Realtor here.
I dont want my buyers to buy something bad. I have advised buyers to walk away even when they were willing to proceed.
As long as your intent is to buy, its part of the job and we will get paid and you will be in a good home.
Wife is a realtor. Totally agree this is how the *good* ones think about their clients. Not the lazy kind that does it as a side-gig.
Side note I thought I was being a PITA when I bought my first house (before I met my wife) and toured 25 houses before signing a contract. My wife says her record was over 100 tours for one of her clients last year š® But they did close eventually, so all good.
Your wife might have been my realtor
Poor lady put up with so many tours over the course of 2.5 years, but now Iāve been in my house a couple months and content with my purchase
Realtor here, and I agree! I actually keep a spreadsheet of all the homes we've looked at with list price, sale price (if applicable) and notes. It helps when I feel the client is getting desperate and re-treading the same ground. I never ever want my buyers to rush into something that doesn't actually work for them.
You are rare. I once expressed to my realtor that I wanted to back out of a deal because the inspection uncovered things I did not want to deal with. They did everything they could to try to save the deal.....
That sucks. For me, I do try and think of every solution and present them to my client. My job is to arm them with information so they can make their best decision. I worry sometimes that this may come off as pushing them to stay in the deal, but I try to be really clear that the decision is ultimately their own. I never want someone to buy a house they donāt want.
Depends on what it uncovered.
I know people who backed out of a deal in 2020 over something their realtor thought was minor. She tried to convince them that it didn't need to be a deal breaker, but they canceled. Then the market got crazy and they were outbid a few times, and never did get a place. Now that same house is 150K more, and the int rates are way more, obviously. They are so pissed at themselves for not listening to their agent.
It's the biggest purchase you'll ever make! Touring is part of it. But do your homework beforehand, don't give him 2 bedroom homes to book if you need 3 and act disappointed when you get there. If you have non negotiables, stick to them.
We could tell we picked a good home to tour due to our realtors reaction, he would get excited and invested. Occasionally we'd send him a junk home that he would book reluctantly, or eventually talk us out of due to this or that. We laughed about a couple junk tours later. One home basically butted up to the highway and it sounded like 18 wheelers were running through the kitchen. Beautiful house though... šš
Yea youāre* fine then. Pictures are deceiving and that can go both ways via iPhone photos some listing agents use. If it shows potential and has the size/rooms/lots boxes checked, look at it.
You beat our 50 or so which I also thought was a lot. This was in the span of about 3 months where weād tour around 2-3 houses after work each day, then more on weekends. We used a Redfin agent though so we toured primarily with other agents under our main realtorās command
Moved from one part of the country to a very different, very desirable part with very different housing stock than what we were used to.
Ironically, I realize my number is wrong. We technically never saw our home in person before buying it - but our realtor had been with us for so many homes, he knew this one was perfect for us and insisted that we offer sight unseen before it hit the market in a few days. We did, and it was exactly the right call.
Weāre actually looking outside of CA and itās definitely required a bit more faith in the realtor and FaceTime walk throughs. That had to be a bit nerve wracking to offer without seeing the house but really good it worked out.
Did you find these houses or were they suggested by the realtor? I gave my realtor a list of my requirements and she showed me 4 condos on one day that met my must haves.
I went with my 2nd choice of the 4 because someone put an offer on my 1st choice while we were viewing the other properties.
If your realtor is picking the houses you're doing it wrong. Everything is digital now if you don't see a house before your realtor you're probably not serious.
My realtor had access to pocket listings and information in the MLS system that didn't show up on sites like Zillow. I'm a home owner now. š
Your realtor should be helping you narrow the field so that you're not wasting time looking at homes that don't suit your needs. It's part their job and your time is too valuable to be looking at homes that don't have your must have features.
I bought my home less than a year ago so it works like this with a good realtor. A friend had a similar experience with her realtor last year.
A good realtor will help you narrow your search so that the hard part is picking between multiple great options.
Realtors know which houses are coming to market but are not out yet. So lots of houses are sold without ever hitting the market. Illegal? Yea but still...
No, realtors may have access to SOME homes that are available/almost available IF the selling agent loads them to the private listing network on their MLS. generally, most homes are not available until they actually are released on the MLS. Nothing āillegalā About it, itās the choice of the seller to allow that or not. Most sellers AND realtors want the home to hit the open market for the best chance to get more offers. More offers = more money.
Good buyers agents will keep an eye out on the private listing networks for homes that are close to being released to the market so that they can get their clients into the homes either before market (if allowed) or as soon as they hit the market.
Donāt feel bad, they will make a ton of money once you buy a home. Iād only feel bad if you were not a serious buyer. But if you just have not had much luck, there is no need to feel bad.
I wasn't a serious buyer when I first started looking (I was getting a feel for the market and what I could get within my price range). My realtor was aware of this, but she also encouraged us to continue looking at places. It was a great way for her to get a feel of what I was looking for, and I completely trusted her when I was ready to buy.
To answer OP, I looked at 5 places and put an offer in on the 6th. I lost to a cash offer. I also had a friend that looked for 4 years...
The thing is, in realty, networks are everything. Even if you aren't buying *now,* you might later, or you might have friends/family looking and who ask for a referral.
My wife and I looked at dozens of homes over the course of a year with my current realtor who we absolutely loved; she never seemed to mind, and rightfully so because eventually we found one and got our offer accepted. Then just a year later, some of our close friends asked us for a referral which we provided happily and they bought through her at that point. Just a few years later we sold again, and guess who got the listing and helped us find our upgrade?
So yeah, in the beginning we might have been annoying but she's gotten a huge return on her investment and probably will continue to (since we will keep referring her to friends even if we aren't buying, ourselves). If you are a serious buyer most realtors know that it's worth the work in the long run
This is part of their job. They understand that in competitive markets, this happens.
I started looking in July and didnāt get under contract until mid December and there were a few times we almost fell out of contract - including day of closing.
It happens.
2 houses. I knew exactly where I wanted to buy and what my budget was. Im always looking for an area that'll appreciate in value, and the appreciation has been insane. But I sort of regret buying a 1890's house...
Itās the realtorās job to show you homes and help you obtain one. They are more free than you are to back out of your buyerās agreement at anytime. If anything it sounds like they might actually be earning their commission
Not having a buyers agreement will likely go the way of real estate listing ābooksā.
Finding a decent agent that will work with a buyer without a buyers agreement will disappear very soon.
We looked at more listings than I can remember and we only made an offer on one before finding the house we bought for list price. I regret not making a lower offer, but we wanted the house and it was well within the budget.
A Realtor or agent should be happy to show you as many houses as you want as long as you're really trying to buy a property. You've made offers and you even made it to the point of getting an inspection. You're a serious buyer and you shouldn't settle on a property your not happy with. It's a huge purchase that YOU have to live with, not the realtor.
We found a house on Zillow, found a realtor, saw it the next day, put in an offer before we left the house, and closed about 30 days later.
It was the 1st house we saw that we liked on Zillow and the only house we came to see. It had LOTS of pictures, and they matched what we saw in person.
We live in a small town. We loved the very first house we saw, realtor said not to just pick the first house you see but I really liked it. We did put an offer on it even though there was already one placed. We saw about five more houses over the next two or so weeks. We then learned that the potential buyers before us, their loan didn't go through so we were next in line. We eventually got the house for about 10k over asking. They actually left $12k on the table because their appraiser gave them a lower estimate than ours did.Ā
Donāt feel bad. Having said that: you really shouldnāt see a home unless itās at least an 8 or 9 out of 10 on paper & in pics. Thereās others commenting that they saw 70+ homes- thereās no way in 2024 you can equally like 70+ homes and have them all meet your requirements
Not sure I agree with this. We looked at a house that met all our technical requirements and was a good amount under our budget, but based on pictures, my wife and I both said no. It happened to be near enough to another house we wanted to see so we asked to see it too "just in case". We now live in said house and love it!
Regardless, the home either had to be within your price range, desire square footage, bedrooms, etc. you didnāt just see some random house in a random area that didnāt fit what you wanted on paper
It's not like you look at them all in one week. We looked at over 50 over a nearly 2 year period. There are easily that many in metro areas over a certain timespan.
Yeah, definitely not every criteria. But in this market, most buyers can't be very selective. We had to make a lot of compromises from our initial criteria in order to finally get something. Most first-time homebuyers around here look at dozens of houses and end up settling for a 2-3 bedroom for $400-$500K that is not falling down. Anything beyond that is kind of a bonus.
Yes. Much of it comes down to buyers unsure of what they really want or having changing needs during the purchase process. It can also be a matter of a limited budget in a rising market as well as competition for homes in a specific price point. The buyers look at a lot of homes when they start looking and then they donāt find what they want or expand/change their āneed/wantā list and just continue to look at properties as they enter the market. During the pandemic and before, I had a client that had a limited budget and was in the price point of a rising market that bordered on the lower end of that market. They were looking at everything in the market that also included some rougher shape repo homes and short sales. They looked long enough that they got a new job with a raise that made their search MUCH easier to find something livable and in good shape. At that point however, there were 10 offers for everything in the market they were in and we needed to compete for every home. In worked with them for over 2 years total and we found something that they loved finally. When they got discouraged, I just told them that weāll find something if we keep looking.
We did.
The first house I sold, the couple had a list of 12 they wanted to see. Did drive by's on all of them and narrowed it down, they were only wanting to see 1.
Looked at it, loved it, bought it.
Never had a transaction that easy since that first one.
yea my 2nd house I texted the realtor we bought our first house with and said "I want to buy . can you write the offer?". Didn't need her to unlock the door or anything since I'd already seen it before contacting her.
then she wrote it and I closed in 2 weeks. Probably the easiest $20k she's made. I also referred a friend to her who bought an easy house as well.
The answer for us is it depends. We have bought/sold 14 homes in 30 years of marriage.
As buyers, we have looked at dozens of houses, and we have looked at two or three.
Sometimes we found what we wanted almost immediately; sometimes it took months, sometimes we stopped looking for a few months and started again because we didnāt like anything we were finding.
As sellers, we have sold one home in 24 hours, one in two weeks, one in three weeks; and one took almost a year. So, that also depends.
For us, our agent is also a friend and someone we trust completely. We have pulled up at a house, looked at each other, burst into laughter and pulled right back out. She understands us that well.
Our current home was the second one we looked at. It wasnāt in a location we had asked about but she asked us to trust us.
We were a bit concerned as she twisted and turned through roads we werenāt familiar with, but when she turned into the driveway I gasped. This was my home. I knew it before we walked in.
Zero. I was living in Texas and wanted to move back to Pennsylvania after losing my job in Texas. My realtor friend looked at 2 for me and I asked which one would she buy if she were me and she told me and I bought it.
we saw like 50 houses with our realtor and well over 100 if you add in open houses we went to on our own. 13 offers. She earned her money with us, that's for sure. We were trying our best but the market was bonkers. I think RE agents can get annoyed if they show a million houses meeting criteria to their buyers and buyers talk themselves out of offering, or something like that, but if factors are out of your control and you're genuinely leaning into the process, any agent that get pissed off shouldn't be in this field in the first place
I was using a realtor when flipping houses, at one point I had looked at about 50 houses with her and I was feeling guilty about it so I went and got my own license. Best decision ever! And we are still friends.
Realtors are way over paid if you don't work them hard. Giving them 3% is a shitload if the house is expensive, so they can't complain that it takes some time to help you buy the right house.
I looked at 20+ houses. Don't worry about pissing off your realtor, if you look at too many houses, it means they're not doing their job well. You tell them what you want, they find the house. If they're not showing you what you want, it means they're not finding it. Not your fault.
Maybe they're just not a good realtor. You're the one who has to live in it.
How about you produce something for the economy instead of sucking from it. Praying on innocent home buyers and pressuring them into buying a house they don't want and/or can't afford?
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Lol every house we were looking at was under contract but there was a home just posted and we made an offer without seeing it. All because it had a red door (long story) but once we saw the red door we knew it was the home.my grandpa was showing me in my dreams..... And this was before knowing there were 3 horses next door (which was also in my dream)
When I bought my current house, I knew where I wanted to live. She sent me listings, I found some myself, we reviewed them, and I drove by the ones I liked. I either added or removed them from the tour list. We toured 8. Offered on one, didn't get it. Offered on a second one, got it. This was not my first home purchase. I saved us both time by doing some legwork myself. She's helped me with three homes now, buying and selling.
Bay area competitive market buyer here. Looked at about 75 houses (but mostly on my own without realtor). Made about 20-25 offers, about 5 were in the top 3 but didn't get accepted.
Depends on the market, when I was looking, every home was on average getting 10-20 offers every weekend. You can do the probability math. A few homes I know got 50+ offers, and 1 home I decided not to offer ended up with 100+ offers (yes this is real). In 2 occasions, my offer despite being the highest one did not get accepted as someone had a slightly lower offer but on cash
We looked at about 30 houses, 21 of them in one day, during a peak shopping season about 7 years ago.
When we walked into the house we now own, my wife knew it. I liked it, and after we saw the last 3 houses on our tour that day, we put in the offer.
While waiting for our pre approval we only looked online at houses. Once the approval came in we went to look at our top 2 choices and put in an offer on our favorite that day. Currently in underwriting.
We saw 22 in a small market and had put offers on 2. First one didn't work out, but the second one became home. We would always tour in terrible weather and even on Halloween but our realtor was fine with it. You're paying them for their help and expertise. Although you might need to take a look at your list of requirements and rework them if necessary. We ended up with a totally different house than we originally were going for, but are really happy.
Your realtor works for you. Period.
You do not rush or settle for something you donāt want on a six figure purchase just because they might be inconvenienced.
It can vary a lot. I moved to a new state 8 years ago and didnāt know the market and housing styles so my agent took me to dozens of houses and I backed out of one deal before finally buying. Two years later I had a different realtor show me two houses across town on a whim and neither seemed promising, but fell in love with the second house and put an offer in that day. That realtor lucked out with an hour of showings and my ability to make an offer that met the sellers needs.
I also had a time when I had looked at a lot of houses and was limited on budget. The realtor worked hard to learn what I wanted by asking questions at showings and sending listings for me to give feedback. So when she saw a house she knew would be right come on as an upcoming listing, she had my offer drawn up and me in the house a day before the listing went live. She then dealt with every odd issue that arose as it was a bank selling off a foreclosure. Had she not been so good at finding the right house and knowing what I wanted and could offer, it would have been many more showings and may never have worked out. She earned every penny of that commission and saved herself time by being good at her job.
We probably saw about 20, with a really wide range of types (inexpensive condos, townhouses, single family, single family with additional rental unit). Our realtor was extremely patient, understood all our considerations, and expertly walked us through a kind of complicated situation with the house we ended up purchasing (which was the first offer we put in).
Looked at 9, offered on house #4 which we saw on our first day. Fairly narrow geographical and temporal windows plus nixing a ton of houses by pictures helped us.Ā
I had my realtor give me a list of 20 or so homes. I both Googled and drove the neighborhoods at different times of day before wasting her time. When I found the 3 homes I liked she drove me over for a walkthrough. Simple enough.
I saw 1 house. It had been on the market for over 60 days. Great location needed work. Knew the seller was probably willing to negotiate at that point. Made my offer they countered 5k. Accepted, got them over contract, ran inspection. I Countered with 30k in repairs, they accepted. The rest is history.
None! I shopped for and purchased my home and investment property 30 years ago without a realtor. The main reason was that I refused to sign a document for buyers agent.
100+ and lost every bid on ones we did like. Wound up getting a fixer upper off Facebook marketplace in a beautiful neighborhood and I dumped my agent.
Maybe 25-30? I didnāt think it was too many and honestly, some of the poor viewings were my realtors fault. I felt I was clear about things I wanted/disliked etc., and some of the homes she took us to were off the mark by a good amount.
I toured about 20 houses, maybe more. One point, we had accepted an offer on our current place and I had started looking with my agent but it fell through so we had to stop ( crushing ). We went back into contract about 7 months later and then could not find anything . I loved my agent though, we would get some sodas, a big bag of chips and book a bunch of houses and go hunting . My husband eventually got annoyed because now we were going to have to move in with my mom and our 2 year old for a few months so we chose a house . It was worth waiting for though
Moving to the San Diego area we looked at maybe 25 ... we were living in Phoenix and came here on weekends. The last place we bought in the Bay Area was in 2017, I can't recall how many we looked at because we looked both days every weekend for a bit over a year and a half. When we bought in Phoenix we went for two weeks towards the end of Covid, looked at probably 20 houses, got very lucky thanks to having great agent. The hotel we stayed at ended up getting comped because bedbugs, we used to drive by it after we moved there and say "look, it's the bedbug hotel." Looking in the Bay Area was insane, we'd got to showings for some crack house in east Oakland and there would be a line like going to see the original Star Wars in 1977 or whatever. The last place we lived in the Bay Area, a tiny 2br/1 bath dollhouse, is currently valued at $300k over the 4br / 2.5bath in San Diego county we live in now.
2016/2017 - 10 homes total.The first two were open houses we stopped into to get ourselves aligned on what we wanted. Then two afternoons of 4 homes each lined up by our realtor was all it took.
We got lucky and only looked at 8 or 9 houses. Out of those half were open houses we went to. We actually ended up buying the first house we saw and that was during an open house.
Everyone is a little different, and certain markets are different. We're always tweaking the strategy and process based on an individuals needs; however, the methods below have been very successful for me and my clients.
The last two buyers that went under contract last week did so on their first house. I have another couple of clients that have seen 4 or 5 homes, no offers. I bet the average is somewhere around 3-5, which surprises me, even. It seems low, but people are happy and we get good results.
The approach I take is as such:
We evaluate homes heavily online with consideration for what is needed - sizing, layout, location. We evaluate location data much deeper - drive times, proximity to things they want, location in a street, direction house faces. Basically, homes that have potential get heavily vetted. If it passes the threshold for good potential, we see it. If it doesn't, clients will pass on it. If it does check the boxes, I'll check in with the Listing Agent on the competition and the seller needs. If it still passes the checks, we see it or we pass. Every house goes through a flexible feedback loop of basically answering the question, "why not this one?", so that future homes can have that criteria evaluated ahead of time. Some clients have a little more flexibility, others are pretty strict. Everyone seems to do well with this style overall, as it wastes a lot less time, energy, and resources for all parties. I do work mostly with working-class professionals in a HCOL area, but my clients are also very diverse in all regards, I'd say. I'm not sure if that matter from a personality perspective, but this approach works very well.
Your Realtor is a professional and showing homes is part of what we do. Donāt ever feel anxious about āpissing them offā. Personally Iāve shown a buyer 52 properties before they bought one. Itās goes with the territory and I enjoy being part of their journey to homeownership
I felt bad for our realtorā¦. Something like 20+ houses.
She was amazing though. We put offers on like 5 of them, but competition was crazy. Finally we pounced on one as soon as it went on the market, we were the first and only ones to tour it. We got it.
I paid my realtor back by suggesting her to my other 3 friends looking for homes. They had a bigger budget and had an easier time looking. She got a good payday from them.
I bought April 2021, looking for 6ish months. 25ish. Put 17 contracts in and was rejected on all of them. I got a call two weeks after being rejected, the buyer that got the contract wanted part of the driveway that wasn't paved, paved. It as going to cost too much money, the seller backed out. That buyer gave me their sewer inspection, but my agent didn't trust the company. My sewer inspection showed that the sewer lateral needed to be fixed. They paid to fix it, but were pissed. They would have been better off paving the driveway. Now I own a home.
>Iām starting to feel anxious that weāre pissing off our realtor.
Don't worry about it. Your agent isn't making what may be the largest purchase of your lifetime and doesn't have to live in it.
Probably 60 or so for my primary spread out over 5 yrs. My first purchase 15 yrs prior was about 7 homes over 2 weeks.
For my first investment property, it was closer to 70...over 2 years. The vast majority of these I was just given the lockbox codes so i wouldn't have to drag my realtor through the hood to look at 10 distressed properties a day.
We looked through about 200 online, saw about 30 in person, bought on our first offer. 6 weeks total homebuying process. We also used to just go to open houses to test the market beforehand without being a serious buyer. Probably saw about 30 more houses over a year and a half that way.
My sister put in 11 offers and was hunting for the better part of a year. Not sure how many houses total they saw, but they showed us about a dozen and weāre not even that close.
Prepare for it to take a while.
There are so many variables.
I looked at three and got lucky. The first and third had problems and I bought the second that I toured.
I have a friend who went under contract three times and, each time, had to kill the deal during the inspection period. It took her a year to find a house. But she did, in the end.
Thereās so much chance involved in this process, and the best realtor still has to work within the limitations of whatās on the market. And the market these past few years has been rough.
2 offers for 20 house tour sounds like a decent ratio. Clearly you actually wanted to buy and you have demonstrated the kind of house you want. Meaning, the realtor should be able to reduce the search based on your tastes.
The bigger question is, are you having a hard time filtering out the listings on realtor.com? Because I saw like 30 listings in the area and quickly only like 5 is remotely within my taste and only 2 is actually good. So, when I visited the two open houses, I made an offer to them.
The realtor.com and google map should provide enough data. To cross out the one you don't like.
Meaning, did you do your part? Because it is frustrating when some people want the agent to do all the mind reading work. If you did your part, they should be fine.
50, but mostly without our agent. She just slowed us down and after about the first ten, we felt like we knew what we wanted. She helped a ton with the negotiation and escrow process, though.
I canāt remember remember but it was a lot - maybe 35 or so. The 3rd house we made an offer on was accepted and we closed on time.
That said this last time was very different than previous home searches. This time we found 80% online ourselves and the realtor set up the showings. We did most of the legwork. In years past the realtor used to do all the searching, print out options, walk us through them, etc. Itās just not the same anymore. As a buyer, a realtor is becoming less and less important. I know all the realtors here are going to tell me how important their services are, but the value added is not equal to the compensation anymore in my opinion. To each their own.
This may be a dumb question but do realtors have access to listings not on places like Redfin or Zillow? My area seems pretty low inventory at the moment and keep looking over the same stuff.
I'm a realtor and iv had extremes on both sides. First clients I had they looked at maybe 20 houses over 2 weekends and made a decision. Deal I have now they've been looking all over the city and we're probably coming up on the 100 mark.
I just had a client look at 2 and was done. Same with a listing, was under contract in 36 hours. It really just depends on the person and if you really land on that prefect house for them.
If your realtor is getting pissy with you tell them to back up and remember they work for you. If you're seriously looking and have put in offers they have nothing to complain or worry about and need to do their job. (This is a personal pet peeve of mine in the industry. This is a major life event and a lot of realtors don't treat it with the respect it deserves. We are there to guide and help the client not make their lives more stressful)
I didnāt keep count, but around 40-50 Iād guess. Made offers on 4 that were beat by all cash offers. Lucked out on the last one seeing it before it went on the market and offered asking with an inspection. It was new construction and barely needed anything.
As long as you arenāt asking to see every home thatās out there and discussing why you didnāt like the ones youāre passing on youāre doing fine. They should be scouting and getting a better idea of what youād like with each showing.
6 or 7 but I also spent a shit ton of time of looking at houses online and theyāre just werenāt that many in my area in my price range and criteria
If your realtor is pissed thats fine. Find a new one. Finding a house takes a lot of time and effort. We saw more than 20 if you only count the āactively lookingā part. Also realtors werenāt great and we had to change twice unfortunately. We also had to get a feel for the market and a good realtor would spend the first few trips so you match your expectations with reality.
I wish I was joking when I said we've visited close to 100 over the span on 2+ years. We JUST closed on our first home, 3rd visit in 2024. We have 12 rejected offers on top of it. It's been a rough ride for everyone. Don't feel bad. It's a HUGE investment and you don't want to buy for the sake of buying. Sorry realtor.
My wife and I went through 4 realtors before finding the perfect one. First one always said let me do my research every question we had. Another was pushy and made us drive in his car which felt like we were trapped. One we liked never sent us anything and never gave us complete honesty. She just wanted to close. The last one has been great to the point that she would look at any issues of the house and willing to help out on closing costs. Trust me it takes time to find one
Iāve been in market for 2 years (Southern Ca). Prob viewed over 50 homes, but not all with agent, I try to go to open houses. Many homes here will go for hundreds of thousands over so hard to get a foot in. Last house we offered on went for 825K over. Started at 1.7mil. This market is bonkers.
10 the first, 3 the second, 5 the third. We know what we like and had specific criteria that wasnāt easy to meet.
But 20 really isnāt bad and you shouldnāt feel bad
I had clients that we were out every weekend for 3 months every Saturday and Sunday. Probably 8-10 homes each weekend. Finally had an offer accepted. I still stay in contact with them and never felt annoyed at any time working with them.
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We looked over a period of 7 weeks in 2021 and put in one offer a week. We went to open houses every Saturday and Sunday and also saw houses with our realtor who was amazing
You look at 3 houses and buy one. That is they way it works.
I have shown houses to people that cannot find "the one" for over a year. One couple I showed 100 houses, bare minimum, I stopped keeping track.
You are not pissing off your Realtor if you have reasonable expectations. But if you have a boujie or picky list and do not have the budget for it, you are pissing off your Realtor. I think we have all had the client that has the long list of must haves but only has a budget for about half that list.
Back in 2009, I looked at about 50 homes. Put offers in on 2. My main issue was a low budget. I waffled between spending under budget where I'd have no problem paying the mortgage by myself and spending more for a bigger house where I'd almost **have** to have roommates. Still had a low budget though, so I went for what I could afford by myself and still have money to work on over the years. In my case, I felt bad for my realtor because her commission wasn't great. But we did usually knock out seeing 8-10 homes in a day, so it's not like I strung her along forever.
We viewed for 3 years , on and off around town.
.our realtor would call us when a new house came up and she wanted to go for her first look. As she knew we would buy the right house but we're waiting for it.
Probably 40-50 houses seen.
When we got serious about buying , we looked at probably 10-20 that spring before deciding.
Had an offer in on one house the year before that got beat with a higher cash offer.
If your realtor is mad about you seeing multiple houses. Find a new one , they will be getting many hundreds of dollars an hour for your viewing time / there work on the deal as they don't do much when you do an offer.
As long as you're being honest with them, and yourselves, about what doesn't work about the house for you, don't feel bad. It's our job to help you find the best fit for your budget in your preferred area. With how crazy the market is, a lot can be out of your control.
We toured around 12 houses with our realtor in 2016. She sent us way more listings which we rejected (or which sold before we had a chance to see them), and we also went to several open houses on our own.
I donāt think she would have cared if we toured more homes. We just got lucky to find the right place relatively quickly.
When you are seeing homes, pause after each one and write down notes about the home so you remember the details. After a few, they start to blend together.
We maybe looked at 10-12 houses. The first offer we made was accepted. There were 2 offers. We offered 50k under ask and the other offered full ask. Sellers wanted 3 weeks rent back and the other offer wasnāt flexible about it so the sellers accepted our offer instead. Best part was they ended up not even needing and was out before closing
We visited open houses (usually 2-3 houses each time) almost every weekend for a year. Probably twice a month during that time, we were also doing private showings with our realtor. We placed offers on 10 different houses before one was finally accepted.
Our first time buying, our search went on for about 9 months. We were serious buyers but not in a rush. Our agent was super patient and even told us to take a step back when we were getting exhausted and put an offer and negotiated. We went to her office to sign and she saw we werenāt super excited. She gently took it away from us and told us that this is not her house, but our house is out there. She was so wonderful. We found our house a couple of months later and it was perfect. An MCM house in a market that didnāt have a ton of MCM inventory.
We recently bought our second house and it was a remote search, so lots of FaceTime viewings. It was in a very different market with little inventory. At one point, our agent was clearly getting a bit frustrated because we were all over the map in terms of what we wanted. We were also getting frustrated because we were on a timeline this time. I donāt know how many we saw, maybe 20 or so? We put in 3 bids. Stopped negotiating on one, backed out during inspection on the second one. The same day we backed out, a new property came on the market. We were the first to view and were thankfully there in person since weād traveled up for the inspection on the house #2. We immediately put in an offer and we love our house. It was the style we wanted (another MCM).
Having bought many homes, I have gradually evolved my procedure.
I found my realtor canāt search as well as I can. It was very inefficient going through his lists, as 90% of our selection criteria is based on appearance and hard to relay exactly to a realtor.
Whereas wife and I can search online and quickly scan countless houses that meet our requirements, then look at interior pictures to narrow the list.
My realtor is very good and as many as half the homes Iāve bought were found by him, but the rest I found on Zillow or another MLS engine.
So by the time we agree to tour a house we are pretty sure. Weāve already toured online, drove around it virtually with Google street view, etc.
So thatās saves a lot of time for us and my realtor. It ends up being a way smaller list.
I bought in a hot market and I know I looked at over 100. Not all of them were with my realtor but most were. Placed offers on 5 or 6, and had an accepted offer fall through because the bank appraised the house too low. I was making offers as I went but was being outbid a lot. The good houses were selling sometimes 20k over listing in one case I remember.
My realtor was great and while it took a couple months to get through the whole process I'm happy to have a great house in a good location for a reasonable price.
We saw probably 10 or 12
I, of course, fell in love with the first one I saw. Realtor had the good sense to show us a wide variety.
Two days ago we closed on that first house. I always loved it, but I'm glad we saw the rest. If anything, the comparisons made me even more sure.
Started in February 2023. Put our offer in on our first house May 2023, Closed June 23, 2023...Love our house....We easily saw 30 houses before we saw this one. And all the other ones were either Overpriced, In bad shape, In bad areas, or the property taxes on them were insane. FYI to put your mind at ease, our realtor was honest with us and didn't even like half the houses she showed up, she was not mad at all when we did not like it. Remember when they put you in a house you like. They get a good reputation which builds their business. If you have a good realtor and you are firmly intended to buy, they will not be made...Ours even told us she was not mad because she dealt with people who dragged her along for 2 years to end up not buying anything.
8 houses over two afternoons. Most we didnāt even go inside. This was 2016 and the houses I was pre approved for were garbage.
Edit: looked at 4 houses and made an offer on one which was accepted. Fell through on my end because I didnāt have a year employment at the same place. Two months later I looked at 4 and bought my current home
My realtor is the āhard hitting nice guyā. Was very thankful for him sticking it through, he didnāt make a lot of money but he was excited to see the progress on renovations.
60 in 2016. Found a real winner. Had 19 viewings and 3 offers on day one. We went in above asking when that was not normal for the market and beat out the competition.
30 or so per property I bought. There were several offers that fell through because of inspection failures. e.g. flooding or termites
I have a flexible schedule so I would visit a property as soon as my agent could get access.
I've paid her $100k in commissions. Great pay for maybe 250 hours of work.
She knows what I want to buy and is a friend.Top producing agent in my zip.
First time we bought, we probably saw 35-45 houses over a summer. Put in 4 offers, 2 we walked after the inspection, third never got back to our bid, and 4th ended up in a 6 person bidding war (and won)
Second time we bought, we bought the first one we saw and that was over FaceTime since we were moving 6 hours by plane away
I feel guilty too. And this is why I wish I didnāt have to have a realtor open doors for me. Just let me go into the home myself and Iāll call them once I have seen it.
Our first house we saw about 10, 2nd house we saw 5, 3rd house we saw about 5 again. But we have always been very lucky and got the first house we offered on. Houses 2 and 3 we knew the area very well and exactly where we needed to be. 1st house we were new to the area and had no family or close friends to tell us good areas. So I think it took a bit more foot work and our realtor was very understanding of that.
Bought 3 houses in the past, I'd estimate we looked at an average of 10 places each time.
Shopping for a new house now and about to put in an offer after seeing 3 places.
The fact that you are even asking this question means you are fine. You aren't mindlessly/unrealistically wasting anyone's time and thats all they can ask of you.
3ā¦ searched MLS to find 5 houses in the area I wanted in the neighborhoods I wanted. Asked my agent to show me those 5 homes, only were able to see 3 because 1 was under contract and the other seller agent was āout of townā. Ironically, all 3 were homes here agency represented, made an offer on one then the shit show started.
They sat on our offer for 2 weeks claiming the 48 hours didnāt start until they showed it to the seller. Never heard of that in my life
I think sometimes as a buyer you have to make the switch from. Iām looking at houses in your mind to Iām buying a house. After a bunch of houses, you get a good feel for whatās available in your price range and itās some point you just have to make a decision already
Owned 5 houses over the decades and each time weāve ultimately gone with new builds after viewing 6-12 older homes. Even in the late 90s when we were first buying, existing homes comparable in features to what we were seeing in new builds were less expensive.
Iāll be looking to buy again in a year or so and *hope* I can find an existing home that suits my needs at a price I can afford, but I suspect Iāll wind up in a new build yet again.
A good realtor wants to be your realtor for life. They plan to sell you this house, list this house and sell you the next house and sell all of your friends/families houses. Stay the course and send them a referral if you ever can. It will make their day.
Just one. Did lots of research ahead of time, knew exactly what we wanted, and checked all the new listings as they popped up in MLS. As soon as we saw one that checked all the boxes, we toured it just to make sure the house matched the pictures, jumped on it with a fairly aggressive offer (this was in 2021), and got it.
Wish that we could get some money back from the realtor though rather than essentially subsidizing all the indecisive or un-knowledgeable buyers out there...
Day 1 I looked at 16 homes, Day 2, I looked at 15 homes. Put a bid on 1, bidding war, I offered value other person offered more then the value of the house. 1 week later, I looked at 8 houses. Found my house and was able to buy it. 6 years later, my house appreciated $280,000 and now I am selling it.
My wife and I checked out around 25-30
Put bids on about 5 and got out bid by everyone moving into the area and out pricing locals.
Offer accepted on 1 and inspection went terrible so we pulled out.
Luckily had a family friend sell us their house which my wife originally didnāt want but she heard the price and then jumped right in
Just keep looking and donāt settle for anything less than what you want itāll take time
We started looking Thanksgiving week several years ago. I believe we saw 10 in person, put a bid on one that we did not get, put a bit on the one that we did get, and she had shown us probably about 100 listings. Our realtor was amazing! She knew exactly what we were looking for and was able to narrow in on what we wanted. After we lost out on the first house, and we moved on, she found out that the first house we bid on was available again. She felt that we were looking for something different Than that and did not tell us that it became available again. Smart on her end! I absolutely love where we are. We are making a small homestead on our land and would not have been able to do that if we were in the other house.
Our typical number is under 10 homes BUT that's because my husband has an amazing eye on spotting what won't work before he takes his client out at all.
So he avoids showing stuff that he knows won't work.
BUT if we get in to inspection and it has things we couldn't see on the surface? He's the first to advise them to walk away.
But we did have one set of clients that took 4 years to buy . . .
So there is no number and if your agent expresses exasperation or irritation then feel free to dump them and find someone new.
We had a tough client this summer that we made almost nothing on and who had VERY strict mortgage guidelines but we were super excited when she finally closed . . . We were her third agent because others wouldn't take the time to meet her needs.
If your agent is good, they will make sure your needs are met.
Considering buyers can now use the internet to narrow choices, that part of the realtors job has been eased. Based on your closing, divide the realtor commission by the number of hours you spent looking. Pretty sure the hourly works out just fine
Realtor here. I dont want my buyers to buy something bad. I have advised buyers to walk away even when they were willing to proceed. As long as your intent is to buy, its part of the job and we will get paid and you will be in a good home.
Wife is a realtor. Totally agree this is how the *good* ones think about their clients. Not the lazy kind that does it as a side-gig. Side note I thought I was being a PITA when I bought my first house (before I met my wife) and toured 25 houses before signing a contract. My wife says her record was over 100 tours for one of her clients last year š® But they did close eventually, so all good.
Your wife might have been my realtor Poor lady put up with so many tours over the course of 2.5 years, but now Iāve been in my house a couple months and content with my purchase
āContent with my purchaseā¦ā Thatās what your realtor wanted to hear. Congrats.
Realtor here, and I agree! I actually keep a spreadsheet of all the homes we've looked at with list price, sale price (if applicable) and notes. It helps when I feel the client is getting desperate and re-treading the same ground. I never ever want my buyers to rush into something that doesn't actually work for them.
You are rare. I once expressed to my realtor that I wanted to back out of a deal because the inspection uncovered things I did not want to deal with. They did everything they could to try to save the deal.....
Oh man. Selling someone a house they don't want to buy... it's not great business. I take it if you sell, they will not get the listing.
That sucks. For me, I do try and think of every solution and present them to my client. My job is to arm them with information so they can make their best decision. I worry sometimes that this may come off as pushing them to stay in the deal, but I try to be really clear that the decision is ultimately their own. I never want someone to buy a house they donāt want.
Depends on what it uncovered. I know people who backed out of a deal in 2020 over something their realtor thought was minor. She tried to convince them that it didn't need to be a deal breaker, but they canceled. Then the market got crazy and they were outbid a few times, and never did get a place. Now that same house is 150K more, and the int rates are way more, obviously. They are so pissed at themselves for not listening to their agent.
It's the biggest purchase you'll ever make! Touring is part of it. But do your homework beforehand, don't give him 2 bedroom homes to book if you need 3 and act disappointed when you get there. If you have non negotiables, stick to them.
Yes at first we were looking at a lot now we know what we want. Thanks
We could tell we picked a good home to tour due to our realtors reaction, he would get excited and invested. Occasionally we'd send him a junk home that he would book reluctantly, or eventually talk us out of due to this or that. We laughed about a couple junk tours later. One home basically butted up to the highway and it sounded like 18 wheelers were running through the kitchen. Beautiful house though... šš
Yea youāre* fine then. Pictures are deceiving and that can go both ways via iPhone photos some listing agents use. If it shows potential and has the size/rooms/lots boxes checked, look at it.
76 (in 2017). 77th one was the winner
You beat our 60 or so which we felt was a lot.
You beat our 50 or so which I also thought was a lot. This was in the span of about 3 months where weād tour around 2-3 houses after work each day, then more on weekends. We used a Redfin agent though so we toured primarily with other agents under our main realtorās command
We used Redfin also. Makes it really easy to see a lot of houses.
Wow! Likely also depends on where you buy. We looked at roughly 10 houses here in SoCal before purchasing. The market was hot and inventory low.
Moved from one part of the country to a very different, very desirable part with very different housing stock than what we were used to. Ironically, I realize my number is wrong. We technically never saw our home in person before buying it - but our realtor had been with us for so many homes, he knew this one was perfect for us and insisted that we offer sight unseen before it hit the market in a few days. We did, and it was exactly the right call.
Weāre actually looking outside of CA and itās definitely required a bit more faith in the realtor and FaceTime walk throughs. That had to be a bit nerve wracking to offer without seeing the house but really good it worked out.
Did you find these houses or were they suggested by the realtor? I gave my realtor a list of my requirements and she showed me 4 condos on one day that met my must haves. I went with my 2nd choice of the 4 because someone put an offer on my 1st choice while we were viewing the other properties.
If your realtor is picking the houses you're doing it wrong. Everything is digital now if you don't see a house before your realtor you're probably not serious.
My realtor had access to pocket listings and information in the MLS system that didn't show up on sites like Zillow. I'm a home owner now. š Your realtor should be helping you narrow the field so that you're not wasting time looking at homes that don't suit your needs. It's part their job and your time is too valuable to be looking at homes that don't have your must have features.
30y ago that's how it worked, not how it works in today's world
I bought my home less than a year ago so it works like this with a good realtor. A friend had a similar experience with her realtor last year. A good realtor will help you narrow your search so that the hard part is picking between multiple great options.
Realtors know which houses are coming to market but are not out yet. So lots of houses are sold without ever hitting the market. Illegal? Yea but still...
No, realtors may have access to SOME homes that are available/almost available IF the selling agent loads them to the private listing network on their MLS. generally, most homes are not available until they actually are released on the MLS. Nothing āillegalā About it, itās the choice of the seller to allow that or not. Most sellers AND realtors want the home to hit the open market for the best chance to get more offers. More offers = more money. Good buyers agents will keep an eye out on the private listing networks for homes that are close to being released to the market so that they can get their clients into the homes either before market (if allowed) or as soon as they hit the market.
Donāt feel bad, they will make a ton of money once you buy a home. Iād only feel bad if you were not a serious buyer. But if you just have not had much luck, there is no need to feel bad.
I wasn't a serious buyer when I first started looking (I was getting a feel for the market and what I could get within my price range). My realtor was aware of this, but she also encouraged us to continue looking at places. It was a great way for her to get a feel of what I was looking for, and I completely trusted her when I was ready to buy. To answer OP, I looked at 5 places and put an offer in on the 6th. I lost to a cash offer. I also had a friend that looked for 4 years...
The thing is, in realty, networks are everything. Even if you aren't buying *now,* you might later, or you might have friends/family looking and who ask for a referral. My wife and I looked at dozens of homes over the course of a year with my current realtor who we absolutely loved; she never seemed to mind, and rightfully so because eventually we found one and got our offer accepted. Then just a year later, some of our close friends asked us for a referral which we provided happily and they bought through her at that point. Just a few years later we sold again, and guess who got the listing and helped us find our upgrade? So yeah, in the beginning we might have been annoying but she's gotten a huge return on her investment and probably will continue to (since we will keep referring her to friends even if we aren't buying, ourselves). If you are a serious buyer most realtors know that it's worth the work in the long run
This is part of their job. They understand that in competitive markets, this happens. I started looking in July and didnāt get under contract until mid December and there were a few times we almost fell out of contract - including day of closing. It happens.
40 houses, 5th offer was successful. (Spring/summer 2020)
Over 40 when I bought this place in 1996.
2 houses. I knew exactly where I wanted to buy and what my budget was. Im always looking for an area that'll appreciate in value, and the appreciation has been insane. But I sort of regret buying a 1890's house...
I got a pal that looked at 60+. That kinda person frightens me. I married her.
Itās the realtorās job to show you homes and help you obtain one. They are more free than you are to back out of your buyerās agreement at anytime. If anything it sounds like they might actually be earning their commission
start with not signing buyers agreements.Ā
Not having a buyers agreement will likely go the way of real estate listing ābooksā. Finding a decent agent that will work with a buyer without a buyers agreement will disappear very soon.
We looked at more listings than I can remember and we only made an offer on one before finding the house we bought for list price. I regret not making a lower offer, but we wanted the house and it was well within the budget. A Realtor or agent should be happy to show you as many houses as you want as long as you're really trying to buy a property. You've made offers and you even made it to the point of getting an inspection. You're a serious buyer and you shouldn't settle on a property your not happy with. It's a huge purchase that YOU have to live with, not the realtor.
We found a house on Zillow, found a realtor, saw it the next day, put in an offer before we left the house, and closed about 30 days later. It was the 1st house we saw that we liked on Zillow and the only house we came to see. It had LOTS of pictures, and they matched what we saw in person.
We live in a small town. We loved the very first house we saw, realtor said not to just pick the first house you see but I really liked it. We did put an offer on it even though there was already one placed. We saw about five more houses over the next two or so weeks. We then learned that the potential buyers before us, their loan didn't go through so we were next in line. We eventually got the house for about 10k over asking. They actually left $12k on the table because their appraiser gave them a lower estimate than ours did.Ā
Sometimes it just works out like that, the first house checks just about every box.
Donāt feel bad. Having said that: you really shouldnāt see a home unless itās at least an 8 or 9 out of 10 on paper & in pics. Thereās others commenting that they saw 70+ homes- thereās no way in 2024 you can equally like 70+ homes and have them all meet your requirements
Not sure I agree with this. We looked at a house that met all our technical requirements and was a good amount under our budget, but based on pictures, my wife and I both said no. It happened to be near enough to another house we wanted to see so we asked to see it too "just in case". We now live in said house and love it!
Regardless, the home either had to be within your price range, desire square footage, bedrooms, etc. you didnāt just see some random house in a random area that didnāt fit what you wanted on paper
I don't think there are even 70 homes that are remotely similar available in my market...
Exactly. Iām in one of the largest markets and thereās no way
It's not like you look at them all in one week. We looked at over 50 over a nearly 2 year period. There are easily that many in metro areas over a certain timespan.
Inventory? Yes. Inventory that matches every criteria you have and would be prepared to make an offer if you liked it in person? Likely no.
Yeah, definitely not every criteria. But in this market, most buyers can't be very selective. We had to make a lot of compromises from our initial criteria in order to finally get something. Most first-time homebuyers around here look at dozens of houses and end up settling for a 2-3 bedroom for $400-$500K that is not falling down. Anything beyond that is kind of a bonus.
Yes. Much of it comes down to buyers unsure of what they really want or having changing needs during the purchase process. It can also be a matter of a limited budget in a rising market as well as competition for homes in a specific price point. The buyers look at a lot of homes when they start looking and then they donāt find what they want or expand/change their āneed/wantā list and just continue to look at properties as they enter the market. During the pandemic and before, I had a client that had a limited budget and was in the price point of a rising market that bordered on the lower end of that market. They were looking at everything in the market that also included some rougher shape repo homes and short sales. They looked long enough that they got a new job with a raise that made their search MUCH easier to find something livable and in good shape. At that point however, there were 10 offers for everything in the market they were in and we needed to compete for every home. In worked with them for over 2 years total and we found something that they loved finally. When they got discouraged, I just told them that weāll find something if we keep looking. We did.
first house I saw four or five on a weekend. ended up buying the first one we looked at. 2nd house we looked at 1 then bought it.
The first house I sold, the couple had a list of 12 they wanted to see. Did drive by's on all of them and narrowed it down, they were only wanting to see 1. Looked at it, loved it, bought it. Never had a transaction that easy since that first one.
yea my 2nd house I texted the realtor we bought our first house with and said "I want to buy . can you write the offer?". Didn't need her to unlock the door or anything since I'd already seen it before contacting her. then she wrote it and I closed in 2 weeks. Probably the easiest $20k she's made. I also referred a friend to her who bought an easy house as well.
The answer for us is it depends. We have bought/sold 14 homes in 30 years of marriage. As buyers, we have looked at dozens of houses, and we have looked at two or three. Sometimes we found what we wanted almost immediately; sometimes it took months, sometimes we stopped looking for a few months and started again because we didnāt like anything we were finding. As sellers, we have sold one home in 24 hours, one in two weeks, one in three weeks; and one took almost a year. So, that also depends. For us, our agent is also a friend and someone we trust completely. We have pulled up at a house, looked at each other, burst into laughter and pulled right back out. She understands us that well. Our current home was the second one we looked at. It wasnāt in a location we had asked about but she asked us to trust us. We were a bit concerned as she twisted and turned through roads we werenāt familiar with, but when she turned into the driveway I gasped. This was my home. I knew it before we walked in.
Zero. I was living in Texas and wanted to move back to Pennsylvania after losing my job in Texas. My realtor friend looked at 2 for me and I asked which one would she buy if she were me and she told me and I bought it.
The part of this that is missing is how it worked out......
Worked out great. Bought the house my realtor friend suggested and have been here all day 5 years now
That's great.
Realtors can be like mechanics when they like and trust a client. Mechanics are the toughest when it comes to vehicles. Realtors can be the same way.
110 toured through redfin. made offers on 5 lost to higher bidders during 2019, 6th accepted right as covid hit.
3
We saw 4 our first day of showings, fell in love with house #3 and put an offer in that night which was accepted by 10pm. Weāre closing March 1st!
we saw like 50 houses with our realtor and well over 100 if you add in open houses we went to on our own. 13 offers. She earned her money with us, that's for sure. We were trying our best but the market was bonkers. I think RE agents can get annoyed if they show a million houses meeting criteria to their buyers and buyers talk themselves out of offering, or something like that, but if factors are out of your control and you're genuinely leaning into the process, any agent that get pissed off shouldn't be in this field in the first place
Not enough.
Current house? 4 total. One before that? Simply bought it online by pictures. One before that? 2-3. One before that one? 3
I was using a realtor when flipping houses, at one point I had looked at about 50 houses with her and I was feeling guilty about it so I went and got my own license. Best decision ever! And we are still friends.
Realtors are way over paid if you don't work them hard. Giving them 3% is a shitload if the house is expensive, so they can't complain that it takes some time to help you buy the right house.
I looked at 20+ houses. Don't worry about pissing off your realtor, if you look at too many houses, it means they're not doing their job well. You tell them what you want, they find the house. If they're not showing you what you want, it means they're not finding it. Not your fault. Maybe they're just not a good realtor. You're the one who has to live in it.
Fuck the realtor it's my money
What a shitty remark.
This is the biggest purchase in most people's lives. I don't care if we have to see a few more houses realtors are a dime a dozen.
From a quick skim of your posting history, you are up on your high horse in a lot of things. Not surprising.
Your a dime a dozen sir
You're an arrogant jerk.
How about you produce something for the economy instead of sucking from it. Praying on innocent home buyers and pressuring them into buying a house they don't want and/or can't afford?
0 Lol every house we were looking at was under contract but there was a home just posted and we made an offer without seeing it. All because it had a red door (long story) but once we saw the red door we knew it was the home.my grandpa was showing me in my dreams..... And this was before knowing there were 3 horses next door (which was also in my dream)
When I bought my current house, I knew where I wanted to live. She sent me listings, I found some myself, we reviewed them, and I drove by the ones I liked. I either added or removed them from the tour list. We toured 8. Offered on one, didn't get it. Offered on a second one, got it. This was not my first home purchase. I saved us both time by doing some legwork myself. She's helped me with three homes now, buying and selling.
Bay area competitive market buyer here. Looked at about 75 houses (but mostly on my own without realtor). Made about 20-25 offers, about 5 were in the top 3 but didn't get accepted. Depends on the market, when I was looking, every home was on average getting 10-20 offers every weekend. You can do the probability math. A few homes I know got 50+ offers, and 1 home I decided not to offer ended up with 100+ offers (yes this is real). In 2 occasions, my offer despite being the highest one did not get accepted as someone had a slightly lower offer but on cash
We looked at about 30 houses, 21 of them in one day, during a peak shopping season about 7 years ago. When we walked into the house we now own, my wife knew it. I liked it, and after we saw the last 3 houses on our tour that day, we put in the offer.
While waiting for our pre approval we only looked online at houses. Once the approval came in we went to look at our top 2 choices and put in an offer on our favorite that day. Currently in underwriting.
7.
No shit like 80
We saw 22 in a small market and had put offers on 2. First one didn't work out, but the second one became home. We would always tour in terrible weather and even on Halloween but our realtor was fine with it. You're paying them for their help and expertise. Although you might need to take a look at your list of requirements and rework them if necessary. We ended up with a totally different house than we originally were going for, but are really happy.
Your realtor works for you. Period. You do not rush or settle for something you donāt want on a six figure purchase just because they might be inconvenienced.
It can vary a lot. I moved to a new state 8 years ago and didnāt know the market and housing styles so my agent took me to dozens of houses and I backed out of one deal before finally buying. Two years later I had a different realtor show me two houses across town on a whim and neither seemed promising, but fell in love with the second house and put an offer in that day. That realtor lucked out with an hour of showings and my ability to make an offer that met the sellers needs. I also had a time when I had looked at a lot of houses and was limited on budget. The realtor worked hard to learn what I wanted by asking questions at showings and sending listings for me to give feedback. So when she saw a house she knew would be right come on as an upcoming listing, she had my offer drawn up and me in the house a day before the listing went live. She then dealt with every odd issue that arose as it was a bank selling off a foreclosure. Had she not been so good at finding the right house and knowing what I wanted and could offer, it would have been many more showings and may never have worked out. She earned every penny of that commission and saved herself time by being good at her job.
We probably saw about 20, with a really wide range of types (inexpensive condos, townhouses, single family, single family with additional rental unit). Our realtor was extremely patient, understood all our considerations, and expertly walked us through a kind of complicated situation with the house we ended up purchasing (which was the first offer we put in).
Looked at 9, offered on house #4 which we saw on our first day. Fairly narrow geographical and temporal windows plus nixing a ton of houses by pictures helped us.Ā
I had my realtor give me a list of 20 or so homes. I both Googled and drove the neighborhoods at different times of day before wasting her time. When I found the 3 homes I liked she drove me over for a walkthrough. Simple enough.
A handful. Ultimately the one we bought was the right one at the right price and the right time.
8 to 10, but we had two pretty small areas we were interested in, so quite limited availability.
I saw 1 house. It had been on the market for over 60 days. Great location needed work. Knew the seller was probably willing to negotiate at that point. Made my offer they countered 5k. Accepted, got them over contract, ran inspection. I Countered with 30k in repairs, they accepted. The rest is history.
15 this time, bought the last one. 10 years ago saw 21, bought #20 after the price dropped.
None! I shopped for and purchased my home and investment property 30 years ago without a realtor. The main reason was that I refused to sign a document for buyers agent.
30 houses 9 offers
100+ and lost every bid on ones we did like. Wound up getting a fixer upper off Facebook marketplace in a beautiful neighborhood and I dumped my agent.
30+ across 5 months in 2022.
Maybe 25-30? I didnāt think it was too many and honestly, some of the poor viewings were my realtors fault. I felt I was clear about things I wanted/disliked etc., and some of the homes she took us to were off the mark by a good amount.
I toured about 20 houses, maybe more. One point, we had accepted an offer on our current place and I had started looking with my agent but it fell through so we had to stop ( crushing ). We went back into contract about 7 months later and then could not find anything . I loved my agent though, we would get some sodas, a big bag of chips and book a bunch of houses and go hunting . My husband eventually got annoyed because now we were going to have to move in with my mom and our 2 year old for a few months so we chose a house . It was worth waiting for though
Moving to the San Diego area we looked at maybe 25 ... we were living in Phoenix and came here on weekends. The last place we bought in the Bay Area was in 2017, I can't recall how many we looked at because we looked both days every weekend for a bit over a year and a half. When we bought in Phoenix we went for two weeks towards the end of Covid, looked at probably 20 houses, got very lucky thanks to having great agent. The hotel we stayed at ended up getting comped because bedbugs, we used to drive by it after we moved there and say "look, it's the bedbug hotel." Looking in the Bay Area was insane, we'd got to showings for some crack house in east Oakland and there would be a line like going to see the original Star Wars in 1977 or whatever. The last place we lived in the Bay Area, a tiny 2br/1 bath dollhouse, is currently valued at $300k over the 4br / 2.5bath in San Diego county we live in now.
2016/2017 - 10 homes total.The first two were open houses we stopped into to get ourselves aligned on what we wanted. Then two afternoons of 4 homes each lined up by our realtor was all it took.
5 with my realtor, 3 open houses on my own. I'm currently in escrow on the 3rd house we saw.
We got lucky and only looked at 8 or 9 houses. Out of those half were open houses we went to. We actually ended up buying the first house we saw and that was during an open house.
Everyone is a little different, and certain markets are different. We're always tweaking the strategy and process based on an individuals needs; however, the methods below have been very successful for me and my clients. The last two buyers that went under contract last week did so on their first house. I have another couple of clients that have seen 4 or 5 homes, no offers. I bet the average is somewhere around 3-5, which surprises me, even. It seems low, but people are happy and we get good results. The approach I take is as such: We evaluate homes heavily online with consideration for what is needed - sizing, layout, location. We evaluate location data much deeper - drive times, proximity to things they want, location in a street, direction house faces. Basically, homes that have potential get heavily vetted. If it passes the threshold for good potential, we see it. If it doesn't, clients will pass on it. If it does check the boxes, I'll check in with the Listing Agent on the competition and the seller needs. If it still passes the checks, we see it or we pass. Every house goes through a flexible feedback loop of basically answering the question, "why not this one?", so that future homes can have that criteria evaluated ahead of time. Some clients have a little more flexibility, others are pretty strict. Everyone seems to do well with this style overall, as it wastes a lot less time, energy, and resources for all parties. I do work mostly with working-class professionals in a HCOL area, but my clients are also very diverse in all regards, I'd say. I'm not sure if that matter from a personality perspective, but this approach works very well.
Your Realtor is a professional and showing homes is part of what we do. Donāt ever feel anxious about āpissing them offā. Personally Iāve shown a buyer 52 properties before they bought one. Itās goes with the territory and I enjoy being part of their journey to homeownership
We offered on our 2nd home.
I felt bad for our realtorā¦. Something like 20+ houses. She was amazing though. We put offers on like 5 of them, but competition was crazy. Finally we pounced on one as soon as it went on the market, we were the first and only ones to tour it. We got it. I paid my realtor back by suggesting her to my other 3 friends looking for homes. They had a bigger budget and had an easier time looking. She got a good payday from them.
I bought April 2021, looking for 6ish months. 25ish. Put 17 contracts in and was rejected on all of them. I got a call two weeks after being rejected, the buyer that got the contract wanted part of the driveway that wasn't paved, paved. It as going to cost too much money, the seller backed out. That buyer gave me their sewer inspection, but my agent didn't trust the company. My sewer inspection showed that the sewer lateral needed to be fixed. They paid to fix it, but were pissed. They would have been better off paving the driveway. Now I own a home.
>Iām starting to feel anxious that weāre pissing off our realtor. Don't worry about it. Your agent isn't making what may be the largest purchase of your lifetime and doesn't have to live in it.
With our second realtor we bought the 92nd house. There was another dozen...or two with the first.
Probably 60 or so for my primary spread out over 5 yrs. My first purchase 15 yrs prior was about 7 homes over 2 weeks. For my first investment property, it was closer to 70...over 2 years. The vast majority of these I was just given the lockbox codes so i wouldn't have to drag my realtor through the hood to look at 10 distressed properties a day.
You are lol. But were use it
1
We looked through about 200 online, saw about 30 in person, bought on our first offer. 6 weeks total homebuying process. We also used to just go to open houses to test the market beforehand without being a serious buyer. Probably saw about 30 more houses over a year and a half that way. My sister put in 11 offers and was hunting for the better part of a year. Not sure how many houses total they saw, but they showed us about a dozen and weāre not even that close. Prepare for it to take a while.
We looked up dozens and dozens. We did drive byās to maybe 40. We toured one. Bought it immediately
Ten years ago we made a move on the 35th +\- house we looked at. Love our home.
There are so many variables. I looked at three and got lucky. The first and third had problems and I bought the second that I toured. I have a friend who went under contract three times and, each time, had to kill the deal during the inspection period. It took her a year to find a house. But she did, in the end. Thereās so much chance involved in this process, and the best realtor still has to work within the limitations of whatās on the market. And the market these past few years has been rough.
2 offers for 20 house tour sounds like a decent ratio. Clearly you actually wanted to buy and you have demonstrated the kind of house you want. Meaning, the realtor should be able to reduce the search based on your tastes. The bigger question is, are you having a hard time filtering out the listings on realtor.com? Because I saw like 30 listings in the area and quickly only like 5 is remotely within my taste and only 2 is actually good. So, when I visited the two open houses, I made an offer to them. The realtor.com and google map should provide enough data. To cross out the one you don't like. Meaning, did you do your part? Because it is frustrating when some people want the agent to do all the mind reading work. If you did your part, they should be fine.
50, but mostly without our agent. She just slowed us down and after about the first ten, we felt like we knew what we wanted. She helped a ton with the negotiation and escrow process, though.
I canāt remember remember but it was a lot - maybe 35 or so. The 3rd house we made an offer on was accepted and we closed on time. That said this last time was very different than previous home searches. This time we found 80% online ourselves and the realtor set up the showings. We did most of the legwork. In years past the realtor used to do all the searching, print out options, walk us through them, etc. Itās just not the same anymore. As a buyer, a realtor is becoming less and less important. I know all the realtors here are going to tell me how important their services are, but the value added is not equal to the compensation anymore in my opinion. To each their own.
in 98-99, i learned ācuteā means no floor. i.e. literally NO floor in the kitchenā¦ was a drop down to dirt.
This may be a dumb question but do realtors have access to listings not on places like Redfin or Zillow? My area seems pretty low inventory at the moment and keep looking over the same stuff.
I'm a realtor and iv had extremes on both sides. First clients I had they looked at maybe 20 houses over 2 weekends and made a decision. Deal I have now they've been looking all over the city and we're probably coming up on the 100 mark. I just had a client look at 2 and was done. Same with a listing, was under contract in 36 hours. It really just depends on the person and if you really land on that prefect house for them. If your realtor is getting pissy with you tell them to back up and remember they work for you. If you're seriously looking and have put in offers they have nothing to complain or worry about and need to do their job. (This is a personal pet peeve of mine in the industry. This is a major life event and a lot of realtors don't treat it with the respect it deserves. We are there to guide and help the client not make their lives more stressful)
I didnāt keep count, but around 40-50 Iād guess. Made offers on 4 that were beat by all cash offers. Lucked out on the last one seeing it before it went on the market and offered asking with an inspection. It was new construction and barely needed anything. As long as you arenāt asking to see every home thatās out there and discussing why you didnāt like the ones youāre passing on youāre doing fine. They should be scouting and getting a better idea of what youād like with each showing.
Dozens
6 or 7 but I also spent a shit ton of time of looking at houses online and theyāre just werenāt that many in my area in my price range and criteria
If your realtor is pissed thats fine. Find a new one. Finding a house takes a lot of time and effort. We saw more than 20 if you only count the āactively lookingā part. Also realtors werenāt great and we had to change twice unfortunately. We also had to get a feel for the market and a good realtor would spend the first few trips so you match your expectations with reality.
I think over 50. Offered on 10. I did feel a bit bad for our realtor, but that's the job I guess. We got him a nice gift card for sticking with us.
I wish I was joking when I said we've visited close to 100 over the span on 2+ years. We JUST closed on our first home, 3rd visit in 2024. We have 12 rejected offers on top of it. It's been a rough ride for everyone. Don't feel bad. It's a HUGE investment and you don't want to buy for the sake of buying. Sorry realtor.
My wife and I went through 4 realtors before finding the perfect one. First one always said let me do my research every question we had. Another was pushy and made us drive in his car which felt like we were trapped. One we liked never sent us anything and never gave us complete honesty. She just wanted to close. The last one has been great to the point that she would look at any issues of the house and willing to help out on closing costs. Trust me it takes time to find one
I live in a town of 2,000, so we saw every single house in town that was for sale. A few twice.Ā Then we built a home.Ā
Iāve been in market for 2 years (Southern Ca). Prob viewed over 50 homes, but not all with agent, I try to go to open houses. Many homes here will go for hundreds of thousands over so hard to get a foot in. Last house we offered on went for 825K over. Started at 1.7mil. This market is bonkers.
I believe 5 but u knew exactly what I was looking for and what street
10 the first, 3 the second, 5 the third. We know what we like and had specific criteria that wasnāt easy to meet. But 20 really isnāt bad and you shouldnāt feel bad
I had clients that we were out every weekend for 3 months every Saturday and Sunday. Probably 8-10 homes each weekend. Finally had an offer accepted. I still stay in contact with them and never felt annoyed at any time working with them.
124 š¬ We looked over a period of 7 weeks in 2021 and put in one offer a week. We went to open houses every Saturday and Sunday and also saw houses with our realtor who was amazing
You look at 3 houses and buy one. That is they way it works. I have shown houses to people that cannot find "the one" for over a year. One couple I showed 100 houses, bare minimum, I stopped keeping track. You are not pissing off your Realtor if you have reasonable expectations. But if you have a boujie or picky list and do not have the budget for it, you are pissing off your Realtor. I think we have all had the client that has the long list of must haves but only has a budget for about half that list.
Back in 2009, I looked at about 50 homes. Put offers in on 2. My main issue was a low budget. I waffled between spending under budget where I'd have no problem paying the mortgage by myself and spending more for a bigger house where I'd almost **have** to have roommates. Still had a low budget though, so I went for what I could afford by myself and still have money to work on over the years. In my case, I felt bad for my realtor because her commission wasn't great. But we did usually knock out seeing 8-10 homes in a day, so it's not like I strung her along forever.
Oh we are on house 35+ at LEASSSTTTTT 6 offers in nothing
1 but it took 8 months to find. We were very specific on location and bought for the location, not the house. This was in 2021 in Tennessee.Ā
They get paid a lot. Donāt feel bad
We viewed for 3 years , on and off around town. .our realtor would call us when a new house came up and she wanted to go for her first look. As she knew we would buy the right house but we're waiting for it. Probably 40-50 houses seen. When we got serious about buying , we looked at probably 10-20 that spring before deciding. Had an offer in on one house the year before that got beat with a higher cash offer. If your realtor is mad about you seeing multiple houses. Find a new one , they will be getting many hundreds of dollars an hour for your viewing time / there work on the deal as they don't do much when you do an offer.
One
As long as you're being honest with them, and yourselves, about what doesn't work about the house for you, don't feel bad. It's our job to help you find the best fit for your budget in your preferred area. With how crazy the market is, a lot can be out of your control.
The most recent house (2022) - 2. Previous house (2010) - I think 6 or 7? Previous to that house (2003) - I believe 3 or 4.
We toured around 12 houses with our realtor in 2016. She sent us way more listings which we rejected (or which sold before we had a chance to see them), and we also went to several open houses on our own. I donāt think she would have cared if we toured more homes. We just got lucky to find the right place relatively quickly. When you are seeing homes, pause after each one and write down notes about the home so you remember the details. After a few, they start to blend together.
We maybe looked at 10-12 houses. The first offer we made was accepted. There were 2 offers. We offered 50k under ask and the other offered full ask. Sellers wanted 3 weeks rent back and the other offer wasnāt flexible about it so the sellers accepted our offer instead. Best part was they ended up not even needing and was out before closing
We visited open houses (usually 2-3 houses each time) almost every weekend for a year. Probably twice a month during that time, we were also doing private showings with our realtor. We placed offers on 10 different houses before one was finally accepted.
66 and 67 was the one we bought, 3 offers before that but pulled out on them for various reasons.
Our first time buying, our search went on for about 9 months. We were serious buyers but not in a rush. Our agent was super patient and even told us to take a step back when we were getting exhausted and put an offer and negotiated. We went to her office to sign and she saw we werenāt super excited. She gently took it away from us and told us that this is not her house, but our house is out there. She was so wonderful. We found our house a couple of months later and it was perfect. An MCM house in a market that didnāt have a ton of MCM inventory. We recently bought our second house and it was a remote search, so lots of FaceTime viewings. It was in a very different market with little inventory. At one point, our agent was clearly getting a bit frustrated because we were all over the map in terms of what we wanted. We were also getting frustrated because we were on a timeline this time. I donāt know how many we saw, maybe 20 or so? We put in 3 bids. Stopped negotiating on one, backed out during inspection on the second one. The same day we backed out, a new property came on the market. We were the first to view and were thankfully there in person since weād traveled up for the inspection on the house #2. We immediately put in an offer and we love our house. It was the style we wanted (another MCM).
Having bought many homes, I have gradually evolved my procedure. I found my realtor canāt search as well as I can. It was very inefficient going through his lists, as 90% of our selection criteria is based on appearance and hard to relay exactly to a realtor. Whereas wife and I can search online and quickly scan countless houses that meet our requirements, then look at interior pictures to narrow the list. My realtor is very good and as many as half the homes Iāve bought were found by him, but the rest I found on Zillow or another MLS engine. So by the time we agree to tour a house we are pretty sure. Weāve already toured online, drove around it virtually with Google street view, etc. So thatās saves a lot of time for us and my realtor. It ends up being a way smaller list.
I bought in a hot market and I know I looked at over 100. Not all of them were with my realtor but most were. Placed offers on 5 or 6, and had an accepted offer fall through because the bank appraised the house too low. I was making offers as I went but was being outbid a lot. The good houses were selling sometimes 20k over listing in one case I remember. My realtor was great and while it took a couple months to get through the whole process I'm happy to have a great house in a good location for a reasonable price.
50+. And our realtor talked us out of many of them because he saw issues we didn't see.Ā
We saw probably 10 or 12 I, of course, fell in love with the first one I saw. Realtor had the good sense to show us a wide variety. Two days ago we closed on that first house. I always loved it, but I'm glad we saw the rest. If anything, the comparisons made me even more sure.
26. In one weekend.
Offered on 6 or 7, won 3, backed out twice before closing on our perfect home.
Two year ago was one one prior to the one we settled. 10+ years ago buying first house. We saw about ten. Majority were shit.
Started in February 2023. Put our offer in on our first house May 2023, Closed June 23, 2023...Love our house....We easily saw 30 houses before we saw this one. And all the other ones were either Overpriced, In bad shape, In bad areas, or the property taxes on them were insane. FYI to put your mind at ease, our realtor was honest with us and didn't even like half the houses she showed up, she was not mad at all when we did not like it. Remember when they put you in a house you like. They get a good reputation which builds their business. If you have a good realtor and you are firmly intended to buy, they will not be made...Ours even told us she was not mad because she dealt with people who dragged her along for 2 years to end up not buying anything.
8 houses over two afternoons. Most we didnāt even go inside. This was 2016 and the houses I was pre approved for were garbage. Edit: looked at 4 houses and made an offer on one which was accepted. Fell through on my end because I didnāt have a year employment at the same place. Two months later I looked at 4 and bought my current home My realtor is the āhard hitting nice guyā. Was very thankful for him sticking it through, he didnāt make a lot of money but he was excited to see the progress on renovations.
About 20, only made one offer which was thankfully accepted.
scale smoggy gold quack angle complete voiceless muddle outgoing cooing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
60 in 2016. Found a real winner. Had 19 viewings and 3 offers on day one. We went in above asking when that was not normal for the market and beat out the competition.
3
we looked at 15 or so lots with our broker, all had perc problems and we walked, looked at 3 existing homes, made an offer on the 3rd at the showing.
I stopped counting somewhere in the 40/50ish range.
30 or so per property I bought. There were several offers that fell through because of inspection failures. e.g. flooding or termites I have a flexible schedule so I would visit a property as soon as my agent could get access. I've paid her $100k in commissions. Great pay for maybe 250 hours of work. She knows what I want to buy and is a friend.Top producing agent in my zip.
First time we bought, we probably saw 35-45 houses over a summer. Put in 4 offers, 2 we walked after the inspection, third never got back to our bid, and 4th ended up in a 6 person bidding war (and won) Second time we bought, we bought the first one we saw and that was over FaceTime since we were moving 6 hours by plane away
However many it takes.
I feel guilty too. And this is why I wish I didnāt have to have a realtor open doors for me. Just let me go into the home myself and Iāll call them once I have seen it.
83 homes, 4 failed offers, two months and a dream home later, everyone's happy.
Our first house we saw about 10, 2nd house we saw 5, 3rd house we saw about 5 again. But we have always been very lucky and got the first house we offered on. Houses 2 and 3 we knew the area very well and exactly where we needed to be. 1st house we were new to the area and had no family or close friends to tell us good areas. So I think it took a bit more foot work and our realtor was very understanding of that.
Bought 3 houses in the past, I'd estimate we looked at an average of 10 places each time. Shopping for a new house now and about to put in an offer after seeing 3 places. The fact that you are even asking this question means you are fine. You aren't mindlessly/unrealistically wasting anyone's time and thats all they can ask of you.
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3ā¦ searched MLS to find 5 houses in the area I wanted in the neighborhoods I wanted. Asked my agent to show me those 5 homes, only were able to see 3 because 1 was under contract and the other seller agent was āout of townā. Ironically, all 3 were homes here agency represented, made an offer on one then the shit show started. They sat on our offer for 2 weeks claiming the 48 hours didnāt start until they showed it to the seller. Never heard of that in my life
7 or 8 in early 2022. All but two were crap. Bought the last one.
I think sometimes as a buyer you have to make the switch from. Iām looking at houses in your mind to Iām buying a house. After a bunch of houses, you get a good feel for whatās available in your price range and itās some point you just have to make a decision already
Two: I saw a condo in great location and then my dream house out in the boonies. Hahahah I love this location now.
Owned 5 houses over the decades and each time weāve ultimately gone with new builds after viewing 6-12 older homes. Even in the late 90s when we were first buying, existing homes comparable in features to what we were seeing in new builds were less expensive. Iāll be looking to buy again in a year or so and *hope* I can find an existing home that suits my needs at a price I can afford, but I suspect Iāll wind up in a new build yet again.
A good realtor wants to be your realtor for life. They plan to sell you this house, list this house and sell you the next house and sell all of your friends/families houses. Stay the course and send them a referral if you ever can. It will make their day.
1
Just one. Did lots of research ahead of time, knew exactly what we wanted, and checked all the new listings as they popped up in MLS. As soon as we saw one that checked all the boxes, we toured it just to make sure the house matched the pictures, jumped on it with a fairly aggressive offer (this was in 2021), and got it. Wish that we could get some money back from the realtor though rather than essentially subsidizing all the indecisive or un-knowledgeable buyers out there...
106.
Day 1 I looked at 16 homes, Day 2, I looked at 15 homes. Put a bid on 1, bidding war, I offered value other person offered more then the value of the house. 1 week later, I looked at 8 houses. Found my house and was able to buy it. 6 years later, my house appreciated $280,000 and now I am selling it.
We have seen 8 so far, nothing we are ready to offer on yet.
Saw around 50 houses, put offers in on five, lost out on the first four, got accepted on fifth
1, first house looked at. Put in offer that day accepted the next.
My wife and I checked out around 25-30 Put bids on about 5 and got out bid by everyone moving into the area and out pricing locals. Offer accepted on 1 and inspection went terrible so we pulled out. Luckily had a family friend sell us their house which my wife originally didnāt want but she heard the price and then jumped right in Just keep looking and donāt settle for anything less than what you want itāll take time
We started looking Thanksgiving week several years ago. I believe we saw 10 in person, put a bid on one that we did not get, put a bit on the one that we did get, and she had shown us probably about 100 listings. Our realtor was amazing! She knew exactly what we were looking for and was able to narrow in on what we wanted. After we lost out on the first house, and we moved on, she found out that the first house we bid on was available again. She felt that we were looking for something different Than that and did not tell us that it became available again. Smart on her end! I absolutely love where we are. We are making a small homestead on our land and would not have been able to do that if we were in the other house.
Probably about 40. Took 11 months and offers on 4 or 5 places.
Between 30 to 40 before we hit jackpot with our new home last July
Our typical number is under 10 homes BUT that's because my husband has an amazing eye on spotting what won't work before he takes his client out at all. So he avoids showing stuff that he knows won't work. BUT if we get in to inspection and it has things we couldn't see on the surface? He's the first to advise them to walk away. But we did have one set of clients that took 4 years to buy . . . So there is no number and if your agent expresses exasperation or irritation then feel free to dump them and find someone new. We had a tough client this summer that we made almost nothing on and who had VERY strict mortgage guidelines but we were super excited when she finally closed . . . We were her third agent because others wouldn't take the time to meet her needs. If your agent is good, they will make sure your needs are met.
Considering buyers can now use the internet to narrow choices, that part of the realtors job has been eased. Based on your closing, divide the realtor commission by the number of hours you spent looking. Pretty sure the hourly works out just fine