Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't go through the agent; set up appointments directly with the listing agents. Cut out (at least one) of the middle men in the process.
Yes, and do not e-mail the agents. Pick up the phone and call them. Many list their cell numbers. It is surprising how fast some homes are selling this year.
I must have given off the wrong impression. I'm spending HOURS each day searching MLSLI and Listingbook and I don't mind it - I'm learning a lot, etc. But what I do mind is, what is the point in me leaving a "comment" on a "favorited house," saying, "Hey, this one was listed yesterday. We'd like to get in to see it some time before the weekend... it looks like just what we're looking for." Then, I get a phone call from him on Thursday or Friday (since he doesn't check our Favorites until Wednesday) and tells me, "This one's gone, this one's gone, this one's gone, etc." What is the point of all my time-sensitive work if it's all just going down the drain.
It's apparent to me that we probably are not paired up with the best agent for us, so I will be exploring options to work with someone else.
I hear you, I had a somewhat similar situation with my agent not being quick enough on some houses. I would say if you agent is unwilling to show you a great house DURING the work week, you should definitely get someone else.
I must have given off the wrong impression. I'm spending HOURS each day searching MLSLI and Listingbook and I don't mind it - I'm learning a lot, etc. But what I do mind is, what is the point in me leaving a "comment" on a "favorited house," saying, "Hey, this one was listed yesterday. We'd like to get in to see it some time before the weekend... it looks like just what we're looking for." Then, I get a phone call from him on Thursday or Friday (since he doesn't check our Favorites until Wednesday) and tells me, "This one's gone, this one's gone, this one's gone, etc." What is the point of all my time-sensitive work if it's all just going down the drain.
It's apparent to me that we probably are not paired up with the best agent for us, so I will be exploring options to work with someone else.
Finding the right home should be a collaborative effort between the buyer and his agent. Given the easy access to information today, it is very common for buyers to select the homes that they want to see. However, after spending some time with the buyers a good agent will have a good idea what they are looking for and should be actively seeking out homes that he thinks would be good for them.
As for your frustration with only being able to get appointments on a few homes out of a dozen, this is probably not your agent's fault. You would be surprised how difficult it is to get appointments to show some houses. This along with the inaccurate information provided by some listing agents make it very difficult sometimes. When there are many homes that the buyer wants to see, there is also the sometimes challenging logistics of setting up the appointments in an order that makes sense and on a schedule that you believe you can keep.
Finding the right home should be a collaborative effort between the buyer and his agent. Given the easy access to information today, it is very common for buyers to select the homes that they want to see. However, after spending some time with the buyers a good agent will have a good idea what they are looking for and should be actively seeking out homes that he thinks would be good for them.
As for your frustration with only being able to get appointments on a few homes out of a dozen, this is probably not your agent's fault. You would be surprised how difficult it is to get appointments to show some houses. This along with the inaccurate information provided by some listing agents make it very difficult sometimes. When there are many homes that the buyer wants to see, there is also the sometimes challenging logistics of setting up the appointments in an order that makes sense and on a schedule that you believe you can keep.
We're pretty much in agreement on the above with regard to working together and of course the logistics of setting up multiple appointments .
However, the way I understood the frustration by the OP, it is the lack of responsiveness and lack of availability of the AGENT that's at issue here more than anything else.
In my opinion you don't need a buyers broker. I didn't use one to find my house and actually think it helped me get such a good price. I offered so far below the asking price that I think a buyers broker would have tried to sway me away from doing that and I would have paid a lot more for the house than I did in the end. Sounds like you are doing most of the work anyway, so why should someone else benefit from that ? Go to open houses and contact the sellers agents yourself to set up a showing.
In my opinion you don't need a buyers broker. I didn't use one to find my house and actually think it helped me get such a good price. I offered so far below the asking price that I think a buyers broker would have tried to sway me away from doing that and I would have paid a lot more for the house than I did in the end. Sounds like you are doing most of the work anyway, so why should someone else benefit from that ? Go to open houses and contact the sellers agents yourself to set up a showing.
So the seller's agent got the 6% commission. If you had a buyers' broker doing the chasing and legwork each would have got 3% commission. So what - no difference to you. Plus you tell the buyer's agent want you want to offer. End of story. Its not like you need any balls to say to the buyer's agent - "thats what I'm offering and thats that".
You can do all the work yourself, sure. And if you're experienced in house buying there is probably not a downside to that, just legwork. But if you've got a fixed price in mind you're not saving any money by not having a buyer's broker.
I explained to him that we work during the week, but if there's something we should see right away, we can make arrangements to do so during the week. There have been a couple of places I even WANTED to see during the week and it seemed like he wasn't available.
Another thing that is critical here, you need to make yourself more available to see these houses during the week. It is getting darker later now so you should maybe start seeing these houses after work rather than waiting till the weekend. Several houses have slipped away from us because they showed the houses on a weekend and we were outbid after other people got to see the house.
These houses will not wait for you and if you see something you like you need to act on it fast. The market is getting better, interest rates will be going up soon and there are a lot of people looking for a home now so that their kids could be in school by the beginning of the school year. To be clear, you need to act fast now. If you see a house email/call your agent and let them know that you see something you like and you would like to see it right away. If they don't get back to you within a few hours with a response then contact the listing agent directly. Don't waste too much time or else your dream home will slip away from your finger tips.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
