[imglorp]

I just sold a house by myself and the line of people with their hand out is infuriating. Even more frustrating, for providing their automated gesture or nod of a service, they want a PERCENTAGE.

For example, to just do all the paperwork, a realtor might offer a "transaction only" service for "only" 1%. Regardless of property value, it's the same paperwork and usually done by a clerk. I instead went to an honest (!) attorney, flat rate for his time, it was around $1500 to do the same task. He reviewed contracts, attended closing, gave advice. Easy, done.

I think there's so much monetary friction from these parasites that any automation and fair pricing will erase whole professions.

[arkades]

You don't need an "honest" attorney to get that number. It's normal for RE attorneys to get a flat-ish fee, and RE agents to pull a percentage.

And RE attorneys usually make <2k/deal, with a lot of that being add-ons from things like owning their own title company. You paid market rate, as best as I can tell.

And all paperwork and contracts are ultimately done by the lawyer. I have honest to goodness no idea why you involved a realtor at all if you were selling it by yourself. Their only job is to attract prospective buyers (read as: list your house on the MLS).

[imglorp]

I didn't involve a realtor, I used the attorney. I just mentioned the realtor's price as comparison.

As a side note, they buyer _did_ have a realtor, who was notably annoyed that they were not dealing with a professional, but grudgingly agreed to take _their_ percentage. So I saved on mine at least.

Several providers would not talk to me at all, for example the home warranty provider needed some BS realtor ID to sell their product to you. I whined loud enough and they finally agreed to take my money. I think their system is kickback based and they didn't know how to make a sale without sending someone the gratuity.

[emodendroket]

> And all paperwork and contracts are ultimately done by the lawyer. I have honest to goodness no idea why you involved a realtor at all if you were selling it by yourself. Their only job is to attract prospective buyers (read as: list your house on the MLS).

Also handle things like showings, no?

[arkades]

True. And showings.