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Eternal Real Estate Commission

AlanAlan
edited April 2008 in Seattle Real Estate
http://www.belshe.com/2007/04/23/advent ... -an-agent/
The saddest part of real-estate commissions is that you pay them every year after you purchase. In addition to paying $90,000 up-front for real-estate agents on a $1.5M home, you'll also pay $1080 each year in increased taxes as long as you own your home, since the agent's fees are rolled into the assessed value of your home!

Comments

  • mukohmukoh
    That statement makes abosolutely no sense as to how an agents comission is part of your assessment.
  • rose-colored-coolaidrose-colored-coolaid
    mukoh wrote:
    That statement makes abosolutely no sense as to how an agents comission is part of your assessment.

    It makes perfect sense. You are paying an 'eternal commission' to the state in the form of taxes. This is because the expense of an agent is often rolled into the mortgage (hence purchase price) from which your taxes are based.
  • ira sira s
    But the "poor" agent only collects the commission once, even if the buyer might be paying it eternally.
  • AlanAlan
    Maybe we could get the law changed so that the agent gets that part of the tax payment. :shock:
  • mukohmukoh
    Market price for what a house sells for either being a for sale by owner or a normally marketed property has nothing to do with agents comission.
  • MarkorMarkor
    The quote in the OP does make sense, but since it applies to most every homeowner, no taxes would be saved if the agent's commission was excluded from the sale price. The amount of taxes you pay are whatever the gov't needs from you, regardless of the sales prices of houses.
  • The_TimThe_Tim
    I don't know what you guys are talking about. The seller pays the commission, duh.
  • MarkorMarkor
    The point is that the commission is included in the sale price, hence the (mistaken) idea that you'll eternally be paying extra property taxes. The seller pays the commission out of the proceeds from the sale, not separately.

    Even if I buy a house I find myself, and keep the buyer's agent commission of 3% for myself, it's tough to keep that 3% out of the sale price. Trying to get the seller to lower the price by 3% is more difficult than having them pay me (via a flat-fee buyer's agent) 3% from the proceeds.
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