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Thread summary:

Realtors: real estate, agent, buy a house, commission, advertising, kitchen remodeling.

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Old 06-16-2007, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Far Western KY
1,833 posts, read 6,413,596 times
Reputation: 866

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I look at a lot of houses, I buy some and remodel them to re-sell. Right now we're looking for a new house for ourselves. As a rule I just call the listing agent because if I get serious on a house I can get them to reduce there commission by half and save a few $1000, their getting the same money they'd get if I brought my own agent. But as you know the pitch is different. I've worked on houses my entire life, over 40 years ... needless to say I've seen a few. I love getting these new agent that are gung-ho and really talk up the property and the quality.
Anyway we looked at a house yesterday, a over $350K which for around here in rural Western KY is in the top 2 or 3% of the price range in most counties. This was a custom built, quality, hand crafted home .. etc etc. (insert your buzz words here) I walked into this multiple adjective house and it was 'nice' not great, not custom, not blow your socks off, it was just nice and it wasn't even close to the price they were asking. It had stone tile floors, but they were poorly laid, it had off the shelf crown molding, pre-primed and never painted. I do believe the appliances were the cheapest you could buy, I swear I've seen better in rental houses. Where was the stainless steel? Where was the sub-zero and Wolf cook top? It have a Magic Chef STOVE!!! and a Roper fridge! Not to mention the house wide Pop-corn ceilings .... with sparkles no trays, and cheap ceiling fans. I mean the ceiling fan in the 'luxurious' master bedroom 'with private setting area' had a stinkin' matchbook wedged into the mount to keep it from wobbling. The custom crafted kitchen cabinet, were KraftMaid's from Lowe's ... not custom and not all that good, for pete sake it have Formica counter tops. I'm sorry you get into the $250+ range I better start seeing Granite, Quartz, even tile would have been better.
I say all of this to ask you professionals at what point does a Realtor go from having Delusion of Grandeur about a piece of property to outright false advertising? Because if I knew the house was not the quality, custom, handcrafted, work of art it was claimed to have been, I wouldn't have wasted my time looking it, as both my wife and I had to juggle schedules to both be able to be there at the same time, she was far more put out than I was. There was no online tour which are deceiving anyway nor photos of the property other than the front of the house. So we only had this poor child's hyperbolic fever description to go on, I told her I'd offer them $150K tops because it was messing the other $200K in custom, quality, handcrafted workmanship and it would cost that much to add it. Shouldn't Realtors be a little more "realistic" in their claims of a property? I know their trying to sale but %&@* don't waste my time. What do you professionals think?
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Old 06-16-2007, 02:48 PM
 
Location: City of the damned, Wash
428 posts, read 2,436,723 times
Reputation: 261
How did the outside look?
It frustrates me a lot when people build something impressive for the neighbors and put rental quality stuff inside.
She may be a new agent who hasn't seen a lot of houses yet, or she could be taking the listing at what the seller wants to get out of it, knowing that if she doesn't take it at that price, someone else will. Maybe it's worth the year-long headache to her.
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Old 06-16-2007, 03:09 PM
 
Location: Maple Valley, WA
982 posts, read 3,301,549 times
Reputation: 451
I'm not a professional (yet), but I whenever I check out the MLS listings and see a crappy picture, or just a couple of pictures, that's the biggest clue. They might have the house hyped up, but they do at least have it priced accordingly. If they were going to justify that price in your case, there should have at least been some nice acreage to the property. Another thing to consider is that the seller is dictating the price to the agent, and the agent already knows how it will turn out. In that case, the agent is probably new, or they aren't the brightest crayon in the box.

On another note, I think that the fine line of slight exaggeration v. downright false advertising can be easily blurred, but I usually don't see that in the listing. I see it when a broker advertises the monthly payment (not in the MLS, but in the free magazines and papers you can get at the grocery store, etc.), and they're usually listings on higher-end homes in the 200K+ range, especially if they're in a new development. These are just the little things I see - maybe they're important, maybe not.
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Old 06-16-2007, 03:32 PM
 
Location: Far Western KY
1,833 posts, read 6,413,596 times
Reputation: 866
It was a fairly new listing so I gave it the benefit of the doubt as to the lack of photos. Realtors don't move to fast here, she was young and I figure fairly new and just really hasn't seen many homes and hasn't seen any real quality homes.

The exterior photo was fair, I knew the area and knew the house, we always do a "drive by" before wasting time looking at it. I'm not even going to waste my time looking at a house if there are 5 chicken barn in the back yard or across the road, those nasty smelly things are big here, and will kill your property values, but that's another story.


EDIT: OH OH OH I just saw I had a voice mail from "The Agent" and there is another couple interested in the house, BUT she want to give me first shot at it if I want to make an offer ... ain't that darin' sweet of her. I don't know how many calls I've gotten from agents with a phantom buyer but they want me to have first shot at it. What I find interesting is I'll pass on it, as I adopt the 'if it's meant to be it'll be there mode' that house with other interested parties are still on the market 2, 3 or 4 month later ... guess they weren't that interested after all. I was born in the morning, but it wasn't this one. Kills me every time I see this tactic used.

Last edited by Davart; 06-16-2007 at 03:42 PM..
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Old 06-16-2007, 05:41 PM
 
Location: NW Las Vegas - Lone Mountain
15,756 posts, read 38,103,442 times
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It is an odd business.

I did a CMA for a home that had been on the market for over 9 months. Told the guy I thought him still too high by close to 100K at 695K. Nice house and all that but not that nice. Guy started out at 850K.

Expected to eventually get the listing. Had good rapport with the guy he just did not like my view of the price. He went with a semi-competent competitor who agreed to go with the 695K. Sold the place 2 weeks later.

Go figure.
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Old 06-18-2007, 07:44 AM
 
1,408 posts, read 8,008,396 times
Reputation: 676
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davart View Post
I'm sorry you get into the $250+ range I better start seeing Granite, Quartz, even tile would have been better.
I'm not a realtor but just had to post because of this sentence. It made me laugh because I started to think about what you can get here in massachusetts $250K. In some parts of MA for $250K you could get 4 walls and roof and not much else.
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Old 06-18-2007, 07:54 AM
 
Location: Sunny Florida
7,136 posts, read 12,642,507 times
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Davart, you made my morning! I loved your, "I was born in the morning, but not this morning." comment. Thanks for the chuckle!

I didn't understand why real estate agents show you properties that don't match your wish list either, so I asked mine. She said a lot of people really don't know exactly what they want, so by showing them a variety of properties she can better idea of what people truly want as opposed to what they say they want.
Go figure.
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Old 06-18-2007, 11:34 AM
 
Location: Morehead City, NC
1,681 posts, read 6,014,254 times
Reputation: 1277
Davart said, "I just saw I had a voice mail from "The Agent" and there is another couple interested in the house, BUT she want to give me first shot at it if I want to make an offer"

Don't you just love it!! Let me give you the Buyer's Brokerage version of the same story. In certain areas that we represent-If you call the listing agent back (after an initial showing) for more info-The first thing out of their mouth is that they have an offer on (or about to be on) the table. Without fail.
I have literally interupted the listing agent and said, "Wait a minute. Let me guess. You have an offer on the table"

I don't like "sales" people, sales techniques or sales "pitches".
Real estate is business. Big business and it should be treated and respected as such.

Bill
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Old 06-18-2007, 04:54 PM
 
Location: Far Western KY
1,833 posts, read 6,413,596 times
Reputation: 866
Quote:
Originally Posted by surfingatwork View Post
I'm not a realtor but just had to post because of this sentence. It made me laugh because I started to think about what you can get here in massachusetts $250K. In some parts of MA for $250K you could get 4 walls and roof and not much else.
I know ... I've looked at property and had Realtor say ... "You if this house was in Paducah it would cost twice as much!!" and I reply "Really?!! If it was in Maui it'd be 10 times as much, ... what's your point?"

Property here compared to a lot of areas if the country is cheap. Under a $100 will get you a decent house, $100-200K gets you average house in the area ... you get into the $250K range here you're getting into the top 5% of houses in the multi-county area.
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Old 06-18-2007, 05:03 PM
 
Location: Far Western KY
1,833 posts, read 6,413,596 times
Reputation: 866
Quote:
Originally Posted by dzaenglein View Post
Davart, you made my morning! I loved your, "I was born in the morning, but not this morning." comment. Thanks for the chuckle!

I didn't understand why real estate agents show you properties that don't match your wish list either, so I asked mine. She said a lot of people really don't know exactly what they want, so by showing them a variety of properties she can better idea of what people truly want as opposed to what they say they want.
Go figure.
Why you're welcome ... I'm southern and it shows. What we lack in sophistication we make up for in snappy vernaculars. You can also use "night" as in "I was born at night, but it wasn't last night"
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