I need a good realtor in Chula Vista!

[shmoov_groovzsd]

One person acting on behalf of the seller and buyer (double agent) is not my cup of tea. I think MovingAloha is right in that a disclosure of some sort had to be signed in that situation here in CA.

I am sure most transactions go fairly well but I think about the ones that don't. Whose side is the agent on then?

OP, also if you are looking at flipped houses, try and look to see what agencies are selling those houses. In my experience looking at real estate here in SD, some ofnthese smaller agencies work directly flippers. It might be a group of investors that works with one agent. Do some due diligence and look into that for past sales. You should be able to find that info you are looking for if this is the route you take.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

One person acting on behalf of the seller and buyer (double agent) is not my cup of tea. I think MovingAloha is right in that a disclosure of some sort had to be signed in that situation here in CA.

I am sure most transactions go fairly well but I think about the ones that don't. Whose side is the agent on then?

OP, also if you are looking at flipped houses, try and look to see what agencies are selling those houses. In my experience looking at real estate here in SD, some ofnthese smaller agencies work directly flippers. It might be a group of investors that works with one agent. Do some due diligence and look into that for past sales. You should be able to find that info you are looking for if this is the route you take.

Yes, generally it's not a good idea for the realtor to be the same for the buyer and the seller. As I mentioned in my previous post, it's probably not a good idea unless you have at least some basic experience with real estate. I've used that strategy successfully many times. In the times that I've done that, it was in hot markets and realtors were super motivated to close it quickly because they would make a higher/double commission. I think you guys are giving realtors WAY too much credit here that they will automatically do the best thing to get the seller the highest price.

Personally I think today's buyers put too much trust and faith in their realtors when really with all the technology and resources out there they should be doing more of it themselves. You can sign up for all of the websites out there. Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com, SDLookup, etc. and get emails when things in your area hit the market. You can get emails ASAP.

In this kind of hot market, you have to do all you can to notice ASAP when things hit the market.

[househuntersaddict]

Hi earlyretirement-

Trust me- we're signed up with every online real estate service we can think of, but what we're seeing over and over again is houses that hit the web already pending. If not pending, there are several offers already submitted before the open house is even held. For example, we went to an open house on Saturday for a home that was listed on Friday afternoon. One of the couples there had already put an offer on the house sight unseen and were just at the open house to confirm. The house was already pending on the MLS on Monday. I know something fishy is going on.....

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by househuntersaddict

Hi earlyretirement-

Trust me- we're signed up with every online real estate service we can think of, but what we're seeing over and over again is houses that hit the web already pending. If not pending, there are several offers already submitted before the open house is even held. For example, we went to an open house on Saturday for a home that was listed on Friday afternoon. One of the couples there had already put an offer on the house sight unseen and were just at the open house to confirm. The house was already pending on the MLS on Monday. I know something fishy is going on.....

Well I wouldn't say it's "fishy". It's just a combination of extremely low inventory, hot stock market, near record low interest rates. It's all kind of causing a perfect storm for buyers in today's market. I don't think you can blame your realtor for these kind of conditions.

In my neighborhood some houses are going into escrow within a few hours of when they are listed. No realtor is at fault for those kinds of conditions. As well, maybe it's just a case of some realtors doing a better job getting in front of the potential seller's face.

For example, we get 2 or 3 mail pieces per DAY from realtors saying to contact them immediately should we decide to put their houses on the market as they have potential buyers for that type house. So it also might be a case where right as they plan to put the house for sale, they are contacting all those realtors first that they got mail pieces from.

Buying a house sight unseen is a bone head move, IMHO. I wouldn't get caught up too much in all of this or feel forced to buy a house now. I'm seeing some people that seem like they are rushing to buy a house they aren't thrilled about all because there isn't much on the market and they feel like they need to rush while interest rates are lower. I have a feeling some of these people are going to have a serious case of buyers remorse in a few years because they don't seem in love with the properties they are buying. Oh well...

[shmoov_groovzsd]

In addition to ER, in terms of pocket listings, you might be seeing 'sale pending' as soon as the house goes up, because that agent has a buyer and is technically listing the house and then pending it.

Also, for a website like sdlookup, sale pending doesnt necessarily mean its actually in escrow. It can be a short sale. You may see additional info in the listing notes.

When we were shopping in 2010 and look at listings, this was the height of the short sale market and tons of these 'sale pendings' would show up for a house just listed.

I also agreee with ER that its not about the market being 'fishy' per se for all the reasons he mentions. Definitely dont rush into it either. Its way to easy to get caught up in what I consider an emotionally driven market dominated by various fear mechanisms such as interest rates, news and affordability.
I am certain there will be a fair share of buyers remorse in a couple of years for those that got caught up in the moment.

[dave bacon]

Originally Posted by househuntersaddict

Long story short- I have a realtor that I'm not happy with. I want to let her go and find someone that can actually get us into a house. Is it possible to find an agent that knows what is coming onto the market before it actually hits the market? And if so, how do I find them?

Sure is. Find out who the top listing agent is in the neighborhood you want to buy in and use them as your agent.

[kathygrl]

Okay....I need to give some clarifications here......"Sale Pending" on short sale deals means that the sellers have received full approval from the short sale negotiator/mortgage co. and they are moving forward with all terms of the offer....."Contingent" on a short sale deal means that while the actual seller of the property has agreed to a buyers offer it has not gotten final acceptance from the lender holding the loan and that is key! On any given day on our MLS system there may be 150 new listings for all of San Diego County that pop up under the "new listings" section....on that same day there are 40-65 properties that fall thru and come "back on the market"......and even in this crazy market we have a category of homes that have price reductions (probably an overzealous agent trying to "buy" the listing - lol!).
And one more thing......properties selling within hours or a day of coming on the market is seriously occurring...no fishy stuff I can assure you....just a frenzy of buyers who get caught up in outbidding each other at any cost (much to a seller's pleasure!), buyers are waiving appraisel contingencies, waiving termite ....whatever, just to try to get their offer accepted!!! Okay...I'm done!

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by kathygrl

just a frenzy of buyers who get caught up in outbidding each other at any cost (much to a seller's pleasure!), buyers are waiving appraisel contingencies, waiving termite ....whatever, just to try to get their offer accepted!!! Okay...I'm done!

WOW!