Working with real estate agents

Parent Cafe
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<p>We want to relocate to an area where we have vacationed for many years.</p>

<p>It is a small area, not heavily populated, and there is not much on the market. (Note also that some properties have been on the market for months or even years because the sellers refuse to take a realistic offer because they “want to get their money back.”)</p>

<p>We first looked at a property in January. I called the listing agent to make an appointment. The listing agent brought another agent from his office to “represent the buyer.” I told them that we didn’t want to commit to using him exclusively, but this other real estate agent followed up with us, and investigated several properties for us (for example, took videos and sent them to us).</p>

<p>We are not in a big hurry to purchase, and I follow Zillow and Trulia closely, so the agent doesn’t really need to do any looking for us.</p>

<p>Another property came on the market that was of interest to us. We immediately contacted “our” real estate agent to try and go see it. He was unable to make the arrangements. My understanding was that the listing agent had plenty of people who wanted to see it, and wasn’t interested having another agent show it (thus cutting into the listing agent’s fee.)</p>

<p>This second property sold before we could see it.</p>

<p>Having felt we had learned our lesson, we contacted the listing agent when another property came on the market. (The first person who saw the property made an offer, although the real estate agent did show it to us anyway.)</p>

<p>Now we’ve decided to see another property that has been on the market for a long time. I contacted “our” real estate agent, explained that we were inclined to contact listing agents, but could he make arrangements to show this particular property to us. He called, and I could tell he was irked that we were not using him exclusively (although I had said on day one that we didn’t want to commit to that). He told me that real estate is all about relationships so it wasn’t the done thing to work with multiple agents, it was not the case that listing agents wouldn’t permit other agents to show properties, etc. etc.</p>

<p>What are your thoughts and experience on this? It is true that we are attempting to buy property in a small area where everyone knows everyone else. On the other hand, we don’t want to lose the chance to see a hot property because we’re being polite.</p>

2

<p>Can you find out who the power agent is in your desired area. It really is about relationships and if you are on board with “the guy” who is in knows what houses are coming on when you’ll be in better shape.</p>

3

<p>Here’s my experience with a similar type of situation. I wanted to buy in a particular development, and used an agent on whose website I’d seen a property for sale. At the time, I didn’t pay any attention to who the listing agent was because I didn’t think it would matter. The agent took me to see the house, which turned out not to be what I wanted. But I told her to please keep her eyes open and let me know if something more suitable for me came on the market. I never heard from her again, even though I was able to see other properties come on the market (via zillow, trulia, and this agent’s own website).</p>

<p>I finally decided to call the listing agent for another property I wanted to see. She took me, and I did make an offer on that house. Unfortunately, there was a bidding war, and I backed out when the price went too high. But the agent knew I was serious, and kept in touch with me as properties came on the market. We looked at several together, usually I was the first person to go with my agent so it was also her first time seeing the property (which is why we wound up looking at some that turned out to be in horrible condition for too much money).</p>

<p>Yadda yadda yadda, one day my agent called and told me she was getting a listing the next day, she’d seen the house and it was just what I was looking for, and at the right price. As soon as she had the signed listing, she called me and we met at the property. I put in an offer on the spot, and subsequently bought the house (at the right price!). </p>

<p>I also learned that it takes around 3 days for a house to show up on zillow and trulia. And sometimes the info is not completely accurate. The house I bought showed the right address and zip, but when searching trulia for that <em>town</em> the house didn’t show up. It’s some glitch in the system, but it helps to be aware of that. The house I now own didn’t even show up on zillow until after we were under contract for several days.</p>

<p>Sorry for such a long story, but the point of it is that there really is a “relationship” with a real estate agent. The one you have doesn’t seem to be doing anything for you, but you keep calling and asking to be shown properties. I think you should try to figure out who the “top” agent is in the area, and form a good relationship with them. Let them know what you’re looking for, and be realistic with your budget for what you want. Since properties are selling fast in that area now (as evidenced by your post) you need to get in ASAP. You can do this by having a relationship with the listing agent ahead of time. This requires figuring out who the top listing agent is, and also the use of a crystal ball to know who will actually list the house you want to buy.</p>

4

<p>How would we find this out?</p>

<p>Our impression of the agent who showed us the second property is that she is more of a mover and a shaker. She did, however, say that she doesn’t show properties until she posts them on the Internet. </p>

<p>We did tell her to let us know if anything is coming on the market, but she also knows we had already been talking to the first agent.</p>

<p>Edit to add: It may also be that the “power agent” varies by town in this area, and we are potentially interested in properties in different towns.</p>

5

<p>Wow, flyaround was able to say in 2 sentences what took me 5 paragraphs. I’m impressed!</p>

6

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<p>…exactly, this is why one needs to be in contact with the real estate agent who gets all the good listings…</p>

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<p>But if the power agent really knows a lot of people and have a lot of clients, where are you in the long list of “in” clients?</p>

8

<p>Agents are being paid by the seller, not by you (unless there’s some special arrangement). From their perspective…if they have two potential buyers for a property and one has been “with” them for a few weeks, vs you who flits from agent to agent…who would you expect them to call first?</p>

9

<p>Being the most well qualified buyer can push you to the top of the list also. Do you have to sell your current home to buy this one? Can you be flexible on your closing date? Do you have a large down payment? Is it a cash deal?</p>

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<p>axw – I would expect the agent to call the client who they think is most likely to actually buy the property.</p>

<p>I can imagine there are loyal clients who are nothing but time sinks, and flitting clients who are flitting because they mean business about buying something and could make the agent a sale with very little effort if the agent knows what that client wants and sees it.</p>

<p>I suppose the unknown quantity here is whether there are a lot of people out there looking for the same type of property we want. (We don’t have a good sense of demand, although we know supply is low.)</p>

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<p>Find the big deal agent in the area. This would be the person with a lot of signs up as well as the person who is running the most ads in the paper as well as any of the real estate specific magazines or life style magazines. They will have the biggest and most prominent ads. I would find out if they do rentals then I would rent from that person for a season or however you rent there. Now they know you as someone they have done business with - you are a customer/client and they have made some money in their relationship with you. Then make it known to the person that you are looking for a property and you are ready, willing, and able to buy.</p>

12

<p>I am an investor and buy a lot of properties through all kinds of avenues. There are two aspects that will help you be successful.</p>

<p>Try driving all the neighborhoods you are interested in. Take note who has the most listings /signs in your favorite neighborhoods. There might be a favorite in different neighborhoods. It is OK to have a relationship with Agent A for one neighborhood and Agent B for another neighborhood. Also try to find out who the agents were for some of the recent sales you missed out on.</p>

<p>In most cases the listing agent is allowed to double end the commission (represent both buyer and sellers). You will be the most successful if you can go straight to the listing agent. They will work hard to get you the property because they get double commission. And they will usually throw in a commission concession to get the deal. You need to research and ask if double ending is allowed in your area.</p>

<p>I do not know if “exclusive” buyer’s agents are common in your region. They are not common in California. You can have several relationships to buy. But, depending on Trulia or Zillow will not find the hot deals.
my recommendation is to think hard about whether you are close enough to the location to act fast. If you can spend time continuously driving the neighborhoods looking for For Sale signs, you can get to a new listing within 24 hrs and you are close enough to be actively involved, then try to buy from listing agents without representation. If you cannot do all that leg work then chose one agent for each geographically separate neighborhood.</p>

<p>The second part of being successful is to be very ready to pounce. Consolidate your funds and make copies of your “proof of funds”. Get pre qualified for your loan and have that paper ready. Know the services you are going to want. After viewing each house make smart decisions on what conditions you can "waive " in your offer. Always ask WHY is the Seller selling and ask what can make your offer strongest. For example, the Seller may need to find a new home and you can offer to rent back for a period. Or a Seller may be overwhelmed about clearing out the house. Offer to take it “as is” and get a dumpster yourself.</p>

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<p>Wow, Coralbrook, that is very helpful advice, thanks so much!</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for your feedback – it’s given me much food for thought and action.</p>

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<p>I would try to find out who a major agent is in that area. When I was looking for properties where i live now, I was young and barely knew anything about this area. I narrowed my search down to three school districts based on my research (schools, property taxes, location, etc) and then found an agent.</p>

<p>He was great. I told him what areas I was looking for and around what price range. He’d give me a call or a text or e-mail the moment something became available. There were properties that I went to see that weren’t even up on the websites yet. Of course, there were some that I found online that I asked him if we could visit as well. </p>

<p>I remember there was one that I found online, which was outside of the area I told him, and he seemed very confused when I asked to see it. I said I just thought it was a really great price and thought I’d check it out to see if that neighborhood was worth the cost savings. It turned out it wasn’t and I was right to exclude it from my initial search.</p>

<p>When I came to see this house, the seller had just dropped the price 20k and the websites weren’t even updated yet. I’m positive that if the sites were updated it would have generated more interest. I got a steal and he really helped me out. He texted me when I was at work. I took a half day, left, went to see the house, and put in an offer a few hours later.</p>

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<p>Most real estate sites allow you to put in parameters of what you are looking for and then you can get an email alert when properties meeting you requirements come on the market. I am not trying to promote one site over another but realtor.com tends to have the most updated information because they receive their feed from the MLS systems. Sites such as Zillow or Trulia lag a few days behind.</p>

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<p>IN addition to what Fenway just said, does the area you are looking into have a MLS site? We have MLS site for our local area that is for realtors to use but it allows guest access. My realtor gave me a link to it. I find it much better then any of the other sites.</p>

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<p>If you decide to use local real estate agents in your target areas, demand that they create an automated MLS feed for you. They will enter parameters for your search and then it will be set up to send you emails immediately for properties. Don’t just focus on ‘new’ listings. Ask to get an automated feed for any property where the status has changed from contingent/pending back to active (fell out of escrow), or it is expired or withdrawn (frustration with listing agent) and any price change (suddenly in your price range). Those are the ones you want to pounce on.</p>

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<p>If it is possible to hire a buyer’s agent in the area where you’re interested, I would do that. I have looked for houses with a buyer’s agent, and it’s a whole different experience. </p>

<p>Another alternative is to send letters to the owners on an street where you like most of the houses, saying that you’re looking for a house, have your finances in order, and would they please contact you if they’re interested in selling. For the cost of a letter and a stamp, you could save commissions and get a house where you want it.</p>

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<p>A good real estate agent will often know about properties which are going to come on the market but haven’t been put on the MLS yet. This agent will always have a foot up on joe buyer who is relying on sites like Trulia and Zillow. For example, we are considering letting our former buyer’s agent know that we would consider selling our lake house if the right offer came in. We don’t want to list it right now and have no urgency to sell, but if he met someone looking for a property like ours who would be a serious and qualified buyer, we would consider letting him show it. This will help his clients and will be of no use to someone who thinks they are really in the know because they follow Trulia.</p>

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<p>Sometimes the “power agent” in an area isn’t the one because they are so busy. But … if you hit the open houses on a big Sunday, PowerAgent is in one house, but she’s got listings with other agents staffing. You can get hooked up with one of her associates – and be in the PowerAgent loop, but with a hungrier associate. Worked for us!</p>