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Linus unfortunately you are quite uniformed when it comes to agents, agency, contracts, closing statements, HUD rules, RESPA, negotiations, potential pitfalls, mortgage.....pretty much everything we agents are here to help you with. I've looked at and read a bunch of your posts among the many from other folks and I'd have to say you may need our help more than we thought...but hey we're here for you, so keep asking away, because who else can get you straight and dispel all of these myths.....lol
Could you outline the work you did, type of agency agreement you had and what was the pay for the service you say -you didn't get?
I filled out the disclosure forms
I took photographs
I edited the photographs for the MLS website (because my listing agent was computer illiterate).
I had to pester him to contact the MLS service to take down bad pictures and replace with the better ones. (There were times when I thought he was on top of everything and I thought I didn't have to make sure he was doing everything but after checking the MLS website and seeing that he'd not updated my descriptions or photos in weeks, I realized he needed to be watched.)
I wrote the descriptions for the website
I BUILT and entire separate website (This agent didn't even offer to have a virtual tour done I guess because I had the separate website)
I hired a staging professional and staged the property based on her advice.
I arranged for all of the inspections.
I got the final utility readings on the house
I cleaned up the mess that would sometimes be left after the listing agent showed the place to buyers and their agents. Also this property was NOT being lived in so the agent could have gone back afterwards and cleaned up if he'd wanted to.
When the agent misrepresented the property as a result of evidently not reading the condo docs and perhaps wanting to just tell the buyer whatever they wanted to hear so he could get his commission, when he wouldn't LISTEN to me and represent the property they way it was supposed to be, I had to hire and attorney to back me up who GOUGED me even more -- and that could have been totally avoided if the listing agent had stuck to representing the property as described in the condo documents.
I told the agent how to negotiate the final selling price. He'd advised me to accept less. If I'd listened to him I would have gotten less than I ended up with.
I did all the title research that the buyer's attorney needed done. I practically lived at city hall getting documents at land evidence and filing them( condo docs and land surveys).
I accompanied the buyer's attorney to city hall to show him where land evidnece was and to remind the attorney that the fire inspection certificate needed to be filed with the deed. This was while my listing agent took off as fast as he could to cash his commission check I sjuppose.
Having done all of that, If I do say so myself, I'm doing a WAY BETTER job now marketing this second property than that listing agent came close to doing when he sold the first property because in addition to the above, I have a virtual tour I've got better internet exposure as a featured listing WITH a virtual tour (that i never had before with the so-called "professionals". I'm getting just as many showings as he'd gotten me last year I leave brochures, disclosures, market comparisons of sold properties and other info for the prospective buyer and their agent when they come to see the property and my For Sale sign is a professional one like licensed agents use.
What is 99% of the work? Are you claiming you also did the job of the buyers agent? You didn't pay 2 brokers. You paid one broker and your chose to pay the other broker through the cooperating MLS agreement.
Why don't we show FSBO's? Most of the time we never even knew your home was for sale. If we know it, and it fits, we show it.
An agents job is to market a home and guide it to closing. That's it. We aren't magic bullets or sales people. The home must sell itself to the buyer, we can't make people look or make offers.
Lastly there are 5 equal reasons a home sells.
1-Condition (Seller controls)
2-Terms offered (Seller controls)
3-Price (Seller controls)
4-Marketing (Agent Controls)
5-Location (buyer controls-they determine value of the area)
So, 60% of the burden of selling a home falls on the seller. That being said, it's not always the owner's fault the home didn't sell.
I did the job of the seller's agent as the seller and wasted the commission and the added expense when the agent screwed up getting everything unscrewed, so for sellers willing to do the work I did, I think they can do just as well or better than a listing agent could do for them and save having to pay a listing agent/broker's commission. I certainly don't mind paying the buyer's agent a commission, after all they brought the buyer to the house.
I think you should consider getting your real estate license, emily! Based on your existing knowledge of the processes involved, you could be very successful.
Where did you read that? Every FSBO I've seen, the sellers were way overpriced and were basing their price on what other homes in the neighborhood were priced at, not on sold prices.
Keep in mind that statistically FSBO's get 11-16% less for their home than a realtor would have gotten them.
I assume it comes from NAR, but I asked, and he didn't say.
But I agree. That FSBOs sell at lower prices is just something Realtors say when they're selling their services to sellers. When they're selling to buyers, they say FSBO's aren't worth looking at, because they're overpriced.
"My prediction is that in the next 10-20 years, RE agents are going to go the way of travel agents; only to be used in emergencies or extenuating circumstances but not really needed for the day to day".
Well for one thing they are needed for know-it-all sellers and buyers with big egos who are totally misguided!
James Blaydes of Blaydes & Associates, a Peru, Ill., appraisal firm says that in many cases, appraisers can't stand up to pressure put on them by mortgage brokers. Either they "hit the numbers" as instructed, he said at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Fraud Issues Conference in Chicago recently, or they are blackballed.
Ken Harney - Appraiser pressure at pandemic proportions.
In survey, 90 percent report feeling demand to inflate property values.
Though mortgage brokers were ranked the most common source of pressure -- 71 percent of appraisers said brokers had sought to interfere with their work -- realty agents came in a close second at 56 percent.
The Real Deal - Ken Harney - Appraiser pressure at pandemic proportions (http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/MARCH_2007/1172673335.php - broken link)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's recent Financial Crimes Report states that mortgage fraud is a "pervasive and growing" problem in the current market climate... "Research shows that one-third to one-half of appraisals are overpriced,"
I edited the photographs for the MLS website (because my listing agent was computer illiterate).
I had to pester him to contact the MLS service to take down bad pictures and replace with the better ones. (There were times when I thought he was on top of everything and I thought I didn't have to make sure he was doing everything but after checking the MLS website and seeing that he'd not updated my descriptions or photos in weeks, I realized he needed to be watched.)
I wrote the descriptions for the website
I BUILT and entire separate website (This agent didn't even offer to have a virtual tour done I guess because I had the separate website)
I hired a staging professional and staged the property based on her advice.
I arranged for all of the inspections.
I got the final utility readings on the house
I cleaned up the mess that would sometimes be left after the listing agent showed the place to buyers and their agents. Also this property was NOT being lived in so the agent could have gone back afterwards and cleaned up if he'd wanted to.
When the agent misrepresented the property as a result of evidently not reading the condo docs and perhaps wanting to just tell the buyer whatever they wanted to hear so he could get his commission, when he wouldn't LISTEN to me and represent the property they way it was supposed to be, I had to hire and attorney to back me up who GOUGED me even more -- and that could have been totally avoided if the listing agent had stuck to representing the property as described in the condo documents.
I told the agent how to negotiate the final selling price. He'd advised me to accept less. If I'd listened to him I would have gotten less than I ended up with.
I did all the title research that the buyer's attorney needed done. I practically lived at city hall getting documents at land evidence and filing them( condo docs and land surveys).
I accompanied the buyer's attorney to city hall to show him where land evidnece was and to remind the attorney that the fire inspection certificate needed to be filed with the deed. This was while my listing agent took off as fast as he could to cash his commission check I sjuppose.
Having done all of that, If I do say so myself, I'm doing a WAY BETTER job now marketing this second property than that listing agent came close to doing when he sold the first property because in addition to the above, I have a virtual tour I've got better internet exposure as a featured listing WITH a virtual tour (that i never had before with the so-called "professionals". I'm getting just as many showings as he'd gotten me last year I leave brochures, disclosures, market comparisons of sold properties and other info for the prospective buyer and their agent when they come to see the property and my For Sale sign is a professional one like licensed agents use.
Wow emily you did a LOT! What was your reason for selecting your seller's agent?
James Blaydes of Blaydes & Associates, a Peru, Ill., appraisal firm says that in many cases, appraisers can't stand up to pressure put on them by mortgage brokers. Either they "hit the numbers" as instructed, he said at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Fraud Issues Conference in Chicago recently, or they are blackballed.
Ken Harney - Appraiser pressure at pandemic proportions.
In survey, 90 percent report feeling demand to inflate property values.
Though mortgage brokers were ranked the most common source of pressure -- 71 percent of appraisers said brokers had sought to interfere with their work -- realty agents came in a close second at 56 percent.
The Real Deal - Ken Harney - Appraiser pressure at pandemic proportions (http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/MARCH_2007/1172673335.php - broken link)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's recent Financial Crimes Report states that mortgage fraud is a "pervasive and growing" problem in the current market climate... "Research shows that one-third to one-half of appraisals are overpriced,"
I could go on, but I'm too lazy. Anyone who's interested can easily find anything I can find, using Google.
And if you're in the business, you already know about it.
These articles refer to mortgage brokers not realtors. I work in a real estate office (not as an agent) and not one of the agents I work with receive any type of referral or kick back. The reason they refer inspectors (to buyer clients) or mortgage brokers is because they trust the work they will provide for their (the agent) client. The agents have even gone up against these same inspectors with properties they have listed and cringe when they (the agents) find out its one of the inspectors we refer out because they KNOW the inspector is going to be tough! There are a LOT of bad inspectors out there, my office only refers reputable, reliable, top notch inspectors.
Let's look at the other side of the coin here. For those who are considering FSBO, I am totally appreciative of why you feel you can do better as a FSBO, but there are other aspects to this argument.
I suggest that many sellers are disappointed because they didn't properly hire their listing agent. As with all professions, there are outstanding Realtors and there are Realtors who should be standing out somewhere else.
I have never seen anyone who gets value for their cost upset with paying for quality service. A truly professional Realtor will earn their clients many many dollars more than the commission expense paid.
Sellers need to remember that they are effectively entering into an employment contract with a broker. Hire your broker or agent with the same attitude that you would hire someone to work in your business.
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...but hey we're here for you, so keep asking away, because who else can get you straight and dispel all of these myths.....lol
