VA/MD realtor question (how much, buying a house, buying) - Northern Virginia - Virginia - City-Data Forum

riley1319 · 05-30-2011, 06:55 PM

In the past couple of months we've worked with 4 realtors - 2 in MD, 1 in VA and 1 here in NC who sold our home. We're to the point in our house hunting that we've got a short list and would like to start making offer(s). We've tried to talk specific $ amounts with both our MD and VA realtor and they both avoid any sort of question by sending another CMA (comparative market analysis). We didn't realize that not one of the three agents had said boo about pricing until we were meeting with our NC agent over the weekend and discussing how our house hunting was going (and for what it's worth he says it's weird that they're not talking $$). I am prepared to be direct with our current agents regarding why they are avoiding talking money by sending CMAs, but I was wondering if anyone had any insight into why this might be?

Thanks!

ShannonMilligan · 05-30-2011, 07:43 PM

The Realtors you are working with...are they also the listing agent for these specific properties? That could be one reason they are not talking money...

riley1319 · 05-30-2011, 08:04 PM

No, they're not. That situation I would actually understand.

Margery · 05-31-2011, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riley1319

In the past couple of months we've worked with 4 realtors - 2 in MD, 1 in VA and 1 here in NC who sold our home. We're to the point in our house hunting that we've got a short list and would like to start making offer(s). We've tried to talk specific $ amounts with both our MD and VA realtor and they both avoid any sort of question by sending another CMA (comparative market analysis). We didn't realize that not one of the three agents had said boo about pricing until we were meeting with our NC agent over the weekend and discussing how our house hunting was going (and for what it's worth he says it's weird that they're not talking $$). I am prepared to be direct with our current agents regarding why they are avoiding talking money by sending CMAs, but I was wondering if anyone had any insight into why this might be?

Thanks!

What do you mean by talking money? Do you have a buyer agency agreement with any of these Realtors? Have you seen any of these houses on your short list? I don't know how anyone could suggest a price without seeing the house. Photos are often deceiving and Realtors engage in hyperbole in describing their listings. If you have seen the houses have you asked for your Realtor's opinion on price? I am assuming you have been clear about your desired price range and are not looking at homes beyond your reach. Be direct with your Realtor, if you want suggestions on offering price tell your Realtor.

You also mention making offer(s). I hope you are not planning on making offers on more than one house at the same time, you could end up having offers accepted on more than one house before you had time to withdraw one of them.

riley1319 · 05-31-2011, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margery

What do you mean by talking money? Do you have a buyer agency agreement with any of these Realtors? Have you seen any of these houses on your short list? I don't know how anyone could suggest a price without seeing the house. Photos are often deceiving and Realtors engage in hyperbole in describing their listings. If you have seen the houses have you asked for your Realtor's opinion on price? I am assuming you have been clear about your desired price range and are not looking at homes beyond your reach. Be direct with your Realtor, if you want suggestions on offering price tell your Realtor.

You also mention making offer(s). I hope you are not planning on making offers on more than one house at the same time, you could end up having offers accepted on more than one house before you had time to withdraw one of them.

Yes, I have seen more homes than I can count at this point. We are working with realtors from a well known national company through a corporate relo. I have been in each house that we're interested in at least 2xs with our realtors in tow. We have been very clear with our agent(s) about price range, etc. I am prepared to have very direct conversations, but thought I'd just check here first as each question has been met with the offer to do a CMA.

We have a "short list" and I put (s) in parenthesis because we might ultimately make offers on more than one home, but obviously one at a time.

Also - thanks to those who have reached out to me offering realtor services - we are a corporate relo and not free to choose any agent we want.

FranklyRE · 05-31-2011, 11:48 AM

You have me at "RELO".

I was wondering what I might be.. and then I saw that you were doing a RELO.

Guess what!! RELOs blow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why? Because the RELO company offers you some rebate or something, but then charges the agent like twice that amount. So the agent ends up working for pennies. Literally a 40-50% relo fee PLUS the brokerage fee of 50%. THey can be working for 1/4th of the normal deal.

So what happens? All the good busy agents say NO. And only all the sucky weekend warriors that have nothing better to do are left. Even with the "big companies." Keep in mind the big companies accept everyone!! (Try calling that company and pretending that you want to get a license and join them, see how eager they are).

So there is a good chance that the problem you have is getting sucky RELO agents.

Another problem might be what you are asking them to tell you. Do you want them to tell you what to offer? I never do that. Why? Because I'm not buying the house. Only the buyer can determine how much risk they are willing to take. If you want to low ball and maybe lose the deal, great, but that is your call, not mine.

What I use is data. I dont just show comps, show other types of data like that agent's history of sales. Like that last 8 deals they did with under 10 days on the market all sold for over 102%. Do you still want to offer 89% of list. Ok great, but you have about a 10% chance of getting it. I like to give odds on what offers I think will be responded to in a certain manner. Then the client decides how much risk to take.

And when those relo companies try to give me a client, I tell them to take a hike. Maybe you should too. I have written many blogs on the topic. Try Googling Cartus sucks.9

Frank

asddave · 05-31-2011, 01:39 PM

I just finished closing on my house, after submitting 5 rejected offers. A good realtor wouldn't tell you for how much to submit your offer for, but they would tell you if it has very low probability of being accepted. Unfortunately, they wouldn't (at least in my case) tell you that it is too much, why? because they don't care if you pay too much to buy your home, their primary care is to secure the deal, i.e. the commission. I'm sure this is NOT the case with all realtors/agents, but I'm just providing feedback based on my recent experience.

As a word of advice, study these comps carefully, and then look for your own comps. It's a hell of a process, I really feel for anybody who goes through it. Good luck!

need_more_light · 05-31-2011, 06:07 PM

If by "talking money," you meant talking about what to offer on those houses. I don't think any realtor (unless they're your close relative/friend) would want to risk themselves by telling you how much to make an offer on the houses. I'm not a realtor and I have only limited experience buying houses. But from my understanding, one of the main reasons they don't wanna tell you what to offer is because of lawsuit. What if they told you to offer an X amount and the seller accepted your offer but you complained later that the X amount was too high and you wanted to back out of the contract? Additionally, YOU are buying a house, not the realtor. You should make your own decision about how much the house is worth for you.

CMAs are a good start on what you should offer. If you really really really like the house, you may offer slightly or much higher than the CMAs (depending on how much you really really really really like the house). Make sure the CMAs provided to you are really comparable to the house you plan to make an offer on though. If the house is meant to be yours, it will be yours. No one (except maybe higher bidders) can take it away from you. 2 cents

riley1319 · 06-01-2011, 01:30 PM

Thank you for all the feedback.

Need_more_light - I see your perspective, but I don't totally agree with it. Yes, it is up to us to determine what we are and are not willing to pay for a home - but current housing trends are not consistent from market to market and that's where an agent's perspective is important. She has to create the CMA and guide our understanding b/c we don't know the area at all.

FWIW, last night she did exactly as I asked and gave us her thoughts on the comparables and a suggested starting place for negotiations. Will I blame her if we don't get the house - of course not - but at least we can feel pretty good about not being taken for a ride. It seems like many people in the VA/MD area are overvaluing their homes.