Like many sales industries real estate is one where the Pareto principle applies. The top 20% of agents make 80% of the money and usually for good reason. The ones who get the job done right consistently are the ones that get repeat business.

There are many services that help you sell your own property nowadays too. Check out http://www.comfree.com – for about $700 they will list your property on an online listing service and give you all of the paperwork, legal advice, etc. you need to sell your home yourself. This is a fast expanding segment of the real estate market. The traditional real estate percentage is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

In my experience, I only paid when I sold my house. While my agent did nothing I could not have done myself to sell it (and he is selling a lot of properties in my area btw), he did a really good job to find a house that suits our need. While he did a great job for something I did not have to pay for it!

NSB, Shevy, I don’t think putting a property on the internet, taking a few pictures worth 10K to 20K. I personally help my parent sell their house (they live in a small village of 1,500 people in a remote area) and it took only a month to sell. All that for a big $500 instead of 17K (the price they would have to pay for a RE agent). So if you think it worth it, good for you. I prefer to keep my thousand of dollars in my pockets!

There are millions of realtors. You have to carefully pick the right one for your situation. I know several realtors and recognize the names of the most prolific ones in the city. I did choose one I knew, but in large part because I had seen him hold an open house on the weekend and the following week the condo or house would be sold, not once but week after week after week!

He took great pics of the place, featured it on his site as well as getting it up on mls for a few days, held ONE open house and it sold that day! We only had to be out of the house for 2 hours, a ton of people came through all at once and it was a done deal. A realtor like that is worth every penny of the commission.

Do your research before you settle on an agent. Look to see who does a lot of business in your area and check out their web sites. Interview several of them if necessary, and choose the best. Ask for feedback after the showings and take any suggestions to heart.

MY suggestions? Clear all clutter. Clean like you have obsessive-compulsive disorder. Depersonalize (kid art off the fridge, family photos away, etc.). Do all the little jobs before you start showings (put the closet door back on its track, fix the handle on the toilet, etc.). Remember that a lot of buyers are visiting multiple places in a day. You want to stand out in a good way, rather than having them refer to your home as the “place that smelled like a cat box” or the “one with the nasty kitchen” because that’s not going to get you on their “short list”!

It’s hit and miss just like used car dealers or many other stereotypes
If your property is in the hot area, it’ll get sold without anybody (say Toronto)
Otherwise it’s hard to say

The real estate industry is a “fake” monopoly that are trying to keep their low-value services relevent by controlling as many pieces of the transaction as possible and making it too hard for individuals to succeed. That said, I’ve found a couple of good realtors, one of which is in Montreal! Check out how Etienne Mellor helped me buy a house for a quick description. As you advocate for bankers, professional and competent realtors ARE worth their pay. However, 90% of them are not.