are real estate agents worth the money..

[victoria24]

when we pay for the costs of getting them the enquiries?

[Super_BQ]

IMO, yes. If you're not serious in selling, then no. There has to be a line drawn for a home seller to know when they're serious at selling or just trying to fish for the highest price possible.

[M-Squared]

Neil, what do you mean by the costs of getting them the enquiries?

Super_BQ, problem solved there by negotiating a fixed fee

[Super_BQ]

Fixed fee? How do you address in 'you pay for what you get'? The advertising package can vary a lot and this is separate to the commission realtors get on the sale price. You can do cheap advertising for $1000, or pay $5000 for the full online, show home, etc. works. (which still means no guarantee of sale).

[bulu]

What's the costs if you buy a property thru the agent? Is it a fixed cost, or it is usually like in a percentage of the property (ie. 2%)? Is this standardized for all agents or varies?

THanks.

[Duncan74]

Don't get me started.

I'll vote no. They do not povide value. Whilst I accept that you have no real choice but to use them, then they charge a disproportionate amount for the little that they do. And they generally fail to act in the best interests of their clients in my personal experience.

[ralf-nz]

What's the costs if you buy a property thru the agent? Is it a fixed cost, or it is usually like in a percentage of the property (ie. 2%)? Is this standardized for all agents or varies?

THanks.

It depends on the market situation who pays for the agent - seller or buyer. When I bought the house nearly three years ago it was up to the seller: around 4.0 % (up to 5.0 %). I would assume that it is still on a similar level.

[victoria24]

Neil, what do you mean by the costs of getting them the enquiries?

As in for the advertising etc. it seems they think its such a great idea but wont back their own recommendation by paying it themselves.

[langers]

IMO, yes. If you're not serious in selling, then no. There has to be a line drawn for a home seller to know when they're serious at selling or just trying to fish for the highest price possible.

I disagree entirely, we had ours on the market for 6 months with an agent and felt that they weren't 'selling' our house as they didn't really know it from any of the others on their books.

Put it on TradeMe and sold it in a week for $299 and saved about $20K in commission which we could pass on to the buyers and thus make the home more realistically priced.

[moz]

I think it depends on the Real estate..I have had some bad experiences and good experiences in Australia as a buyer and seller..and I have heard the same in NZ..

Our one in Christchurch was magnificent! Yes the fees cost a fortune, but because we had used her in finding a home, we went back to her with the sale of the same home, she discounted our advertising fees, and when the auction passed in, didn't charge us anymore fees later..she really got the people through and earned her commission, and I will go back to her to buy next year..

The saving grace is they only hit you once there, in Sydney when we sold our house a couple of years ago, we sold it for $460,000 paid over $10,000 commission, if we purchased a house again we would be looking at over $20,000 which is stamp duty and costs.. thankfully we are renting, so we can pick up and go when we are ready..