Ken S.
Just Don't
On a list of odious things I've had to do in a half-century, paying a "RE/MAX Hall of Famer" nearly forty-two thousand dollars for his role in a simple real estate transaction ranks first. But at least it gives me the right to post a review of what I got for my money. In my opinion, the guy could not hold a job as a secretary anywhere I've worked. To give just one example: For reasons related to lending, the buyers wanted to change our agreement from paying nothing for a list of included furnishings to paying $1000. So all he had to do was take the signed Personal Property Agreement, change zero dollars to one thousand dollars, and send it over. Three times he sent versions that included additional language we had not agreed to, and that he knew (or definitely should have known) we objected to. Finally we had to do it ourselves: we took the original version, changed $0 to $1000, signed it, and everyone was good with it. Here's the scoop, folks: there is absolutely no reason to agree to pay a buyers' agent 3 percent anymore. Don't do it. You have other options! Think about how much money it is, not as a percentage (what Realtors want) but in dollars. Were the services of a RE/MAX agent worth over forty thousand dollars? If he were the best agent on the planet... no. And if you read this far, you know he's not. If you are a buyer and thinking basically that the cost of your agent isn't your problem, you'll just make the seller pay - it wasn't true in our transaction. We would have gone lower on the price if not required to pay so much for a RE/MAX agents' services.