What did you love or hate about your real estate agent?

[Dcclerk]

It is time for a career change.

I have come to a place in my life where I have to acknowledge that my current career (1)does not make me happy, (2) does not improve my world, and (3) does not allow for me to see my children nearly as much as I desire. (Caveat: I'm sure this is not the case for everyone in my field, but it is the case for me.) So, rather than trying to find something in the same field, which I don't really enjoy, I've decided to go into something that I really DO enjoy, even if there are already a billion and a half people doing the job.

For the last 3 years I have pondered a career in real estate, so I have a lot of plans that I think/hope will set me apart from the get-go. But I would really appreciate any help that you could provide regarding what you liked or hated about your real estate agent. If you were to design the perfect real estate agent, what would s/he do? How often would she contact you? What services would she provide? What would she make sure NOT to do?

TIA!

[emilyf]

Not really answering your question, although I am interested in hearing the responses since I am a real estate agent. However I will tell you a few things that you probably already know-to be successful in real estate you have to work ALL THE TIME when you are new-especially evenings and weekends. I have been doing it for 10 yrs so was single when I started and didn't care so much about giving up all my weekends. Now that I have been established for a while, I can be much pickier about my clients and it's a very part time deal for me, I would not want to do this if I depended on my income a great deal since the income is so unreliable and the hours can be such hell, but it's working for me now, and I have had a lot of fun doing this over the years. I also wouldn't plan on making any money right away, although if you stick with it and really work hard you can do very, very well. If you've been researching this for a while, I'm sure you know a lot about the business but if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them-
Emily mom of Charlie born 11/02 and Zoe born 9/05

[HannaAddict]

I have heard it really is all encompassing until you are established too and even then, can really cut into nights/weekends. But, for things I would like, I think the power of the Internet has been underutilized by many realtors. In our area, many realtors threw up web sites but don't keep them up to date or user friendly. Pictures of the listings are not very good, don't really show you a lot, etc. I would like a "smart" realtor (and you are that!) versus just the "salesman" type realtor. Someone who know the neighborhoods, what historically has been going on pricewise, etc. I'm a total lookie lou though and know prices, etc. of our neighborhood. My cousin is a fairly new realtor (about 3 years?) and has been doing well. I like her web site, I think she uses pictures effectively. If you would like to check it out, PM me and I'll send you the link.

I know you are a lawyer but are you currently at a firm? Any other areas of law and real estate that might intersect? Just curious. Good luck.

Kimberly

[DebbieJ]

When we were selling our house a year ago, the number 1 thing that bugged me the most was that every single flyer our agent made had errors in them! I was constantly calling every time they dropped off a new flyer because there was a mistake--either a mistake in the information or spelling or grammatical errors. One time the flyer had the wrong city on it! He still sends out mailings with grammatical errors and it drives me nuts.

So please double and triple check your info and use spell check!

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[squimp]

I liked that our estate agent did not waste our time. If we pulled up to a house that was obviously wrong from the front door, she didn't care if we said "Let's keep driving". She quickly got a feel for what we were looking for, and didn't waste our time showing us houses that we were not for us. She also managed to help us realize that an older and less expensive house had many of the features we wanted (location, wood floors) in our area, which was nice.

[babystuffbuff]

Oh, I have some doosies. A few that come to mind:

What we hated about the agent who sold us our house: He kept telling us that the renters who occupied it would be moving when the house was sold. This turned out to be an assumption on his part; they in fact had an iron-clad lease that didn't end until six months after we closed. (Moral of the story: tell your clients everything up front, and if you aren't absoutely certain, check it out!)

What we hated about the first agent we hired to sell it: Whenever anyone called her to enquire about the house (even us!), the first thing she said was, "Oh, that's the one with no yard." Yes, it was true, but did she have to lead off with the worst thing about the place? We had spent months of our time and thousands and thousands of our dollars completely renovating the interior, and the first thing she says is that it doesn't have a yard. (Not that I'm still bitter or anything. :P)

What we like about the agent we have now: He is going above and beyond under difficult circumstances (we had to move out of state on two weeks' notice) and is being our "go-to guy" back in NY, hiring people to cut the lawn, take out the window AC units not that it's fall, etc. And he isn't charging us extra, which is very nice of him. :)

Good luck with your new career! All I can say is that having the right agent can be a blessing, and having the wrong one can make you miserable. I'm sure you will be the "right agent" for lots of people. :)

Sarah

[alkagift]

The thing that bugged us most about our real estate agent was that she seemed slightly unethical. Please bear in mind that she was not actually our agent, she was the seller's agent. We didn't have a buyer's agent so we were just talking to her informally. She made some suggesions that we "didn't have to" do things we knew that we did and when she was talking to us she badmouthed the sellers a bit. She also wasn't keeping the house up (mowing, etc) as she was supposed to do (the seller was in Europe) and when we bought the house she didn't clean it out as she was supposed to until after we pressured her. By clean it out I mean remove all the crap from the attic that the owner didn't want, take the old water heater which was broken and disconnected out of the basement, remove the owner's unwanted appliances, etc.

Allison

[bostonsmama]

Congratulations on taking steps towards a career change that will make you happy! My mother made a VERY late-life transition from an opera singer/part-time music teacher to a real estate agent (sometime in her 50s) and hasn't looked back. I'm really proud of her for doing so well, but I attribute her success to a few factors.
1) She's a people person, very extroverted, and can chat up strangers and be aggressive (but not pushy) to close the deal
2) She partnered up with someone who had been an agent for 20 years already. A good firm will provide you with a mentor as you break in the market, but having a partner w/ established clients and LOTS of experience helps keep new clients at ease that you won't make any critical newbie-error.
3) She joined a great firm that gives her a nice split based on year-to-date volume: something like 40her/60company until 500K, 50/50 after a million, 60/40 after 1.5 million, etc. Also, it's a "full service" real estate company so it's easy for her to attract and keep clients. This is what I was drawn to: lifetime discounts at SEARS on appliances, extended warranites, a 24 hour service center, and discounts on top-rated handimen services-plumber, landscaper, etc. I'd say 60% of her business is repeat clients or investors (ie.people who bought from her want to sell w/ her later)...and they keep coming back b/c they appreciate the extras.

4) Anyone can sell a home, and EVERYONE should be competent in the business aspects, but it's the little extra things that set you apart in a market saturated w/ real estate agents. For instance, my mom & partner buy a gift for all their clients (<$20...like movie tickets, nice plant, vase, etc), and offer referral fees if you send another client their way. We got $100 for each friend we referred who closed on houses...it kept us eager to send them clients and it kept them in business.
5) Since I've purchased a home through my mother, I'm glad she had trusted lawyers and mortgage brokers she worked with to save us time searching and fretting over the best price/service. She didn't waste our time (and our credit score) sending us to someone who couldn't finance us either.
6) She spent a lot of time learning the area so she could better know the schools, the market-whether the area is stagnant or on the up, what is normal for the area (HOA, mostly ranches, mostly 2S, mostly condos, whether you can build on). It saved a lot of guess-work. Legally, my mom can't say whether a school district is "bad," but she can give you access to SOL test scores and point out particular awards schools might have received.
7) Don't be afraid to push the envelope. I remember a Century 21 commercial where clients said no ranches (single story homes) and the agent kept pulling into driveways of single story homes, much to the frustration of the clients. But while that would be annoying, presenting clients w/ alternatives in their price range may lead to the perfect sale. When we went looking, we saw house after house that were just not nice enough for what we wanted to spend. A house next door to the house we were looking at also was for sale and we wondered why it didn't show up in the MLS. It turns out it was only $500 more expensive than the "max" we entered in the search feature and our although our offer was $2,000 over asking price, we only paid appraisal, which was $5,000 less than asking price...thanks to some nice wording in the contract. Now, with hot markets it doesn't happen often, but I'm glad she knew what she was doing.
8) Finally, she knows when to walk away from difficult clients and when to push on/seek advice. This is so important for your sanity and your future business.

Oh my, did I write enough? JK. I wish you well. Any other Q's, please ask. I had a friend who took the classes and passed the tests and hooked up w/ Re-Max and had absolutely no support, so of course it didn't last long. Be prepared for slow periods when you bring in no income for months (especially in the winter)...but otherwise...if you can establish a network of contacts and do mailings and attend some real estate seminars (my mom is in love with the Mike Ferry seminar for increasing sales) and have a love of the business and people...you should do just fine.


***Larissa-rissa-lo-lissa, Banana-fanna-bo-bissa, me-mi-mo-missa....Larissa***

Hey....just trying to recapture my youth.

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
- James Baldwin

[KBecks]

I didn't like our real estate agent because he frankly didn't work very hard for us and he also wasn't very nice to me!

I think a great agent is extremly proactive in knowing the homes that are on the market, and very active in getting her clients out to see the homes they want. A good real estate agent should also know about the local communities, schools, etc., and have a good knowledge of "basement stuff" -- i.e. a good overview of telling if the roof, furnace, foundation, etc. look solid or if there are any "warning signs".

A good agent should also be able to carefully explain all the documents during the bidding and closing processes, and have a solid network with home inspectors and bankers.

[dr mom]

Fresh in my mind since we just moved...

The GOOD: our buyer's agent didn't waste my time, really listened to what we wanted, and ONLY showed us houses that fit those criteria. Never pushed us to exceed our budget. When we found our dream house (in a hot market) she had an offer on it within an hour. It was one of four offers they received that day - when she didn't hear back from the seller's agent promptly (it was one of those "sell your house for $500" companies) she called the sellers directly to find out what exactly it would take (a different closing date) for them to accept our offer, and then handled every single detail from inspections to paperwork. Returned all calls and emails promptly. Everyone in her office was professional and helpful.

The BAD: our buyer's agent for the house we just sold was a ditz and didn't bother to preview any of the houses she showed us, although we were coming from out of town and only had two days to look. We wasted time looking at houses that were too small, termite-infested and way out of our price range. She had trouble finding some of the houses, and didn't seem to know the area well, although she'd represented herself as being an experienced agent. And, to this day I am convinced she violated our trust by telling the sellers exactly how much we were prequalified for, since their counter-offer was that precise (unusual) dollar amount.

The UGLY: when we listed our house last spring, the seller's agent seemed competent enough - but she took weird pictures of the house for the flyers. Instead of photographing whole rooms, she took close-up pictures of unexpected objects: the dog's leash hanging in the foyer, for example. She and her office staff didn't communicate at all - the office would send flyers, and then two days later she'd show up with flyers and be surprised that we already had some.

But then it got WORSE: When our contract with her expired, I told her I wanted a few days to think about relisting, and asked her to give us a new marketing plan. During that time, someone from her office came to our home and removed the lockbox from the front door - with our keys still in it. When I called the agent, she denied knowing anything about it. The lockbox keeper had gone on vacation, and no one could find my keys. Three days later, my housekeys showed up - loose in an envelope, delivered by US Mail to my house. In other words, the keys to my house were sitting in an unsecured mailbox, in an envelope with my address on it; no effort was made to disguise the keys - no padding, nothing. ANYONE could have taken them and made copies, or walked right into my house. The next day, the agent emailed me that the lockbox person was still on vacation but she'd try to get my keys for me ASAP. She had no clue that her office staff had already mailed them out - putting our personal security at significant risk, in my opinion.

I was so mad, no only did I not re-list, I called the agent every few days for weeks demanding that she return my keys. As far as I know, she's still looking for them. x(

[Dcclerk]

Funny you mention the pictures thing. When we sold our house, our agent sent over some one whose job it was to take nice pictures. They were not. In fact, we took much nicer ourselves. I have a pretty snazzy camera that I actually have taken a photography class with, so that I could figure out how to take nice pictures. I have been thinking about pictures for the brochures and newspaper ads, but they are equally as important for the web, too. And for those, you can have more.

I also pm-ed you...

[Dcclerk]

We had the same thing happen to me *once* and it made me crazy; I don't know what I would do if it happened every time. I'm hoping that my current career has made me sufficiently paranoid that I can rise above that problem. ;)

[Dcclerk]

That is the #1 thing my friend told me, also. I think if I go with the goal of helping the client, rather than making the sale, I will be on the right track in the long run. We still refer people to an agent that we used in a different area. We never actually bought a house from her, but so appreciated that she was very selective in what she showed us, and didn't want us to get into something we didn't love.

[Dcclerk]

Thanks, Sarah. I really appreciate your concrete examples. Assumptions are never a good thing. I have definitely learned that it is much better in the long run to admit what you don't know and find out the right answer than make a wrong guess.

Your current agent sounds like a fabulous guy. I've been working on trying to build up a referral list of tradespeople and handymen/cleaning services, etc., and your example seems to solidify the need for that.

[kellyotn]

Our real estate agent was a friend of a friend. He was very young to be as established as he was, but he is very good at it. We actually felt a bit "beneath" him in that he generally dealt with houses at least twice as expensive as our price range.

I loved that he was very connected and friendly with other agents in competing offices. The house we ended up buying didn't even have a sign in the yard yet when we came to see it. He had been in contact with another agent who works a lot in our area and she had just received this house as a listing and we were the first to see it.

I loved his brutal honesty. We drove away from houses that were just slightly wrong. Our area is one in which you do not need to make a bunch of concessions, just keep looking and the right thing will turn up. We pulled into several driveways only to leave. (Too close to the interstate. etc.) He never tried to push us into anything by minimizing our wants to mesh with what was available ("Oh, the small backyard isn't what you were looking for, but the hardwood floors are great!").

He was great at seeing things we'd miss. One house was empty and looked just great. But, then he started walking around and laying out imaginary furniture. The living room had some serious layout flaws in that there was no good place for TV/couch/etc. He was also good at seeing thru bad decor or exceedingly good decor. He could like a room even with horrible paint and an ugly wallpaper border, and reassure you that for about $50 it could be fixed. Alternatively, some houses were decorated so nice w/ stuff that would be moving out with the current owners, that they somewhat blinded you to the actual house.

Even though he generally dealt with different (more expensive) neighborhoods, he did his homework on our future area and knew about schools, etc. He never made us feel lowly either.

When the house was turned over to us, the previous owners accidentally locked us out. There were two different locks on the front door, but we had only been given one key. We called him, on a Sunday. He was in California drinking on the beach but still called around and had a locksmith go open it up for us.

I think that his cell phone was pretty much attached to his head 24/7.

He knew lots of related people/companies - mortgage brokers, insurance agents, inspectors, handymen, the above mentioned locksmith. After we moved in, if we needed something house related, we'd call him and he'd have advice.

He sent us a nice Pottery Barn gift cert after some friends used him upon our recommendation.

Agents I didn't like -
We looked at a couple houses alone with the listing agent. They were way too pushy. Leaving us new fliers at our apartment door (creeped me out!), calling with houses that were way outside what we were looking for. Agents that generally had that stereotypical salesman "ick". Agents that pretty much gave you the a vibe that said, "Just hurry up and buy something".

[Dcclerk]

Ethics are a big deal to me, too. I guess the good thing is that I tend to see a lot of that now, so I know how to deal with it!

Do you mind telling me more about what suggestions she gave regarding what you "didn't have to do"?

[wagner36]

Our agent knew a TON about older homes and home remodeling/repair, which was the reason why we chose him. We'd seen him at 4-5 open houses when we were looking (for about 1.5 years before we got serious), and were always incredibly impressed by his knowledge about piping, furnaces, historical features, etc. We live in an area that is almost all older homes (1890's-1920's), so it was very useful to us.

Maybe that wouldn't apply to you because you're in an area with newer homes, but I think a solid knowledge of construction is very important.

[Dcclerk]

Larissa, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough answer. I really appreciate your specific examples, and how much you thought about your answer.

You raise some really interesting ideas that I had not considered. Initially, I know I will need to join up with one of the local agencies. But, in the long-run, I would love to have my own brokerage. The idea of having discount services for clients is a very good one. I'm pretty sure that it is not done very much here, at least not in a meaningful way, so that is a great idea to work on.

I also know first hand that being shown a property that doesn't quite fit with what you THOUGHT you wanted, may turn out to be the right home. It's a fine line, though, of not wasting time, but showing alternatives.

This is the #1 thing that stuck out to me... "Finally, she knows when to walk away from difficult clients and when to push on/seek advice. This is so important for your sanity and your future business." I have considered that same issue in specific instances, but I like to read about it in a more general manner. She is clearly a smart business woman.

I suspect I will have more questions, so I probably will take you up on your offer, if you don't mind.

[Dcclerk]

I really like your point about "warning signs." My DH and FIL are great with that stuff, so I think that it would be really helpful to have them give me a tutorial. I already can use "flashing" and "underlayment" correctly, so I figure I am at least partly on my way.

[Karenn]

I liked that she was experienced and knew the business.

I liked that she or one of her team was almost always available to show us a house on our schedule.

I didn't like the fact that she was too busy a lot of the time and often didn't return calls.

I didn't like the fact that she didn't seem to devote a lot of thought to what to do when our house wasn't selling in a hot real estate market. I always seemed to be the one making suggestions.

I didn't like the fact that she often wouldn't give a straight answer and seemed to like to try to tell us what she thought we wanted to hear. (It's OK if we need to drop the price on the house, we just need to *know* that!)

I didn't like the fact that she and her team members were often late.

I didn't like the fact that only 1/2 of her team was competent. The other two weren't able to help us with negotiation strategies or market trend information. I guess honestly, I didn't like the "team" approach.

I didn't like the fact that most of the contractors she recommended were incompetent to some degree. (House inspector, foundation inspector/contractor, electrician)

I didn't like the fact that she (or her team) dropped the ball on a lot of smaller details (open house scheduling snafus, inspection scheduling issues, etc.)

Thanks so much for asking. I've been needing to vent about her for awhile. :) DH and I actually burned her business card when our house finally closed. }( Hopefully we won't have to go through this again for another 20 years!

[Dcclerk]

Yikes. The bad and ugly really was ugly, wasn't it?

What I am reading in your summary is just how key communication is: 1) Respond promptly,
2) Keep private and confidential those things that are supposed to be confidential,
3) Keep in clear contact with the others with whom you work, and
4) Be honest about what you know and don't know.

This part honestly did make me laugh aloud, though...

"As far as I know, she's still looking for them"

[Piglet]

Not answering your question directly, but my dad is real estate agent and has been for 20 years now. He also went into it as a career change and had many many great years. He originally worked VERY long hours and I hardly saw him on evenings and weekends (since most people want to look at houses in the hours when they are not working). The good news was that he was always home when I came home from school once he was well-established. The problem is that the business is SO much different now than it was 20 years ago, and not in a good way. It is MUCH more cut throat and my dad is too nice for the business these days. Everyone has access to the internet and realtors no longer have a monopoly on house info. There are now so many realtors in our city and not enough sellers/buyers?! My dad is pretty close to calling it quits, it is so bad here. I am not writing to be a spoilsport, but I see how frustrated my dad is these days and I would do a lot of research on your housing economy before considering a career change. Also bear in mind that the economy can change so quickly and technology can have a big negative impact as well - we can access all MLS listings from our home computer and can see prices, sizes, etc. of every home we might be interested in. If my dad could do it all again, he would consider becoming a mortgage broker - similar people skills, but less cut-throat.

Good luck,

[kellyotn]

>Also bear in mind that the economy can change
>so quickly and technology can have a big negative impact as
>well - we can access all MLS listings from our home computer
>and can see prices, sizes, etc. of every home we might be
>interested in. If my dad could do it all again, he would
>consider becoming a mortgage broker - similar people skills,
>but less cut-throat.

That's a good point. There is a large amount of FSBO's (For Sale By Owner) where I live. Some people will probably always use an agent, but more and more people are choosing to skip them. The trend is huge here anyways.

We also adored our Mortgage Broker! She keeps a master database of her customers and their rates and calls them when it would be a good time to refinance. She was great!

[pb&j]

Okay, I've had several realtors over the course of the past several years. First one, I liked her cause she wasn't pushy. I knew what I wanted, and the neighborhood where I wanted to be, and she didn't attempt to take me anywhere else, or show me any properties that were outside of my strict parameters. We found my condo very quickly, so I was quite happy.

Second one, when DH and I bought a house together. She was a friend of the family. We were both coming from out of town to view properties and she never previewed anything, and often took us to properties that bore no resemblence to our specific needs and wants (i.e., taking us to townhouses when we only wanted single family). As a result, there was a lot of time wasted - we really didn't want to be spending our days off driving 2 hours to go look at properties that were obviously not going to work. But we did. It ended up that *we* found the house that we eventually bought, and only brought her in to do the paperwork (it was a FSBO). I don't know what she said/did to our very nice and accomodating sellers, but by closing, she had managed to royally piss them off. After we moved in, she stopped by just for a social call, to give us a small housewarming gift, and then kind of pooh-poohed this house that we loved. She kept saying, "As long as you're happy that's what matters" in this way that obviously meant, what a dump.

Third one, when I sold my single girl condo. This guy was the PERFECT realtor. I love him. I wish that he were local to me now. First, he was VERY responsive. If I called and left a message, I got a call back promptly, within a couple hours at the most. At the time I was selling the condo, I wasn't living in it (my sister was) and had some maintenance issues that I couldn't take care of from a distance. He actually came over and fixed a few things himself! I was also traveling constantly for work at the time, and he was amazing about faxing things to hotels at odd hours for me to sign and fax back. And, bless him, after closing, he FedExed me a packet of clean (non-faxed) copies of every piece of paper in a very organized little bundle. He didn't speak "realtor," didn't beat around the bush, talked to me straight, and gave great advice. He was sharp as a tack, and very personable. Checked in daily when things were happening fast, and at least a couple times a week when they weren't.

Fourth one, when DH and I sold our "starter" home. This guy sucked. Had bad grammar and bad phone manners. Horrible, really. Didn't return calls promptly. Couldn't figure out why we didn't answer our home phone during the day after repeatedly asking him to call our cellphones during hours when we might (gasp) be at our jobs. We were originally going to put our house on the market in April, and then about a week prior, we had to push that date back when we found out our new house was going to be very delayed. We asked him to please be prepared to list our house ASAP as soon as we got the word. He wasn't. I wrote the house description myself. DH took the pictures. The realtor made crappy brochures. He rarely came by to check the sign in sheet. We ran out of crappy brochures. I constantly had to pester him to get feedback. He convinced me to overprice the house, against my objections, and then we had to reduce the price within just a few weeks. He scheduled an open house, and then had another (crappy) realtor do it for him. He scheduled another open house and showed up late, and had no brochures. Both times we again had to pester him for feedback. He did not advertise our house in any local publications. He would not call or stop by for weeks at a time. We felt like we would have sold the house more quickly at a better price had we done it ourselves. We were literally on our way to a meeting with him to fire him when he showed up with an offer in hand. Then he missed the closing. And we haven't heard from him since. No, "thanks for the commission, guys" or "I hope everything went well with the closing." And last time we stopped by the house, 1 month after closing, he'd never picked up his sign, and the lockbox was still on the door. Moron.

And then there's the realtor who works for (and is married to) the builder we're buying our new house from. We like her a lot. She's a straight-talker, no realtor-speak, very ethical. Very efficient. Returns calls promptly. We haven't dealt with her a whole lot, but we certainly like her, and would consider using again.

So that's my novel! HTH, and I wish you the best of luck in real estate!


-Ry,
mom to Emma, stillborn 11/04/04
and Max, edd 01/15/06 - it's a HEALTHY BOY!

http://lilypie.com/days/060115/3/25/1/-5/.png[/img] ([img)

[Dcclerk]

I live in an area that ranges with homes from the 1920's (our house) to brand new. I think that whatever the age of the home, knowing the bones and the appropriate terminology is important. I definitely will need to get up to speed on piping, furnaces, etc. We love to do renovations on our own homes, but I know I need to learn about it generally. Thanks for that reminder!

[Dcclerk]

Venting sure does sound appropriate here. I'm glad that you are at a place that you want to stay for a very long time!

I'm glad you highlighted the point about her referrals being incompetent. It's a good reminder that a referral does you know good, if the service provided is not good.

You also raise a good point about the team approach. I go back and forth as to whether I want to try to do something with a team or not. Thanks for identifying your problems with the varied abilities of the team members.

[tiapam]

Our buyer's realtor was pretty good. She gave us a little glass window decoration when we closed. She also sent us a wreath in the fall, even though we had closed in June. I thought it was nice that she was still appreciative of our business. She sends a hello card every once in a while (but not too often), which means she wants our business next time. Hopefully, we will be remodeling so we won't need her, but I probably would use her again. The one thing I did not like was that she was bashing the home inspector we chose. I think she was afraid he was going to ruin the sale. She did know the area very well and was very well established. We actually interviewed her and another realtor and she said we were the only ones who had ever done that. I was surprised. Also, I don't know how much this is still done, but we did not need to sign any contracts or anything.

-Pam

Charlotte born October 2004

[Dcclerk]

Thank you both for helping me think outside of what I initially presented. I appreciate any suggestions like that.

I have to confess, though, that I've thought about the whole mortgage broker thing, but stopped pretty quickly ...

I'm not great with numbers at all, and one of our dear friends is a mortgage broker. :) I don't want to horn in on his business, and, in fact, I'm hoping he will send me some referrals!

[Dcclerk]

You definitely do have experience! Your "novel" definitely does help. Your perfect realtor does sound like a perfect realtor. I am definitely going to copy the way he sent you a neat package of all of your documents. That is a great, and very helpful, idea.

Your last one sounds like a doozy. In fact, he almost sounds like a caricature of what not to do. I find the horror stories just as helpful as the praises, though. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Dcclerk]

Yikes-- I just saw that I hadn't replied to you. I'm sorry!

Thank you so much for being the first to reply to my post. I really appreciate the been-there, done-that advice. The evenings and weekends are ok now because my DH will be home and the kids go to bed early. I hope to get to a point where I won't need to work on the weekends as much when they get older and have sports.

I will take you up on your offer to answer some questions, if you don't mind. I will probably pm you later this week.

[Dcclerk]

I am really glad that you highlighted the need to be friendly with your "competitors" in other offices. That is something that I will definitely focus on when I am getting established and interviewing at firms.

I also am glad to hear that you appreciated him describing how things could/would look without the staging of the furniture. I love to try to figure out what else could be done with a house, so I'm glad to hear that it can be appreciated.

I like to hear that he made you feel like a valued client. That is the impression I will want to impart, too.

[Dcclerk]

Thank you for the wreath suggestion. I had already planned to send a thank-you gift around the time of the closing, but I really think that it is a good idea to do a follow-up thank you months down the line. That is a great idea.

My impression is that as a buyer's agent, you often do not sign contracts, but as a seller's agent, you must. I will follow-up on that, though, and see if I am wrong.

[HGraceMom]

Our most recent buyers agent / realtor worked in a very specific area of town, which I felt was one of his biggest strengths. He didn't try to know everything about everywhere in the metro area, and was willing to admit that.
We had a pretty specific price range to stay in, but he knew the market well enough to know that the home we eventually purchased, though listed at about $65k over our high limit really was in our price range b/c of the condition of the home, time on market, and other basic seller motivation issues. He was aggressive as our agent, which worked out perfectly in our favor. Our very low-ball offer was accepted with minimal increases on our end - and now we live in the (almost) home of my dreams. He worked in residential rennovations (investing on his own) and saw the potential in our home even before we got the "vision" ourselves.

I probably didn't explain that very well... but definitely wish you good luck as you make your career switch!

[kimbe]

We LOVED our real estate agent. She was not only someone that sold us our home, but she BECAME our friend through the process. She really cared about us and that mattered so much.

This is our first home so we had no idea what we were doing. Our REA was so patient with us through the entire process. I know that she was not 'supposed' to do a lot of the things that she did for us, we we are very grateful that she did. She NEVER showed us a house that was out of our range. We told her our limit and she always suggested houses that were under that limit...in other words, she didn't try to get us to buy a house we couldn't afford so that she could make a few more bucks. When she would walk us through a house, she would point out the things that she liked and didn't like. She wanted to make sure that we "saw" the house and just didn't walk through like too little dreamers. She pointed out things that could be changed and things that couldn't be. She pointed out when a room had big furniture too...that was helpful.

I know for a fact that she isn't allowed to do this, but she stopped us from buying a house that she knew that we didn't want. We just wanted a house and one came on the market that we were going to settle for. Among other comments, she told us that maybe we should take a day or two think about it to make sure that we wanted it. When we decided that indeed, it wasn't for us she told us that she wouldn't have let us put an offer in anyway.

We had a rough closing. The sellers tried to screw us big time and our REA fought for us MORE THAN OUR LAWYER!

She also showed us properties when it was convient for us --- including evenings and weekends! That was so great.

Sorry so long! I could go on too! We just really loved (and still love) her!

HTH!

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

You may want to take a looking at the buying and selling homes forum at That Homesite.com. Constantly discussing real estate and realtors there.

Susan

#1 Nick 11-18-04
#2 ETA 05-22-06

[amp]

We loved our RE Agent and will use her again if possible in the future. I've also recommended her to others.

In addition to personability, or friendliness, which is a given, there were a couple of other things that really helped.

She showed us houses that were within the range we requested. No showing houses just out of our reach in hope of making a sale, and no reverting to what we were "approved for", which we felt was out of our reach. She honored our request.

She found a tactful and legal way to agree with us about the area of town we were looking at. If we asked a question or if she thought she should steer us elsewhere, she used our own quotes or terminology to steer us where she thought we'd want to be, without going against the rules by giving us info indicating a bad neighborhood. This really made me feel we could trust her to keep us on the right track and not just the money/sale track.

She seemed to glean, very quickly, what we didn't want and would guide us right out of a house where she didn't think we would get our money's worth or wouldn't be happy.

That said, she was a buyer's agent and we paid for that service, so that helped too.
'
I really just needed to feel like a "friend" rather than a money paying customer, iykwim. I couldn't trust her if I felt she was just seeing us as a sale!

[bostonsmama]

I just wanted to respond to Marina's point about her dad. It really is so true that when a market turns and it's a buyers market (or maybe even a seller's market), consumers really don't want to hand over that 3-6% commission fee. It's all about "selling" and reassuring your client that the fee is going to good use. And once you do that, there's usually no problem getting them to sign a buyer-broker agreement. That basically locks them in legally from using you to find houses and then contacting the seller on their own to buy the house sans commission. In the early days, my mom was very "kind" and would fax people listings from the REIN MLS database and they would never call back. Now, her company has a great website where consumers can look at houses available within that real estate company to get an idea of "what's out there" and then come to her with more specific requests (proposing then to do a showing and bringing along the contract). It is really just so important to protect your own interests b/c you could do a whole lot of work for nothing (Yeah, it can happen anyway, but when you get more experienced at reading people's intentions, you'll save yourself a lot of work).

Anyways... I've really been impressed by your communication skills and intelligent, balanced personality. I really think you have great listening and interaction skills....as evidenced by your "if I'm hearing you right you're saying..." statements. That is so cool. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. Sounds like you're going to do great!

***Larissa-rissa-lo-lissa, Banana-fanna-bo-bissa, me-mi-mo-missa....Larissa***

Hey....just trying to recapture my youth.

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
- James Baldwin

[pritchettzoo]

Definitely do NOT change the dates on a listing contract with 2 attorneys when they're firing you and expect them not to notice. ;)

Oh, I could go on...but none of it would be anything that would ever cross your mind to do!

As far as selling houses:
-I think taking the picture and getting the listing with picture in the system ASAP is important. Email them and show them the listing so they know it's in there and they can check for errors, etc.
-Update them when you show the house or when the house is shown. Feedback from the people who see the house is helpful. If they're email savvy, that's a good way to do it without being invasive AND you can keep track of it in a CYA kind of mindset.

For clients buying houses:
-The gift is nice. Our last real estate agent gave us a pen. One of those cheesy plastic ones. We were like WTF? I mean, just don't give anything. He actually said, "I have a little gift for you." We each got one, so maybe he was feeling generous. Anyway, my mom did a couple gift baskets for a real estate friend of hers, and they were fantastic. She included cleaning wipes, tape, a big fat marker, a box cutter, a little kit with all kinds of nails and picture hanging doohickeys, a bottle of wine...I can't remember what all was in there, but it was so useful!
-Don't be offended if they don't want to see the inside of the house. Our agent got a little attitude on him when we didn't want to see stuff. The house we wound up buying was one we drove past and wanted to stop at on our own.
-Have contact information for reputable painters, repair people, roofers, etc.
-Make a list of contact information for utilities in the area. We did that for our house we sold, and the buyer was so appreciative of having it all in one place.

Good luck with your career change. I hope your trial went well, but I guess that's what helped with the decision.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03) and Eli (July '05)

[alexsmommy]

Ditto - but we had a different agent from the same office so not shocking. I also think the agency overall is important - are all of the agents in the office aware of the need to be "friendly" with other agency agents? Or did someone leave a bad taste in someone's mouth and now no one wants to give anyone from that office info? If your agent goes on vacation - who is covering? Are they good? We wound up making an offer on a home during the three days our agent was gone. Her coverage was excellent - and helped me go through and look at what it would take to put the addition on we hope to someday. We used our agent because when we looked for our current home four years ago - she helped us figure out how to deal with FSBO TWICE (two offers) - meaning she got no commission. She didn't even blink and after she realized we were freaked out she sat on the phone with me helping me fill in a contract. I never forgot this and have referred several people to her. Now that we just bought a larger home she once again had to take a reduced commission (owner knew us and we were on an exemption list for reduced commision.) She never acted like it was any issue at all. She worked hard to get us a good deal on both our current home and the new one. She definately told us when we should walk from negotiations. She would walk in a home and say things like, "Nice, but for the money its not enough of an upgrade." This helped us think about long term options. When it looked like our house might not sell this fall she was positive, upbeat and never pressured us - instead she really listed all of our options and told us what she would do if it were her. She understands that even though she didn't make the maximum amount from us, I will send her business over and over b/c she worked so hard for us.
Alaina
Alex 2-4-03

[kellyotn]

>-Make a list of contact information for utilities in the area.
>We did that for our house we sold, and the buyer was so
>appreciative of having it all in one place.


Ohhh! Ours did that too! It was so nice. Also thrown in were a few odds and ends - Chinese takeout and pizza (oh so necessary for those first couple nights!), chiropractors, closest hardware stores, schools, city offices, etc. :-) It stayed on the fridge for a long time!

[mskitty]

We had a great real estate agent when we bought our house... She sat down with us several times before we ever looked at a house, established a realistic time frame, made sure we were preapproved, found out what days/times were convenient for us, established "have to have" vs "would like" features, and returned calls promptly. She was incredibly honest telling us up front that she had other clients who were higher priority($$$) and we would be dealing with one of her coworkers/new agent on occasion as we were looking for a house under $100k. She spent four Saturday mornings with us and did several weekday tours of houses the afternoon they came on the market 'cause good houses priced cheap don't last long. She was so good she now is retired from active selling after 25+ years and only mentors new agents. A relative recommended her so word of mouth is important.

Things that annoy me about agents.
1. Sending me a mailer every month is not going to get my business and I've never seen one of your signs in my 'hood. Bleah.
2. Be willing to show FSBOs, distressed properties, etc. Not everyone is looking for "pretty" houses.
3. Its sad when you have to teach a so called agent about things and you've only bought one house. See #7 below. Know what you should and admit when you don't.
4. Be respectful of everyone who is looking at the house... you can never tell who actually writes the checks in the family.
5. Don't be too "proud" of your showings. We had an agent call us up and loudly tell us how insulting our low offer was.. ummm, shouldn't you counteroffer? Or at least be realistic that a house that can't fit a queen bed in any of the bedrooms and no garage is really worth much?
6. Our agent always spent an hour setting up appointments and made sure we were the first or one of the first to see the properties on Saturday mornings... four offers went in on the house we bought out of an estate in just over an hour. One of the office staff had the contract ready to sign by the time we reached her office and she sent it to the listing agent down the hall less than five minutes after being back to her office. Since we saw it first, put in the first contract and put a "you must complete negotiations with us first before any other offers" type clause, we got it. :)
7. Be respectful of people shopping on short timeframes. One of my friends was given 72 hours to move and buy a house. We had ten hours to buy a house and the agent showed NOTHING either of us considered acceptable. We forced her to stop at a FSBO which was the cutest rehab you'd ever done seen in a redeveloping 'hood. Really... who puts JennAires and a three tiered deck in a 80k two bedroom house... but we would have never seen it, made an offer and my friend bought it unless we told her to stop. And then she acted like she was doing up a huge favor to stay past 4pm on a Saturday to actually apply for the mortgage, fill out paperwork, etc. Hello, I thought you were an agent and that was your job! Needless to say my friend who was coming in as a manager of over 100 people in her new job told everyone not to use her or her office. She moved with her job two years later and sold the house to the first person her agent showed it to. He then made sure everything was properly maintained in the house before closing as she was already out of town. Busy professionals are more than willing to pay the price for good servce.

Little things can make a huge differnce. I would pay for the expertise of an agent if I actually received benefits. Too many of my friends have stumbled upon crappy agents....not worth the time or money. Offer value in your service to customers and you will succeed.


MsKitty

[Dcclerk]

It sounds like you had a great experience. Thank you for that insight. It isn't enough to put in your $$$ limits on the MLS search; you need to know what properties are over-priced (and underpriced, too). My goal is to someday invest in real estate, too; I can see how that would be helpful to show the potential of a house.

[Dcclerk]

What a great situation-- to work so well together that you become friends. I generally note things that can be changed, but rarely note those that can't. Thanks for pointing out how that would help.

It sounds like you could really tell that she had your best interest at heart, even if that didn't make her the most money. I like that.

If you have a chance, I would love to hear about how the sellers tried to screw you, and what she did. I figure that the more war stories I hear, the more I can learn...

[Dcclerk]

Thank you for that reminder! I loved that website when we were doing our kitchen remodel, but I totally forgot that they had a buying and selling homes forum. I will go check it out right away...

[Dcclerk]

>She found a tactful and legal way to agree with us about the
>area of town we were looking at. If we asked a question or if
>she thought she should steer us elsewhere, she used our own
>quotes or terminology to steer us where she thought we'd want
>to be, without going against the rules by giving us info
>indicating a bad neighborhood.

That is really helpful to learn, Andrea. Specific examples of how she showed you that she was looking out for you are so helpful. I am sure you have quite a bit going on right now in your life, so I really appreciate you taking the time to respond so insightfully!

[Dcclerk]

Thanks tons, Anna. (Trial is still ongoing, believe it or not, but we should be done next week. It's going fine. In fact, the other side hasn't won a substative ruling, yet. But, at the end of the day, I don't like it, so although I am happy for our client so far, it confirms what I already know: I went into the wrong profession.)

I truly do love to hear the horror stories, because they give me hope that I can actually succeed! I honestly laughed aloud about your listing agent and your wonderful pens.

Your basket idea is a great one. I love that it is personal, very appropriate for the task, and will be used often (and thus, hopefully remind people of the agent). Genius!

Good thought on the email regarding showings. I particularly appreciate your thoughts re CYA. I like that legal mind ;)

When we moved, I kept thinking how much I needed a utility check list, so that is a fantastic idea.

So much to do...

[Dcclerk]

You brought a very interesting perspective. I would not have thought that anyone would like to be told that they are not first in priority; thank you for sharing the other side, and why. It does solidify the general theme that agents should be scrupulously honest, even if that isn't what you think a buyer will want to hear.

#7 is a good life lesson. You definitely never know who you are dealing with.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

[kijip]

Toby's fave song right now is the name game song (bannana fanna etc...). It's kinda on the brain!

[Dcclerk]

Alaina, thank you for your long-term perspective. I know that it is the right way to go, but it is always nice to have confirmed that some initial time invested, even if there is no sale, ends up being the right call down the line.

It is also helpful to learn that you really liked her to give you her own opinion. Specific words are so helpful to read, because it really does make me realize what sticks with you and what doesn't. Thanks for your insights.

[kimbe]

I am glad that my post helped.

Ah the sellers! They were such jerks. We didn't realized exactly what they were doing until we got to the closing.

Basically, they put their house on the market before they found a house. We saw and put an offer in on the house the first day that it was actually on the market. (Our RA got a tip and found out about it before it was even on.) They accepted. (Contract said that we would close in about 30 days or sooner and they agreed.) We were preapproved for our mortgage so we went ahead with everything. We did the home inspection 5 days after the contract and things were going well. Then all of a sudden there was a 1 week fiasco where there was some discrepency about the acreage. Well, the sellers reversed the numbers (1.2 to 2.1) and the lawyer had to figure that out. (It was NO accident either.) Then, we stalled again because of the appraisal. The appraiser said he couldn't get in touch with the sellers and the sellers said that they hadn't received any contact. (We found out later that it was just them dragging their feet again.) Finally, we set a closing date. (It was a Friday.) Well, "something" happened and the moving company and the moved closing to Wednesday. THEN the moving truck BROKE DOWN on the way to pack up their crap so they moved the date again until Friday. We thought, for sure that that would be the day. We talked to our landlord, canceled our lease for the next Monday, got a truck, (out of town) friends/family came to help us move etc. We were supposed to close at 9am. NOPE Then we were going to close at 2pm. NOPE Finally we go to do a walk through at 4pm. They were still moving out! We had to be at the law firm at 5pm to close. So RE and us were not satisfied with the "walk through" while the movers will still moving things out.

We get to the law firm and we wanted to hold our closing check until we could walk through the house and make sure that the movers did no damage. They say --- well, maybe we will just close on Monday. That wasn't going to fly so we had to fight tooth and nail to get what we wanted.

Turned out they were having problems finding a house. There was no where in the contract that said "we can't take possession until they found a house," so they just tried to drag their feet until they found one. Then we found out that they needed to close on the sale the same day that the closed on their new house because they needed the money. That is why they kept pushing the closing date. I just can't believe that they lied. Had they told us that this was going on, we may have been understanding. Their RA was a joke. All she kept saying during the riff raff was "moving is very stressful and unpredictable." WHAT? Give me a break.

Wow, it doesn't seem as crazy when I read it written down, but it was definitley the most awful experience of our lives. Our RA was so upset and insisted that most closings are simple and easy. She said that they were the worst people that she'd ever worked with. It was so bad that if we had not been renting, we would have said screw it and ate the $1000 deposit and the closing fees on the house. (That is how unreasonable, unbearable and wicked those people were.)

Sorry that was so long. If you need any clarification or more info, please feel free to pm me! :)

HTH

[hellosmiletoday]

You mentioned something about a "buyer-broker agreement."
>That
>basically locks them in legally from using you to find houses
>and then contacting the seller on their own to buy the house
>sans commission.

When we went house shopping, we had only a few days to buy a house. We really liked our realtor, and they did a good job...but the house we ended up liking the most was a fsbo. It was such a horrible and awkward situation for us. We had found the fsbo ourselves, but mentioned it to our realtor and we saw it with them again. We were given the contract you mentioned, but in our rush and inexperience, we never read it and the realtor never explained it fully. We did not know if the sellers would pay for the commission or not, and if they wouldn't, then our realtor wanted the commission out of pocket. We ended up working directly with the sellers...they were a kind christian couple and everything went smoothly, but I still have regrets. I really wanted to reward the realtor for the hard work, but then again, I didn't want to leave the city emptyhanded and have to rent (b/c there was no other house we liked).

FSBO put buyers, especially inexperienced and low income ones, in the most uncomfortable position. I'd love to get some advice on how realtors deal with them. After buying the house, I've heard alot of stories about how nice realtors would either lower their commission or tell them that it would be totally okay if they went on their own (or recommended the sellers pursue it on their own). Should the realtor have been more accomodating in our situation...we are a young couple just starting out, they were established with lots of money.

I really would have liked to recommend the realtor to others or use them to sell our house, but b/c of that "drama" when looking for our house, it is probably not a good idea?

I guess I'm not really helping in terms of advice! I think we need advice:)

[bostonsmama]

I think in the real estate community there's sort of a gentle disdain for FSBOs. Many will quietly snub or pass them by b/c it is precisely the type of situation you mentioned that leaves agents empty-handed. But personally, I don't blame you a bit...I would have a hard time not doing what you did, even if it's ethically questionable. I bet the agent could have legally pursued it further since you signed the bba, but if she was new or not aggressive, she probably let you go on to greener pastures than have you telling Channel 5 News what a vindictive realtor she was (and then NO ONE would use her). When new clients come to my mom and they are particularly interested in FSBOs, she says she can represent them, but that offers are often accepted from buyers without agents to avoid the commission, unless you're offering cash, closing costs or $$$ over appraisal.

If I were you, I'd send her a referral to the agent when you find one, but wouldn't go to any great lengths to tell the agent it was you. It's the nice thing to do, and if the agent gets a sale b/c of it, it will seriously relieve your conscience.

Anyways...if I were in your shoes, I'd have a hard time not doing exactly what you did....even though my mother gives me evil looks every time I tell her I don't want to list my house with her and do a FSBO.

Larissa
who is getting into the holidy mood

***Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey!***

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to

[hellosmiletoday]

Actually we did not sign the 'bba'. We didn't read it until we decided on the fsbo. Up to that point, we were under the impression that the seller usually pays the buyer commission.

The bba seems to be a state specific thing. We never purchased a house in FL, but did look at some townhouses...the realtor we worked with never had us sign any agreement, nor did she even give us any contract...one of the reasons why we didnt pay much attention to the bba...we didn't even realize it was a real legal binding document. In fact, she pretty much advised us NOT to buy b/c of the short time we would be living and the little money we had. It was good advice, and our move out of FL could have been so much more stressful if we would have had to worry about selling a house with a baby.

And that realtor wasn't well off at all.

We actually were really honest and ethical with our realtor, or at least we tried to be. Like I said, it was such a strange situation that we had no idea what to do.

The sellers of the house we purchased had only lived in the house a year or so...so I suspect fsbo was the ONLY option for them in order to break even. We dont live in one of those "hot" housing markets.

[Calmegja2]

>You mentioned something about a "buyer-broker agreement."
>>That
>>basically locks them in legally from using you to find
>houses
>>and then contacting the seller on their own to buy the house
>>sans commission.

>
>I guess I'm not really helping in terms of advice! I think we
>need advice:)
>
>

******

We had a similiar situation with out last sale and purchase. We were working with a realtor, but she didn't seem to take us seriously. She kept showing us houses that were nearly $100K over what we wanted to spend, and we kept complaining. She kept telling us we could afford it. Well, okay, but we didn't want to buy a house in that range, or in the areas she was showing us.

DH found a house on a random driveby one weekend. We looked at it, tried contacting our realtor, she didn't call us back in a timely fashion, so we made an offer on the house, which was accepted.

We called her and explained, and she was mad, but she had never shown us the house, and it had never been on any of her listings that she gave us.

We told her she could list our current home for sale. She drug her feet, and as a joke, my FIL put a FSBO sign in our yard ( we had been waiting 10 days for her to list our house). We had a call, I staged the house, and we sold it before she could get it all up and running (she came and listed it the afternoon after the showing, we excluded the couple that had looked at prior, and they bought the house).

We felt bad that we had cut out her profits, but we had given her chance after chance, and she failed miserably.

You do the best you can do, I guess. We didn't set out to screw her over, and we didn't try, but we wanted to buy a house and sell ours, and she just didn't take us seriously.

[hez]

We've only bought one house-- never sold any. I liked that our agent was *not* pushy-- she mentioned she had people who'd found a house in a week, and people who'd found a house in a year, and we could take as long as we needed. She took the time to get to know us and after the first trip out looking, nearly *every* house we looked at on the second trip we could have bought happily. She even made sure to check that there were no back yard neighbors as that was a non-negotiable point for us. She was excellent in shepherding (sp?) us through the process.

The selling agent was not my favorite. She misrepresented that there was a fenced-in backyard (the neighbors have one), and it took her so long to get the sign out of our backyard (behind our woods on the road behind our house) that we finally took it down for ourselves after a month. Attention to detail was not her strong point. We know we'd never use her to sell our house in the future.

[bostonsmama]

Okay, I was totally confused...I totally did not get out of the OP that you didn't sign it...just that you were offered to sign it? then read it finally and stopped there? maybe I'm still confused. You didn't pay attention to the bba b/c there wasn't one & she never gave you a contract to sign?

Whatever the case, it doesn't matter. It's true that the seller does pay all the commission fees. But in a sellers market (where there are fewer houses than available buyers) or when you have really hard-up sellers w/ low cash flow, the seller can ask or demand buyers pay all commission fees...or they'll just refuse their offer. When doing a FSBO, it's very common to run that risk, which makes it very unattractive for a buyer to come to a FSBO with a realtor. So, whereas the average commission for selling a home is 6% (3-4% for listing agent and 2-3% for buying agent) all paid by the seller, a FSBO seller hopes to cut that listing fee out AND ideally cut out the buying agent's fee, too. Anyways, I know you know that, i'm just working towards the bba....which is to say that I don't think it's state specific, but in a hot market, it's often not even necessary (houses are bid on in 24 hours & closed 30 days later). Now that my mom's business is steady, she barely asks people to sign it...but it's nice when you're starting out as a realtor.

Oh, btw, most realtors are not well off. Lots of money goes back into advertising, fancy cars to usher clients in, nice wardrobe, nice homes--you're always looking for the next big deal of a dreamhome!--and it's really the rare realtor that makes it big...and it's usually land deals, corporate deals, investors, etc that net lots of money (although the work is hard, hard, hard).

And I believe you when you say you were honest & ethical w/ your realtor. I hope I didn't imply that I thought you weren't...but true, my last post was written with a different understanding.

Larissa
who's gettin in the holiday mood
**Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey!**

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imita

[pl71]

We're on house number 3. I've had one realtor I loved, one I hated, and the other 2 were just okay.

The one I loved...
When my husband and I graduated from college, we took jobs out in CA. My husband contacted this women randomly and talked to her about possibly buying a house. We then decided we wanted to rent for at least a couple years first. She still volunteered to spend a couple days with us driving us to rental townhouses, since she knew the area. She did all the calling and set up showings, everything. She found us a fantastic rental. She was paid nothing for this, just told us that she would have liked someone to treat her kids the same when they just started out.

A couple years later we decided to buy a house and used her, sadly she had a serious health issue come up and so she had someone else in her office help us buy our house. This person was horrible, and we only stuck with her because we loved this other women so much and didn't want to leave her office.

When we sold, we went back to her and she sold our house in 3 days at a huge profit for us. She handled every issue that came up, was very calm, found and arranged for any required repairs, etc. She had contacts for every type of repair needed and was able to get them done quickly. She even would come to our house to meet them and stay there while the work was done if we were at work. We felt like she was on top of everything and we didn't have to worry about the little details.

We still get newsletters and calenders from her, 8 years and 2 houses later.

The one I hated...
She was late to all our appointments, didn't answer her phone, tryed to talk up houses it was obvious we didn't like (wasn't in tune with our tastes at all), and almost delayed our closing by a day because she didn't bother to pick up some of the papers herself she trusted someone else to do it. She struck us as a real air head.

Another I listed as so-so was wonderful at finding me a house. I had 2 days to find a place, we looked at about 20 houses. She gave me her total attention and was great at listening to exactly what I was looking for. We found a great house I would not have found with someone less in tune with me. Her negatives were that she didn't carry a cell phone, and wasn't real on top of paperwork. For example, we had a radon test delayed when we bought the house and it had to be completed with 6 months for the sellers to split the cost of remediation. I forgot and missed the cutoff so I had to pay the entire cost. That realtor I loved would have checked back with us to make sure we remembered to get it done.