I showed them 20+ homes (plumber, auctions, fee, accept)

[Sarah Maske]

Maybe find them a nice house in a sub-division that needs basement finishing or some other equity building element that needs or could use attention. That might satisfy them both. ??

[deno088]

Originally Posted by shellytc

Except that this store can allow many more than ONE at a time. So you can have 20 browsers in there and it doesn't take you away from the one who actually wants to buy a washer/dryer. The browsers can continue to browse, and run from store to store checking the prices.... and I am making a sale.

In real estate, if I am spending hours and hours with you, and you are not really committed to purchasing, I am out that time spent with you. I have to make that time up somehow. I can only be showing houses to ONE client at a time. And Maybe you will buy IF you can get one for 20 cents on the dollar, in the most sought after neighborhood in town, with all your closing costs paid, and raid them on the inspection and I determine that doesn't exist.... I am a FOOL to continue to work with you.

In order to be a GOOD BUSINESS person, I need to sit down with you, determine what is going on and make some good choices. If we are just narrowing down, great lets do that and get back out there. If we being Looky Lou's... I'm outta here....

And that is good business!!!

Shelly

Are you trying to help me prove my point about agents getting bad reputations because of this?

[kinkytoes]

Which illustrates why I'm using a real-estate attorney to put an offer on my next house! What is a buyer to do if he/she has a budget (I think under 200K is realistic for the average family, so feel free to flame me) and is looking for a deal?

[London Girl]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

I say you you tell the couple that you will keep your eye out for a foreclosure in a new subdivision and will call them when you find one. Then again, I would follow through and look for that foreclosure too. And if you find 50 of them, show them all to them until they make an offer.
That is a combination of what they are both looking for right?

That seems the most sensible suggestion to me.

[Naptowner]

Originally Posted by kinkytoes

Which illustrates why I'm using a real-estate attorney to put an offer on my next house! What is a buyer to do if he/she has a budget (I think under 200K is realistic for the average family, so feel free to flame me) and is looking for a deal?

I think that's different. These people don't even know what they want. It's one thing to have a budget and a particular style of house in mind and have a long list of potential houses to look at before you're ready to make an offer. I would think that somewhere around the tenth house a reasonable buyer would realize that they're going to have to increase their budget or settle for less in terms of square footage, condition, or location. I wouldn't blame an agent for getting annoyed with a buyer who insists on looking at houses that in all likelihood are not going to meet their needs.

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by asitshouldbe

I think the realtor should take the clients to as many homes as they want to see. Our realtor showed us over 40 homes before we chose one. The amount of commision the realtor makes, I expect some time put in to earn that money.

I don't agree. If you show that many houses, you are diminishing the realtors dollar per hour to little more than minimum wage. Real Estate is not supposed to be a minimum wage job. The realtor wants to spend quality time with their clients, not just perform the job of a "tour guide". The client that wants to see that many houses is monopolizing the realtors time and prevents them from servicing others. Why do you think lawyers charge $500/hr? Because their time is valuable.

[shellytc]

Originally Posted by deno088

Are you trying to help me prove my point about agents getting bad reputations because of this?

Sorry, not sure how that makes me a bad agent. You don't know me. I work very hard for MY CLIENTS. I have shown 20+ houses to a client before.

For instance, we were working against the clock to find a home for a military family, and having to educate about all the areas. When we finally found "their" home, they knew the area quite well, and had to make some adjustments on what their dream house was according to price versus amenities. But they made good solid decisions for them. I counseled them the entire way through the process. Not a problem.

On the Other Hand, if the decision makers are not together, and they are not reasonable about amenities versus price... and they won't let me help them.. maybe it isn't a good fit.

Shelly

[asitshouldbe]

Lets do the math. Say a house sells for $250,000 the realtor makes about 1-2% after the broker gets their cut, between $2500 and $5000 if not more depending on the realtors position. How long does it take to see 20 homes? If the realtor was smart they would schedule 4-6 homes for each outing. It will not take more than 3-4 hours to see these homes when they are in the same general area. If the realtor makes $4000 on this sale, we will give them 1 hour for each house and 10 hours for paperwork, 30 hours. Most people do all their own searching for the properties they want to see online, so the realtor doesn't do much for searching any more. $4000 divded by 30 hours is $133.33 an hour. That not to bad. They just want to show as little as possible to make the most money. Lazy realtors, its a joke, we do all the work, looked up all the properties we wanted to see and drove through neighborhoods. The only thing the realtor does is unlock the door and submit the papers. If the realtor did not show me everything I wanted to see I would have found a new realtor. Times are tough for realtors right now, there are plenty out there who are willing to do what they have to do to make the sale.

[TexasHorseLady]

Sorry, but a good agent does a heck of a lot more than unlock the door and "submit the papers". Most of which the client won't even see, if they do their job well. Part of the job is looking ahead to potential potholes in the road to closing and figuring out ways around, over, under, through them - or how to fill them in - before you get there. If that's not possible, figuring out how to deal with them once you get there.

Plus, of course, there are the expenses of running a business that you wouldn't think of begrudging being included in the cost of, oh, say, gasoline or food or whatever your hobby of choice is. Such things as continuing education (not cheap), the fees for belonging to the MLS so that you, the buyer, CAN look houses up online - with no MLS membership fees being paid to support the existence of that MLS and no agents entering the data on the houses, you'd be out of luck there, oh, and, yes, the cost of doing business in the time spent with "looky lous" who consider it a form of free entertainment to get an agent to take them around to look at houses they have no intention of buying but are curious about. Plus a number of other things I haven't mentioned - trust me, there's ALWAYS someone standing there with their hand out for money when you're a real estate agent. You didn't include any of those in your figuring, because you don't have a clue what they are.

Part of being a good business manager is figuring out if someone is truly going to buy a house or if they're fooling you (or even themselves) about their true intentions or ability. Sometimes they fool you (especially if they're fooling themselves), and you figure it on down the line. Which is more or less, I think, what the OP is trying to do.

[asitshouldbe]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Sorry, but a good agent does a heck of a lot more than unlock the door and "submit the papers". Most of which the client won't even see, if they do their job well. Part of the job is looking ahead to potential potholes in the road to closing and figuring out ways around, over, under, through them - or how to fill them in - before you get there. If that's not possible, figuring out how to deal with them once you get there.

Plus, of course, there are the expenses of running a business that you wouldn't think of begrudging being included in the cost of, oh, say, gasoline or food or whatever your hobby of choice is. Such things as continuing education (not cheap), the fees for belonging to the MLS so that you, the buyer, CAN look houses up online - with no MLS membership fees being paid to support the existence of that MLS and no agents entering the data on the houses, you'd be out of luck there, oh, and, yes, the cost of doing business in the time spent with "looky lous" who consider it a form of free entertainment to get an agent to take them around to look at houses they have no intention of buying but are curious about. Plus a number of other things I haven't mentioned - trust me, there's ALWAYS someone standing there with their hand out for money when you're a real estate agent. You didn't include any of those in your figuring, because you don't have a clue what they are.

Part of being a good business manager is figuring out if someone is truly going to buy a house or if they're fooling you (or even themselves) about their true intentions or ability. Sometimes they fool you (especially if they're fooling themselves), and you figure it on down the line. Which is more or less, I think, what the OP is trying to do.

Every realtor does not pay to have the homes online. There are many sights not associated with one particular realtor or company. So don't try to fool people with all your "fee's".