LISTING YOUR HOME

Raq you are right on......7% is outrageous, but, compounded by the seller paying 16% IVA on their commission!

Jim W wrote:Raq you are right on......7% is outrageous, but, compounded by the seller paying 16% IVA on their commission!

Jim why don't you do a FSBO, any good at marketing? I am.........

E-raq wrote:

Jim W wrote:Raq you are right on......7% is outrageous, but, compounded by the seller paying 16% IVA on their commission!

Jim why don't you do a FSBO, any good at marketing? I am.........

Try doing a FSBO in slow times and youll have your house 5 years from now as told to me by one very intelligent person in our Community who has sold many homes in the US.

You will not get the exposure that MLS provides. And OMG do you want to do that expensive advertising? You dont have to pay 7%, you can negotiate 6% when you have a buyer.

Go with the company that is RIGHT for your house. Is your market to gringos or Tapatios, or both? Find a realtor who specializes in your sort of house or neighborhood.

You should be able to knock the commission to 5% IF IF IF the listing agent/broker is also the selling agent/broker....that is standard here, but PUT IT IN WRITING.

I sold my house earlier this year after interviewing many realtors. PM me if you have any questions re: personalities, competence, etc.

Joe's right on that one. I've successfully done FSBO's in a hot market, NOB.
In this market, you need all the exposure you can get; advertising, MLS and the whole nine yards.

This is a really bad market, and the well off buyers of days gone by...are gone by. Even when they can afford it, people are being cautious about investing because they're not seeing the likelihood of appreciation in the near future.

We are seeing some sales in our Ajijic Village neighborhood, but most have been on the market for a while.

Just saying here, but I have sold a house here at lakeside in a bad market. In fact it was a moribund market.

Here's what we did.

1. Priced it 5,000 U.S. under ALL potential competitors.
2. Made sure it showed well.
3. It was conveniently located close to a realtor's spec house.
4. She knew she'd never sell it if ours was priced so close.
5. We hired a local guy to talk it up. He did.
6. The realtor turned up within the week all agents in tow.
7. The house sold before it was officially listed.
8. The realtor insisted we had to list it with her. We said, fine.
9. The local guy was having some hard times, so we said you don't get this listing unless he gets half in front of us at closing.
10. She capitulated and everyone went home happy.

To my knowledge, and we did track this for some years, no other homes sold in the area after ours.

It has currently been relisted. Oooop's just went to look, it has been sold again. It was listed at the highest price in the neighborhood BTW. They used a realtor.
So, get out your calculators what is 130,000 - 7% -16% IVA?

Net sales price equals...........you fill in the blank, better yet Hocks will do it.

The final answer. Net price, roughly 119,000 including legal fees.

Read it and weep fellow board members.

Personally I'd prefer that 11,000 in my pocket.

I think most of us are talking about the same thing: price points. Houses under 150K are moving. A little calculator will show that if you pay 130K for a house instead of keeping the money invested, you'll come out okay on the rent/buy equation. If you can get 5% on your money in a safe investment, you'll get around $540 a month. You can't get much of a rental for that, and you can have the house "your way" with no landlord issues. Low taxes plus maintenace is additional, of course, but you probably won't have HOA at that level.

On the other hand, if you pay $400K for a house, in the same equation, your effective monthly rent is around $1660 (plus taxes, hefty HOA fees and maintenance), and for that, you can rent a swell place (and leave when you need or want to).

In this, I'm ignoring the value of living in a high status/low status location. That value, like that of the car you choose, depends on what it means to you.

Or, to put it a different way, it is easier to find 100 people with 5 dollars to spend than one person with 500.

gringal wrote:I think most of us are talking about the same thing: price points. Houses under 150K are moving. A little calculator will show that if you pay 130K for a house instead of keeping the money invested, you'll come out okay on the rent/buy equation. If you can get 5% on your money in a safe investment, you'll get around $540 a month. You can't get much of a rental for that, and you can have the house "your way" with no landlord issues. Low taxes plus maintenace is additional, of course, but you probably won't have HOA at that level.

On the other hand, if you pay $400K for a house, in the same equation, your effective monthly rent is around $1660 (plus taxes, hefty HOA fees and maintenance), and for that, you can rent a swell place (and leave when you need or want to).

In this, I'm ignoring the value of living in a high status/low status location. That value, like that of the car you choose, depends on what it means to you.

Or, to put it a different way, it is easier to find 100 people with 5 dollars to spend than one person with 500.

An excellent analysis as always. In fact we wanted to move to the village, however the kids kicked up a fuss so we're stuck here. House too big, garden too big, yadayadayada. At least the dogs like it..

Kids........BAH.
I say love 'em and leave 'em. They never listen to the old folks, so vice versa applies, too. They like to visit, though. Exotic, etc.

gringal wrote:Kids........BAH.
I say love 'em and leave 'em. They never listen to the old folks, so vice versa applies, too. They like to visit, though. Exotic, etc.

Shhhhhhhusshh yo mouth. The 13 year old still listens. Let's not spoil it huh.

I'm talking about once they're grownups (ours are) they don't want us sharing our wisdom about their lifestyle choices... so tit for tat there.

Yes, 13 year olds still listen to their grandparents, even when they don't hear their parents. Grandparent-hood beats hell out of parenthood. You can hand them back if it gets too much.

E-raq wrote:

Jim W wrote:Raq you are right on......7% is outrageous, but, compounded by the seller paying 16% IVA on their commission!

Jim why don't you do a FSBO, any good at marketing? I am.........

Raq, IMO selling FSBO is tough right now, plus security concerns....neigbors did a FSBO , and were assaulted, tied up and robbed by prospective buyers!

Something else previously discussed...same thread, IVA. Safe to say sales agents are technically contract labor, yet work for a Broker!
Can you imagine a new law stating we must pay IVA for our housekeepers and our gardners? WTF?


Something must be done about the high commissions and IVA burden experienced by sellers! Maybe more FSBO!

Jim:

Back in 2005/2006, we sold two homes FSBO (Lincoln City, OR and Ixtalahuacan,MX) after firing our agents. In both cases, I used generic unstaged photos of each home and did a MS Word document describing not only the property but also room by room. I listed the homes on a couple of FSBO sites and in the case of the Ixtlahuacan home, I did low key touts of the home on a couple of forums and in spite of all the helpful comments badmouthing Ixtlahuacan, our final buyer came from a forum. While I did post descriptions, I didn't reveal the price until people inquired. In neither case were we there to show the homes and through helpful neighbors or friends, we were able to arrange access to the properties and let them speak for themselves. I will say that in neither case were we attempting to realize massive capital gains and both were well priced for the market. I will also state that I gave far greater consideration to getting the right Notario and making sure that all of our t's were crossed and i's were doted for the Mexico sale.

Then again, we didn't give a bit of consideration to the possibility of providing a criminal opportunity!

CheenaGringo wrote:Jim:

Back in 2005/2006, we sold two homes FSBO (Lincoln City, OR and Ixtalahuacan,MX) after firing our agents. In both cases, I used generic unstaged photos of each home and did a MS Word document describing not only the property but also room by room. I listed the homes on a couple of FSBO sites and in the case of the Ixtlahuacan home, I did low key touts of the home on a couple of forums and in spite of all the helpful comments badmouthing Ixtlahuacan, our final buyer came from a forum. While I did post descriptions, I didn't reveal the price until people inquired. In neither case were we there to show the homes and through helpful neighbors or friends, we were able to arrange access to the properties and let them speak for themselves. I will say that in neither case were we attempting to realize massive capital gains and both were well priced for the market. I will also state that I gave far greater consideration to getting the right Notario and making sure that all of our t's were crossed and i's were doted for the Mexico sale.

Then again, we didn't give a bit of consideration to the possibility of providing a criminal opportunity!

Neil, a little off topic, when and where in Lincoln City? I had a place on the Siletz Keys back in the 80's

Jim:

Cutler City on the south end of town. About four blocks to the beach. Nothing fancy except for the back yard and deck that we could never enjoy because of the wind and rain!

How about we limit ourselves to talking about selling in ...MEXICO? I'm guilty too, but hey, selling HERE is the basic issue.

Price it right.

The rest of it is just about attracting potential buyers. Lot's of tools to do that. It's not brain surgery if you can remove the emotion.

gringal wrote:How about we limit ourselves to talking about selling in ...MEXICO? I'm guilty too, but hey, selling HERE is the basic issue.

Right on GG! I have spoken to a few Real Estate Sales Associates, and they claim they can't take a listing....must be written by the broker. Also know 3 Real estate sales people @ Lakeside, that are licensed and can write a listing, and submit to the broker.

Anybody can take a listing. Only the broker can have the final signature to make it official for his company. It is a contract and only the person who is responsible to sign for that company can sign the contract to make it legal.

People that sell real estate in Mexico are only licensed by their individual board as in Chapala.

Anybody can open a Real estate office in Mexico and sell real estate. However if you want to belong to a local board, certain requirements apply.

All sales people that work for a broker who belongs to the local board and are also registered themselves, can write listings and more importantly commission control sheets. Then the broker signs them.

Big Daddy Mexico wrote:Anybody can take a listing. Only the broker can have the final signature to make it official for his company. It is a contract and only the person who is responsible to sign for that company can sign the contract to make it legal.

People that sell real estate in Mexico are only licensed by their individual board as in Chapala.

Anybody can open a Real estate office in Mexico and sell real estate. However if you want to belong to a local board, certain requirements apply.

All sales people that work for a broker who belongs to the local board and are also registered themselves, can write listings and more importantly commission control sheets. Then the broker signs them.

Thank You for the clarification "Big Daddy", Obviously local realtors are also misinformed to a certain extent.

There is one realtor @ Lakeside....Kind of "Black Sheep" All in One Real Estate, Justus Hauser, that lists for 5%, has offices @ Lakeside and Guadalajara. All of his listings are on the Mexican MLS, he is properly licensed, yet he has been black balled by GIL, probably more, all at Lakeside! My understanding is that he refuses to conform to the locked in 7% comission quoted at Lakeside!

Hopefully someone better informed than I, can provide information?

It's an 80/20 rule.

20% of the Realtor do 80% of the business.

Most of the Realtors in this area also have another job, spouse that works, other income, play in a band, own a restaurant, etc, etc.

The only thing that keeps any of these companies in business is their rental department. They get at least 15% a month for rentals plus at least a 20% mark up on other fees like maids and gardeners etc.

Quite a few of the Realtors in this area have never been in Real Estate until they came to this area.

A few boards in the US and Canada now require that you have a degree before you can take the real estate course. And the course is 4 to 6 months long.

The course here in Chapala I think was like 3 or 4 days long to become a realtor.

Jim W wrote:There is one realtor @ Lakeside....Kind of "Black Sheep" All in One Real Estate, Justus Hauser, that lists for 5%, has offices @ Lakeside and Guadalajara. All of his listings are on the Mexican MLS, he is properly licensed, yet he has been black balled by GIL, probably more, all at Lakeside! My understanding is that he refuses to conform to the locked in 7% comission quoted at Lakeside!

Hopefully someone better informed than I, can provide information?

You can google him to find out the issues with him and the old board.

However, not sure what you mean about properly licensed. There are various boards in Mexico that you can join if you have an office, but there is no official association that licenses people to be realtors in Mexico.

The big difference is not what is charged in commissions, but how these offices pay their Realtors.

In most of the places in the US and Canada, once you have become a realtor and have sold a few homes, you move to a 100% office. This is an office where you pay rent to the broker and then you receive 100% of the commission. Then you can charge whatever commission you want. However, to sell a home, most brokers offer a good commission to the selling broker to encourage them to show it. If I had 5 houses to show and one of the houses was offering a low commission, I probably would not show it to my people.

Here in Chapala, the brokers won't do that and take 50% of whatever you make. Some places will pay a higher fee if you sell more and if you don't offer a full 7%, nobody shows it and you are black balled.

What it seems to boil down to is that some, many or possibly most agents had no more talent than yourself when they had their first business cards printed up? The question becomes how much they learned along the way and just how effective they are!

I think more sellers should list with " All in One " @ 5 % to hammer a point!

Paying 7% is high by Mexico standards, and pushed thru by Gringo brokers, put 16% IVA on top is outrageous!

Maybe someone with more info can direct us, how to change the system @ Lakeside! I don't mind 5-6 %, but paying realtors income tax on comission...WTF