine uses it for hosting. I've seen a lot of local Austin project interest. I suggest putting out there that combo
I've done quite a bit of Python development including some Django and I'm a Google Apps Engine developer (as of about 2AM Tuesday morning.) I'd be happy to talk to anyone about doing GAE projects. I've used Python/Django in the past and I'm currently working on a GAE app for myself.
Thanks for your in-site. If you know how I could get in touch with anyone looking for a GAE guy please let me know, or point them in my direction. I would really appreciate it.
" I'm looking for top python developers to work on a google appengine project, dm me with your details if you're interested :) 12:09 PM April 08, 2008 "
(He is in Austin)
----
Point is that you gotta get the keywords / branding right. Currently "Google appengine" is hot hot hot - and probably will be for a couple months - plant seeds.
I've always wondered why savvy users couldn't post their own homes for sale on a common wiki or sorts, circumventing the MLS altogether. Of course, it requires enough people to use/view it for it to work.
Again, I know there's lots of reasons to have a Realtor....I just don't think the 6% paid out by the seller is necessarily worth the effort put into it.
Matt
--
PS - This is a tech board; I don't want the site inundated with Realtors looking for clients.
I found a realtor a couple of days ago who would list my home for sale for free in exchange for me building him a website and blog. That cuts 3% out of the 6% equation but it also eliminates the marketing that the realtor usually does. But since the marketing these days is mostly on the web this may work out. Also, it may be possible to offer a lower % for the sale, say 1 or 2 %
Nice. That's the way to do it. Saves you on taxes too (well, the money you saved / were "paid" for the website isn't income, so you're not taxed. Strange way to look at it, I know.)
Matt
--
You sure bartering isn't subject to taxes, otherwise everyone would do business this way and not get an income?
http://www.score.org/fc_8.html
Realtors need all the help they can get these days. The average Austin realtor makes about $4,000 a year. Of course a lot of realtors don't even try so they skew the average down. At least so far, Austin is about a year an half behind the national trends.
$4000? That can't be right. 6% on a $200K house is $12K.
Matt
--
The 6% is normally split 50-50 between the listing realtor and the buyer's realtor so they only get 6% if they sell their own listing (which is why they like open houses). So if they get 3%... the agency takes at least 1% of that and then they have a lot of expenses (milage, signage, advertising), so I am not entirely surprised at a number like $4k as a taxable income. They probably have to sell several $200k houses to make that.
I would say that probably most of the serious and active real estate agents make more than that... but when you figure the hours that most of them work, it isn't an easy business.
I've thought about packing in my IT career for real estate several times over the past few years, and I know several people who have done it. The main thing that has kept me from it is fear that I wouldn't be able to sell enough to make it.
I worked as an agent's assistant and I can tell you she worked some long, hard hours. Realtors don't get weekends off because they're showing people around (some very picky; making patience paramount) and doing open houses. The agent I worked with did most of her own marketing, too.
But if you're an independent contractor, like she is, then her slice of the 3% pie is a little bigger.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Yes, the slice of the pie is bigger if you are willing to have less of a safety net and assume more risk. While that is often good in good times, can be terrible in bad times.
And you are right about the awful hours...
You have to factor in all the realtors that don't make any sales at all.
So that tells me there are too many realtors in Austin per capita....which explains why all these "open" networking events (e.g. NetParty Austin) have so many realtors attending.
Of course, you also stated that there are some that "don't try" which would skew the results. Where are you getting your data from, if you don't mind me asking?
Matt
--
Matt - entire agreement here. The internet is a serious thread to the many incompetent Realtors out there. Many Realtors can't seem to take decent photos of a house - yet they wonder why they have to spend so many long hours showing houses! Sorry, I can learn a LOT about a place without stepping into it - and can eliminate a lot of places without having to spend 90 minutes going inside it.
The pace of change is slow, but hard to think that Real Estate sales will be done the same way in 20 years as they are now.
There is a lot of opportunity for agents who do more than use the Internet to send me stupid email newsletters every week talking about the local market ;)
I went to the Austin School of Real Estate at 183 and N Lamar and several of the instructors threw that figure around to underscore the point that you have to work pretty hard to make it in real estate and that a lot of realtors never even get to first base. Too many. Definitely. A lot of failed tech workers have tried to turn to real estate lured by the apparent ease of making big sales. I wish I had a better cite for that figure but I couldn't find much by googling around for it.
We like to drive around looking at houses and surf on Zooven at the same time. Basically a mash-up between Austin MLS and Google maps. It's really pretty cool.
However, we have a mobile wifi hotspot.... in our car...
That's great - I never heard of Zooven. Great idea (if you have car-fi, I suppose).
Matt
--
I use Austin Home Finders because it has a great email sign up and I get notifications of properties that match my criteria via email. Phil Artt's homecity.com is the most innovative and well developed Austin real estate site. It better be, he invested over $5 million in it's development.
http://agentgenius.com/ is a "collaborative real estate blog" and is topheavy with Austin realtors.
Check out these Austin real estate links.
And, of course, http://zillow.com - hot web 2.0 web app
That homecity is very impressive, I can see that they dumped a bunch of money in to both design and functionality. What a great resource.
clamele... what did you do as a realtors assistant? Did you work on a commission based on sales or a salary? Did you go on to become a realtor yourself?
Aside from being defacto tech support, I did a lot of the marketing, sat in on property inspections, worked with the title companies and clients to finish off transactions. I never went on to become an agent; it never interested me. As nice as a big sale is, I like the comfort of collecting a paycheck on a regular basis.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Where do they draw the line Chris between what an assistant can do as far as talking to customers? What can't an assistant to that only the realtor can do?
Those who do not have real estate licenses cannot say, "this house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths," or similar statements. I always found that to be odd; what can be so wrong with stating hard facts? Nevertheless, that's the way it is. An assistant can hand a flier to the prospective buyer and say, "according to this flier, it has..."
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
Weird stuff. Sounds like an assistant would be very restricted.
When looking for a home to buy the question might be how do you find a decent buyer's agent. We had such a dismal experience last year we haven't tried again.
I'm still confused about needing a lawyer also. What is the agent for?
Valerie Dennis
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vcd0826
Blog: http://thinking.ivalerie.com
What was your dismal experience, if you don't mind me asking?
I have never needed a lawyer when I bought and sold our houses. Our agent always handled everything for us.
We decided that we needed to buy a house, pretty much any house in the $120,000 price range. We were smart enough to know we were not going to live in Westlake. The other catch was we had NO money for any costs. The agent we had was not up front about costs. Once we found a house we wanted to make an offer on we had to write out a check to the owner and then another one that was considered earnest money to the title company. We wrote the checks but two days later called and told the agent we just could not manage it.
Additionally, I thought the process was that the agent found us the house based on the questionnaire we completed. We did some research before going to an agent and knew that there were houses in areas we could afford. The agent just did not listen. He showed us houses that were clearly not what we wanted in areas we told him we did not like.
I think the biggest problem was that this agent could not use a computer to save his life and he wasn't capable of doing the necessary research. We will have to do a lot more research and get recommendations before we try this again.
I no longer believe that we have to own a house. Renting eliminates many of the "homeowner woes" that are plaguing others. Our tub needed to be recaluked and we called the office and two days later it was done. We did not have to be here or write a check.
Valerie Dennis
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vcd0826
Blog: http://thinking.ivalerie.com
From what I can tell, much of the problem was the agent. If your agent is not listening to you, then you need to find another agent. There are different kinds of agents out there; the ones that just want to make a sale, and the others that want to match up a family with the right home so that everyone is happy in the end. The best way to find the latter is to simply talk to your friends and have them recommend someone.
--
Christopher Iamele
Email: ciamele at austin dot rr dot com
I no longer believe that we have to own a house. Renting eliminates many of the "homeowner woes" that are plaguing others. Our tub needed to be recaluked and we called the office and two days later it was done. We did not have to be here or write a check.
A lot of people are waking up that idea.
Rent vs. Sales prices are way out of whack right now. It makes no sense to buy a house for $450,000 when you can rent it for $1500/month! This is the very definition economists (who aren't shills for the NAR) use to 'detect' a bubble in housing prices.
Austin is not in as bad a shape as much of the rest of the USA, mostly due to the very high property taxes in Texas - it keeps things from going as high as in California or other states. Insurance rates and taxes also can go up substantially. So even if you "own" a house, those things can ruin it in the future.
I can tell you I learned one thing. Get recommendations and ask a lot of questions. We will not settle for the first one that comes along just because they are listing a house we are interested in.
Valerie Dennis
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vcd0826
Blog: http://thinking.ivalerie.com
I ran across a very nifty real estate app recently.
http://www.inspiredaustin.com/ia_search/maps
Gary Young authored this app. His specialty is web development so he would be very grateful if you know of anyone that requires web development in PHP, Python, or Ruby or any Javascript work. He helped out my organization, SDS - http://StopDomainSubsidies.com , so now lets help him out by making a note of his contact information and getting him some referrals.
I would pass back to Gary - there is a huge increase recently in Python web apps - given that Google Engine uses it for hosting. I've seen a lot of local Austin project interest. I suggest putting out there that combo
RoundSparrow,
I've done quite a bit of Python development including some Django and I'm a Google Apps Engine developer (as of about 2AM Tuesday morning.) I'd be happy to talk to anyone about doing GAE projects. I've used Python/Django in the past and I'm currently working on a GAE app for myself.
Thanks for your in-site. If you know how I could get in touch with anyone looking for a GAE guy please let me know, or point them in my direction. I would really appreciate it.
Gary
Nexsys, Inc.
http://www.webnexsys.com
I suggest you get involved in some forums where the new Google Engine is getting attention and put out that you know Phython web apps.
-----
Example of recent activity I've seen:
http://twitter.com/whurley -- Quoting from his public comments:
" I'm looking for top python developers to work on a google appengine project, dm me with your details if you're interested :) 12:09 PM April 08, 2008 "
(He is in Austin)
----
Point is that you gotta get the keywords / branding right. Currently "Google appengine" is hot hot hot - and probably will be for a couple months - plant seeds.