I think that the situation of the buyer or seller weighs heaviy in this discussion. Someone like Calmloki has made real estate operation his occupation. He has experience, and also some market clout with agents, who if they are even somewhat smart will want to cultivate his repeat business. OTOH the typical buyer may well be a one-off experience for an agent. I looked for a condo with varying intensity for 3 years or so, an area excompassing maybe 3 or 4 zip codes. Partly it is just me, but partly I think one needs time to get the lay of the land, even though he has lived there for years. Real estate and neighborhood trends can change, and unless we are actively in the market, this is going to be beneath our radar. First I intended to only go to open houses, and negotiate directly with the seller's agent, and have my own att. handle the details if I decided to make an offer. Later, I did go around and let an agent I had met and liked show me some stuff. All of these informal relationships were enventually dropped for various reasons-one woman just didn't show up for our 3rd outing, one guy I had contacted for an auction and he fairly agressively tried to get me to sign an exclusive buyer's agent contract which given the very soft market I thought was absurd. One guy totally flat out lied to me about easily verifiable matters, and also had the gall to try to push me. One woman I got along with well, but eventually discovered two things--she had no ability to make a low offer with conviction, as she seemed embarrased by not playing according to the realtor/seller friendly rules of the boom years. She also did not understand procedures for dealing with bank owned property, or short sales.
When I finally bought, I had settled on a small contiguous area of maybe 8x8 blocks. One Sunday I was out walking with my woman friend and we stopped at an open house, liked the place and liked the seller's agent. I went about my business, no longer shopping other than the occasional open house, as I thought this place was too expensive and I was tiring of looking. But finally one day the agent called me and said the price had been lowered and the seller wanted to move. I gave her a low idea of what I could pay, and she said that they already had an offer of more. I told her that I could not pay more but that I could guarantee performance as I intended to pay cash. In order to expedite things she also sent me a copy of the condo reserve study that had been done that summer. From this I could see some issues to get handled, but nothing that would be a deal breaker in my mind. Anyway, I knew she was serious and realistic and that we could work cooperatively.
So I got my place, the agent got a larger commission than she would have had she had to split with a separate agent for me, but at the same time we freed some cash so that the seller would not have to bring a check to closing. Also the seller got to move on to her new life with no anxiety.
In very soft markets, I believe that a lot of useful information can come from the listing agent especially if you are even passably good with friendly interviewing techniques.
I felt it was a win-win for all three of us, and still feel that way.
Ha
