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To the responders: Are you all joking? Berating this person for looking for too long? You must be joking. What if where she is looking the inventory is not great? What if the OP actually CARES about not making a horrible financial decision by buying the wrong house? This is an UNPRECEDENTED time to be a buyer. It is a rapidly declining market, with tight credit standards, and low inventory in the desirable areas. Plus every day on TV the experts are warning people not to buy until 2011 or 2015 or somesuch. It's terribly unfair to castigate someone for taking too long to shop in this market. If you agents (I'm really disappointed in your replies) don't want to spend time with a conscientious buyer, then don't. I am sure there are other agents out there who'd be willing to help the OP and other pre-approved buyers who need help navigating this UNPRECEDENTED market.
Some people need to see 5 properties before they make an offer. Some people need to see 50 properties or more. There are many different answers to the question: How many houses should a potential buyer see?
To the OP: If you have not signed an agreement with this agent, dump her and find another agent.
I wouldnt fault someone for taking their time, no. But lets be reasonable, how can a two year shopping be considered as "serious" home shopping? I guess its in each individual perception of what a serious home shopper is. In my opinion, while she isnt necessarily joking about buying, she is not (over the 2 years) been in need of a purchase or it would have happend. Surely spending a few months is more reasonable? Two years (and I am not a real estate agent) would cause me to tell someone to give me a call when they were ready to have me help them find and make a purchase. One could spend a decade 'looking' - there is a difference between looking and looking with the purpose of selecting and purchasing one from those available, isnt there? I dont mean to come off sounding harsh, but written communication leaves alot of other methods of communicating out (tone/inflection/body language/facial expression).
I understand completely if you choose not to work on my time parameters. I understand completely that you may not think I'm serious. But all that matters to me is that I work at my pace and I buy when I'm comfortable and find something I like. If you wanna come along, come on. If you want a piece of my action, fine. If you don't, then I'll take my 60k in commission earning potential to someone else. I did. I'm sure I'm fine with that. Not sure he is, though. And he must think I'm a serious player or he would not be soliciting my business now, no?
Attagirl! Great response, MsFancyPants!! You have hit the nail precisely on its head.
In this down economy, hardly any new houses are being built. The market is waiting to get rid of its old inventory. That is why, even after waiting patiently for so long, we haven't found something that we like because the options out there in the areas we are interested in, are quite limited. The ones available are either those that were built in the 1950s or that which are newly constructed and sitting in the million dollar range. No middle of the road options that we would like to see.
It seems like this should be an easy problem to resolve.
If your agent can set you up on (what we call here) a "prospect match" with her MLS system, you can be emailed new listings and price changes immediately upon release. Then you contact her if you have specific questions about properties that may appeal to you.
If you have been looking for two years, you should know your area well enough to be able to do a drive-by to decide if the house is in an area that interests you. If not, learn to use Google Earth or some other mapping system. If you are now aware of how to check the sales history online, do it yourself for properties that are interesting to you. (Our MLS listing data that is emailed to "prospect matches" provides a direct link to the tax office data, or you can go directly to the tax office website.)
At this point in your lengthy search, you shouldn't need hand-holding by your agent. Be pro-active. Check out new listings and then set up appointments to see ones that you are seriously interested in.
Your agent deserves your respect as much as you deserve hers. If she is being disrespectful, that is another issue. If she is just simply backing away because you are asking her to do tasks that you can easily do yourself, you shouldn't be surprised after two years.
(I set up our match system to email my clients immediately, but to email me an alert that there has been a match only once a day. I tell my clients two things when we start this process: 1)you may see this match before I do...if you feel that action is urgent, call me right away...and 2)I will keep you on this match list until you request to be taken off--just let me know by email if you no longer want to receive the emails generated by the MLS system. What I find is that my clients, even those who are on the mainland and may not buy for a few years, are appreciative of the system and enjoy the education they receive by staying current on the market--and they enjoy being able to stay informed without constantly calling me for information that they know they may not use right away.)
Last edited by cynmkolohe; 05-06-2009 at 05:10 PM..
It seems like this should be an easy problem to resolve.
If your agent can set you up on (what we call here) a "prospect match" with her MLS system, you can be emailed new listings and price changes immediately upon release. Then you contact her if you have specific questions about properties that may appeal to you.
If you have been looking for two years, you should know your area well enough to be able to do a drive-by to decide if the house is in an area that interests you.
This is why I originally asked how many properties the agent has helped you tour. If you're being fussy and rarely ask to see the inside of a house, it's not as a big a crime as if you're touring houses all the time and not getting any closer to your goal. Bottom line, I can see both sides of this issue, but really hope you haven't run your realtor through dozens of houses.
This is another reason I think open houses are important. For buyers who may be interested. Get it on their radar by inviting them in to fall in love.
On a separate, but related, note: another reason buyers are taking so long in the declining market is that many many "NEW" listings are last year's listings (sometimes) marked down. If I didn't like it last year, I don't like it this year. Truly "new" properties are sitting unlisted on the sidelines waiting this economy out.
EXCELLENT POINT about the stale listings!!!!!!!! So many houses are old listings that just keep getting re-listed over and over!!! Because they were overpriced and did not sell and are now a short sale or heavily reduced, etc.
Location: Halfway between Number 4 Privet Drive and Forks, WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saltzman143
EXCELLENT POINT about the stale listings!!!!!!!! So many houses are old listings that just keep getting re-listed over and over!!! Because they were overpriced and did not sell and are now a short sale or heavily reduced, etc.
But isn't that what buyers sitting on the sidelines have been waiting for? Heavily reduced properties?
The mantra I've heard over and over and over is "reduce the price" or "housing has to come down to (my) affordability levels" and now that it is, you complain that the listing is stale??
Or are you waiting on the brand new listing with all bells and whistles for the heavily reduced shortsale price?
I don't blame sellers for waiting out this market, either. I wouldn't want to sell my house for the price of the average foreclosure and I'm sure if you were a homeowner, *you* wouldn't want to either...
It seems like this should be an easy problem to resolve.
If your agent can set you up on (what we call here) a "prospect match" with her MLS system, you can be emailed new listings and price changes immediately upon release. Then you contact her if you have specific questions about properties that may appeal to you.
If you have been looking for two years, you should know your area well enough to be able to do a drive-by to decide if the house is in an area that interests you. If not, learn to use Google Earth or some other mapping system. If you are now aware of how to check the sales history online, do it yourself for properties that are interesting to you. (Our MLS listing data that is emailed to "prospect matches" provides a direct link to the tax office data, or you can go directly to the tax office website.)
At this point in your lengthy search, you shouldn't need hand-holding by your agent. Be pro-active. Check out new listings and then set up appointments to see ones that you are seriously interested in.
Your agent deserves your respect as much as you deserve hers. If she is being disrespectful, that is another issue. If she is just simply backing away because you are asking her to do tasks that you can easily do yourself, you shouldn't be surprised after two years.
(I set up our match system to email my clients immediately, but to email me an alert that there has been a match only once a day. I tell my clients two things when we start this process: 1)you may see this match before I do...if you feel that action is urgent, call me right away...and 2)I will keep you on this match list until you request to be taken off--just let me know by email if you no longer want to receive the emails generated by the MLS system. What I find is that my clients, even those who are on the mainland and may not buy for a few years, are appreciative of the system and enjoy the education they receive by staying current on the market--and they enjoy being able to stay informed without constantly calling me for information that they know they may not use right away.)
Well, if she can easily do these tasks herself, why use a Realtor? Why should the real estate agent get paid when she is doing most of the legwork? Or should the agent then work for a reduced commission?
This is why I originally asked how many properties the agent has helped you tour. If you're being fussy and rarely ask to see the inside of a house, it's not as a big a crime as if you're touring houses all the time and not getting any closer to your goal. Bottom line, I can see both sides of this issue, but really hope you haven't run your realtor through dozens of houses.
This is another reason I think open houses are important. For buyers who may be interested. Get it on their radar by inviting them in to fall in love.
On a separate, but related, note: another reason buyers are taking so long in the declining market is that many many "NEW" listings are last year's listings (sometimes) marked down. If I didn't like it last year, I don't like it this year. Truly "new" properties are sitting unlisted on the sidelines waiting this economy out.
Stale listings are hard to get excited about.
LOL! So now it's a "crime" to expect your real estate agent to show you as many properties as you want? That's rich!!
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