Real estate agents today are not worth their commissions anymore, just as stockbrokers are no longer worth the hundreds of dollars a trade they used to be able to get.
With the advent of modern technology and free flowing information, they will be replaced with computers, just as the stock broker has been with online brokerage sites. Perhaps the very wealthy or those seeking complicated, customized transactions might still opt to pay a realtor, but even so commissions must come down.
When I bought my condo I found all the properties online I wanted to look at and gave the list to my agent. The only reason I needed her was for access to the property to look around. She never knew anything about the properties I hadn't already found online or couldn't discover with a quick phone call.
They do draw up the contracts/paperwork, which is helpful, but all they do is buy the software once and then plug in the variables (name, address, contract price, closing date, etc). You could easily get those documents yourself (again, online) for very cheap.
Sellers agents are not really needed either anymore, as all they do is post a listing online and wait for people to submit offers. A better use of your money would be to hire someone to paint your home or otherwise make it ready for sale.
So tell me again why they get 6% of every home sold?
redfin claims to be doing something "different" but they still take a percentage of the sale price when working with home buyers as does zip realty ... It is all about flat fee and information freedom!
This is good news and it's all about transparency in the real estate transaction. I always thought 6% was some cast-in-stone figure that everyone HAD to pay. I never realized that a real estate agent's commission was negotiable when I first started buying and selling houses because no one ever told me (or anyone else I knew at the time) any different. My last home buying experience was terrible. I had a good agent but the agent on the other side of the transaction was basically unintelligible and illiterate. How she ever passed the state test and received a license I will never know, but then I've since met a good number of so-called agents with the same affliction. Real estate transactions are, for most people, the largest financial dealing of their lives. Standards have to rise. Competition is good. I don't know of any other profession where an untrained, under educated individual can rake in thousands of dollars for simple paperwork. A good number of "agents" don't even take care of THAT.
I think your correct, buyers agents should be working on a different compensation structure. Having done multiple real estate transactions, some buyers agents earn their commission and others really just don't.
The internet has made a huge difference in how buying a house works. With having MLS online, our last purchase we had a pretty big list of houses already printed out. Our agent did find some ones that were not online yet. Oddly, one of the ones that she found had been on the market for almost a year but was not online.
I would like to see more non realtor listed properties as part of a real estate search. Most realtors want nothing to do with self sellers or "help you sell" listed properties. We had one realtor absolutely refuse to have anything to do with a self seller home we wanted to look at.
I don't think you're clear about what I'm describing. There is no fraud involved. If you are referring to returns, I'll explain this further on my blog tomorrow (www.shopliftingwithpermission.com)
, but basically, any time I have returned items, I have made it totally clear to the store management why I needed to return them, and how I paid (usually with mostly ECBs and coupons). It's up to the store policy whether they will give a cash refund, gift card refund or no refund at all for the portion of your purchase paid for with coupons.
A) I'd rather buy the giant jug of detergent at Costco instead of two jugs at CVS. Less packaging = less waste.
B) They don't carry the brand names I want and use.
C) We don't eat very much prepackaged or convenience food.
D) The whole thing reminds me of the Columbia House record club, where your bargain of 5 CDs for a penny (plus shipping and handling) was offset by having to buy other CDs at a markup (plus shipping and handling) and having to maintain constant vigilance against the terms of the deal.
I'm glad you wrote this post because playing the CVS game probably works well for people with really high (or stereotypically American) consumption levels. But the idea of stockpiling and buying things I don't need to save a few bucks on the things I do ... that has no room in my simple, frugal lifestyle.
The great thing about the CVS game is that you can play to whatever extent you wish. I only buy a few things every other week or so, only when there's a good deal on something I need or buy anyway. It just feels wasteful and unnecessary for me to buy things I won't use since we don't have much storage space and I'm not organized enough to figure out what to donate where and when. Therefore I don't get everything for free, but I'm averaging a 50-60% discount on what I do buy, and I know I'm doing it all honestly. I get frustrated with the "all-or-nothing" mentality that seems to plague this subject and our culture in general.
Everyone "says" things will work but I need someone to help me rid myself of hard water stains, lime, just an overall ugly shower stall! I'm to the point of replacing with a less translucent material!!! Love the glass though..............
Those are very good questions and I will post a response on my own blog, www.shopliftingwithpermission.com. I will try to get that up tomorrow and will email you when i do.
Oh, and to Looby, I used the term "haters" in jest. Can anyone really use a word like that in dead earnest any more? Also, a lot more people have weighed in on the positive side since i read it last night.
easystockalerts will keep you abreast on the latest news on stocks you follow. You can get e-mail and RSS alerts when a stock you are tracking has news, an SEC filing, or a press release. It also monitors some of the top financial blogs for opinions on your stocks.
Whoa! up there folks. You should really reconsider the view that a college education loan is a good idea. Take a look at the tens of thousands of UNemployed and UNDER employed American scientists, engineers, and computer professionals since the 1990s. The US Congress is advocating bringing in more foreign workers to depress the wages of US professionals for those still fortunate enough to have a job (NO CAREERS). Former Fed Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stated last fall (2007) that he thought the USA should increase the number of imported skilled workers for the purpose of DEPRESSING the wages of American professionals. (By the way, the imported workers are not better skilled nor educated than Americans...just cheaper.)
Please don't buy into the hype and propaganda that 1) there are careers in 'high tech'; 2) that the salaries are better than other occuptions; 3) that you will have a life time CAREER. (see: http://www.jobdestruction.com ) for more information on how tens of thousands of Americans are unemployed with bachelor, masters, and doctorate degrees.
My advise to young people: 1) get a trade under your belt before completing a college degree; 2) get a college degree where one can be self-employed; 3) keep educational debt to zero if at all possible. Consider work study programs, scholarships, AmeriCorp (which allows you to work full/part time and earn dollar credits towards a college degree). DO NOT expect that your college education will allow you to pay off your education. Consider working for an employer that will pay part of one's college education tuition costs. Go to a community college while in high school to start building up college credits.
A Princeton Univ. economics professor has been writing for years that US citizens should be looking at getting TRADE SKILLS rather than a college education that can be outsourced or off shored if they want to be able to provide for themselves.
A student loan is like a mill stone upon one's neck upon graduation. You can't accept a $20,000/year job and expect to be able to repay your $80,000 college loans. You are hobbled for decades to come until that debt is paid off.
I am a huge fan of farmer's markets, the one near my home has great prices once it gets going and I love the open air summertime feel of it. However, the main reason that I shop there is to support local farmers and to buy as much food locally (as opposed to food that's been shipped all over the world) as possible. Even if I did have to pay a little more than I would at the grocery store, I would still shop at the farmer's market because I feel that they are vital to creating a sustainable future for our communities.
I read the comments at GRS and I have to say there were very few from "haters" most people simply stated that this drugstore game wasn't for them. In my opinion there was much more vitriol in the comments from people defending playing "the game".
I live in Canada so this doesn't apply to me but I doubt I would do it even if I lived in the States, this doesn't mean I'm a "hater", just that I do still genuinely doubt that this would make a big difference to me- the personal aspect of personal finance.
On the other hand to those who are enjoying it and saving lots- fair play- long may your good CVS hauls continue!!
You mentioned a few things about CVS that are a little questionable to me. Ethically speaking I know that it isn't right to return items that you have purchased and recieved extra bucks on without surrending the extra bucks you recieved with the return. I know you don't intend on returning the item just for the purpose of returning it to keep the ECB's, but if I were you I would follow the rules that CVS lays out about this issue to avoid any type of fraud.
The problem I have found with CVS is that it is highly addictive! I used to spend hours - I know you mentioned that you spend 5 hours a week - if i was very realistic and actually documented my time accurately i would say I spent 5 hours total at CVS in a combination of several trips. This is not including the hours I spent searching for deals, matching coupons, and shooing my kids away from the computer so I could come up with the best possible scenarios.
Finally, I am concerned with your article on CVS because I feel it might be a slight misrepresentation of the truth. You are telling your readers that you basically spend no money at CVS and get several items you need for free. I am a member of several coupon websites that have cracked down on their coupon ethics because people have been abusing programs offered through CVS. I know of several people that have multiple cards (which is now considered a violation of the terms of CVS due to the "one per household" rule).
My question to you is are you getting these deals completely ethcially, guilt free, and with absolutely no coupon fraud whatsoever? If you are, -and I really hope you are- I would absoultely love to hear about how you work your CVS magic and possibly use your information to refine my own CVS'ing skills.
CVS did save me a lot of money but the time it took away from my family, the guilt I felt due to rationalizing many aspects of the programs rule, and the actual money I did have to fork out ultimatley weighed heavy on my decision to tone it down and stop CVSing. If you could personally respond to me or even write another detailed article with CVS scenerios, etc (for what you are planning to do this week for example) that would really help me to determind if CVS is right for my family and our budget. Thank you.
Actually, my CVS stocks many items such as biodegradable laundry detergent, soymilk, etc. I have bought a number of Seventh Generation products for free or very cheap. I am a green person, as well, but I think many of us run the risk of being arrogant about it. Many stores have these products, and paying less for them is good for my budget and the environment.
I don't do this and probably never will. Why? Well #1 I'm vegetarian and #2 I'm going green. Meaning less waste, less plastic, less chemicals.
I think what people are saying is that there is little need for overconsumption. Yes you may use these products, but at what cost to yourself and the environment. For example I recently switched to a "green" shampoo and my hair has NEVER looked or felt better.
I looked at your shopping and there isn't one thing I would use (I buy recycled toilet tissue, biodegradable laundry detergent etc, and we're have soymilk/icecream) so no the CVS wouldn't work for me.
Maybe the people at GRS had other reasons for being so down on the CVS system, like I do. Its not all about frugality, we can save money sure but at what cost to our health and planet?
So sadly, I can't participate. We are getting a Walgreens in the next town, so I may take advantage when I'm making the drive anyway. I do take advantage of the Walgreens FAR's and buy them online. If I can get enough purchased (of stuff I need anyway), it makes shipping free, as well.
Sometimes hubby looks at me kind of oddly when I open my box of "Free stuff from Walgreens" because it's stuff I wouldn't normally buy. However, I'll ALWAYS use it. Just because a special canker sore medicine wasn't needed at the time I bought it, doesn't mean we won't use it up in the next 3 months. And to not have to spend that $8 during a month when I can't afford it is priceless.
Thanks for such an honest and informative article, Carrie!
We've been talking long and hard about "retiring" to Mexico when the children are all grown. We're ready for a simpler life, I think.
Awesome! I love the part about "anything for Mommy's psyche"!
Real estate agents today are not worth their commissions anymore, just as stockbrokers are no longer worth the hundreds of dollars a trade they used to be able to get.
With the advent of modern technology and free flowing information, they will be replaced with computers, just as the stock broker has been with online brokerage sites. Perhaps the very wealthy or those seeking complicated, customized transactions might still opt to pay a realtor, but even so commissions must come down.
When I bought my condo I found all the properties online I wanted to look at and gave the list to my agent. The only reason I needed her was for access to the property to look around. She never knew anything about the properties I hadn't already found online or couldn't discover with a quick phone call.
They do draw up the contracts/paperwork, which is helpful, but all they do is buy the software once and then plug in the variables (name, address, contract price, closing date, etc). You could easily get those documents yourself (again, online) for very cheap.
Sellers agents are not really needed either anymore, as all they do is post a listing online and wait for people to submit offers. A better use of your money would be to hire someone to paint your home or otherwise make it ready for sale.
So tell me again why they get 6% of every home sold?
.... did i mention our agents are salaried and they get paid more only when our clients pay LESS!!
http://www.territoryre.com/about.php
redfin claims to be doing something "different" but they still take a percentage of the sale price when working with home buyers as does zip realty ... It is all about flat fee and information freedom!
This is good news and it's all about transparency in the real estate transaction. I always thought 6% was some cast-in-stone figure that everyone HAD to pay. I never realized that a real estate agent's commission was negotiable when I first started buying and selling houses because no one ever told me (or anyone else I knew at the time) any different. My last home buying experience was terrible. I had a good agent but the agent on the other side of the transaction was basically unintelligible and illiterate. How she ever passed the state test and received a license I will never know, but then I've since met a good number of so-called agents with the same affliction. Real estate transactions are, for most people, the largest financial dealing of their lives. Standards have to rise. Competition is good. I don't know of any other profession where an untrained, under educated individual can rake in thousands of dollars for simple paperwork. A good number of "agents" don't even take care of THAT.
I think your correct, buyers agents should be working on a different compensation structure. Having done multiple real estate transactions, some buyers agents earn their commission and others really just don't.
The internet has made a huge difference in how buying a house works. With having MLS online, our last purchase we had a pretty big list of houses already printed out. Our agent did find some ones that were not online yet. Oddly, one of the ones that she found had been on the market for almost a year but was not online.
I would like to see more non realtor listed properties as part of a real estate search. Most realtors want nothing to do with self sellers or "help you sell" listed properties. We had one realtor absolutely refuse to have anything to do with a self seller home we wanted to look at.
Hi Tammy,
I don't think you're clear about what I'm describing. There is no fraud involved. If you are referring to returns, I'll explain this further on my blog tomorrow (www.shopliftingwithpermission.com)
, but basically, any time I have returned items, I have made it totally clear to the store management why I needed to return them, and how I paid (usually with mostly ECBs and coupons). It's up to the store policy whether they will give a cash refund, gift card refund or no refund at all for the portion of your purchase paid for with coupons.
I don't CVS because ...
A) I'd rather buy the giant jug of detergent at Costco instead of two jugs at CVS. Less packaging = less waste.
B) They don't carry the brand names I want and use.
C) We don't eat very much prepackaged or convenience food.
D) The whole thing reminds me of the Columbia House record club, where your bargain of 5 CDs for a penny (plus shipping and handling) was offset by having to buy other CDs at a markup (plus shipping and handling) and having to maintain constant vigilance against the terms of the deal.
I'm glad you wrote this post because playing the CVS game probably works well for people with really high (or stereotypically American) consumption levels. But the idea of stockpiling and buying things I don't need to save a few bucks on the things I do ... that has no room in my simple, frugal lifestyle.
R U STUPID?
This article has given me some great ideas for improving my own life. I will share if I try it...
The great thing about the CVS game is that you can play to whatever extent you wish. I only buy a few things every other week or so, only when there's a good deal on something I need or buy anyway. It just feels wasteful and unnecessary for me to buy things I won't use since we don't have much storage space and I'm not organized enough to figure out what to donate where and when. Therefore I don't get everything for free, but I'm averaging a 50-60% discount on what I do buy, and I know I'm doing it all honestly. I get frustrated with the "all-or-nothing" mentality that seems to plague this subject and our culture in general.
Everyone "says" things will work but I need someone to help me rid myself of hard water stains, lime, just an overall ugly shower stall! I'm to the point of replacing with a less translucent material!!! Love the glass though..............
Those are very good questions and I will post a response on my own blog, www.shopliftingwithpermission.com. I will try to get that up tomorrow and will email you when i do.
Oh, and to Looby, I used the term "haters" in jest. Can anyone really use a word like that in dead earnest any more? Also, a lot more people have weighed in on the positive side since i read it last night.
easystockalerts will keep you abreast on the latest news on stocks you follow. You can get e-mail and RSS alerts when a stock you are tracking has news, an SEC filing, or a press release. It also monitors some of the top financial blogs for opinions on your stocks.
Whoa! up there folks. You should really reconsider the view that a college education loan is a good idea. Take a look at the tens of thousands of UNemployed and UNDER employed American scientists, engineers, and computer professionals since the 1990s. The US Congress is advocating bringing in more foreign workers to depress the wages of US professionals for those still fortunate enough to have a job (NO CAREERS). Former Fed Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stated last fall (2007) that he thought the USA should increase the number of imported skilled workers for the purpose of DEPRESSING the wages of American professionals. (By the way, the imported workers are not better skilled nor educated than Americans...just cheaper.)
Please don't buy into the hype and propaganda that 1) there are careers in 'high tech'; 2) that the salaries are better than other occuptions; 3) that you will have a life time CAREER. (see: http://www.jobdestruction.com ) for more information on how tens of thousands of Americans are unemployed with bachelor, masters, and doctorate degrees.
My advise to young people: 1) get a trade under your belt before completing a college degree; 2) get a college degree where one can be self-employed; 3) keep educational debt to zero if at all possible. Consider work study programs, scholarships, AmeriCorp (which allows you to work full/part time and earn dollar credits towards a college degree). DO NOT expect that your college education will allow you to pay off your education. Consider working for an employer that will pay part of one's college education tuition costs. Go to a community college while in high school to start building up college credits.
A Princeton Univ. economics professor has been writing for years that US citizens should be looking at getting TRADE SKILLS rather than a college education that can be outsourced or off shored if they want to be able to provide for themselves.
A student loan is like a mill stone upon one's neck upon graduation. You can't accept a $20,000/year job and expect to be able to repay your $80,000 college loans. You are hobbled for decades to come until that debt is paid off.
I am a huge fan of farmer's markets, the one near my home has great prices once it gets going and I love the open air summertime feel of it. However, the main reason that I shop there is to support local farmers and to buy as much food locally (as opposed to food that's been shipped all over the world) as possible. Even if I did have to pay a little more than I would at the grocery store, I would still shop at the farmer's market because I feel that they are vital to creating a sustainable future for our communities.
I think this is a very good set of reasons for CVSing. I am working up my nerve to try it. Who knows... maybe I'll be posting my own pictures soon.
I'm sorry to tell you this but that is very unethical and is actually considered fradulent by CVS. It is not a trick, it's a scam.
I read the comments at GRS and I have to say there were very few from "haters" most people simply stated that this drugstore game wasn't for them. In my opinion there was much more vitriol in the comments from people defending playing "the game".
I live in Canada so this doesn't apply to me but I doubt I would do it even if I lived in the States, this doesn't mean I'm a "hater", just that I do still genuinely doubt that this would make a big difference to me- the personal aspect of personal finance.
On the other hand to those who are enjoying it and saving lots- fair play- long may your good CVS hauls continue!!
You mentioned a few things about CVS that are a little questionable to me. Ethically speaking I know that it isn't right to return items that you have purchased and recieved extra bucks on without surrending the extra bucks you recieved with the return. I know you don't intend on returning the item just for the purpose of returning it to keep the ECB's, but if I were you I would follow the rules that CVS lays out about this issue to avoid any type of fraud.
The problem I have found with CVS is that it is highly addictive! I used to spend hours - I know you mentioned that you spend 5 hours a week - if i was very realistic and actually documented my time accurately i would say I spent 5 hours total at CVS in a combination of several trips. This is not including the hours I spent searching for deals, matching coupons, and shooing my kids away from the computer so I could come up with the best possible scenarios.
Finally, I am concerned with your article on CVS because I feel it might be a slight misrepresentation of the truth. You are telling your readers that you basically spend no money at CVS and get several items you need for free. I am a member of several coupon websites that have cracked down on their coupon ethics because people have been abusing programs offered through CVS. I know of several people that have multiple cards (which is now considered a violation of the terms of CVS due to the "one per household" rule).
My question to you is are you getting these deals completely ethcially, guilt free, and with absolutely no coupon fraud whatsoever? If you are, -and I really hope you are- I would absoultely love to hear about how you work your CVS magic and possibly use your information to refine my own CVS'ing skills.
CVS did save me a lot of money but the time it took away from my family, the guilt I felt due to rationalizing many aspects of the programs rule, and the actual money I did have to fork out ultimatley weighed heavy on my decision to tone it down and stop CVSing. If you could personally respond to me or even write another detailed article with CVS scenerios, etc (for what you are planning to do this week for example) that would really help me to determind if CVS is right for my family and our budget. Thank you.
Tamaramhook@yahoo.com
Actually, my CVS stocks many items such as biodegradable laundry detergent, soymilk, etc. I have bought a number of Seventh Generation products for free or very cheap. I am a green person, as well, but I think many of us run the risk of being arrogant about it. Many stores have these products, and paying less for them is good for my budget and the environment.
I don't do this and probably never will. Why? Well #1 I'm vegetarian and #2 I'm going green. Meaning less waste, less plastic, less chemicals.
I think what people are saying is that there is little need for overconsumption. Yes you may use these products, but at what cost to yourself and the environment. For example I recently switched to a "green" shampoo and my hair has NEVER looked or felt better.
I looked at your shopping and there isn't one thing I would use (I buy recycled toilet tissue, biodegradable laundry detergent etc, and we're have soymilk/icecream) so no the CVS wouldn't work for me.
Maybe the people at GRS had other reasons for being so down on the CVS system, like I do. Its not all about frugality, we can save money sure but at what cost to our health and planet?
So sadly, I can't participate. We are getting a Walgreens in the next town, so I may take advantage when I'm making the drive anyway. I do take advantage of the Walgreens FAR's and buy them online. If I can get enough purchased (of stuff I need anyway), it makes shipping free, as well.
Sometimes hubby looks at me kind of oddly when I open my box of "Free stuff from Walgreens" because it's stuff I wouldn't normally buy. However, I'll ALWAYS use it. Just because a special canker sore medicine wasn't needed at the time I bought it, doesn't mean we won't use it up in the next 3 months. And to not have to spend that $8 during a month when I can't afford it is priceless.
Thanks for such an honest and informative article, Carrie!
rationalization after rationalization. big difference between frugality and being a tight wad. this screams tight wad.