Car leasing’s fall

Just when motorists were starting to adjust to exorbitant gas prices, they face the prospect of much higher costs, fewer choices and a dearth of financing options if they want to lease their next car.

A shakeout in the auto leasing industry that revved up with Chrysler’s recent exit from the leasing business is expected to be felt quickly by consumers who enjoy switching vehicles every two or three years without down payments or other ownership obligations.

U.S. automakers are scaling back their leasing operations and dropping the discounts and other incentives long used to make leases more appealing, hurt by the plummeting values of trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

The main culprit is gasoline — again. The used SUVs and other gas-guzzlers that the companies’ financing arms sell when leases expire are fetching far less than initially expected, now that gas is about $4 a gallon. That translates to multibillion-dollar financial losses for the leasing companies and painful payments for their customers as discounts and other incentives long used to artificially lower lease costs are dropped.

Real-estate commissions

Don’t be shy about haggling over what you pay your real-estate agent.

A study by Consumer Reports found 71 percent of sellers who negotiated for lower commissions with their brokers were successful. But only 46 percent of sellers surveyed tried.

Those who paid commissions of 3 percent were just as satisfied with their broker’s performance as those who paid 6 percent, the study found.

The lesson? Haggling won’t hurt.

In fact, those who paid higher commissions were more likely to have regrets about the selling experience. Nearly one-third of them said they should have been more aggressive in negotiating a fee.

Sellers were most likely to get lower fees from independent and RE/MAX brokers, said Mark Kotkin, director of survey research at Consumer Reports.

“But they will all negotiate. Just ask for it,” he said. “It’s like buying a car. A lot of people think [the price] is set, but it’s not.”

Independent brokers may be more likely to negotiate fees since they keep their entire commission, while those who work for other brokers typically split commissions with the broker in exchange for marketing and office support.

About half the home sellers surveyed paid less than 6 percent in commission. The study is being published in Consumer Reports’ September issue. The issue also includes tips on which home improvements provide the biggest pay off (Hint: What’s on the outside really does matter).

The study found no significant gap in services for those who paid lower commissions. For example, 81 percent who paid 3 percent or less said the agent gave a competitive market analysis of their home, compared with 87 percent of people who paid 6 percent or more.

Mike Wright, managing broker at Prudential Georgia Realty, said a seller has a much better chance of negotiating a lower commission when the house is in good condition and priced aggressively.

Such houses sell faster, meaning the agent has to spend less money on marketing the home.

“If I could sell a house in two weeks rather than six months, I’d be more willing to negotiate,” Wright said.