Finding the right Real Estate Agent for Relocation (Caldwell, Sussex: foreclosures, townhouse)
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I'm planning on relocating back to NJ from out of state after about 10 years. For about the past month, I've been talking on the phone and online with a real estate agent arranging for her to show me homes when I arrived this weekend. I will only be here this weekend and want to see as much as I can. She arranged to show me around on Friday (today) but a few days before I left for NJ, she cancelled saying she would re-schedule for Saturday and could spend the entire day with me then. I asked her if she had someone else in her office that she worked with who could show me around on Friday then she could take me around on Saturday. Seemed reasonable. Well, I went around today but only saw about 4 houses and was extremely discouraged. I felt like I got nothing accomplished today. We started at about 1:30 then the agent said she wanted to be done by 3:00 and that was it; we were done. At the end of the day, I called my original agent to let her know which houses we looked at and to let her know what I did and didn't like. Well, she initally tells me it's not a good time and she'll have to call me back in 1/2 hour which she does. At that point, when she did call back, she said to me that agents will never show more than 4 houses in a day. I explained to her that I have very limited time - I am only here this weekend and have to head back on Monday so I wanted to see as much as I could while I was here. Since I live so far away, it's very difficult for me to get back here often and I had planned this for a month. She then tells me she will show me some houses on Saturday but she can only go instead for a little while in the morning. I asked about price and maybe getting further away from the area I'm looking in for a bit cheaper prices and larger yards and asked if she could send me some listings on those. She then told me she was in the middle of making dinner right then and couldn't get to it until later tonight. A short time ago she e-mailed four more listings - two of which she'd sent me earlier and we'd discussed why I was not interesteed in seeing them. The other two don't meet my criteria. She then e-mails me about which houses to see on Saturday morning and the ones suggested, she said we could take a real quick look at them but I could be wasting my time. So....here I am. Out of state, in NJ to look at houses and this is not working. She's expecting me tomorrow morning at her office to show me some houses she wants to show me that I'm not all that keen on seeing. I told her I wanted to expand my search into Sussex and Warren but I'm not getting that. I haven't signed anything with her or the other agent she works with so I guess I can easily cancel out of this with her but then I won't be looking at houses tomorrow and that's what I came here for this weekend. No point in looking at houses I'm not too interested in though. Has anybody else had this kind of experience with real estate agents? Is this typical here? She seems so independent - she makes plans to show me houses then she cancels those plans, she sends me listings then when I want to see them she tells me I may be wasting my time, etc. I need a different agent that will work for me but how do avoid something like this happening again. I really want to look this weekend while I'm here.
I would find another agent. We bought out of state and chose houses over the internet we were interested in and contacted an agent to show the houses. The first agent sounds like this agent, so we found another one. My suggestion would be to contact the agents via phone and interview them until you find one who is customer oriented. The agent you are using sounds like selling real estate is a hobby.
We are in the process of interviewing realtors to sell our townhouse and it has been an "interesting" experience.
i am sorry to say it might be kind of short notice now to find someone that will take you around sussex and warren today and tomorrow. the agents probably already have their weekends planned and it would take both days to see homes in each area since they are about 2 hours away from each other. unfortunately you found an agent that doesnt understand or care about your situation.
where are you located right now--i mean while you are staying in nj? maybe you can find an office in that town and see if someone can help you.
I would find another agent. Max of 4 houses a day (I wish that was all it took)
I have an home inspection at 9am and then will be showing houses from 11:30 to 3:30
(have 5 set up and am working on a few more) The only reason i am stopping at 3:30 is because this client has work at 4pm...I will be showing houses tonight from 5 till 8 (so far we have 6 to see)
You should call another agency to see if they could show you around and if you are still in jersey on sunday, Check the newspaper for any open houses in the area you are looking in... You do not have sign anything with anybody until you find something you like
And be careful of the ones that are only showing you their office's listings
Good luck and don't hold the few (not so nice agents) against the rest of us
Most of us work hard and go out of our way for our clients
You need to find another agent. We were moving from London England to NJ and were flying in to see houses--our agent remained in contact with us via email and telephone calls and was available every single day we were here should we have needed her. After we moved, we were still 45 minutes-1 hour away from her and she was available to show us whatever we wanted practically whenever we wanted--for as long as it took. We told her up front the type of service we would be needing and she said it wouldn't be any problem. She was wonderful from start to finish. I also want to add that she was the 5th agent we met, and the one we stayed with. We didn't feel like we'd get the same attention with any of the others.
I'm planning on relocating back to NJ from out of state after about 10 years. For about the past month, I've been talking on the phone and online with a real estate agent arranging for her to show me homes when I arrived this weekend. I will only be here this weekend and want to see as much as I can. She arranged to show me around on Friday (today) but a few days before I left for NJ, she cancelled saying she would re-schedule for Saturday and could spend the entire day with me then. I asked her if she had someone else in her office that she worked with who could show me around on Friday then she could take me around on Saturday. Seemed reasonable. Well, I went around today but only saw about 4 houses and was extremely discouraged. I felt like I got nothing accomplished today. We started at about 1:30 then the agent said she wanted to be done by 3:00 and that was it; we were done. At the end of the day, I called my original agent to let her know which houses we looked at and to let her know what I did and didn't like. Well, she initally tells me it's not a good time and she'll have to call me back in 1/2 hour which she does. At that point, when she did call back, she said to me that agents will never show more than 4 houses in a day. I explained to her that I have very limited time - I am only here this weekend and have to head back on Monday so I wanted to see as much as I could while I was here. Since I live so far away, it's very difficult for me to get back here often and I had planned this for a month. She then tells me she will show me some houses on Saturday but she can only go instead for a little while in the morning. I asked about price and maybe getting further away from the area I'm looking in for a bit cheaper prices and larger yards and asked if she could send me some listings on those. She then told me she was in the middle of making dinner right then and couldn't get to it until later tonight. A short time ago she e-mailed four more listings - two of which she'd sent me earlier and we'd discussed why I was not interesteed in seeing them. The other two don't meet my criteria. She then e-mails me about which houses to see on Saturday morning and the ones suggested, she said we could take a real quick look at them but I could be wasting my time. So....here I am. Out of state, in NJ to look at houses and this is not working. She's expecting me tomorrow morning at her office to show me some houses she wants to show me that I'm not all that keen on seeing. I told her I wanted to expand my search into Sussex and Warren but I'm not getting that. I haven't signed anything with her or the other agent she works with so I guess I can easily cancel out of this with her but then I won't be looking at houses tomorrow and that's what I came here for this weekend. No point in looking at houses I'm not too interested in though. Has anybody else had this kind of experience with real estate agents? Is this typical here? She seems so independent - she makes plans to show me houses then she cancels those plans, she sends me listings then when I want to see them she tells me I may be wasting my time, etc. I need a different agent that will work for me but how do avoid something like this happening again. I really want to look this weekend while I'm here.
Drop this agent immediately. She must not be very experienced in relocation or she'd realize you both have to make the most of the time you have. Saying that REALTORS will never show more than 4 homes in a day is absolutely ridiculous. She sounds unprofessional to boot. I frequently work with relo and when the timeframe to get into a home is short, I've shown 15 in a day...FIFTEEN! The client keeps them straight by taking notes on the MLS printouts I provide.
I live in Oak Ridge, bordering Sussex County. I had reserved tomorrow (Sunday) for a Canadian client, but we rescheduled on Friday due to the possible nor'easter the area is expecting.
If the storm turns out to be hype, I'd be happy to help you. There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between how agents work ... you'll quickly learn that we're not all alike. But if you do want to get this done, you'll have to pm me w/specific criteria you're looking for so a search can be done and appointments made.
Anyway, I'm throwing that out there. You think about it and let me know. Otherwise, I'll be wrapping gifts tomorrow and getting my house in order for the holidays.
Last edited by SheSellsNJ; 12-15-2007 at 03:11 PM..
Reason: typos!
Given this market, I can't even imagine dealing with a realtor who, based on your description, isn't all that interested in selling houses. And it certainly sounds to me like you're a serious buyer.
I'd venture to guess there would be many agents who would be thrilled to show you houses tomorrow.
Have to agree with everyone.. find a new agent, possibly 2, one for each area. If they ask you to sign a contract, make sure it states for what area.
We were looking in a few counties, I have to say that you might even have to break it down into different towns in those counties. Just because someone knows a few towns, doesn't mean they can tell you everything about the towns.
As an example.. I used one agent to look in 2 counties, this agent has sold houses in one county, but they didn't really know specifics. I ended up calling my old agent from 5+ years ago, she gave me better info on one town since she was closer. I don't know why I didn't think to call her sooner, would have saved me & my old agent a lot of time & gas.
How are you searching for a house? I'm going to c/p some info in. Hopefully it will help you in your search.
I would go to yahoo.com, then click on real estate, it takes you here. From there look for Find a REALTOR®. Fill in the info, you will get agents that give you info, and you can read feedback from customers. If you have no clue where to start, at least this give you something with customer feedback.
Classifieds
Craigs Lists (http://southjersey.craigslist.org/about/cities.html - broken link) - a "classified ad" site - FSBO use it as well as some of us selling with an agent.
Make an account at all of the sites. Put in your search criteria then save the search. You will get emails when new listings come on as well as price drops. Every site is different and in order to find a house, you may have to sign up at all because some sites do not get picked up at other sites, nor do they show anything but their own.
My favorite site is Remax for ease of use. I actually save all homes I'm interested in from other places in my Remax home finder. I will copy the MLS # searching at Remax. Prudential Fox & Roach has a few great features as well. You may want to dig down deeper to sign up at local sites.
I've unexpectedly been without internet access until tonight which did not help. I had told that agent that where I live now, we have relocation specialsts in the big real estate offices that do this full time and asked if she had one in her office. She didn't seem to know what I was talking about. She told me she had two jobs and right now it was a bad time of year for her to show houses because she's a hairdresser and is real busy with clients getting their done for the holidays. If was as if she wasn't taking me seriously or she wasn't taking her real estate job seriously - whatever. I went with a different agent on Saturday who printed out a slew of listing sheets for me. We looked at a bunch. Nothing seemed to fit my needs so she sent me more listings to look through and she will go out again with me. Do people generally look at lots of houses before they find "the one". It's seems like it's hard to find the right house and it's hard not to get discouraged.
As an example.. I used one agent to look in 2 counties, this agent has sold houses in one county, but they didn't really know specifics. I ended up calling my old agent from 5+ years ago, she gave me better info on one town since she was closer. I don't know why I didn't think to call her sooner, would have saved me & my old agent a lot of time & gas.
How are you searching for a house? I'm going to c/p some info in. Hopefully it will help you in your search.
I would go to yahoo.com, then click on real estate, it takes you here. From there look for Find a REALTOR®. Fill in the info, you will get agents that give you info, and you can read feedback from customers. If you have no clue where to start, at least this give you something with customer feedback.
Classifieds
Craigs Lists (http://southjersey.craigslist.org/about/cities.html - broken link) - a "classified ad" site - FSBO use it as well as some of us selling with an agent.
Make an account at all of the sites. Put in your search criteria then save the search. You will get emails when new listings come on as well as price drops. Every site is different and in order to find a house, you may have to sign up at all because some sites do not get picked up at other sites, nor do they show anything but their own.
My favorite site is Remax for ease of use. I actually save all homes I'm interested in from other places in my Remax home finder. I will copy the MLS # searching at Remax. Prudential Fox & Roach has a few great features as well. You may want to dig down deeper to sign up at local sites.
Thanks for the links. I will check them tonight. The idea about 2 agents is good. This new agent I found has been very helpful about the area she's from. She seems to know Sussex quite well and has been pointing things out to me that I might like and that I might not like about certain areas. I find that helpful. I just didn't expect it to be this discouraging. I thought I would find several that I liked right away but I haven't found a one yet that has really been for me.
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Continued my Search
