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I have sent my son to cut lawns in my neighborhood that I knew were vacated, or the owner was ill. I do it because of the golden rule. I do it to be a good neighbor. I don't do it because I am a real estate broker.
You already said, "I found out today that the house is going to go back on the market for the same ridiculous price it couldn't be sold for in the past 2 years.".
Why would anyone in their right mind throw money after that? You didn't say slightly overpriced or a little overpriced, you said ridiculously overpriced.
Earning a commission does not include wasting money and it is not part of the "damn job" to pay to cut the lawn, pressure wash the house, etc.
Yes, it's ridiculously overpriced and the realtor is the one who is listing it at that ridiculous price, and has been since 2011.
He should "know" better. He's a self proclaimed "expert" in marketing and selling this neighborhood and one other that surrounds this one.
Earning a commission means you do what you need to do to make the sale while keeping your reputation stellar.
This realtor?
Slug. Useless. Will NEVER recommend him or when I want to sell, use him. He's no expert, and does not go above and beyond.
Cut the damn lawn. Don't **** off the neighbors who you might want as clients in the future in a high-end development.
I worked in an industry where my base salary was low, the rest was commission. You did everything you could to make a "sale" and take care of clients and their extended "BS", no matter what.
Some realtors, apparently, want their cake hand fed to them.
Must be nice to not have to worry about being in a commission based industry, when you can forget about the past deal you screwed up (and pissed neighbors off as well, and lost any hope of future referrals- which brings more business), and your boss will never know!
Yes, it's ridiculously overpriced and the realtor is the one who is listing it at that ridiculous price, and has been since 2011.
He should "know" better. He's a self proclaimed "expert" in marketing and selling this neighborhood and one other that surrounds this one.
Earning a commission means you do what you need to do to make the sale while keeping your reputation stellar.
This realtor?
Slug. Useless. Will NEVER recommend him or when I want to sell, use him. He's no expert, and does not go above and beyond.
Cut the damn lawn. Don't **** off the neighbors who you might want as clients in the future in a high-end development.
I worked in an industry where my base salary was low, the rest was commission. You did everything you could to make a "sale" and take care of clients and their extended "BS", no matter what.
Some realtors, apparently, want their cake hand fed to them.
Must be nice to not have to worry about being in a commission based industry, when you can forget about the past deal you screwed up (and pissed neighbors off as well, and lost any hope of future referrals- which brings more business), and your boss will never know!
Can the real estate agent list it for a lower price if the comps warrant it? No it is not his choice, but if he does have other listings he can wait for people to call on this home and then when they balk at the price he can let the caller know about his other listings.
It is not up to the agent to take care of the upkeep on homes he is selling whether you like the way the home currently looks or not. When you were working commission did you wash, wax and detail your clients cars, take them shopping? If you did, guaranteed they though you were a sap and they played you because of it.
Working commission does not mean you have to take care of your clients no matter what, in sales you build product value, build client trust and make the product stand out against other products. In this case the agent is possibly using this listing to make his other listings stand out. Something tells me you were not all that great in sales since you don't see to know these key points.
Yes, it's ridiculously overpriced and the realtor is the one who is listing it at that ridiculous price, and has been since 2011. He should "know" better. He's a self proclaimed "expert" in marketing and selling this neighborhood and one other that surrounds this one.
You do realize the realtor doesn't set the price. The homeowner is probably basing the high price on what they owe. It will likely be foreclosed on, so the realtor isn't wasting their time on something that wont sell
Sawdust.. You obviously are not willing to reason, you seem to only want to blame.
Now, first of all, staging a home is the entire home. It's similar to "detailing" a used automobile. You can suggest the Realtor should pay the expenses, why, if you aren't willing to pitch in when if you don't you become the biggest loser? You, the people neighboring the property, stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars when your homes are marketed if you don't get this home sold. As a matter of fact, the neighborhood association, if there is one, should all pitch-in and purchase the home, then sell it. Odds are you will each make a profit in this market.
The Realtor whom you have a complaint about may be horrible, I can't judge him/her, but even if they paid more in clean up than their total commissions, the potential loss to the neighbors may be even greater than the list price of the target home.
Stop blaming, start thinking, listen, learn and thrive.
Btw: According to the National Association of Realtors, the typical REALTOR in 2012 had a total Gross Commission Income of less than $50,000. From that $50k, they still must pay their office expenses, auto and advertising, insurance, licensing, and the list goes on. Are there REALTORS who make great incomes? Well depends on how you define great, but I can show you how mistaken you are if you think we all drive expensive cars, live in mansions, and spend weeks on vacation.
Here's a number for you. According to the best producing real estate franchising brand, their average agent had 16 transactions in 2012. The government and NAR say the average home sold for less than $200,000. The government (via HUD-FHA pays 6% commission to Brokers for selling homes) so 16 x $ 6,000 (a home sale counts for two transactions, the listing side and the selling side) = $96,000. Now, give 20 to 30% of that to the office ($78,000 remains) subtract advertising expenses (for the home alone) of $5,000 each, ($73,000) then $ 10,000 per year in auto expenses. ($68,000), and another $2000 per year in licensing and MLS fees, and suddenly, that super-REALTOR is now down into simply average American income ranges.
I defend all REALTORS who earnestly get out of bed every morning, effectively unemployed, and go out to glean. Are there bad guys and gals in our business, you darn well bet there are, but to get the low-life blame you seem to think this one REALTOR deserves is simply costing everyone, but mostly you.
House has been in pre-forclosure for 2 years & they owe pretty much exactly what they can sell for.
..house is going to go back on the market for the same ridiculous price it couldn't be sold
So my question is (questions are): as a realtor representing the owners...
Do ANYTHING before they agreed in writing to lower the ask to below market
and to provide a clean up budget (or do the 20 things themselves before the end of the month)?
Nope; not a darn thing.
...the fact is the listing agent has a business to run. If agents sink time & money into maintaining property that is going to be foreclosed it is only a matter of time before they are unable to pay thir own bills and have lenders kicking them out of their own home.
I have "managed" lawn care for out-of-town sellers -- the real estate listings contract riders can give listing agent right to protect / maintain property of behalf of the owner. If owners stiff the contractors who cut the lawn or did other work those contractors can file to collect upon sale... Smart real estate agents have a file of service providers / contractors and if odds are the contractor is going to have to go court to get paid the kind of contractor one hires is different than the type one hires to do a good job at a fair price. Certain contractors have the kind of scale and reserve funds to charge an appropriate overhead rate to wait out a court orders settlement.
From a practical neighbor's perspective it makes sense to call the local authorities -- most towns have ordinances to ensure the lawn gets cut and vacant places do not become a junk filled hazard. Lots of towns have "code enforcement" that is similar to a HOA, those towns will cut the lawn, pick up debris with municipal staff or a contractor and then bill the property owner. If the bills go unpaid the municipality can file to have bills paid upon settlement...
It is of course easy enough for neighbors nearby to work out a little arrangement of rotating coverage -- first week neighbor to north cuts the lawn, second south, third east, fourth west, rinse lather repeat. If the place goes uncared for too long even the most considerate neighbors will get tired of wasting their time / mower fuel...
It sucks to have a "derelict propety" on your block and it also sucks for real estate agents to have a listing that the OWNERS both refuse to set a realistic price AND make no effort to provide for the upkeep of a propety. Dealing with that "suckage" is not easy and trying to blame other parties is not productive. There are lessons that can be applied to listing agents, seller and adjacent home owners -- for neighbors: it pays to stay involved with others. For sellers: realize that the "hurt" you are putting out effects a wider circle including people you may have once considered friends and be aware that the courts can tack on costs for not caring for your propety. For listing agent: declining a listing that harms your repuatation is a valid response to sellers that are neglegent / hostile to realistic terms...
Real estate agents are a joke, I am sure there are some good ones out there but all the ones I have heard of take way too big a cut for the actual work that they do. Next time I buy I am likely buying raw land and having a house built and will likely buy the land with cash. I might still look for a realitor when I go to buy land but im not holding my breath that I will find a good one, the barriers to entry in real estate are LOW so sifting through the crappy ones who just see $$ signs and don't know how to do the really hard stuff will be a challenge.
Real estate is a cesspool for do nothings to make copious amounts of money because they base their commission on a percentage of the value of the house when the value of the house has no relevance to the amount of actual work required to sell it.
Now a realitor who can successfully negotiate a short sale with a bank so that the own can walk away without paying a dime is worth their weight in gold, I have not found one yet though.
The real deal real estate agents who can negotiate short sales, deal with forclosures and make their clients money or at least break them even after their fees and know the market well enough to keep someone from buying something they shouldn't are hard to find. These realitors should be pushing to make the barriers to entry MUCH harder, any yahoo off the street should not be able to get a realitors licence out of a cracker jack box.
In the engineering profession we make it excruciatingly painful and nearly impossible to become a licensed engineer, this ensures that the ones who are know what the heck they are doing. You don't take a 3 month seminar and your an engineer, its a decade of school and experience.
The genuine realitors out there need to start pushing for cut throat standards and barriers to entry because im not the only one who think realitors are a joke. I almost had to sell my condo myself because my last realitor was so incompetent, it was a condo that did not have HSA approval and was slightly underwater, this would have been the realitors time to shine if he could have got me out of the place without writing a check, but he didn't and it was on the market for 8 months and I had to write a check, he refused to even try to negotiate a short sale or legally pressure the association to get HSA approval.
Short sales, forclosures, incompetent HOA's are the new land scape of real estate and a realitor who cant successfully deal with these things should not even have a licence.
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Regardless of the OP's hostility...
