*** biggest lie in real estate ***

[Boozer]

FROM DAVE: "You get these guys that talk you into a lowball price just to sell it in one day.. sometimes for "over asking." I'm not really sure they put the effort into that situation or advised their clients into the best price point. Not saying that's true in all cases because CA is freakin nuts.. but why not list it higher and see what happens?'

Conversely there is just the opposite. Example: I have seen my wife go to a listing meeting well prepared with comps, market info etc and tell that person what she, as a seasoned RE professional, thinks they can really sell their property for just to have another realtor swoop in and list it for whatever the pie in the sky number the seller has in mind. They do it just to get the listing and a sign on the property. Then the property sits for 4-6 months just to end up selling for EXACTLY what she suggested they list it for. I have seen this 3-4 times. Dave, your buddy Tim is a good example.

I also get to, more often than not, watch her do the work that the other side of the deal's realtor should be doing. She does this just to make the deal go smoothly, all of the paperwork is correct and legal and the deal closes. As discussed, most realtors make the sale and you never hear from them until they are looking for their check the day escrow closes. It is sad. She answers her phone whenever it rings NO MATTER WHAT and I give her shit when other realtors don't answer and dont return phone calls.

When I moved to LHC in 2001 and started building houses I burned through 4 realtors in 3 years because they just cant listen to their client (me), always know better and cant follow simple instructions. I told my wife to get her license and it has worked out great. She saw the issues first hand and ended up becoming the President of the Arizona Association of Realtors (2018) fighting for RE policy and property owners rights at both the State and National level.

Denver’s market is similar to SoCal. The last place I sold I intentionally listed for 10% less than market. I had over 10 offers the day it was listed and it ended up selling for well over market. We didn’t think we’d get an appraisal for what the sale price was but the buyer ended up paying cash and didn’t do an appraisal.

The Realtor I used told me I was a fool for listing so far below market and said I’d get boned in the deal. I ended up doing pretty well and won’t be using that realtor ever again.


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[Marios Metalworks]

With prices at where they are, and technology where it is at, 5% is too much for most people to swallow.

I tend to agree with this line of thought. It'll be interesting to see how the buyer/realtor relationship evolves over the next few years.

 

[RiverDave]

FROM DAVE: "You get these guys that talk you into a lowball price just to sell it in one day.. sometimes for "over asking." I'm not really sure they put the effort into that situation or advised their clients into the best price point. Not saying that's true in all cases because CA is freakin nuts.. but why not list it higher and see what happens?'

Conversely there is just the opposite. Example: I have seen my wife go to a listing meeting well prepared with comps, market info etc and tell that person what she, as a seasoned RE professional, thinks they can really sell their property for just to have another realtor swoop in and list it for whatever the pie in the sky number the seller has in mind. They do it just to get the listing and a sign on the property. Then the property sits for 4-6 months just to end up selling for EXACTLY what she suggested they list it for. I have seen this 3-4 times. Dave, your buddy Tim is a good example.

I also get to, more often than not, watch her do the work that the other side of the deal's realtor should be doing. She does this just to make the deal go smoothly, all of the paperwork is correct and legal and the deal closes. As discussed, most realtors make the sale and you never hear from them until they are looking for their check the day escrow closes. It is sad. She answers her phone whenever it rings NO MATTER WHAT and I give her shit when other realtors don't answer and dont return phone calls.

When I moved to LHC in 2001 and started building houses I burned through 4 realtors in 3 years because they just cant listen to their client (me), always know better and cant follow simple instructions. I told my wife to get her license and it has worked out great. She saw the issues first hand and ended up becoming the President of the Arizona Association of Realtors (2018) fighting for RE policy and property owners rights at both the State and National level.

I know exactly what you mean about listing to high. You can only do what you can do. Stacy has had a couple of listings where she said she didn't want to list them that high, but at the end of the day like ya said "Me" is the client and if that's what they want you just do your best or reject the listing (which we have done as well).

RD

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Its been a while since we had a good bashing thread for an entire profession.

Lets see if we can summarize:

Unions suck
Car Dealers suck
Accountants suck
Realtors/brokers suck
Cops suck
hose-draggers suck
RD SUX


who else?

Forgot lineman.

 

[RiverDave]

I tend to agree with this line of thought. It'll be interesting to see how the buyer/realtor relationship evolves over the next few years.

I can't speak to other RE agents / Teams etc..

I said earlier why not ask "What are you planning to do to sell my home?" (You'll notice nobody responded to that).

For us we do quite a bit more than the average agent.

We use the same photography & video guys for our RE business as we do for RDP. That is far from cheap, but our pics / videos / drone shots DON'T look the same as everything else on the MLS / Zillow / etc.. either. We also spend a considerable amount of time learning the houses, learning the vibe and writing the descriptions etc.

Quality media (all types) attracts more people to look at the home for sale whether that's online / in a magazine / in person etc. On top of the MLS, we advertise in several magazines / golf course ads / local mags etc. We also run several social media campaigns on each house in several different settings.

On top of all that at least for us (for now) we have RDP which gets an extra 130,000 sets of eyeballs on listings per month over anyone and everyone in RE out here.

It wasn't that long ago we listed a place in Sailing Hawks, and one "RE Expert" went on and on about how it's going to take forever to sell it. We sold that one, and the one next door (his second spec) in short order. It goes back to properly "Marketing" a house or just putting garbage on the MLS and hoping. Proper marketing costs $$$, but can be very effective..

We are in a little different spot than most agents out here because we have the website (RDP) so it's a bit of an unfair advantage.. But we spend all the money to make sure each house is done to the best of our abilities and the abilities of our contractors. You can ask anyone of my guys, and it's not uncommon at all to go back more than once to make sure a single picture is perfect, or a slightly different angle on a video etc..

You can also ask anyone of the Team RDP clients what they thought and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an unhappy one. Stacy routinely has people buying her gifts and thanking her for making the process painless / efficient and smooth and touting it was the best RE experience they have had.

Much like mentioned earlier Stacy will answer that phone 24/7 and if she needs to go she goes. Doesn't matter if it's in the middle of lunch / dinner etc.. Customer always comes first.

RD

 

[rmarion]

I posted a question to the RDP Professionals a few years back about Commercial Real Estate. I did not receive the normal positive and helpful RDP reply.. (no problem, not my concern, not ripping on them, cause I forgot who they are, and i dont really care, water under the bridge)

I was looking for opinions and commerical rents... I received three quotes around $1.25 sf to act as my realtor and find a tenant for us. I told all three Realtors that I believe the prop is $2.00 sf (which I had an offer and lost them at 23hr mark). All three Realtors LOL me. ....

I told them, I'll try again... if I can't rent I'll get the "PROS" with their fee... twice were very UNPROFESSIONAL !!!! One I would give my business too...

I found our current client within one week at $1.68 sf....

maybe I should get into another line of work..

HONESTLY is the Best POLICY!!!

with my deals... 50% of Realtors where the real deal... the others... not so much...

my 4th Realtor was a business acquaintance. Who I relied on, gave me the BEST ADVICE.. but did not want my Business.. but walked me thru everything.. I paid him on a consultant fee...

my advice.. get referrals and interview them...

PS, I NEVER worked for Realtors... they want SHIT work done, lip stick on a PIG type business deals...

whose responsible for this work???? NOT THEM!!!!
No Thanks!!

 

[lbhsbz]

I can't speak to other RE agents / Teams etc..

I said earlier why not ask "What are you planning to do to sell my home?" (You'll notice nobody responded to that).

For us we do quite a bit more than the average agent.

We use the same photography & video guys for our RE business as we do for RDP. That is far from cheap, but our pics / videos / drone shots DON'T look the same as everything else on the MLS / Zillow / etc.. either. We also spend a considerable amount of time learning the houses, learning the vibe and writing the descriptions etc.

Quality media (all types) attracts more people to look at the home for sale whether that's online / in a magazine / in person etc. On top of the MLS, we advertise in several magazines / golf course ads / local mags etc. We also run several social media campaigns on each house in several different settings.

On top of all that at least for us (for now) we have RDP which gets an extra 130,000 sets of eyeballs on listings per month over anyone and everyone in RE out here.

It wasn't that long ago we listed a place in Sailing Hawks, and one "RE Expert" went on and on about how it's going to take forever to sell it. We sold that one, and the one next door (his second spec) in short order. It goes back to properly "Marketing" a house or just putting garbage on the MLS and hoping. Proper marketing costs $$$, but can be very effective..

We are in a little different spot than most agents out here because we have the website (RDP) so it's a bit of an unfair advantage.. But we spend all the money to make sure each house is done to the best of our abilities and the abilities of our contractors. You can ask anyone of my guys, and it's not uncommon at all to go back more than once to make sure a single picture is perfect, or a slightly different angle on a video etc..

You can also ask anyone of the Team RDP clients what they thought and I think you'd be hard pressed to find an unhappy one. Stacy routinely has people buying her gifts and thanking her for making the process painless / efficient and smooth and touting it was the best RE experience they have had.

Much like mentioned earlier Stacy will answer that phone 24/7 and if she needs to go she goes. Doesn't matter if it's in the middle of lunch / dinner etc.. Customer always comes first.

RD

An example of the opposite of this would be a house I looked at a few years ago...

It had been "staged". One thing that I found odd was where they decided to hang a picture on the wall...towards the bottom of that same wall, directly under the picture, was the water valve for the fridge ice maker. Clearly, I would have been dealing with an idiot had I decided to move forward, so that was one reason I didn't.

 

[squeezer]

My wife and I have bought 11 houses and sold 3 houses.

Three of the purchases were made without any agents involved on either side. Those were the least amount of hassle and expense. Of the three we have sold one was done with a single agent (Who we used on 4 other properties) and it was almost as smooth as the non-agent transactions. The other three purchases were done using a single agent (representing the seller). These go OK as the purchases were investment based with zero emotional attachment. (This is what we are willing to pay, this is our phone #, call us when you and the seller run out of whatever it is you are smoking) And yes I have used that exact language.

The absolute worst transaction we have made was the sale of our last property. The buyer was represented by a shark of a broker who knew everything about everything except for one small point... She didn't bother to figure out what type of people my wife and I are. Every time she pulled a buyers broker trick out of the book our selling price point went up. We were well aware of the tactics of making a full price offer and then drawing things out and beating the price down during the inspection process. The property was a 120 year old home and guest house. About 85% remodeled/restored but still needing about $100K worth of work to be 100%. Knowing this we added $100K to the asking price prepared to give back $$$ at the closing table. The time from offer to close took 5 months, the buyer almost went insane and my wife and I put an extra $95K in our pocket because the buyers agent was so shady we literally countered some of her offers with a price increase out of spite. Our selling agent was a decent marketer but had the terrible habit of simply forwarding emails to and from the other agent without editing them. We knew this going in and used it to our advantage against the buyers broker.

The lesson here is that it doesn't matter how good or bad your agent is. YOU need to understand everything about the transaction and proceed accordingly.

 

[Heylam]

I feel the escrow officer and the loan agent are much more important then the re agent to complete a successful transaction. I bet they’d like to make the commissions the re agent makes.



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[gqchris]

I feel the escrow officer and the loan agent are much more important then the re agent to complete a successful transaction. I bet they’d like to make the commissions the re agent makes.



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Yup and the transaction coordinator doing all the paperwork for the RE agent. The untold hero of it all.

I have friends and clients that are in the Mortgage Industry. They make BANK when the market is hot. They also starve. But there has been times they make consistent 60-80k a month. Thats big boy money.

When I walk into those offices though, it reminds me of when I worked at car dealerships. That Slimeball, Bling Rolex, New Money vibe. One of them used to stream the movie Boiler Room on all the office flatscreens. You get the idea?

Making it big as a REA is all about connections. 40+ years of parents handing down offices to their kids and the clients that go with it in areas like Seal beach, Huntington Harbor etc. Now you are in the big bucks!

 

[Cdog]

I feel the escrow officer and the loan agent are much more important then the re agent to complete a successful transaction. I bet they’d like to make the commissions the re agent makes.



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Mortgage agent/broker yes.

Escrow? Hell NO! It's a revolving door business. Most do a crappy job, hide behind emails, don't answer phone, and do the 4:59 hot potato email. I've got a great title guy Jeff Gibson at First American in OC who I try to give everything to but their escrow needs a major customer service overhaul.

 

[batterup]

Mortgage agent/broker yes.

Escrow? Hell NO! It's a revolving door business. Most do a crappy job, hide behind emails, don't answer phone, and do the 4:59 hot potato email. I've got a great title guy Jeff Gibson at First American in OC who I try to give everything to but their escrow needs a major customer service overhaul.

If you need a good escrow company, I highly recommend Raincross Escrow in Brea. Matt Sims is the owner. I have referred him to several people and everyone has been really happy. And once you meet him, you will know why.

 

[D19]

Most homes sell themselves. So you paid your agent to sell your home 3-6% depending if they listed it and found a buyer, or just listed it, or just found a buyer. That's $30,000-$60,000, title and escrow fees are no where near that price.

I see where you are coming from, but if most homes sold themselves, over 98% of for sale by owners would not eventually list with a real estate agent.

There's a big misconception that the only thing agents/brokers do is find a buyer and seller, and that the escrow company does all the work. Escrow is a neutral 3rd party. They do what they are told in writing from the buyer and seller. The escrow officer or escrow assistant are NOT looking out for the interests of either party. It is not their job to advice you to do anything, that would be a conflict of interest.

Your RE agent/broker has a legal obligation, a fiduciary duty to properly advise you in the transaction. A good, experienced and ethical RE agent/broker will be honest and forth-coming on how to price/market your home, use their contacts, relationships and sales skills to market the property. You may also count on them to watch out for any red lags, avert problematic situations and quickly put out any fires in order to protect you, your money and reduce your stress.

Title has nothing to do with the transaction details at all, it's an insurance policy. The title company's job is to make certain that there are no liens or encumbrances on the property before it is transferred to the new owner. If something comes up after the close of escrow, it's their job to take care of it.

If RE brokers/agents weren't necessary then big players in RE such as home builders, banks, hedge-funds and investment firms wouldn't use them to move/acquire properties.

Yup and the transaction coordinator doing all the paperwork for the RE agent. The untold hero of it all.

I appreciate my TC, but she is not the "hero" in the transaction. I am the hero. Partly because if there was no transaction (created by me) she wouldn't have a job.

The TC is not the one jumping through hoops to make sure the escrow closes, they aren't staring at the ceiling before bed thinking about their clients or missing family functions on the weekend to meet the appraiser/etc. That's the agent's job. A properly trained TC assists an agent to ensure that transaction steps are made within it's defined timeline. That's it.

A relative who has been very successful in RE said something to me 16 years ago when I was getting my start in RE.

He said, "Everything begins and ends with the agent and all the affiliate's know it (title, escrow, transaction coordinator, notary, photographer, sign company, home warranty, lender, home inspector, etc). They don't create the transaction, you do, that means they work for you... so act that way and choose affiliates wisely."

He was and is absolutely right. There's a lot people involved in the transaction, but it's the agent(s) who created the transaction, brought multiple together to an agreement and take all the legal liability if something goes wrong. With that being true, why should anyone else in the deal be compensated more? That's like saying the paralegal should make more than the attorney because he/she helps with paperwork.

Like every other profession, you have your flakes and con-artists. I deal with a lot of flat out dumb RE agents on a daily basis. What gets me is that people out there actually hire them. In CA the average agents sells less that 3 homes per year. If you run into one of those agents, they are going to tell you everything you want to hear to get you into a contract then give you terrible service. The agent who doesn't tell you everything you want to hear up front is usually who should hire. They probably sell a lot of homes and don't need to bs you into working with them. Go with the flat fee 2% guy who will get you "top dollar" for your home and you'll probably get bad service and end up frustrated with less money in your pocket at the close.

 

[D19]

Escrow? Hell NO! It's a revolving door business. Most do a crappy job, hide behind emails, don't answer phone, and do the 4:59 hot potato email..

So true.

 

[Runs2rch]

Mortgage agent/broker yes.

Escrow? Hell NO! It's a revolving door business. Most do a crappy job, hide behind emails, don't answer phone, and do the 4:59 hot potato email. I've got a great title guy Jeff Gibson at First American in OC who I try to give everything to but their escrow needs a major customer service overhaul.

Not to mention not every agent uses a TC!!!

Hey RDP if real estate is soooooo easy and you want to make bank bro why aren't you all doing it?!

Because its not easy!