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THL, I 'm with you. A pre listing home inspection is chump change compared to loosing a sale, market time and incuring the " stain" of a back on the market ( BAM).
I am also aware that many sellers develop amnesia about issues within their home, when it comes time to sell. Invariably, it comes back to bite them. Resistance to a pre-listing home inspection is a red flag to me.
Does no one ever call on your advertising, your signs, your website, your Realtor.com page, or any othher other dozens of places you advertise your properties for sale?
They do.
If they are represented by another agent I'll answer any questions they have about the property. If they want to see it, they have to do that through their agent.
If they are unrepresented, and just starting to look, the next step would be an appointment at my office and a consultation on the home buying process, getting them pre-qualified, finding out what they are trying to accomplish, where they want to live, and deciding if we are a good fit for them. If we decide to work together, we sign a buyer rep agreement and set an appointment to go out looking another time. Before then I'll need a pre-approval letter from a lender though.
That's just how our process works. I'm not saying every Realtor should do business that way, but the bottom line is that very, very little of our time is wasted by flaky people.
If one of our listings happens to fall into the search parameters of a buyer we represent, we would show that property and let them know if they were interested we'd have to have them work with another agent on the deal. This is the best way to protect all parties. Surprisingly, we rarely have it come up at all.
But the OP question was would I run out and show my listing to a caller who already has an agent, and the answer is no, I don't do that.
It may be that there is a big difference between small local areas and bigger ones.
Buyers agents still aren't thought of as a usual thing.....we're just a bit backwards, I guess
Without exception, every 'looker' I have had over the past couple of years found the house themselves and had to call their buyers agent to make an appointment to see it, or they just called my agent themselves.
Calling directly is simply seen, often, as a time saver. This last house I sold, nobody even laid eyes on my buyers agent until the day of closing, when she showed up smiling with a bouquet of flowers and her hand out for her check. Anything previous was done by phone and email.
While a lot is done via email/telephone, I never had a transaction in the states or even here where I never laid eyes on the buyer agent. That actually is a perfect example of why, in my market where unfortunately people inexperienced in RE think that's ALL they have to do to receive 50% co-op, I specifically put in our broker co-op agreement what a buyer agent's responsibilities are (we do not have an MLS and a lot of people who came here had NO RE experience let alone a clue about standard RE practice).
My broker co-op specifies that they have to participate through the entire transaction, assisting their clients through closing to receive the 50% broker co-op - or they get a referral fee. Period. No way I'm paying some lazy agent to let us do all the work, then get 50% of listing commission - so I essentially 'train them' by adding it to our co-op agreement so they 'know' what they're supposed to do working with buyers. Though it's amazing that once they read my broker co-op they start to 'realize' what they're 'supposed' to do for their clients instead of just handing them (the buyer) an attorney's card and showing up after all the work is done expecting a fat check.
If they are represented by another agent I'll answer any questions they have about the property. If they want to see it, they have to do that through their agent.
If they are unrepresented, and just starting to look, the next step would be an appointment at my office and a consultation on the home buying process, getting them pre-qualified, finding out what they are trying to accomplish, where they want to live, and deciding if we are a good fit for them. If we decide to work together, we sign a buyer rep agreement and set an appointment to go out looking another time. Before then I'll need a pre-approval letter from a lender though.
That's just how our process works. I'm not saying every Realtor should do business that way, but the bottom line is that very, very little of our time is wasted by flaky people.
If one of our listings happens to fall into the search parameters of a buyer we represent, we would show that property and let them know if they were interested we'd have to have them work with another agent on the deal. This is the best way to protect all parties. Surprisingly, we rarely have it come up at all.
But the OP question was would I run out and show my listing to a caller who already has an agent, and the answer is no, I don't do that.
Steve
We each do business our own way, and if yours is to never show your listings to a buyer represented by another agent, then so be it. I occasssionally do that, if the situation demands it, and if by not doing it I would lose a potential buyer for my clients house. What I find more interesting is that you claim to have shown your own listings to buyers less than three times in 5 years. The process you describe seems like it should (and does in my case) lead to a great deal more showings than just 2 or 3 in 5 years. Why do you think that number is so low? How does your advertising lead to so many calls & inquiries that don't result in a showing?
Actually, now that I think about it, I have another question; You say that when they call about a property, you have them come in, meet with them, and discuss their needs, to see if they are a good fit for you. Shouldn't you be focusing on finding out if they are qualified to buy your clients house?
I don't mean this to sound confrontational, and I'm sorry if it does. But they called about your clients house. Why do anything other than make sure they are financially qualified, and show them your clients house?
Last edited by Bill Keegan; 07-01-2009 at 07:24 PM..
Reason: typos
What I find more interesting is that you claim to have shown your own listings to buyers less than three times in 5 years. The process you describe seems like it should (and does in my case) lead to a great deal more showings than just 2 or 3 in 5 years. Why do you think that number is so low? How does your advertising lead to so many calls & inquiries that don't result in a showing?
I'm not sure. I've wondered this in the past but it just always seems that our listings are always out of sync with the current batch of buyers we are helping at any given time. We do show and sell a ton of our office listings, mainly because my company has dominant market share, but those are listed by other agents from our office. It's a fair question, and the lack of matches between our buyers and listings is not a result of anything we do or don't do. If my listing comes up in a buyer search, I'd show it. It just doesn't happen much for some reason.
Quote:
I have another question; You say that when they call about a property, you have them come in, meet with them, and discuss their needs, to see if they are a good fit for you. Shouldn't you be focusing on finding out if they are qualified to buy your clients house?
Yes, I do find that out, and it's the same answer as before.
I just went and asked my wife (also a Realtor and my business partner) how many times she's shown a buyer her own listing the past few years, she says only 2 or 3 times because normally she'll refer them to the phone duty agent or their own agent, same as me.
I asked her how many of her buyers purchased a house that they became aware of because of a sign (excluding open houses), and she says none. For me, I've had exactly one buyer purchase a home that was found from a sign, which was a FSBO.
I guess in our market signs don't really sell houses, or if they do, we don't know about it because most buyers call their own agent to learn more about the house. In a 2006 NAR survey, buyers reported learning about the home they purchased from a sign in 15% of the sales. That seems high to me, but maybe its common in other cities, or maybe the buyer calls their agent to learn more and so listing agents don't know when a listing was sold from a sign.
In our market, signs mainly help an agent achieve brand recognition and generate buyer leads (for other houses). I don't aggressively farm our sign calls for buyers the way some agents do (hence the 800 Number signs that text your cell phone number to them so they can call you three minutes later). In fact, we really don't get many sign calls, except in the central neighborhoods. Most of my leads come from online, so that's how I orient my thinking.
I'm always interested to hear how others operate though.
Let's remember. It isn't about you...it is about the client/listing you represent. If they want to see the house and they pass all your preliminary questions, you have an obligation to your seller to show the house....period. If they bring their realtor through...well, so be it. It isn't the deal you do, it is the number of deals you do...and your contract with your seller.
Please don't get hung up on my use of the word 'sign'
Browsing on the internet produces the same thing....a realtors (and frequently, an agents) phone number.
Dollars to donuts,a great many buyers spend as much, if not more, time looking at listings as their buyers agent does. Not knocking the agent but looking is fun and easy on the web.
And you all probably realize many buyers end up attracted to something quite unlike what they told you they want.
Just doesn't seem strange to me that you get direct calls.
Buyers, especially new or infrequent ones, don't have the rulebook about which agent should do what job.
In the rest of the business world, somebody advertises something for sale, the assumption is they want to sell it, not tell you to go elsewhere (your own agent)
Maybe you should add to your ads...."Have your agent call us"
To be fair, it still may be that it's very different dealing with agencies that have 3/5 agents instead of 200.
I want to buy a homne for my parents in Alabama and need to know the best way to finance, would this be considered rental property if it was for my parents and not my primary residence? any advice will help!
I want to buy a homne for my parents in Alabama and need to know the best way to finance, would this be considered rental property if it was for my parents and not my primary residence? any advice will help!
You should have that discussion with your lender.
You might get more help if you post the question in the Mortgage Forum. //www.city-data.com/forum/mortgages/
Now, see, the "if I don't know about it I don't have to disclose it and I'll keep my fingers crossed that the buyer's inspection doesn't turn up anything" approach doesn't, in my opinion, serve my seller client's best interests. If there is something to be found, chances are very good that the buyer's inspector WILL find it. So, I have to ask myself, is it better for my client to find out ahead of time when they can get estimates and make a decision on what they want to do about any nasty surprises at leisure, without the pressure of being under a contract and in the option period and fearing that the wrong decision will lose them the contract, or for them to find out during the option period and have to rush to get all the information they need and rush to make an important decision?
For me, the answer is clear. My clients get to make their own decision, of course, always, about this and everything else, as I am their agent, not vice versa. But it's my responsibility to advise them on the strenghts and weaknesses of both sides of the issue and to give them my considered opinion.
As a buyer's agent, I've seen confidence in a property be raised because there WAS a pre-listing inspection and the listing agent was clever enough to not only disclose it, but to make it a marketing piece, available at the property along with receipts showing the repairs that had been made. That, in and of itself, pushed the property right to the top of their list because it showed them that the seller was not trying to hide anything, was being up front about any problems, and was fixing the problems without being asked.
Thank you expanding on my post. I erroneously assumed that by stating clients be advised of the pros & cons (or in your choice of words -the strengths & weaknesses) , that obviously it would include the points you made, such as the potential for surprises or as a marketing tool. Another point sellers' need to understand is that a pre-listing inspection does not guarantee there will not be any surprises, that one inspector might find something a previous inspector missed.
Since this is the "public" forum Vs for professionals, I should not make such assumptions. Thanks for clarifying that.
To clarify my primary point; regardless if the topic is inspections or other, laws vary by state and clients should be properly advised in accordance with the laws of the state in which the subject property is located.
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