Zip Realty (Ziprealty.com) Sucks
1.) The rebate they advertise on their website is not actually what you receive. For buyers Zip realty offers a rebate equal to 20% of the commissions the agent receives. On the website the buyers commission is listed as being anywhere between 2.5%-3.5% of the purchase price. In reality (or at least in my case) it was only 2% of the purchase price (which I only got 20% of) .
2.) Very Poor negotiation skills - since Zip Realty receives less for each sale (they give some back to you) they are going to try get you the highest purchase price because they have to make their money some how. You would think Zip would give training in negotiation to their agents. However my agent had no negotiation skills. They do not work in your interest to get a low price on a sale. I told my agent I wanted to sit on my offer and he actually talked into offering a higher offer. My original offer was less than 6% less the list price which he suggested but he still talked me up.
3.) Do not use their recommendations for inspectors ZipRealty.com has big relations with inspectors to make a sale go as smooth as possible. The problem with this is if you use one of their inspectors he/she will be less likely to issue a true report because the inspector could lose all business relations with Zip Realty. If you were selling a service would you want to lose a big customer? The website Independentinspecotors.org lists inspectors in each state that do not have relations with realtors if you need a referral.
Here is a great list of websites to use for your home search: Top 10 Real Estate Search Tools
last update: 02/01/2010
Thursday August 22, 2013 @ 03:50 PM
Because you had a bad experience with a Realtor at Zip every Realtor must suck? I think people have bad experiences no matter what company it is. The Realtor has every reason to make your experience as easy and pleasant as possible, sometimes that does not happen, especially in this market. These people do not get paid salaries, they work for commission, more often that not the Realtor will bend over backwards to make a client happy, no matter what it takes. The lesson here is that if you do not like your Realtor or feel they are not doing a good job for you, fire them or explain to them why you feel that way and maybe things can be salvaged. One Realtor does not make a National Brokerage bad, in the same way that one bad employee does not make a company bad, it just makes the individual experience poor and that sucks. Let's not go crazy.
Saturday October 25, 2014 @ 01:04 PM
I liked Zip Realty. Used them several times. I guess it comes down to the agent.
Saturday April 6, 2013 @ 06:13 PM
I used zip realty and have a lot of problems with them. It was lack of professionalism, lack of communication, and lack of negotiation for us (seller).We requested a copy new closing date and net sheet..never received them. never again with them. 3 realtors later, we finally close on our house. At one point, the 2nd realtor didn't exactly called us a liar (but close)because we sent her an email telling her that we know the closing is sometimes in April but we don't know the exact date.Just how professional is that? would never recommend this company to anyone.