Who Else Is Awake??? (Matthews: homes, buyers, moving)

[Nea1]

Mine said once that because i use more of it being a woman I should have to replace it.

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by jackie1014

Really?? Where are you from?? I am in LI and was told not to have any contact with buyers agent, that all talks have to go through my agent, (who I can't stand). We had about 15 showings in the last 3 weeks, and not once did he call to get feedback, even though I kept calling him and asking him to do that. We did get 2 offers, one really, really low, and the other we would have accepted, but they changed their minds. I don't think I would be this stressed, but the agent just doesn't seem to be doing his job!!

What you shouldn't do is to have direct contact with buyers, but there's no reason why you can't call a buyer's agent and say 'hey, you brought a client to my house yesterday and I was just wondering what kind of feedback you can give me from your perspective as well as the buyer. Perhaps I can take that feedback and improve upon the house, if we can'. Remember, your agent would get FULL commission if he sells on his own, but he's only entitled to HALF if it's someone else's agent. Your agent would move waters if he can to get his full commission so if he has a potential buyer that's very interested in your house, and there is another potential buyer thru another agent, then your agent is going to put more emphasis on getting the deal with his own client.

Let me tell you something funny that happened when we bought our current house several years ago.....
Our agent brought us to see a home that was listed by another agent. Apparently she didn't have another client who was really interested in this house so she was trying to convince us to make an offer higher than the list price (several years ago on Long Island homes were in fact sold much higher than list price). So after the open house, my agent told us that she was friends with the listing agent and told her that she had a client that was making an offer of $$$. Our agent told us that we should go above that to ensure we were going to get the house. Well, it did turn out that the sellers accepted our offer. Wait, this gets better.... Our agent then listed our condo on the market. We had another agent who brought a client that made an offer and we had accepted. Well, our agent told the other agent that it was not a problem for us to close on the date the buyers requested, which ended up being nearly 3 months before we were even ready to move. We never agreed to that and fortunately the buyers were so good. They didn't even care having to put their stuff in storage and live with relatives; they were willing to wait until we were ready. Well.....and here's the funny part....
When our relocation company assigned us an agent to sell our current home, it turned out to be the original listing broker for our current house that we had bought several years ago. So I happened to mention our agent's name at the time and she said that she's never even heard of her. So I'm not saying that many agents are unethical. As a matter of fact, they do have to abide by a strict code of ethics. All I'm saying is that SOME, not ALL, will bend over backwards to make their own deals and some will stretch the truth as well.

[slvrcts04]

Originally Posted by mmdj43

Glad to hear that you sold! BTW, Weis02 is correct and unfortunately a lot of people don't bother to read the fine print or what is filled in on the contract because basically signing your house sale in someone else's hands can be very stressful and emotional. A seller has the right to even sign for 30 days only with an agent no matter if they say 'we contract for a minimum of 90 days...' or 'our firm does not allow us to go below 6%'. That's a load of crap. Not sure how it works in NC, but here in NY, we do nothing but negotiate and with the high real estate value on Long Island, even 3% is a lot to give someone for a home that YOU worked so hard and sacrificed for. BTW, this is in no offense to any real estate agents, just our emotions talking...

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the sale goes through!! My husband just spoke to our realtor to get a release..he's going to call back.
mmdj43..when are you moving?? Matthews right? We were just in NC this past weekend to do go the the design center, etc... & we stopped in a community in Matthews called Greylock. Nice model in there..Ryan homes. You'll be in the next town over from us. Small world.

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by holt4fam

We've sold 3 houses (2 in WI and 1 in NJ) before settling in NC. We always asked for 3 month listing contracts. When we were selling our house in NJ, our realtor quit her job 1 month after we signed on with her. The agency handed us over to another agent, who we knew nothing about. We were very unhappy with her and asked to be released from our contract. The broker owner said he'd release us, but he would only give us a conditional release. So we had to wait until the contract with him was up either way. We asked our closing attorney if there was anything we could do ,and she said the contract was binding and we would just have to wait. The day the contract expired we listed with another agent and got an offer that first week. I would highly recommend a maximum of 3 months for a listing contract. If we hadn't asked for it, we would have been stuck with a horrible agent for another 3 months.

Max of 3 months isn't bad, but 3 months is also a lot of time, especially if your house is listed around prime time or (in our case) living on Long Island where there is a glut of homes.

When we had our house listed mid-May we had a lot of folks looking, and some very interested. We sold it but just before my agent updated our listing, we didn't have a lot of activity, which was just a couple of weeks ago. I think it was because many had children that needed to move in before school season starts.

[TornadoAlley]

Originally Posted by jackie1014

The other day when he was done showering, I asked him if he took his dirty clothes out of the bathroom and wiped up (I was having a showing that day),and he replied YEP. I went up in my bedroom, opened the closet door to put the lights on for the showing, and there they were!!!!!!!! If any of the guys out there would mind telling me, HOW HARD IS IT TO PUT THEM IN THE !@#!! $%^&* HAMPER????!!!!!

Simple. It's to much effort and my mom lives to far But wait, that is why I agreed to get married in the first place was for the benefits right

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by VickiR

I agree, Tornadoalley, no one can force you to sell so most brokers will let you out of contract.

As for the friend/neighbor buying your home...I've run into alot of that type of situations and I have to warn you a bit...don't count your chickens until they are hatched.

I had buyers who were selling their home in Pleasant Valley, NY and the neighbors were buying...or so they said. They did the contracts but all of a sudden, the neighbors couldn't seem to get their financing in order. To make a long story short...weeks went by and finally my clients decided to go ahead and list the home with a realtor in NY and now...months later...the neighbors are still saying they want it but finally...a real buyer came along. Now my clients can go ahead with the home they purchased in NC!

Vicki

Excellent point Vicki. I wouldn't take the weight off my shoulders until contracts are signed and down payment is handed over to your attorney. And even then because if the buyers can't get approved for a mortgage, they can get their deposit back and walk away from the deal, leaving the sellers having to go thru and sell their home again. As a matter of fact, our buyers agreed to accept our final price (after weeks of negotiations). Contracts were sent out but when ready to sign, the buyers wanted to renegotiate price. So the cycle started all over again. I didn't 'believe it when i see it" until I knew contracts were signed and down payment was made.

[DesiiLiciouss]

I told my agent, I'd like to give 4% and 3 months listing and if I am not satisfied with the services, I have the right to void this contract and they finally agreed to it. (ofcourse I had to shop around).

[DesiiLiciouss]

Originally Posted by TornadoAlley

Simple. It's to much effort and my mom lives to far But wait, that is why I agreed to get married in the first place was for the benefits right

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by jackie1014

Everyone should take stock in MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASERS, I buy the little suckers by the case.

Aren't those really good? No wonder why they call them MAGIC. Word of caution though, DON'T try and use them on wood. I tried to take marker stains from my daughter's white wood table and it rubbed the finish right off of it. But it does wonders on stovetop burners.

[mmdj43]

Originally Posted by connie

Yup, that pretty much says it all!! Occasionally I call my husband and hyperventilate ("I'm done!! I can't do this anymore!!!") He listens politely, thanks me for calling, and goes back to work. I know it's bad when I'm mad at the kids for playing with Legos and eating lunch. What a mess! Can't they just sit quietly and stare out the window??

You had me laughing so hard because my husband did the same thing when we were selling our house. I would call him to vent and he would say "Uh, honey, can I call you back because I'm busy right now". And what the heck am I doing? Crocheting a blanket? For those who have sold your house, congratulations. For those who haven't yet, you will and when it does happen, you will literally feel the weight come off your shoulders and your focus will come back. And then you can put the monster suit back in the closet