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From: kjm@brl-tgr.ARPA (Kelly J. Benjamin )
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Need advice on bidding on a house
Message-ID: <1831@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 1-Oct-85 16:00:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.1831
Posted: Tue Oct  1 16:00:55 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 06:29:16 EDT
References: <713@whuxl.UUCP> <1185@ihuxn.UUCP> <1909@bmcg.UUCP>
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 24

> > --
> > > First of all the prices are outrageous! I sincerely believe,
> > > that real estate agents intentionally jack up the listed price of
> > > a house to increase their commission.  So question one:
> > 
> > I'm no fan of realtors, but I think your analysis is wrong.  They
> > make 7% of the sale price, which amounts to only $700 per $10K,
>                                              
> If a house sells for $95,000, that ='s $700*9 or $6,300 commission.
> I don't know about your financial setup but I could live on selling
> five or four houses a year. Remember that all the expenses incurred
> running around trying to sell houses is written off (God I love that
> term).

The real estate salesperson does not get 7% commission.  The real
estate *office* gets approximately 7% commission on the sale of a
house.  That money must be split at least three ways.  The agent
that listed the house gets a portion, the selling agent gets a 
portion and the broker keeps a large hunk.  Plus, if the salesperson
sells you a house from the multilist that was listed by another broker,
the 7% commission gets split in half between brokers before any portions
are given out.  In that case, 3.5% would have to be split between the
broker and the selling agent.  Four or five houses a year would not be
enough to live comfortably on.