Charleston areaCharleston - North Charleston - Mt. Pleasant - Summerville - Goose Creek
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Ok so I call up the real estate office that the house is listed with. The pictures on the listing itself are useless, closeup of a kitchen cabinet, small corner of yard, etc. The house had lots of updates like roof, siding, kitchen. I get one of the Realtors on the line (not the actual listing agent) and ask about the house. Here's kind of how the conversation goes:
RE: That house is sold, a while ago.
ME: Well it's a fairly new listing and it's listed as active.
RE: No it's already sold.
ME: Here is the listing # and it's very recent, I'm pretty sure it's active.
RE: Oh here it is, it is active, (then proceeds to read off the information from the same web page that I've
already looked at several times).
ME: I am looking at the same page.
RE: I think it may be a short sale. (1st thing it says on the listing is short sale).
ME: Yes I know, with a negotiator in place.
RE: I'll see if we can can get better pictures since the house is empty.
ME: It says the house has tenants with a lease due in July 2013.
RE: Maybe that's why he couldn't get better pictures.
ME: The house was empty when the pictures were taken.
RE: I can call the listing agent and have him give you a call.
ME: No that's OK I left him a message yesterday, but he didn't get back to me yet.
Clueless. At that point I just gave up. I made it a point however, to remain very polite and nice during the entire conversation and hide any frustration. Maybe it's just me but it this normal? How do they get anything done?
Do they make less money because they get a lower percentage rate on short sales, or just the lower listing prices in general? I get the impression from the pics that are on the listing that maybe the agent is a little inexperienced or something. We are probably one of the few people who find it ideal to have tenants already in place, but we do plan on living there in a few years so I have to like the house. As long as I can see potential for the house I'm good. I have no problem opening up walls to have an open floor plan down the road as long as there is potential for it. I really just want an idea of the floor plan and some better (not so closeup) pictures. The house is on Liberty Ct. We drove through the entire Snee Farm neighborhood in April but I don't remember that particular street. It looks nice on google earth, similar to the neighborhood that I live in now. Some of the newer neighborhoods seem kind of barren looking to me. I love driving in the main entrance road with all the trees and nice landscape and such.
Realtors can potentially make lower commissions on short sales, yes. Short sales generally have a third party reviewing the costs to close the transaction and if there is not enough money in the cache to make the transaction work, lenders can sometimes request/refuse to honor the full amount of commissions negotiated, just as they can any other fees at closing. Not to mention that some agents just do not wish to work with short sales given the tenuous nature of the closing. Short sales can turn into dead deals very quickly, and given how long they take from offer to closing (assuming they get there), or from perceived difficulty/uncertainty with regard to how short sales work, some agents just ignore them completely.
I think what most likely occurred was a duty agent answered the sign call, but had no personal knowledge of the home prior to picking up the phone for his/her office.
Barbara-I actually had a deal last week with the listing agent, and he mentioned he was leaving the next day for three weeks to go on vacation to visit his family in Israel. He was very professional. I hope you make contact with him.
I finally did speak with him and he was fine, but still the first person in the office saying it was sold when it wasn't, well........ and those crummy pictures.
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