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I am not an agent but I recently worked with one to buy my first house. The process was great. I would search for homes online (and get to see pictures of potential homes), he would email me listing daily as well as set-up automatic daily searches so that when listings matched my criteria I would be notified almost instantly. We communicated a lot via cell phone since he an I were always on the go and away from our offices. Since I was a first time buyer I had a lot of questions that were not time sensitive but the answers would help calm my nerves and I enjoyed the fact that I could email my agent questions late at night which he could later answer at his convenience the next day.
When it came down to negotiating the purchase a lot of the documents (contracts, inspection reports, ect..) were seamlessly and quickly sent back and forth via email. Having the internet and cell phone access made things so easy!
So what was searching for a home like before the internet? How quickly could a buyer find out a home that was perfect for them had just hit the market? I can't even imagine going to look at a home without being able to see pictures online first or waiting all day to hear back from my agent because he is out of the office and away from the phone on his desk! It must have been hard for agents to get a hold of their clients and sellers as well! Was there just some big three-ring binder with all the listings to thumb through? Did the client have to come to the office to look at the lisitngs? How often was it updated? Daily? Weekly?
Anyway, just curious about what it was like "back in the day"! Is there anything you miss or has all the new technology changed everything for the better?
I think some of the agents that were around back in the day are less likely to come to a forum, like this, because they have not yet figured out how to relate to a PC.
There are a few ancients in my area that do not do email or have a cell phone. It seems to work out OK for them because they work with peer group clients. Everyone knows who they are and if you are going to work with one of them on a transaction, you adjust.
While I was not a Realtor, back in the day, I was a consumer of real estate agency services. Listings were compiled in massive books larger and heavier than a phone book, in a big city. There were no pictures.
Appointments required getting a key from the listing office or arranging to meet the listing agent at the property. She was always late. Yeah, agents were almost always she's, back then.
It was a simplier time and consumers did not have anxieties that sometimes come with unmanaged information overload, that exists to day.
Having said all this, there are areas of the U.S. that continue to operate musch as they did elsewhere, in times gone bye. There is not enough business in some rural areas to support some of the advances that are common place elsewhere.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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It totally sucked! In order to get property information, you had to go down to the courthouse instead of being able to look up ownership within 30 seconds. Our MLS offered either a weekly book (in B&W) or index cards with property information. I recall the cost being astronomical. I had a pager (I'm such an early adopter ) which was only mildly helpful.
My wife did work in the customer service department at a local title company, so I did get copies of deeds fairly quickly.
The only highlight was that the purchase agreement form was on one legal sized piece of paper. It's now about 29 pages to include all the disclosures.
OK - I'm an "old" guy. I have been in the Real Estate profession for over 40 years - BEFORE and MLS. BEFORE Lock boxes. BEFORE computers. BEFORE financial calculators.
How did we do? Just fine. IN FACT, and this is just my opinion - we did better. Why? Because the real estate community had to cooperate with one another to get things done. We knew one another - we could call on another agent or broker for help.
When I do presentations around the country, I'm often asked how did we find properties to sell - and I love the reactions I get when I tell them we had to drive up and down the streets - look for the For Sale signs - write down the phone number and actually talk to the listing agent!
When we had a listing that was any distance from our office, we could leave a "courtesy key" with another brokerage so that when an agent wanted to show it - we would simply tell them to go to XYZ realty and get the key.
As the business grew, and the MLS's came about, we would have weekly get together to pitch our listings - to network with one another. I know this still happens but, not near what is once did. We socialized - and we got work done - we did "deals" at those meetings.
Oh, I admit, it is easier to search for properties today. It is easier to get information for my clients. It is easier to do the disclosures I have to do.
I've been thinking about this and thinking my memory must be deceiving me
but I do believe this is the way it was.
Getting listings was the important thing because "Our" listings were what we
had to offer.
Co-broke was something that happened inter-agency when a fellow agent sold
"your" listing.
I can't recall using the term 'buyers agent'.You were just a co-broking agent.
It wasn't at all unusual for a buyer to be going out with several
agents/brokers.
Whoever had the 'best' property won
We DID co-broke sometimes but it wasn't the norm.
Prospective buyers saw your signs or read your ads and called.Out of towners
would hopefully stop in your office.
In our small rural area almost everybody borrowed at a local bank, the only inspector that made us a
little nervous was the FHA guy ,if a bank wasn't used. They had requirements
banks weren't generally concerned about.
Greatday...you reminded me of the mortgage amortization books.
The oldest one I have only went to $20,000. After that you had to multiply.
My parents have both been agents for about 20 years, so car phones (not cell phones like today, but big boxes with phones attached that could be plugged into your car) were available to them way back then.
I can tell you exactly what their source of information was though, because they still have some of the books in our office.
The books came out every 2 weeks, so a new listing might not hit the books for up to 13 days. The books were black and white, and by the mid 90s at least had an exterior photo.
I remember my mom saying that they would get a fax (daily I think) that would have a list of new stuff. This was back when faxes came out on one long roll of paper.
As middle-aged mom said, showing a property involved somehow getting the other agent to meet you, or getting a key on loan. So if another agent already had the key, you maybe couldn't see that house today.
I will say that some areas of Idaho still use this method of getting the key from the listing office. Some even choose not to participate in an MLS (even where there is one available), and list by word of mouth and advertising.
Greatday...you reminded me of the mortgage amortization books.The oldest one I have only went to $20,000. After that you had to multiply.
I grew up in the business - my mother was an ACTIVE real estate broker until her death in 1997 - she got into the business in 1926!! She closed her last escrow literally the day before her death!
She was selling property when there were no mortgage companies! She made it through the Depression - actually made quite a bit of money back then. Anyway - she kept a lot of her original books, contracts - stuff that was historical in nature. Before she died, and knowing that I'm sort of a "history nut" - she gave me her FIRST amortization "schedule" - not book - a piece of paper. The max loan was 3,800. Max interest rate was 4.5!
"I can't recall using the term 'buyers agent'.You were just a co-broking agent. It wasn't at all unusual for a buyer to be going out with several agents/brokers. Whoever had the 'best' property won We DID co-broke sometimes but it wasn't the norm"
I did mean this part in reference to working with other agencies.
Qoute "The max loan was 3,800. Max interest rate was 4.5!"
Gee....half the price of my first house
Mortgage was $39.99 a month.
The top rate on my old book was just over 6% but I still used it a lot because the new one went from 7% to 20%.That was not a fun time.
People are yelling now but we got our 1st 'expensive' house at 11% and when rates came down enough some years later, banks had tightened and we couldn't refi, so I do empathize .
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