HELP need realtor advice

[ray7694]

We are about to use a realtor who many of our friends used to list our home. She is a top seller and has people who help her. We are looking to move 1/2 hour away. Originally she stated if we bought a home with her she would reduce our commission from 6 to 5 percent. Now she states her company will not allow that so it is 6 percent.

It amounts to around 2000 for the 1 percent.

What should we do? I am thinking I don't want to use her for when we buy our home now because she doesn't know the market that well in the town we are moving to and there is no incentive.

WWYD?

[JTsMom]

I'd use a realtor local to the area you are looking in. I wouldn't want to end up in a position where she was too busy to drive out there, etc. Plus, like you said, she doesn't know the area.

[codex57]

So don't use her. It's a buyer's market right now. A buyer's agent doesn't even have to do that much anyways so the fact that she's a great seller really means squat to you. Could even be a negative if she steers you only to her listings.

6%? In CA, that's the total amount of commission paid to both the buyer and seller's agents. That said, as the buyer, you wouldn't be paying it. What state are you in? From a CA point of view, it's nuts. However, from the prices you're talking about, there's no way that could be CA.

[gatorsmom]

We are about to use a realtor who many of our friends used to list our home. She is a top seller and has people who help her. We are looking to move 1/2 hour away. Originally she stated if we bought a home with her she would reduce our commission from 6 to 5 percent. Now she states her company will not allow that so it is 6 percent.

It amounts to around 2000 for the 1 percent.

What should we do? I am thinking I don't want to use her for when we buy our home now because she doesn't know the market that well in the town we are moving to and there is no incentive.

WWYD?

I wouldnt use her. Go with someone who is nearby and knows the area.

[newg]

use someone local......so when you have questions about traffic/schools/neighborhood extras (pools, HOA fees....) the realtor won't have to go hunting for answers.......
We used a friend, who was not too familiar with the area and I had to do a lot of my own hunting for info about the quality of schools, how busy the roads were......

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

I'd use a realtor local to the area you are looking in. I wouldn't want to end up in a position where she was too busy to drive out there, etc. Plus, like you said, she doesn't know the area.

:yeahthat:
You need someone that know the area. To her credit, her broker may not allow her to discount her commission, but before she promised it she should have cleared it with her broker.

[kozachka]

Use someone local and ask for a 'kickback'. We got something every time we bought a house. First time we used a Russian agent and it took us maybe two weeks to find a house, he gave us 1% of the house value. The second time we got 0.5% since it was more work for our agent. He also gave us a $100 gift card to William Sonoma.