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I've bought two houses from him in less than 3 years and am in the process of buying a third.
I get the feeling he is largely just a guy who unlocks the door and let's you look around. If you are interested in buying, he won't tell you that this house has a 2% chance of closing because it is a bankruptcy sale or short sale with 8 different lenders.
I had that happend one time where I lost my inspection money of $400 and all the time spent on the deal only to find out the bank had no intention of accepting my offer, though the bankruptcy attorney did.
Well today I made the mistake of looking at the same listing he had already shown me. He made a fuss about 2 hours drive time round trip (really more like an hour) and when I told him at least he knows I'm a buyer, he said, that's why I'm still with ya.
I almost wanted to tell him that I wasted actual money, not only time because he didn't warn me on bad deals. I almost wanted to tell him for a 6% commission earning thousands of dollars, it's not a big deal. I almost wanted to tell him that I'd find a new agent.
Frankly, I was pretty close to firing him a year ago due to his poor performance. I don't feel like he is fighting for me, rather just going through the motions of real estate.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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bought and sold 40+ properties ONLY 2 with realtors (on seller's side, never my side)
never again if possible. I can pay my lawyer $350/ hr when I need some assistance (very rarely). the realtor gets about $1000/hr on my transactions. I do all the title coordinating, environmentals, financing, appraisal, inspection, due diligence, terms, schedule.... realtor slows these processes dramatically. I will NEVER allow a realtor in closing, as they will slobber on the paperworker awaiting their commission payment.
Closed another complicated commercial property last week ~ 20 hrs of my time WELL SPENT I saved a bundle in time and $$ and reliable closing without delay. Much of this I do from overseas, I am seldom in USA so have little time to dink around with 3-4 party negotiations and barriers.
YMMV
Some folks need a realtor, some prefer to not participate in such a convoluted process that brings no legal or technical value. I have many great friends that are realtors. They bring me their deals that they just want to get done with no hassle. They don't bring me stuff that I won't buy. They NEVER whine, buy my lunch or haul me around, or have to deliver docs to bank or title company. I never expect any legal advice, and am very appreciative and concerned with the time they spend on me, cuz they have plenty of 'problem customers' as do we all.
My last transaction with a realtor, they invested less than 1 hr with me and made $12,400 in commission dollars. (it was a very small deal)
I always viewed realtors as the key keepers. When I bought my home in Washington, I did all of the research on the homes, made lists of viewings and really had little input from my realtor on my final purchase. He just walked me through the paperwork and made the offer/counteroffers.
We also sold one home without a realtor for probably about 20K more than if we had used a realtor as each one we interviewed tried to tell us that we would need to list for 20-30K less than the price we listed. They were looking for a quick sale and money in their pocket rather than the hard work that we put into the home. In the end, we had an offer in hand in less than a month after we decided to do it on our own for more money.
If I was looking at short sales or cash deals in Washington, I would probably go without a realtor as the seller knows this is less $ out of their pocket. For traditional sales, I doubt it makes much difference and it costs the buyer nothing. But your realtor sounds a bit annoying.
Currently, I am in the process of buying a home out of state and have found our realtor invaluable. She did a lot of the leg work and investigations on properties and brought up issues that I was unaware of being from out of state. She has always been prompt getting back to us and has been very thorough. I feel like she has definitely earned her commission and would use her again. Perhaps it would be worthwhile for you to look around for another realtor?
We also sold one home without a realtor for probably about 20K more than if we had used a realtor as each one we interviewed tried to tell us that we would need to list for 20-30K less than the price we listed. They were looking for a quick sale and money in their pocket rather than the hard work that we put into the home. In the end, we had an offer in hand in less than a month after we decided to do it on our own for more money.
That subject was covered in Freakonomics, about why agents get more money selling their own homes vs those of their clients. The conclusion is they spend more time finding a buyer when it's their own money.
One Realtor rebutted this by saying agents get more because they pick better homes in the first place. Oddly, that same agent that postulated this ended up selling her own home for half what she initially thought it would sell for, go figure
bought and sold 40+ properties ONLY 2 with realtors (on seller's side, never my side)
never again if possible. I can pay my lawyer $350/ hr when I need some assistance (very rarely). the realtor gets about $1000/hr on my transactions. I do all the title coordinating, environmentals, financing, appraisal, inspection, due diligence, terms, schedule.... realtor slows these processes dramatically. I will NEVER allow a realtor in closing, as they will slobber on the paperworker awaiting their commission payment.
Closed another complicated commercial property last week ~ 20 hrs of my time WELL SPENT I saved a bundle in time and $$ and reliable closing without delay. Much of this I do from overseas, I am seldom in USA so have little time to dink around with 3-4 party negotiations and barriers.
YMMV
Some folks need a realtor, some prefer to not participate in such a convoluted process that brings no legal or technical value. I have many great friends that are realtors. They bring me their deals that they just want to get done with no hassle. They don't bring me stuff that I won't buy. They NEVER whine, buy my lunch or haul me around, or have to deliver docs to bank or title company. I never expect any legal advice, and am very appreciative and concerned with the time they spend on me, cuz they have plenty of 'problem customers' as do we all.
My last transaction with a realtor, they invested less than 1 hr with me and made $12,400 in commission dollars. (it was a very small deal)
Realtors very likely won't exist in ten years. There are many jobs and industries that are slowly (and not so slowly) being phased out. Rightfully so.
This is what you should be able to expect from your Realtor:
1. Know intimately what it is you're looking for so you don't waste your time and money (time is money).
2. Educate you on the process (short sale vs. bank sale vs. conventional sale) so you can make smart decisions and save money.
3. Putting his referral resources at your disposal. Thorough home inspectors and honest mortgage brokers can save you money and headaches.
4. Save you money by communicating with your mortgage broker to hold off on ordering the appraisal before the inspection issues are resolved so you don't throw the appraisal fee after the inspection fee.
5. Prepare a market analysis for the property you plan to make an offer on so you know you're not paying too much and averting any bad appraisal surprises.
6. Negotiate the best contract terms for you so you can save money (have I mentioned saving money before?)
7. Take you to the properties you're interested in two or three times. The first time is only to see if the property gets deleted or stays on the "favorites" list. The second time is to give it a good looking over before making an offer.
I'm not looking to pick up a client. It just irks me to hear about brokers who treat their clients like customers in a check-out line. In a broker-client relationship the broker has a duty to put the client's interest before his, to always serve his client's best interest, to exercise skill and care.
It also irks me that some consumers will put up with such poor service. I advise that you ask your friends, family or co-workers if they can recommend a good broker. Visit a few open houses and take the opprtunity to meet diffreent brokers and interview them. You deserve better than what you have.
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