OK, so at the end of each post, I share a "Taste of Wisdom"; a savory little morsel that I hope leaves my readers satiated and entertained. This time, however, I have put my Taste of Wisdom in the front. You'll understand why soon enough.
A Taste of Wisdom:
Nobody wants to learn after they bought a house that their real estate agent was just another sales person looking for a commission. When interviewing a Realtor, it's wise to have a list of questions to help you make your decision. That said, I really do have to laugh a bit. I was just ‘interviewed’ by a prospective
client who, with great intentions, decided to grill me with a canned set of
questions he pulled from About.com. I know for sure he’ll be laughing when he sees this blog. If I didn't know that for sure, I’d have the courtesy to camouflage this tongue-in-cheek posting.
A Taste of Wisdom:
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that a tomato doesn't belong in a fruit salad."
~Miles Kington
Nobody wants to learn after they bought a house that their real estate agent was just another sales person looking for a commission. When interviewing a Realtor, it's wise to have a list of questions to help you make your decision. That said, I really do have to laugh a bit. I was just ‘interviewed’ by a prospective
client who, with great intentions, decided to grill me with a canned set of
questions he pulled from About.com. I know for sure he’ll be laughing when he sees this blog. If I didn't know that for sure, I’d have the courtesy to camouflage this tongue-in-cheek posting.
What can you take away from this post? Remember that the answers you receive from different agents are circumstantial and are based on their unique situations.
Now this post would end up thousands of words long if I posted it in one fell swoop, so I think it’d be best to take it on a bite or two at a time! I'll post more on this topic over the next few days.
Sit back and enjoy!
Now this post would end up thousands of words long if I posted it in one fell swoop, so I think it’d be best to take it on a bite or two at a time! I'll post more on this topic over the next few days.
Sit back and enjoy!
Q1. How Long Have You Been in the Business?
A1. Virtually irrelevant.
A1. Virtually irrelevant.
In a seller’s market like today, a new agent might not yet be equipped to handle on
the spot negotiation, nor will he or she have the reputation that gives listing agents and their sellers the security they are looking for to go into contract. That said, this new agent's mentor/coach might!
In a buyer’s market, anyone with a pulse could close a deal. Effectively and ethically? Of course not, but they’d be closing.
In a buyer’s market, anyone with a pulse could close a deal. Effectively and ethically? Of course not, but they’d be closing.
As a newby, I had the good fortune to be mentored by Macky Hensel who has decades of experience within the real estate industry; with builders, title, lenders, and in resale. She had the care and the sense to stand very closely behind me several years ago to ensure that as a rookie a) my clients were optimally represented, and b) that I learned the lesson of the moment! Really, the question ought not be “How long have you been in the business?” It ought to be, “Could you please explain what makes you an effective buyer’s agent or seller’s agent?”
Q2. What is Your Average List-Price-to-Sales-Price
Ratio?
A2. Huh?
A2. Huh?
This one killed me! First
of all, if an agent knew that number…the
client sure wouldn’t know what it meant. The fact that this was “interview
question” number 2 of 10 on this popular site's list is…well…I'll bite my tongue. This ratio, by
definition, is a function of the list price. The listed price doesn't even guarantee that the sellers…nor the lender…nor the investment group behind the lender will accept an offer at this price! This might sound
ridiculous, but one could argue that a properties list price might as well be completely
erroneous. I can say however, with absolute certainty, that a given property will sell for exactly what the market will support, under that
market condition and that seller’s unique circumstance.
They all do.
Example: I recently saw a property in the Shadow Lakes area of
Brentwood. It was listed at $228,000 and closed nearly $100,000 over. Obviously $228,000 wasn’t market value! Why would a listing agent do that? I’m speculating that the seller needed an immediate offer to keep a property out of auction. Then they received several offers, took the best
one and closed. AND...I could be wrong.
There are many, many
strategies that agents use when choosing a listing price. Personally, I tend to list Short Sales above comps. "But it's a short sale!" Yep! If we get an
offer above what comparable properties sold for, great! If we don’t, we can lower
the asking price and we've proven to the bank that we are ethical, and that our original asking price was too
high. That’s just me. I’m not "right"…and “they” aren’t wrong.
Lets look at homes that have been on the market for 100+ days! In today's real estate market, virtually all of Contra Costa County has an Average Days on Market of +/- 21 days. Many properties go into contract on day 1, and some even have accepted offers on day 0. So if a property sits on the market for 139 days or 268 days, it must be overpriced…right? UNLESS…the seller is in a position to wait for just the right buyer and he or she will only sell if a particular purchase price is reached. In that case, Days on Market doesn’t matter; finding the right buyer does! The idea that somehow, some ridiculous ratio that agents ought to “ strive to achieve” flies in the face of ethics and economics.
More authentic points of view to come!
Until next time, and thank you in advance for remembering me when the topic of real estate arises.
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