[kel3420]

My husband and I are thinking of moving. Two possible places are the Jacksonville area or Sarasota. We have one child still in school, so school rating are very important.

I have been doing tons and tons of research, especially in regards to buying a home. I can and will be very particular with the house that we purchase, since moving is an option that we want to do, not have to do.

I just cannot for the life of me figure out real estate agents. I am one, although I am not currently licensed and haven't been for many years. As I am doing my house search, I email the listing agent and request a listing sheet. The vast majority of the time, I either get ignored, or they send me an email asking to set up an appointment. Is it that hard to email the listing sheet to a prospective client? I live in Chicago, so I can't just hop in the car for a showing, lol. I am not going to sign any buyers agreement with anyone yet. I am very easily narrowing my choices in agents. Wouldn't it be nice if they even knew what I was doing, but they don't seem to care.

I wonder what all these home owners would think if they knew their hired agents were not taking every single opportunity to sell their home. The other thing that simply amazes me, is the total lack of advertising for the homes that are for sale. I go to a popular real estate site, probably the largest one, and perhaps one out of ten listings have photographs or virtual tours associated with them. I don't even bother with those that can't be bothered to take the time to take photos and post them. Those home sellers are losing out on many possible opportunities.

I can't possibly be alone in this. With the large usage of internet possibilites to do the vast majority of research before even talking to an agent or looking at homes, I am so suprised agents are not doing more to promote their listings, ESPECIALLY in this market.

I had one very nice agent, email me and offer to help, no strings attached, exactly what I am looking for, and someone like this would get my business and purchase, but when I gave him my criteria, 4 bedroom, three bath ranch, fenced yard, three car garage, upgraded kitchen, etc., I got 17 listings from him, with only 2 meeting my criteria and all 17 exactly at the high end of my price range. I have no qualms about purchasing a house that doesn't have what I want, if it is at a lesser price and doing what I want with it, but agents, it seems, are only out for the top dollar, not to make the sale. I will find an agent that is willing to work for and with me, and not just out for his own best interest.

Obviously when I get to the point of actually viewing the homes I have already researched then I will sign a buyers agreement with an agent, but so far this is all leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I am tempted to just buy from someone who is selling by owner or build a new house myself.

Thanks for listening to my rant, lol.

PLEASE do not send me emails regarding recommended agents. There seems to be a proliferance of posts like that on this board. Thanks

[Floridasunshine]

I would recommend building your own home, from my experience the last 4 yrs in my area of Tampa Bay. You can get a better deal from a new home started from beginning of subdivison. (Be care of buying inventory because of invertors selling ) The sellers in Florida are greedy. Builders need to sell.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by kel3420

My husband and I are thinking of moving. Two possible places are the Jacksonville area or Sarasota. We have one child still in school, so school rating are very important.

I have been doing tons and tons of research, especially in regards to buying a home. I can and will be very particular with the house that we purchase, since moving is an option that we want to do, not have to do.

I just cannot for the life of me figure out real estate agents. I am one, although I am not currently licensed and haven't been for many years. As I am doing my house search, I email the listing agent and request a listing sheet. The vast majority of the time, I either get ignored, or they send me an email asking to set up an appointment. Is it that hard to email the listing sheet to a prospective client? I live in Chicago, so I can't just hop in the car for a showing, lol. I am not going to sign any buyers agreement with anyone yet. I am very easily narrowing my choices in agents. Wouldn't it be nice if they even knew what I was doing, but they don't seem to care.

I wonder what all these home owners would think if they knew their hired agents were not taking every single opportunity to sell their home. The other thing that simply amazes me, is the total lack of advertising for the homes that are for sale. I go to a popular real estate site, probably the largest one, and perhaps one out of ten listings have photographs or virtual tours associated with them. I don't even bother with those that can't be bothered to take the time to take photos and post them. Those home sellers are losing out on many possible opportunities.

I can't possibly be alone in this. With the large usage of internet possibilites to do the vast majority of research before even talking to an agent or looking at homes, I am so suprised agents are not doing more to promote their listings, ESPECIALLY in this market.

I had one very nice agent, email me and offer to help, no strings attached, exactly what I am looking for, and someone like this would get my business and purchase, but when I gave him my criteria, 4 bedroom, three bath ranch, fenced yard, three car garage, upgraded kitchen, etc., I got 17 listings from him, with only 2 meeting my criteria and all 17 exactly at the high end of my price range. I have no qualms about purchasing a house that doesn't have what I want, if it is at a lesser price and doing what I want with it, but agents, it seems, are only out for the top dollar, not to make the sale. I will find an agent that is willing to work for and with me, and not just out for his own best interest.

Obviously when I get to the point of actually viewing the homes I have already researched then I will sign a buyers agreement with an agent, but so far this is all leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I am tempted to just buy from someone who is selling by owner or build a new house myself.

Thanks for listening to my rant, lol.

There is nothing stopping you from contacting the owner directly. I looked at a property not long ago and contacted the owner who had sold to the current owner. I was wondering why the property was for sale so quickly. He said they guy bought the property to flip and there was a flooding problem in the back two acres that the current owner was made aware of, in fact they called the back acres the swamp. The property was sold for $60,000 and the new buyer put it back on the market right away for $140,000.

Funny the new owner nor the realtor ever made any mention of the so called "swamp". Either way, the owner is the person you are dealing with not the realtor and in most cases they will be more honest. They are not the well practices liars that realtors are. I think realtors make car salesmen look like saints. Just something to think about.

[HIF]

Originally Posted by macguy

There is nothing stopping you from contacting the owner directly. I looked at a property not long ago and contacted the owner who had sold to the current owner. I was wondering why the property was for sale so quickly. He said they guy bought the property to flip and there was a flooding problem in the back two acres that the current owner was made aware of, in fact they called the back acres the swamp. The property was sold for $60,000 and the new buyer put it back on the market right away for $140,000.

Funny the new owner nor the realtor ever made any mention of the so called "swamp". Either way, the owner is the person you are dealing with not the realtor and in most cases they will be more honest. They are not the well practices liars that realtors are. I think realtors make car salesmen look like saints. Just something to think about.

LOL- I once saw a listing for a property that had a "seasonal pond"... which to me spelled m-o-s-q-u-i-t-o-e-s!

[Jammie]

I know exactly what you are saying. We've had the same experience when we asked about a condo and also when we emailed about an apartment. I finally called the gal who manages the apartments and told her I'd sent her a message and was waiting for a response. She said that often times they don't even get the emails when they have their apartments posted on the apartment finding sites. So either she was covering her tracks, OR the emails don't always go through when we email a realtor from a site like realtor.com. I guess from now on I'll just call the number listed and personally speak to someone to find out the info.

[NO1LKME]

Originally Posted by kel3420

My husband and I are thinking of moving. Two possible places are the Jacksonville area or Sarasota. We have one child still in school, so school rating are very important.

I have been doing tons and tons of research, especially in regards to buying a home. I can and will be very particular with the house that we purchase, since moving is an option that we want to do, not have to do.

I just cannot for the life of me figure out real estate agents. I am one, although I am not currently licensed and haven't been for many years. As I am doing my house search, I email the listing agent and request a listing sheet. The vast majority of the time, I either get ignored, or they send me an email asking to set up an appointment. Is it that hard to email the listing sheet to a prospective client? I live in Chicago, so I can't just hop in the car for a showing, lol. I am not going to sign any buyers agreement with anyone yet. I am very easily narrowing my choices in agents. Wouldn't it be nice if they even knew what I was doing, but they don't seem to care.

I wonder what all these home owners would think if they knew their hired agents were not taking every single opportunity to sell their home. The other thing that simply amazes me, is the total lack of advertising for the homes that are for sale. I go to a popular real estate site, probably the largest one, and perhaps one out of ten listings have photographs or virtual tours associated with them. I don't even bother with those that can't be bothered to take the time to take photos and post them. Those home sellers are losing out on many possible opportunities.

I can't possibly be alone in this. With the large usage of internet possibilites to do the vast majority of research before even talking to an agent or looking at homes, I am so suprised agents are not doing more to promote their listings, ESPECIALLY in this market.

I had one very nice agent, email me and offer to help, no strings attached, exactly what I am looking for, and someone like this would get my business and purchase, but when I gave him my criteria, 4 bedroom, three bath ranch, fenced yard, three car garage, upgraded kitchen, etc., I got 17 listings from him, with only 2 meeting my criteria and all 17 exactly at the high end of my price range. I have no qualms about purchasing a house that doesn't have what I want, if it is at a lesser price and doing what I want with it, but agents, it seems, are only out for the top dollar, not to make the sale. I will find an agent that is willing to work for and with me, and not just out for his own best interest.

Obviously when I get to the point of actually viewing the homes I have already researched then I will sign a buyers agreement with an agent, but so far this is all leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I am tempted to just buy from someone who is selling by owner or build a new house myself.

Thanks for listening to my rant, lol.

PLEASE do not send me emails regarding recommended agents. There seems to be a proliferance of posts like that on this board. Thanks

I have one word....AMEN! We moved to Florida in July and in my many many many months of planning this move and talking to realtors, I came to the conclusion as to why none the houses in CFL area is moving. I could not get them to just talk to me, give me general information, or most of the time JUST CALL ME BACK. When they do call back they act like they have zero clue about the property or they only want to show the home on THEIR schedule. I even had a realtor tell me that they did not show homes after 6:00 pm or on weekend.......I was like WTH? When am I supposed to look at it if I work. She told me to do it on my lunch and I asked her had she ever tried to go 22 miles in Orlando in and back 22 miles in an hour and still have time to properly view a home. She was a weiner. Then I had one tell me that I could do a lease purchase on a home if I signed a 1 year lease agreement and gave the owner 10K down. I asked him if the 10K would be held in an interest bearing account so that I could put the interest as well into the down payment. He asked me "WHAT DOWN PAYMENT". I found out the 10K wasn't even going to be used for a down payment but it is what the owner felt like he would be losing because of the year lease. What morons. For there to be tons of empty homes, there sure aren't many realtors or owners that are easy to deal with here. So, I feel your pain.

[NO1LKME]

Originally Posted by macguy

There is nothing stopping you from contacting the owner directly. I looked at a property not long ago and contacted the owner who had sold to the current owner. I was wondering why the property was for sale so quickly. He said they guy bought the property to flip and there was a flooding problem in the back two acres that the current owner was made aware of, in fact they called the back acres the swamp. The property was sold for $60,000 and the new buyer put it back on the market right away for $140,000.

Funny the new owner nor the realtor ever made any mention of the so called "swamp". Either way, the owner is the person you are dealing with not the realtor and in most cases they will be more honest. They are not the well practices liars that realtors are. I think realtors make car salesmen look like saints. Just something to think about.

Hi, can you tell me how I can find out who the owner is of a home if it is advertised through a realtor?

[kel3420]

Thanks so much for the replies, I don't feel like such a loser

If a seller's agent won't return an email or call, it really is too bad for him/her because they would get the full commission, duh. I have no problem finding my own home, getting inspections, hiring a lawyer, etc to cut out the middleman. You would think agents would love getting calls on thier own listings, but it certainly doesn't appear that way. It is as soon as they "get" the listing, do a simple entry on the MLS, they feel their work is done.

20/20 or 60 Minutes just did a show about selling homes. The story was about people selling on their own, but still thru a company, that does the legal work for minimal fees, certainly no where near the average 6% commission most listings have. It was fairly obvious from the story, that this is the wave of the future since so many people do their own research anyway. The agents are just opening the front door for you. Real Estate Agents and Brokers are fighting this new selling method tooth and nail. Kinda reminds of of when everyone booked travel thru an agent. Now the vast majority of people book straight on the internet. I wonder when the real estate people will see the light and start giving better customer service to even get customers much less keep them.

Can anyone recommend home builders in the Jacksonville or Sarasota areas?

[macguy]

Originally Posted by NO1LKME

Hi, can you tell me how I can find out who the owner is of a home if it is advertised through a realtor?

You go to the property appraisers site and use the address to find the property. The owner and sales history will be there. They usually have aerial views as well. If the address does not come up use any portion of it and you will get something then you can match the number. A lot of times leave off things like lane or circle just use the name of the street. You have to be a little bit of a detective but it is not hard with the net. The best pert is being able to see the property.

If you speak to a realtor, get the property number that appears on the appraisers site so you can see it. Another time I looked at a place on the realtor.com and when I pulled up a view of the property I could see next door there was some kind of electrical thing. When I clicked on that property it was a sub station with a zillion wires going right over the property I was looking at. Of course there was never mentioned by the realtor. I am glad I didn't talk the 500 mile drive to see it.

[verobeach]

The realtors here in Florida suck and I shudder to think of the day when we want to sell our house. They don't budge on their 6% commission and they do nothing to earn it. One thing they don't do down here is share listings. Up north, if you go to a... let's say Coldwell Banker site, it will list all the homes in the area, regardless of who's listing it is. It will say, "Courtesy of XYZ Realtor." But down here you have to go from site to site to see the listings or use realtor.com. Frankly for what I've seen down here, they should be getting 2% commissions.