I will be selling my father's house this spring. He is 93, in assisted living, doing OK but won't be moving back home.

New life experience for me. 1K+ miles away to add to the fun.

Anyone here have any thoughts or first hand knowledge about sites like Ideal Agent, Clever, etc when picking a realtor?

Seems like they would be a bit fishy, but they get a pile of good reviews.

Interesting. Never saw those before. For a listing agent to make money with a platform that that, they would have to deal with a ton of volume. They list a low % and the buyers agent still gets the 2-3%.

So ideal agent, they contract with agents to list your property at 2%.

IF the buyer calls them directly, they will act as a neutral and do the whole deal for 2%. Basically saving you 2-3% BUT you aren’t really getting someone representing you. You are getting something pushing through the deal.

IF the buyer shows up with an agent, you are still on the hook for the buyers agents commission. 2-3%. So you maybe save .5-1%.



I can’t see a top 1% agent wanting to screw around with this, to be honest with you.

The best way is to get a realtor you know and trust to make a referral to a potential listing agent where your father lives. The referring agent will get a portion of the of the listing agent’s commission, usually 25-30 percent. The referring agent needs to have a good idea what you and your father need and desire in an agent and should communicate that to potential listing agents. Most (not all) realtors work for large national firms like Keller Williams or Remax and these firms have national reach with respect to agents and services. My wife and I are both realtors here in Bozeman and have made referrals for both of her parents when they were selling properties on the East Coast. It worked out well for everyone.

This!
My wife and I both work with RE/MAX and we have an extensive referral network to work with. Having an agent represent your father's best interest and give full service to the listing will result in top dollar for your father.
It's a seller's market and having an experienced agent to negotiate through multiple offers and choose the best deal that will ultimately close is the way to go. Trying to save a % point or two is not the right play in this market.
I will gladly find you an agent that specializes in your father's area for you to interview. In our referral network we can see the performance/volume awards of each agent as well as their specialties, interests, etc. to find a good match for you.
All of the referrals we've placed have closed and the clients were all satisfied with the outcome. It really pays to allow a professional to take the burden off your back if you're 1000 miles away.
WFR

This is the best option.

The funny thing about real estate is how your average person seems to think they are an expert. So they end up trying to sell themselves or use one of the listing services. In our area it’s homie. They would have been better off finding a smaller independent agent. Then asking for a discounted listing. My wife will normally do a 1% listing. What I am saying is you can get more for your money talking to and interviewing a few agents.

If there's a good regionally familiar agent I'd go that route. They would know the local market and be near enough for show and tell tours. Right now in our area, one can simply put out the word and buyers come knocking and start bidding.

1. Don’t trust anyone who hasn’t used them personally.
2. Ask how the person knows that agent. If it is through some kind of networking group RUN!
3. Ask how many houses they have actually represented people in buying and selling.
4. Don’t wave their duty to you. These days realtors are trying to represent buyers and sellers. This means I don’t have a duty to you or the buyer. Just themselves.
5. Right now in Arizona houses are selling themselves. Unless you know a really good realtor, are you really needed someone to do the paperwork.
6. Realtors will be out of business if the housing market stays hot.
Good luck.

If you contract to sell house at 3% commission. And that agent sells it alone. They get full 3%

If another agent is involved. The sales commission is split by the agents. You don’t owe them more. Despite what they want you to sign and believe after the fact

Went through that on my last house. The buyers agent thought I owed them 3% as well since they were the buyers agent. My agent didn’t want to split his 4%. Despite our contract that said 4% commission total. They thought they were gonna get me to sign a contract giving them 3% and my agent 4% after the fact.


Good luck finding a respectable and honest realtor. Ain’t many of them around.

We sold last year. Our agent has local awards for best realtor, and she worked very hard to maintain that honor. There are many aspects of selling a house I never considered. Just the internet side of the listings, showings and photography was very involved. She went to great lengths to get the absolute best photos to post and it had a huge impact.

One great piece of advice she gave was getting us to realize the building we lived in was no longer a home but an asset. Unless you're selling to a friend or family, the buyer doesn't want to see all the stuff you've collected over the years. They want to imagine their own stuff in the house.

Knowing our limitations and knowledge worked in our favor.

Best of luck.

If agents are that hungry they are doing 1% listings, that’s a sign of bad things to come.

It’s a crazy industry. Referral fees don’t make much sense to me either.

That’s some willy nilly cutthroat stuff right there. If you sign a 4% listing fee to sell your home, traditionally it’s 2 to listing brokerage and 2 to buyers brokerage. To think you are going to list and keep your entire commission is shady AF.

It was. But they were both in on it I assure you.

Apparently it’s kinda common to. They thought they were gonna pull a fast one.

I don’t think I would use a realtor ever again unless I was just too busy at the time to deal with selling the home.

We have bought and sold homes privately and through Realtors. If the property i was selling was 1,000 miles away, I would use a Realtor local to the property

If you’re selling you need 2 things a mls listing and someone competent to handle offers and contracts. Those saying sell by themselves are crazy. You’re leaving money on the table especially in this market.

My wife is an agent and I have probably handled a dozen transaction myself in the last several years. I get not wanting to pay. That is why I say look for someone that does transactions for a discount. I do agree paying an agent that has a team of agents under them and does 100 transactions a year 3% seller agent commission is nuts. The power agents don’t provide the service a smaller agent does.