Sure fire way to save money on real estate fees

In a market where inventory is plentiful and buyers are cautious seller need every possible advantage on their side. In California the average homeowner spends 4 - 5% in real estate agent fees for selling their home. With home values that begin around $500K this can easily mean $20,000 - $30,000 in agent fees alone. How can you reduce that?

?Yes, the obvious answer is to sell the home without agency and this can work if you have some assistance with the paperwork but places like “Help You Sell” will only provide the paperwork they will not provide any counseling or advice. This is what you pay an agent for…in addition to MLS services and neighborhood experience. Many agents are more negotiable now with the market in dry dock so negotiating a flat fee is a realistic expectation. This can require some additional work on your part but could be well worth the discussion.

Another less obvious solution is to choose an agent that can do both the real estate and the loan. I am not talking about the multitude of Agents that have an “in house” lender. I am specifically referring to agents who are also loan officers and regularly do both as a means of offering consolidated services for streamlined processing, and reduced fees due to less hands in the cookie jar. As we discussed, an agent can make as much as 6%. Loan officers can make an additional 2 - 3%. Agents that have the ability to do both can use partial commissions from a loan to credit closing costs for the buyer.

There are many possible branches of opportunity with each transaction that could lead to these additional savings if you?use an agent that has combined these services.?Many of these fees are paid by others but can be used as credits for your sale indirectly.

Sale of your home: 5-6%
Loan for buyer: 2-3% (paid by buyer and/or lender - not you)
Your new purchase: 2-3% (paid by seller - not you)
Your new loan: 2-3% (paid by you / lender)

Any one of the above transactions will pay commissions to the agent or loan officer involved. If this is the same 1 agent you can negotiate significant credits to help close the sale on your home. If these are seperate individuals they will each expect to be paid and commission reductions will be non existent.

A loan is not an easy task to complete so I wouldn’t expect an agent to negotiate a low flat fee for the real estate AND give you a free loan. That would be expecting too much.?However, 3% total credits will cover your buyers closing costs and give him a point or so to buy down his interest rate. If an agent gets 3 or more transactions from your sale I can easily see as much as 4 - 5% in credits (or as much as the lender will allow).

That is the strength of the credits… free closing costs and a lower interest rate at no cost to the buyer.

Popularity: 2% [?]