Indianapolis Real Estate News And Information From HomeToIndy.com

Does offering more commission to the buyer's agent help sell a home?

Several times this week, I have received flyers and info advertising homes for sale with an increased commission for the real estate agent who brings the buyer.

One offered 6% to the buyer s agent on a home priced at $681,000. Almost $42,000. if I bring a buyer for this home. A similar one offered the same and boldly stated, $42,300 Commission.

Another offered 5% plus $5000. on homes priced between $299,000 and $350,000. One of these offers was from another city and two were here in Indianapolis.

There are two schools of thought about increasing the buyer agents commission to help sell a home.

One school says it s the seller s equity and they can do what they want with their equity. I agree! The other side says the commission is built into the price of the home and the buyer ends up paying the commission. On this, I also agree.

Allow me to explain .

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In the world of real estate, Days On Market is the number of days between when a home lists for sale and when it goes under contract.

It is often abbreviated as DOM.

Average Days on Market is a similar statistic but instead of applying to one home in particular, it applies to all homes in a given neighborhood, ZIP code, or city. Average DOM are most often different when broken down by price range within a city and zip code.

Average DOM is calculated by adding the number of days for which every listed home in an area was available for sale, and then dividing that number by the total number of listings.

In a buyer's market, Average Days On Market is often elevated.  This is because homes don't sell as fast as during a seller's market when the Average DOM can be quite low.

For buyers and sellers of real estate, Average Days On Market can be a strong indicator of home prices.  When Average DOM falls, home prices...

I received a call today from a gentleman which made me think about questions I am routinely asked about the real estate market here in the Indianapolis area.

Referring to a previous post, he specifically wanted to know about buying a home in Indianapolis. Here’s a few of the questions I am asked and my response:

Q: Is it reasonable to expect to pay 10–20% less than the listed price?

A: It depends on the property and the area of town! Not every home on the market is overpriced and those which are priced correctly initially are still selling well. I have seen homes which have sold for less than 10–20% of the original listing price, but the formula does not apply to every home on the market.

Q: Will there be more homes on the market in a few months?

A: Yes and there will also be more buyers. Spring is the start of the busiest buying time of the year. Although you...

Mortgage approvals don't last forever.  A conforming mortgage approval from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has a shelf-life of 120 days. After 120 days, the approval expires and a mortgage applicant must re-submit his application for consideration. In addition, a mortgage approval can 'expire' within the 120-day period for other reasons:

• Change of job status or income
• Newly-acquired monthly debt (i.e. car payment, student loan)
• Change in asset levels

If your current mortgage approval (or pre-approval) is dated prior to February 3, 2008, it is now expired and your new approval may be subject to Fannie Mae's new, more strict, underwriting guidelines.