New Homes In Dayton Ohio

Do you really need a real estate agent for new homes in Dayton Ohio?

A decade ago, few people would have even asked the question about a real estate agent for new homes in Dayton Ohio. About the only way to see what was available for sale was to go to a local real estate agent, who prescreened and printed out listings of new homes in Dayton Ohio from the local multiple listing service.

All that has changed. You no longer have to go through a full-service agent to view new homes in Dayton Ohio—the information is as easy to find on the Internet as Paris Hilton photos.

And if you don't want to have anything at all to do with real estate brokers for new homes in Dayton Ohio, you can go to the parallel universe of for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) Web sites that have sprung up over the last few years.

In other words, buying new homes in Dayton Ohio, like buying gasoline, clothing, insurance and nearly everything else, increasingly has become self-service.

So why are most of us still paying 5% or 6% commissions for new homes in Dayton Ohio , just like we did ten years ago? It's an especially relevant question in this current climate of price run-ups and bidding wars for new homes in Dayton Ohio, when agents don't have to do more than list the house, write down the offers, and collect the commission. Many in the hottest markets for new homes in Dayton Ohio don't even have to spring for advertising costs, since they sell within hours of listing.

And as new homes in Dayton Ohio prices have soared, commissions have, too. Existing-home sales posted a 12th consecutive record in 2004, with $5.6 billion worth of transactions. In a neighborhood with 15% annual appreciation, new homes in Dayton Ohio with this median at this writing, someone who sold a house last year for $600,000 would have paid a 6% commission of $36,000 to the listing agent, who would then split it with the listing broker and selling agent. This year, that same new homes in Dayton Ohio would sell for $690,000, and a 6% commission would be $41,400.

Not many people got a 15% raise last year. That's one reason why so many people have been racing to get their real estate licenses for new homes in Dayton Ohio. Nationwide, the number of real estate agents for new homes in Dayton Ohio has grown to more than a million, a 10% increase over 2004, according to the National Association of Realtors.

As inexperienced new homes in Dayton Ohio agents flood the field, and experienced ones become order-takers, many sellers are asking the question: What are agents doing now—what could they possibly do—to justify such an increase?

It isn't because new homes in Dayton Ohio agents have more work to do than before, a spokesman for the Realtors trade group, says agents don't spend as much time as they used to finding or showing new homes in Dayton Ohio to buyers, because buyers for new homes in Dayton Ohio increasingly are identifying the homes they want to see on the Web. Nor do they spend as much time as they used to filling out forms and paperwork, since that, too, has become more automated and efficient when dealing with new homes in Dayton Ohio.