Consumer Reports says that 46 % of people trying to sell their homes through agents tried to negotiate a lower commission rate. Of those home sellers, 71% of the listings agents lowered their commission rate.
They found that home sellers who paid commission rates of 3 % or lower were just as satisfied with their broker's performance as those who paid 6 % or more.
86 % of Consumer Reports' readers who put their homes on the market made a sale, while only 8 % gave up and took their homes off the market.
The magazine recommends home sellers price their homes realistically, and drop their asking price between 4 % to 6 % if they don't receive an offer within four to six weeks.
In the fudging with statistics section, I question these results since they were of Consumer Reports readers who probably already show a bias towards haggling for a better deal.
I actually found that it was easier to get a higher rate in the down times than it was in the periods of more rapid growth. If you read HouseBlogger at all then you may recall that when the market shifted in the early 90's. I prospected for expired listings.
My persona was one of the Caped Crusader coming into save the day (by actually telling the homeowner what they had not been told, the marketplace demands aggressive pricing). The frame became one of either selling or staying. If they really wanted to sell, then they would have to meet these market conditions (price) in order to move.
I believe because I was the first to give them a dose of reality, the commission never really became an issue.
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