Can you help us find a house EAST of Asheville, please?? (Black Mountain: sale, lease)

[Rysher8]

I agree with the person who said that you will likely get OUTSTANDING and daily service from a realtor worth their salt in this market. We came here in a very similiar situation to yours, were lucky to find a great realtor, and found a house in three weeks. Our realtor took us out ~4 days per week to look at multiple houses and areas that either we or she selected. If you're a serious buyer looking to move quickly, you'll have no trouble if you work with a good realtor.

Working with multiple realtors is kind of unfair, because one realtor might show you a specific area/neighborhood you proceed to love. Then another realtor might spot the house in that neighborhood (that you told them about courtesy of Realtor #1) an hour before your original realtor, and Realtor #1 gets nothing.

[2kate]

[quote=the Parkies;2779973]Hi, everyone!

We are "happening" so quickly now that one day we ask you about areas around north Asheville and the next day we ask you about areas to the east! We apologize for that! Please bear with us. We now definitely know where we want to be--to the EAST of Asheville so that we will have easy access to both Asheville and Black Mountain, yet will still be a short drive to UNCA and the Basilica of St. Thomas (next to the Civic Center).

If our house in San Diego closes escrow on March 14 as expected (we are working through the inspection process right now, but inspection turned up nothing major), we will be free to move into a purchased house here very soon. We will also find it necessary to move out of our current rental here, possibly by as early as March 31! (We're requesting an extension on that rental but haven't heard back yet.)


First off congratulations!!!! It shows us folks in NY who are still sitting on the market that there is indeed a chance that someone will buy our home before the next ice age. Anyway as you know I am a Realtor for 27 yrs up here. I can't imagine that the Realtor that you've liked & already worked with isn't going to drop everything & give you her undivided attention 24/7 now that your home in San Diego looks like it will be closing soon. Most Realtors I know never (even in a good market) work with that many customers at a time that they won't have time to devote to you providing they are working full time in Real Estate. Now with buyer brokerage so prevalent there should not be a property (like an exclusive) that they will not be able to show you. Now with the internet every home is online too- you can let your keyboard do the walking & let your Realtor narrow it down based on your criteria & all those factors you can't tell from the pretty pictures. You don't need to waste your time seeing every house- just the ones that are the best for you. The only reason I would ever want to work with more than one Realtor assuming I already had one who I liked) is if I was looking in more than one area & my Realtor wasn't familiar w/ it. Good luck I can't wait to see where you end up!

[the Parkies]

THANK YOU!--ALL OF YOU!!! You are a comfort!!!

Jan

[LiveLoveLaugh]

JMO...I think each RE market is different and it is in YOUR best interest to find a Realtor in BM, Asheville and any other areas you are considering. Happy House Hunting!!!!....jmho

[the Parkies]

Originally Posted by 2kate

First off congratulations!!!! It shows us folks in NY who are still sitting on the market that there is indeed a chance that someone will buy our home before the next ice age. Anyway as you know I am a Realtor for 27 yrs up here.... Now with buyer brokerage so prevalent there should not be a property (like an exclusive) that they will not be able to show you. Now with the internet every home is online too- you can let your keyboard do the walking & let your Realtor narrow it down based on your criteria & all those factors you can't tell from the pretty pictures....

2kate, as I re-read your post this evening, I realized I had a few questions. First, what do you mean by "buyer brokerage"?

Did you mean that any licensed NC realtor is able to show us every single house on the MLS? What about the "Beverly-Hanks Only" listings? Other firms wouldn't have access to those, would they?

Second, you say "now with the internet every home is online, too." Again, do the internet listings include "Beverly-Hanks Only" listings? And are you saying that every house on the MLS is now on R.E. internet sites hosted by Beverly-Hanks, Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, and others?

Finally, a broader question. I remember hearing maybe a year ago that there was a public push to remove the MLS from the exclusive hands of realtors and make it available (free) to the public at large. The National Assoc. of Realtors of course lobbied against such a major and threatening change. Now it appears that the internet has given the public what it wanted--access to MLS--made available by the realtors themselves(!), who post their listings on their websites. So if the entire MLS is available by internet, why do WNC buyers use the services of realtors at all, since they're going to have to involve an attorney to complete their R.E. transaction and don't need a realtor at all for that in this state. Is it just because realtors offer familiarity with communities (and a nice car to drive around in free )?? Surely there's more to it than that.... I'm thinking... I'm thinking...

Another way to put that same question is... What can a realtor do for me that you lovely people on this forum can't? You listen to my wish list, you direct me to communities, you give me advice, you offer to follow up by private mail... How could a realtor do more?

[I'll post an update on our search for a home on the more recent thread I started: http://www.city-data.com/forum/weste...e-black.html.]

Truly appreciate your time!!

Jan

[2kate]

Buyer Brokerage- is when the Realtor represents the buyer NOT the seller. I have never been out with a Realtor in NC so I can only tell you about practices in NY but I can't believe that NC is totally different. So here it is the law that a Realtor must disclose who they are working for at their first substantive meeting & a disclosure is presented at that time to the buyer to be signed by both the Realtor & you. If the agent is a "seller's broker" then the agent works for the seller even though they take the buyer around. By law what they owe the buyer is "fair & honest treatment", but if they are "buyer's brokers" their fiduciary responsibility is to the buyer. The fee still comes from the proceeds & is whatever is negotiated upfront although in NY every listing states what the seller is offering- which in most cases is the same as what they are offering every other agent. Disclosure is key. The agent must disclose to everyone involved who they are working for. If you were to buy your agent's listing for example the agent would have to get permission from both parties to act as a "dual agent". In that case they would have to be totally neutral to both seller & buyer OR in such a case if you don't want that you could get the broker of record to represent you & your other agent would have to step aside.

By law in NY a buyers agent can show any listing including exclusives.

Our MLS site seems much for sophisticated than in Asheville. Moderator cut: TOS Violation
The internet has definitely changed the way buyers find homes- many buyers spend every wkend looking on their own going from open house to open houses- they probably think they will get the house cheaper throught he listing agent which isn't true OR they haven't found a Realtor they really like.
I would rather have a Realtor representing me who will screen the 500 houses I won't like & only show me the real possibilites. A Realtor is also a Diplomate & therapist & great negotiator. Did you ever try to negotiate for yourself? Not so easy! Buying a house is still pretty emotional & traumatic so a Realtor is there to make everything go smoothy- a good Realtor is way more than a tour guide.
The trick is of course to find one right for you! I am so anal I will probably have to get my license first & sell myself a house!

So how's it going? Are you only looking in Black Mountain? I have a feeling that's where we might end up.

[cooperwx]

My realtor arranged inspections, walked through offers (pages and pages!) noting discrepancies from the norm, recommended counter offers, repair requests, pointed out a couple of homes we may have seen online but hadn't considered, saved us time of going to homes that were too chopped up or whose yards didn't meet our needs. Some looked great on the net, but she had been inside them or had a coworker who had, and could recommend against some without wasting our time. Sometimes we insisted, and she was OK with that, too.

As a working person, I did not have the time to do all these things for myself. Maybe someone in a different stage of life (i.e. retired) has the time to schedule their own viewings, go to multiple open houses every weekend, etc. but many do not. I appreciated the help of my buyers agent.

ETA: What is a "Beverly-Hanks only" listing? What would one real estate company have to gain by hiding their listings from buyers and other agencies?

[2kate]

[ETA: What is a "Beverly-Hanks only" listing? What would one real estate company have to gain by hiding their listings from buyers and other agencies?[/quote]

If a real estate company can sell a listing themselves they obviously make twice the $$ but "exclusives" rarely benefit homeowners.
In some situations perhaps a Seller may not want to deal with all the commotion MLS may bring (if they are so sure their homes will sell anyway w/ less exposure) Sometimes Sellers may want to "test" their price as an exclusive before hitting MLS at potentially the wrong price OR sometimes they are not quite ready to show the house to the masses because they are doing staging/repairs etc.
In general though- MLS is the best way to go esp in this market.

[the Parkies]

Thank you, 2kate and cooperwx! You clarified some of our fuzzier notions. We wouldn't dream of buying or selling without a realtor, BTW (we definitely see the value of realtors). We were just trying to understand how the R.E. world works today, given public internet access to everything on the MLS. Thanks for taking the time to help us with that.

[Tony1790]

Jan,

Have you found a home yet? I drove through Black Mountain the other day, it made me homesick (grew up in BM). Also the changes, there is a new Bi-lo, the Roses store is gone....not closed, but gone, as in the building, same for the Hardies (Carls Jr for the west coasters), bunch of new buildings that once did not exist. I used to live in the house at 205 E. college st, it has been revamped and is nice, mom bought that for $33,000 many years ago.

Anywho, I finally took your advice and quit the railroad (yesterday), now IF I can convince myself that I can afford to go back to school and not rush out and get another job (have 4 interview scheduled already).

Talk to you later.

Tony (in transition)