So frustrated trying to find a REALTOR!! (home, to buy)

[businessperson]

Originally Posted by Ceefee

Becky is not necessarily desperate for business. Becky is just a good agent. I'd let someone living in a hotel bring the dog along. Why not? Living in a hotel room with children and/or pets is hard! I had to do it when I moved down here. I timed my move so that I'd close the day after arriving, according to the date my mortgage broker gave me. Unhappily, he forgot this and he forgot that and blah blah blah. Days later, I finally closed. I would have been mortified and aplogizing all over the place if I treated a client so casually.

I too have found at least some people down here to be way too casual about business. I've actually been stood up for business meetings on three different ocassions, and they were the ones who needed my business, not vice-versa. When a family is living in a hotel room, in my view, you better get it together and do everything you can to get that family into their home, if for no other reason than human decency. I say cheers to Becky.

Oh, and where's the mention of a charity? Did I miss it?

Yes, you missed it. The buyer demanded that the agent donate 5% of her commission to her (the buyer's not the agent's ) favorite charity. That's my problem with the whole thing. A buyer doesn't pay the commission. They get a free service. They have no right to demand anything financially from the agent. Yes, the agent should give quality service, but that's all they owe the buyer.

[DJShymansky]

That's all we "owe" the Buyer, correct. But since when has "doing the bare minimum" ever earned someone a repeat customer, kudos, or respect? Go above and beyond, it'll never come back to hurt you. As to donating to a charity of my buyer's choosing? *shrug* I've never had one request that I do.

It should never determine who is, or is not, a good agent though. It's just a matter of personality. I know there are some Buyers and Sellers in this world that I will absolutely refuse to work for or with, regardless of how much commission I might make off a sale. In that same vein I'm sure there are some Buyers and Sellers who would absolutely refuse to work with me, regardless of how skilled, knowledgeable, personable and good looking I am.

I guess the request of "I want you to pay 5% of your commission towards my charity" would fall under the "Do I want to work with this person, or not" category. Agreeing or refusing to do so doesn't in any way, impune one's character, ability, or business sense as a Realtor®. It's a personality choice, nothing more. Buyers, Sellers and Realtors can be "choosey" on personality, in fact, I strongly recommend it.

[slumberval]

Businessperson,

I've gone through and read some of your past threads... very little do I see you offer positive encouragement or solutions. If you're looking to work your business on here (which obviously you have very little of because you spend so much time on here) you're going about it the wrong way.

You're so stuck on the 5% donation (which by the way is a TAX DEDUCTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS) you can't see past to the bigger picture. If you were that concerned about it you should have called and asked to work with us and stated your concern for that REQUEST- as you know, everything in real estate and in sales for that matter, is NEGOTIABLE.

Instead of taking the high road, you've taken the low road and trashing the concept on 2 different threads. How do you think this makes you and your real estate business look? If you've got an issue with this concept any further, e-mail me directly and I will give you my personal phone number and we can meet (yes, meet- not this hide behind the computer trashing other people's ideas crap) and we can debate it then.

DJShyMansky-
Bravo to you for GETTING the art of ASKING for what you want. There's a saying in sales, "Some will, some won't, so what" and clearly you get it. Thanks for the support.

[Ceefee]

Just Nancy--you remind me of me! Poor, but helpful. And you are so right about running yourself ragged for folks who don't seem to understand how real estate agents work. I've met quite a few people who think we're on salary and commission. No wonder people think we're greedy!

Does Businessperson have a real estate biz? Sorry for not knowing; I think I must have entered this thread somewhere in the middle.

[businessperson]

Originally Posted by Ceefee

Just Nancy--you remind me of me! Poor, but helpful. And you are so right about running yourself ragged for folks who don't seem to understand how real estate agents work. I've met quite a few people who think we're on salary and commission. No wonder people think we're greedy!

Does Businessperson have a real estate biz? Sorry for not knowing; I think I must have entered this thread somewhere in the middle.

I'm not in general brokerage; I do appraisals. So, I'm not looking for business from anyone and I don't spend that much time online. I think someone is just ticked that I've got the guts to tell them that demanding a donation from a realtor is wrong. They can do what they want, but I still say that they have no more right to expect a donation from their realtor than from their doctor or dentist or children's school teacher or anyone else.

[businessperson]

Originally Posted by slumberval

Businessperson,

I've gone through and read some of your past threads... very little do I see you offer positive encouragement or solutions. If you're looking to work your business on here (which obviously you have very little of because you spend so much time on here) you're going about it the wrong way.

You're so stuck on the 5% donation (which by the way is a TAX DEDUCTION FOR YOUR BUSINESS) you can't see past to the bigger picture. If you were that concerned about it you should have called and asked to work with us and stated your concern for that REQUEST- as you know, everything in real estate and in sales for that matter, is NEGOTIABLE.

Instead of taking the high road, you've taken the low road and trashing the concept on 2 different threads. How do you think this makes you and your real estate business look? If you've got an issue with this concept any further, e-mail me directly and I will give you my personal phone number and we can meet (yes, meet- not this hide behind the computer trashing other people's ideas crap) and we can debate it then.

DJShyMansky-
Bravo to you for GETTING the art of ASKING for what you want. There's a saying in sales, "Some will, some won't, so what" and clearly you get it. Thanks for the support.

I don't have anything to debate with you. You stated your position and I stated mine; that's all there is to it.

[rntmn]

Originally Posted by Disney Dreamer

Do realtors not want to work anymore?

We've been down in South Carolina for almost a year now. We LOVE living here!

We've been renting and had been planning to rent for possibly a two or three years (save up even more money) and then start looking for home/land.

Well, we're ready to start looking now. We didn't know when we rented the place that an intersection of a train is right behind our house and the train lays on the horn at every crossing!! The thing is, it's just a driveway that the train tracks cross not even a road but blow they must and do. The second thing is a drummer for a neighbor. He beats on those drums all hours of the day and night and hearing them through my walls is like chinese torture!!

We're ready to make a purchase!! Here's what we're running into.

We find a piece of property, we get a referal of a realtor from a friend. Take the actual piece of paper w/ the printed out description of the house to said referral. It goes something like this: Walk through the door.
Realtor says, "Can I help you?"
I say, "Yes, we'd like some information on this property and so and so referred us to you. We're ready to buy a home."
Realtor says, "I'm right in the middle of something. May I take this from you and look into it and call you back?"
I say, "Sure. That'd be great. Thanks." And then I leave. Whole interaction takes less than 5 minutes.
Then we NEVER get a call back!

Get tired of that, go to next realtor just walk in from the street.
Can you help us? The story goes, we get a little farther from this agent who is only in it part time. We decide not to go with that house but the realtor seems nice enough we'd be happy to work with her to find a home. But guess what? We call, leave emails. Don't hear back from her again.

Call another realtor on the phone, ask about a property that we found that they have listed, girl says, "I'm right in the middle of something. I'll get that info from you and call you back." Two days go by and STILL NOTHING!!

I just don't GET IT!!!! And it's not like we're demanding, pushy people. Making huge demands. Wanting something for nothing. Making the realtor work like a dog!!! All of our interactions are less than 5 minutes!! We call, ask about a property that we took the time to find and let them know we're interested in purchasing a home. They're always SOOOOOOOO busy and promise a call back but we get NOTHING!!

What would you suggest?? I'm open here. We work at Clemson University and we're looking anywhere from Pickens to Powedersville to Townsville to Anderson. We'd just like a realtor to help us!!

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Why not try to reach real estate investors directly? Send an email to
UpstateCREIA-a@yahoogroups.com about what you want and where you want and watch the replies come back. To learn more about this group go to Upstate Carolina Real Estate Inv.

[rntmn]

Why not try to reach real estate investors directly. Send an email to UpstateCREIA-a@yahoogroups.com and tell what you want and where you want it and watch the replies come in. Go to Upstate Carolina Real Estate Inv
to learn about the group.

[Ceefee]

If you think holding onto a Realtor isn't hard enough, go to an investor. When they're not living on the massive proceeds of a sale, Realtors are living on the hope of a sale. If you have your bank letter and aren't just kicking tires, someone will stick with you.

Investors are MUCH more realsitic. If they see a hint of your not being serious, see ya later! Also, any given investor is not likely to have more than 1 to 3 houses available. And they are not shy in the least about asking if you have the money. if you just want to take a look and don't know how you would finance it, yeah, right. And, let me make the point, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They A) have no illusiuons that they are doing what they do to make money. That's it. It's not about hospitality. And B) they have not only a future check at stake, but a great deal of their own money, and there's no time to fool around with lookers.

One other thing: unless they're investors who buy new construction at a discount, investors buy existing homes at low, low, low prices. Then they fix up. Now think about why a given house may be priced low, low, low. Some investors do a good job fixing up, some just cover up defects. And if they don't have a lot of money to spend on re-hab, here's a choice they may well have to consider: Make it look pretty (that's what will sell the house) or make it sound. So here's some good advice: Get a home inspection done by a qualified home inspector--do NOT rely on the investor's inspection report--it was probably done by a bird-dog, not an inspector.

[mjmom]

I have a great realtor you can reach me at pbadstibner@gmail.com. Send me an email to that address with your information and I will give you the info needed. Look forward to hearing from you.