Selling a house can be a tedious process as it requires knowledge, effort and time, so many people hire realtors to be the mediator between them and customers. For that job, the realtors get paid commission, so that is their reward and compensation.
This one man sold his house and how surprised he was that he was expected to send a thank you gift to the realtor, even though he was already being paid for his job and got commission. His response to it was sassy, so he got blocked and wondered if he really should have shown more gratitude.
More info: Facebook
Man just sold his house with the help of a realtor and thankfully he did so before he got blocked by him
Image credits: Papatia USA (not the actual photo)
Blaine Loughary went to the Facebook group Am I The A**Hole? with 69.1k members where people come with some similar stories that you would find in the subreddit with the same name. His story went pretty viral in the group as his post surpassed 1,000 likes, which doesn’t happen every day.
What happened was that Blaine recently sold his house. Well, he didn’t do it himself, but hired a realtor. From that sale, the agency and the realtor got a $15,000 commission each. Commission is the standard way to pay the realtor and their reward depends on the price of the house.
When the homeowner sold his house, he paid $15k commission to the agency and the agent each
Image credits: Am I The A**Hole?
Turns out it wasn't enough for the agent as he sent an exasperated email asking where his gift was after he had done so much for the homeowner
Blaine thought that the deal was done, but after the deal was closed, the man got an email from his realtor complaining in an exasperated tone that he didn’t get a thank-you gift for doing his job.
While there are a lot of nuances when buying and selling houses that may not be common knowledge or written online, Blaine assumed that the commission was already the final payment and sign of gratitude. So to that email, the man responded with the attitude saying that he as well was offended to not receive a gift congratulating him on moving into his new home.
The man thought the realtor was out of line and responded with the same tone, asking where his gift was to congratulate him on a new home
What’s funny about this is that the realtor blocked Blaine, so he went to Facebook to find out if he was out of line and if it’s really customary to send gifts on top of paying for services.
People who also used the services of realtors were quite surprised by Blaine’s experience and pointed out that actually, the realtors are the ones who buy gifts.
Turns out, there are many realtors in this Facebook group and they assured Blaine that he didn't do anything wrong as well. They confirmed that not only does the customer not need to buy gifts for their realtor, but on the contrary, it’s more acceptable for the realtor to buy gifts and show gratitude for trusting them with your property and money. Most of them mentioned that the best gift is to leave a positive review or refer them to someone else who might need their services.
To the client's surprise, the realtor blocked him and now he wondered whether he was wrong and gifts to realtors are customary but he didn't know
Image credits: Pascal Willuhn (not the actual photo)
According to Investopedia, most real estate agents make money through commissions and their size depends on the estate’s price as most commonly they get a percentage of the amount, although they can also get flat fees. The percentage usually ranges between 5 and 6 percent but the buyer and the seller can negotiate.
Also, commissions are usually split four ways—between the listing agent, who is the one who took the listing from the seller; the listing broker, who is the one who employs the listing agent for the seller; the buyer’s agent, who is the one who represents
Both clients and realtors in the comments assured the homeowner that the agent got paid and that should have been enough for him
While you are not getting the whole amount of money that the buyer is paying, real estate agents help you with a lot of tasks in the process of selling a house. They understand the documents regarding real estate and they will be taking care of all the administrative things like emails and meetings, which take time that you may not have. They are more experienced negotiators and have some marketing tricks up their sleeve. Also, they know the market, so they won’t allow you to sell your house for a lower price than it’s worth.
Real estate agents are specialists and understand the professional language, the legal side and will explain what the documents you're signing include. They will be actively trying to sell the property so the seller can expect to conclude a deal quicker.
If anyone gives presents, it's the realtors, as they not only congratulate the client, but also thank them for trusting them, and they only want a positive review in return
It’s true that real estate agents make the selling process go a lot smoother, quicker and with a bigger profit, but they are already being paid accordingly, so expecting a gift may seem in bad taste, as some people in the comments of the story noted.
Have you ever had to work with a realtor? What was your experience? Did you send them any gifts or receive anything to congratulate you on closing the deal? Let us know in the comments!
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