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thanks for the response. I will try to answer your questions below:
1. How many homes do you think you will need to see before you buy?
That is a tough one to answer. My thought process is that I probably will do a lot of the searching and going to open houses and have the realtor tag along with me to select listings. I will also try to pick the realtor's brain and get his or her opinion when comparing homes (positives vs negatives, location, preferred neighborhood), as the realtor likely knows things about the neighborhood that I don't. The realtor might also know about a home that will be on the market before it hits MLS, so he/she can let me know about it and I can at least ride by to see if it looks like it might suit me. So, it is a hard one to answer but I don't anticipate dragging my realtor to every available house in East Memphis or Midtown Memphis, as I know he/she won't have time for that.
2. Could you only see one home and buy it if you liked it and price was good?
I would say "no" on this mostly because I am analytical in nature and will want to at least view a handful of houses to get a feel for what is available at certain price points, locations and to get a sense of what I like and don't like. I am hoping that I can do this through open houses, as I can attend those without my realtor being present (and, thus, save him or her some time).
3. Will you always bid under the asking price or is there a time you think you could bid over asking?
Memphis is a buyer's market right now with low inventory. So, I expect that I will end up paying right around asking price, with very little room to negotiate price. The only way that I can see negotiating price very much would be if a house had been on the market for awhile and just wasn't moving. In that case, then there is likely a good reason that the house isn't selling and the reason could very well be that it is overpriced and then negotiation might be possible.
4.What questions are you asking the agents when you interview them?
I haven't interviewed agents yet but am researching agents online to find out as much as I can (what areas they serve or specialize in, reading all of their reviews, checking their listings to see what price ranges and neighborhoods they typically work in, checking out the other staff in their office, watching any YouTube videos that they have available, reviewing their websites, etc.). Doing this is how I realized that quite a few of the more experienced agents actually only represent sellers at this point in their career and have buyer's agents in their office that they funnel buyers to.
5.What responses are you getting from the agents that makes you think they don't want to help you.
See above answer.
So, it isn't necessarily that I have talked to the agents and had them tell me firsthand that they don't represent buyers anymore and that I would be working instead with one of their buyer's agents but I have basically ascertained this by reviewing all of the information that is available to me. I did reach out to a realtor that was on my list to get a sense of how much closing costs in Memphis might be (so that I could budget appropriately) for a buyer and she had one of her buyer's agents reach out to me. So, I know that if I go see her, that she will have one of the 3 or 4 buyer's agents that she supervises work with me rather than her.
Timeline-wise, I am getting pretty close to being ready. I expect the 1st week of May I am going to reach out to a lender to get pre-approved and, once I have my pre-approval letter I will interview 3 or 4 agents and select the one that I am most comfortable with.
It takes a lot more time and gas to represent buyers. And risk, that the buyer won't actually buy anything. Some agents don't like to do it. We do.
Not so big a discrepancy that time or gas is an issue. A more appropriate statement is that an agent can control their time with a seller but not with a buyer.
thanks for the response. I will try to answer your questions below:
1. How many homes do you think you will need to see before you buy?
That is a tough one to answer. My thought process is that I probably will do a lot of the searching and going to open houses and have the realtor tag along with me to select listings. I will also try to pick the realtor's brain and get his or her opinion when comparing homes (positives vs negatives, location, preferred neighborhood), as the realtor likely knows things about the neighborhood that I don't. The realtor might also know about a home that will be on the market before it hits MLS, so he/she can let me know about it and I can at least ride by to see if it looks like it might suit me. So, it is a hard one to answer but I don't anticipate dragging my realtor to every available house in East Memphis or Midtown Memphis, as I know he/she won't have time for that.
2. Could you only see one home and buy it if you liked it and price was good?
I would say "no" on this mostly because I am analytical in nature and will want to at least view a handful of houses to get a feel for what is available at certain price points, locations and to get a sense of what I like and don't like. I am hoping that I can do this through open houses, as I can attend those without my realtor being present (and, thus, save him or her some time).
3. Will you always bid under the asking price or is there a time you think you could bid over asking?
Memphis is a buyer's market right now with low inventory. So, I expect that I will end up paying right around asking price, with very little room to negotiate price. The only way that I can see negotiating price very much would be if a house had been on the market for awhile and just wasn't moving. In that case, then there is likely a good reason that the house isn't selling and the reason could very well be that it is overpriced and then negotiation might be possible.
4.What questions are you asking the agents when you interview them?
I haven't interviewed agents yet but am researching agents online to find out as much as I can (what areas they serve or specialize in, reading all of their reviews, checking their listings to see what price ranges and neighborhoods they typically work in, checking out the other staff in their office, watching any YouTube videos that they have available, reviewing their websites, etc.). Doing this is how I realized that quite a few of the more experienced agents actually only represent sellers at this point in their career and have buyer's agents in their office that they funnel buyers to.
5.What responses are you getting from the agents that makes you think they don't want to help you.
See above answer.
So, it isn't necessarily that I have talked to the agents and had them tell me firsthand that they don't represent buyers anymore and that I would be working instead with one of their buyer's agents but I have basically ascertained this by reviewing all of the information that is available to me. I did reach out to a realtor that was on my list to get a sense of how much closing costs in Memphis might be (so that I could budget appropriately) for a buyer and she had one of her buyer's agents reach out to me. So, I know that if I go see her, that she will have one of the 3 or 4 buyer's agents that she supervises work with me rather than her.
Timeline-wise, I am getting pretty close to being ready. I expect the 1st week of May I am going to reach out to a lender to get pre-approved and, once I have my pre-approval letter I will interview 3 or 4 agents and select the one that I am most comfortable with.
Umm, I'd look for a realtor by asking others that you know who are similar to you (friends, coworkers, professional acquaintances, etc.) who helped them buy their home and if they would recommend them. That, imho, is a much more direct route to finding a good buyers agent than all this stuff you've described in #4.
Umm, I'd look for a realtor by asking others that you know who are similar to you (friends, coworkers, professional acquaintances, etc.) who helped them buy their home and if they would recommend them. That, imho, is a much more direct route to finding a good buyers agent than all this stuff you've described in #4.
I have considered that approach but if I just talk to co-workers and friends, I limit myself to only the specific realtors that they have experience with and that might be just 1 to 2 realtors per person. They also are just 1 or 2 experiences in that realtors career and those 1 or 2 experiences might not be indicative of the average experience with that particular realtor. One other part is that they might also be just steering me to their best friend's aunt/uncle/daughter and, while probably having good intentions, could be steering me to a thoroughly mediocre realtor.
I guess the other part is that I basically want to pick my own realtor, I don't want someone else to basically pick my realtor for me (by steering me to the 1 realtor that they know or have used in their lifetime).
I live in Memphis and am about to begin the process of selecting a realtor to represent me in buying my first home. I wanted to get some thoughts on something that I've noticed when researching realtors here in Memphis and that is the impression that I get is that buyers seem to be less desirable to some agents than sellers.
For example, when reviewing agents in various offices here in town, I notice a lot of "buyer's agents" (who seem to often be the younger, less experienced members in the office) in offices but no one with the title of "seller's agent". I spoke to one realtor recently who is basically the managing broker of a local office and she told me that she really only represents sellers at this point, not buyers and referred me to one of the buyer's agents that she manages (one of the younger, less experienced agents in her office). I got the same impression from another office in that the managing broker of the office apparently represents sellers but refers buyers to one of her "buyer's agents" who are again the less experienced agents in her office.
Is that basically normal or is that something specific to certain offices? In general, are buyers less attractive than sellers to senior real estate agents/brokers? They make the same commission whether they represent the seller or the buyer in the transaction, right?
Do yourself a huge favor and do not buy anything now. Give it a year or two and the current bubble will pop, again. Then those snobby real estate agents, who don't give you the time of day now, will be begging and pleading for your business.
Do yourself a huge favor and do not buy anything now. Give it a year or two and the current bubble will pop, again. Then those snobby real estate agents, who don't give you the time of day now, will be begging and pleading for your business.
It isn't a snobby thing. One person only has so much time to work during a week. So experienced agents are experienced business owners, so they make business decisions that will earn them more money.
Do yourself a huge favor and do not buy anything now. Give it a year or two and the current bubble will pop, again. Then those snobby real estate agents, who don't give you the time of day now, will be begging and pleading for your business.
Financially it doesn't make sense for me to keep renting for another 1 to 2 years at $1,000 to 1,100 per month when I can buy this summer and end up with a house that costs less than that per month (PITI calculation, not just the mortgage itself). I can at least start building equity that way rather than just making my landlord rich. I have the money ready to go anyway, as I have the 20 percent downpayment and my closing costs ready to go right now.
Do yourself a huge favor and do not buy anything now. Give it a year or two and the current bubble will pop, again. Then those snobby real estate agents, who don't give you the time of day now, will be begging and pleading for your business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverfall
It isn't a snobby thing. One person only has so much time to work during a week. So experienced agents are experienced business owners, so they make business decisions that will earn them more money.
Right.
Buyers bring money, but money is everywhere and readily accessible.
Sellers have inventory, and no sale ever happens without inventory. He who has the inventory has the advantage.
If anyone cares about a customer's opinion, here it is.
I want you to go the extra mile to do just a bit more than the customer expects. I want an agent I hire to make me feel like he/she is really caring about doing the best for me. If you agents are just phoning it in, which in my experience, most of you are, then you could be doing better.
My daughter and SIL just bought a house in MO. If their agent hadn't gone above and beyond, finding out the house was being auction by the bank, they wouldn't have gotten it.
Above and beyond, people. It's not about sitting by.
Fundamentally, because they have the money, buyers have the power and given a choice, I'd prefer to be on the buy side -- whether as a buyer or representing one -- in any sales transaction.
My background is Marketing and Finance and very recently I got licensed and added Real Estate to that, because of how it overlaps with the other work I do. Based on what I observed, I will agree with the sentiment in this thread that listing agents (representing sellers) don't want to do a lot of work.
This past Saturday morning I showed a buyer 7 houses. He, like most buyers, was interested in a specific area so they were relatively close together, and we visited them all in about 2 hours. We will repeat this twice more with different properties, before he settles on one. So, after about 10 hours of "field" work, 5 or so hours searching listings, a few hours of paperwork, and the fact that these homes are in the $1.5 to $2 million range, we are looking at a $45,000 to $60,000 commission. I think it is definitely worthwhile to "waste time" being a buyers agent.
I personally enjoy working with inexperienced buyers (or sellers) since, before getting my license, my related real estate experience went back to the early 1980's so I am comfortable with whatever I encounter. Real estate is not my primary source of income, therefore I can be more open and frank about a property or decision a buyer/seller is considering, because I am not financially dependent on the outcome.
Find a good agent willing to put in the hours needed to properly service your needs, and who knows the market and the real estate business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jardine8
I live in Memphis and am about to begin the process of selecting a realtor to represent me in buying my first home. I wanted to get some thoughts on something that I've noticed when researching realtors here in Memphis and that is the impression that I get is that buyers seem to be less desirable to some agents than sellers.
For example, when reviewing agents in various offices here in town, I notice a lot of "buyer's agents" (who seem to often be the younger, less experienced members in the office) in offices but no one with the title of "seller's agent". I spoke to one realtor recently who is basically the managing broker of a local office and she told me that she really only represents sellers at this point, not buyers and referred me to one of the buyer's agents that she manages (one of the younger, less experienced agents in her office). I got the same impression from another office in that the managing broker of the office apparently represents sellers but refers buyers to one of her "buyer's agents" who are again the less experienced agents in her office.
Is that basically normal or is that something specific to certain offices? In general, are buyers less attractive than sellers to senior real estate agents/brokers? They make the same commission whether they represent the seller or the buyer in the transaction, right?
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