Real Estate

Buying house through comfree

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  • Feb 5th, 2018 9:36 pm
Newbie
Aug 23, 2014
53 posts
60 upvotes
Macdonald, MB

Buying house through comfree

Those who bought a house through comfree, how was your experience? Do you recommend it? How much would you save by buying a house through comfree, let say on a 500 k house? How much commission does comefree charge a home buyer?
Last edited by bushcrafter on Jan 3rd, 2018 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
37 replies
Deal Fanatic
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May 1, 2003
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Comfree only charges the seller for the listing. Then its up to the seller if they want to offer a commission to any agents, usually if they don't offer a commission, the agents wont bring clients to show the place. Because of that, you can negotiate a lower price if you don't use an agent knowing that fee wont have to be paid. Not sure what the standard rates are in MB, but in AB its 7% for the first $100K and 3% on the balance and that is split between buying and selling agents. Since there would be no agents you could reduce your price by that much. So on $500K it would be $7000+ $12000 (3% of $400K) = $19000
Deal Expert
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May 22, 2005
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GTA
Please learn to do a search, theres a few threads on Comfree already
Deal Addict
Jan 31, 2007
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Comfree if you are a buyer won't save you money. If you don't know what you doing it's safer and better to use an agent. The seller pays the fees not you.
Sr. Member
May 2, 2015
706 posts
593 upvotes
Toronto, ON
bushcrafter wrote: Those who bought a house through comfree, how was your experience? Do you recommend it? How much would you save by buying a house through comfree, let say on a 500 k house? How much commission does comefree charge a home buyer?
Seller (through his agent) pays anywhere between 1% to 2.5% commission to buyer agent besides seller agent's commission. Its little difficult to close a deal without agents but if you somehow find a seller through this channel, like the house and dont have your own agent, then "The around 4% commission pot " is something you can seek a share from.
Deal Addict
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Aug 9, 2007
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Arguably, all fees eventually trickle down to the buyer. As a seller if I can sell X for $1000 and pay $100 in fees, or sell for $900 and pay $0 in fees, it's all the same to me, and thus it's the buyer paying that difference. Of course this assumes the seller will reduce their cost by up to $100, maybe even splitting the difference.

Just a different way to look at it, as the "Seller pays" sounds like something that a buyer agent would push.

Of course, house purchases/selling is a big decision that you won't want to do uninformed. Perhaps the advice and legwork is worth the $19K mentioned above, depending on the individuals.
Deal Expert
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Mar 22, 2007
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Hamilton
We actually sold our house on Comfree last week. Was smooth. We used offer assist where they have a agent that help us thru with the offer.

We gave $5000 to the buyer “agent”
hated on but respected.
Deal Guru
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Mar 23, 2008
13006 posts
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Edmonton
YOU won't necessarily save anything by buying a house through ComFree. The sellers on ComFree are hoping to save a bunch of money by not paying commission. You can try to use that in your negotiations to get a lower price.

Pricing in real estate is a crap-shoot in any case... It's not even like buying a used car, because so much depends on location, and no two houses are the same. Heck, even two sides of a duplex can be finished different and come up with very different prices (one has laminate throughout, one has hardwood, etc).

C
Member
Mar 3, 2016
389 posts
250 upvotes
bushcrafter wrote: Those who bought a house through comfree, how was your experience? Do you recommend it? How much would you save by buying a house through comfree, let say on a 500 k house? How much commission does comefree charge a home buyer?
I bought from another FSBO website without agent and had no problem. You talk to the seller directly so it's quicker and less hassle. Plus no pressure from the agent to close on a deal because they need to earn their commission for the month. Once you reach an agreement on price and conditions, the lawyers do most of the job. You get the home inspection to make sure there are no major issues and a broker for the financing.

On the issue that you don't save anything. Well, this depends on how you negotiate and the "what if" scenarios if the house was listed with an agent and you brought an agent with commissions being built into the final price. Would you as a buyer has paid more or less? Would the seller has accepted more or less if agents were involved. It would have been a different universe that would be impossible to replicate so just do whatever you have to do. As for me, the agent would have been completely useless since I was doing my own research and the lawyer was doing the paperwork. So why would I have brought an agent to earn tens of thousands but not working for those thousands? Ultimately you make the final calls on what to offer and what to accept.
Deal Addict
Mar 10, 2011
2583 posts
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Toronto
EEE2 wrote: Comfree if you are a buyer won't save you money. If you don't know what you doing it's safer and better to use an agent. The seller pays the fees not you.
Yes you can save money if you are a buyer through Comfree. The op is referring to the Cashback program offered to buyers that gives about half of the buyer commision back, minus a fee. This is not restricted to buying a Comfree listing home, but to any property bought from any other Realtor listings.
Deal Addict
Mar 10, 2011
2583 posts
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Toronto
bushcrafter wrote: Those who bought a house through comfree, how was your experience? Do you recommend it? How much would you save by buying a house through comfree, let say on a 500 k house? How much commission does comefree charge a home buyer?
I have not bought a house with Comfree, but their website indicates that you would get back $5,250 on a 500k purchase. This would be on a buyers comission of 2.5% and it can be for purchases of non Comfree homes at that Commision rate.
Although I have helped someone sell a property with Comfree, I cant comment on their buyers service.
Deal Addict
Jan 31, 2007
4808 posts
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Biff88 wrote: Yes you can save money if you are a buyer through Comfree. The op is referring to the Cashback program offered to buyers that gives about half of the buyer commision back, minus a fee. This is not restricted to buying a Comfree listing home, but to any property bought from any other Realtor listings.
My friends purchased a house via comfree channels and was an nightmare, they ended getting an agent to help them with the paper work/closings.
Jr. Member
Dec 31, 2015
154 posts
44 upvotes
Bought a rental that was listed with comfree. Lawyers did the paperwork and seemed easier than dealing with an agent. I would do it again with no question.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 2, 2005
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WFH
EEE2 wrote: Comfree if you are a buyer won't save you money. If you don't know what you doing it's safer and better to use an agent. The seller pays the fees not you.
As a seller I only care about what I need to net out of the transaction and cutting out the agents gives me 5% more room for negotiation. Now, how this is split between buyer and seller depends on how good each party is at negotiating. I think it's fair to say that both sides are contributing to the agents fees to some extent though.

If both sides involve their lawyers early and certainly before any offers are signed there should be no risk and the negotiation/transaction will go smoothly. It will cost a fraction of what an agent will charge. Things typically go wrong when people try to DIY the offers.
Penalty Box
Mar 27, 2004
10493 posts
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Toronto
Get an agent, negotiate with the agent a rebate.
Full-time Realtor
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Dec 27, 2009
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I don't understand why all the downvotes on OP's thread?
Deal Addict
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Dec 12, 2005
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Greater Toronto Area
On a side note what would be the "motivation" for a buyer agent to show their clients a Comfree listing where they make no money on the sale.Of course if a client sees the listing and insist on seeing it the agent can't refuse.Would you get more walk in customers who do not use a agent?.Anyone wants to PM their experience with Comfree is welcome.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 2, 2005
5355 posts
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WFH
gizmo8 wrote: On a side note what would be the "motivation" for a buyer agent to show their clients a Comfree listing where they make no money on the sale.Of course if a client sees the listing and insist on seeing it the agent can't refuse.
if a buying agent sees a listing on Comfree that fits his buyers search criteria he is neglecting his duties if he fails to present it to his client but I'm sure there are plenty that do this. :(

With it becoming more common for buyers to do much of their own searching, private sellers is something buyers should be discussing with their agent before agreeing to use their services. The traditional monopoly rules do not apply and buyers need to be prepared to pay their agent if they wish to have their representation.
Deal Guru
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Sep 8, 2007
10978 posts
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Way Out of GTA
EEE2 wrote: My friends purchased a house via comfree channels and was an nightmare, they ended getting an agent to help them with the paper work/closings.
If you fail to educate yourself in the matters at hand, any process can be a nightmare...such as buying a car from a dealer.

If going to ComFree route you need to be willing to do some of the due diligence yourself whether that’s bringing in proper clauses in the contract (financing, inspections, inclusions, exclusions, etc), ability to negotiate, do some of the running around between your lawyer, the seller, etc.

The fact it was able to be resolved thru an agent getting involved tells me they weren’t properly prepared and thought “buy house, get keys”. In most cases when a contract is hammered out, it still remains subject until both sides lawyers sign off which goes a long way in protecting both parties interests.

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