Looks like Toronto wants to levy its own sales tax. I think this is on top of the 13% we already pay. Wow

If it is so easy… quit what ever job it is you are doing and become a REALTOR. The barriers to getting in are minimal. Lasting 1, 2, 5, 10 or 20 years… now THAT takes a little more doing.

Gotta tell ya there are many a day that a 9 to 5 $25.00 an hour job looks pretty damn good to me. Especially in this failing economy and with all the B.S. we have to put up with from people who haven’t a clue what they are talking about. Hell I might even accept $15.00 an hour for freedom like that. With some benefits like medical, dental, retirement plan, paid holidays, company car I might take as low as minimum wage. Who am I kidding… I’d work for FREE under those conditions!

There is value in what RE sales people offer. The industy would not exist if they were not helpful in an important way.

Yes the internet is changing their industry but what is with the “pitch fork and burning torches” attitude against sales people?

If you do not work for the government your job is 100 percent dependent on the efforts of sales people.

Set the housing market free and it will regulate itself.
Do I need an agent to sell my car or buy groceries? You add NO VALUE. Parasites will always be parasites. Travel industry still alive after multiple internet websites offer the service so will MLS survive. Find a real job contributing to the society you live in and you will feel satisfied. I can only applaud to Competition Board decision to shut the cartel down!!!! Bravo!!!!

The day a house salesman says he’s worth well over $100 an hour is the day we know for sure we’re in one hell of a bubble. What should nurses, policemen, doctors, teachers and other, you know, important professions expect to earn if a salesman thinks he should be on that kind of money?

Then something is really askew in Canada. A GP will see six patients per hour, average billing about $25.00 per visit. That’s $150.00 per hour after many years of university, and if they make a mistake someone can die. Specialists do a little better, but not all. Pediatrics in one example. The overhead… huge. Income taxes…half of what‘s left over after expenses. A potential doctor can save himself anywhere from six to sixteen years of university, become a realtor (that takes about six months) and make same coin? And get to sleep at night? Wow, where did I go wrong.

At this time, smaller local agents were going out of business as the market was drying up and only the national chains were surviving easily. They wanted my house on their books, so had to come to an arrangement over what I considered was extortion – even though it was a drop in the ocean compared to what Canadian agents want.

In the end it was a good move. We had to accept around $80,000 less than the house had been originally listed for – so imagine how relieved we were that the agent’s fee was 1.65% of the sale price and not 2% of the original price!

I haven’t bought anywhere here yet and when I do, it will hopefully be the last home I buy (or at least for a very long time). Should I ever come to sell, I will certainly try and favourable terms with whoever sells it for me. Everyone should try it – if we all do, it will become the norm.

As for the current FSBO sites, the prices of property on those are generally unrealistic. When property prices go down, these are the last to follow. If anyone can load up their details on the mls there will be some sharp differences in pricing but I imagine the DIY sellers will still be left languishing because of it. I think using an agent has to be better, BUT at a much more realistic fee. 6% is insane. I’d be expecting them to do everything for me at that price – including tidying up, cleaning the house, doing the laundry and walking the dogs.

Remember Dan that if I charged $100.00 per hour under those conditions I am not actually earning a taxable $100.00 per hour. It would be more like $62.50 after minimum overhead expenses and I would have to sell more than twice the number of houses in a year as the average REALTOR does. If I didn’t sell a single house I would still have to pay that $60,000 per annum in overhead.

As for the other $10,000 that is charged to the Buyer by the Buyers Agent. How they charge for it it between them, unless they want it to come from the proceeds of the sale. In that case the would bring us a fee agreement and we would up the price of the home by the respective $10Gs (or what ever they agreed the Selling Agent was to be paid) plus applicable taxes.

The current system is really not far off. The only real fly in the ointment is the prophensity for the average REALTOR to take an overpriced listing that will never sell, incur expenses on behalf of that Seller they never will recoup and then subsequently look for a mark who’s house they can sell and earn enough profit from that at the end of th year the business has been a profitable venture for them.

The nice thing about the current system is… if your REALTOR fails you you don’t pay a cent. So there is obviously incentive for them to get the job done or that shinny new BMW is likely to be pulled from their parking spot when they aren’t looking.

Real estate people provide a service.

The pay seems large but as the RE people who post here say… 9/10 RE agents fail in their first year.

The industry is up and down and when times are bad its probably 99/100 RE agents who fail in their first year.

Getting a RE agent is optional and going the discount broker route has been available since I can remember.

If I had alot of real estate to buy and sell I know I am using a (trusted) broker to do the leg work for me. I am using the services of RE people because they are cheaper then lawyers and I only pay if they succeed in doing what I want them to do.

I laugh at some of these online RE places. They all offer a deluxe package for people who want to give them money to bring in a real estate agent….llolooolllll