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SD Realtor.
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July 16, 2006 at 1:16 PM #6892July 16, 2006 at 2:26 PM #28518
JJGittes
ParticipantI know that area. Are the taxes really 2%? Ouch. That makes San Elijo at 1.7% seem positively reasonable. Ha.
July 16, 2006 at 4:14 PM #28530SD Realtor
ParticipantThat is just wierd… Remember all commissions actually go to the broker and not the agents. The broker then doles out what he/she has worked out with the indivdual agent. So I guess someone gets a few tires and a steering wheel while the broker gets the engine?
July 16, 2006 at 7:25 PM #28540powayseller
ParticipantSD Realtor, you seem to be doing well, despite 30% fewer sales in San Diego. I don’t want to be nosy or nosey, but do you think that you can keep your sales and volume up in this market? What do you think of my idea that David Lereah should start promoting transactions, instead of plateuing prices? He needs to tell sellers to lower their prices, so that we can get increase sales. Isn’t he supposed to represent realtors? His talk is more helpful to homeowners and investors, than to realtors. Why do you pay your dues to NAR, if he doesn’t represent your interests?
July 16, 2006 at 9:44 PM #28543masayako
Participantyou know theres a bubble popping when….. RE agents, realtors and appraisers start to check out Professor Piggington’s Housing Bubble blog. ^_^
July 16, 2006 at 10:03 PM #28545ParticipantNosy nosy nosy!!
heheheheh – just kidding powayseller.
As usual I pretty much agree with all of your logic above. I also think that I have said in one of my postings that the propaganda machine that is NAR is REALLY hurting the market in the manner in which they operate. Let me tell you it is not just NAR, CAR and SDAR, many agents I compete against just do the same thing.
At one of my appts last week, I met up with a guy and I was comping his home at about 550k… and this was a VERY GENEROUS COMP. I told him I would be more comfortable at 525k. Anyways I encouraged him to interview with other agents like I do everyone else. So I followed up with him Friday and he said he is going with one of the others. He said that this other agent told him that extensive exposure including brokers tours and magazines will enable him to sell the home at 600k at least.
I asked the guy is he asked the agent the following questions:
1 – How many sales that this agent had this spring resulted from brokers tours and magazine ads.
2 – What raw data did this agent have to back up that price estimate.
3 – How many sales had that agent made and how did they compare against the original starting price.
This guy said he had not thought to ask those questions.
So Powayseller what am I to do? This is routine! It happens all the time. Sometimes people are smart enough to ask the right questions but most of the time they are not.
So I pay my dues and stay a member of NAR, CAR and SDAR and be a good soldier. No I absolutely don’t agree with the way things are. If the data was presented in a more rational manner then I think that would be the best thing in the world. I think taking our bad medicine now would reduce the duration and the extent of the impending tough times. Believe me I am as tired of soft landing and platueing prices as much as everyone and all of that rhetoric REALLY makes my job harder.
Do I think I can keep up my volume? No chance. My wife will atest to me being a TOTAL pessimist. To those ends let’s just say I am prepared for what I envision to be a long couple of years.
I do think that the results of the downturn will eventually affect enough people that everyone will deal with it correctly. What is that term? The 7 stages of grieving? Anger, denial, etc etc… I think eventually that is what we will encounter.
What is interesting is, what will the public do or how will they feel about NAR. Recall after most of us, not all of us, but dummies like me lost lots of bucks in the market there was alot of blame. Why weren’t we protected. I am an idiot but at least not dumb enough to blame anyone but myself. So will the same thing happen a few years from now? “Why weren’t we informed of the downturn earlier?”
July 17, 2006 at 1:22 AM #28549rankandfile
ParticipantHonesty is the best policy. Just keep doing what you are doing. Those that cut corners or deceive others end up getting their true reward somewhere down the line. Besides, do you want to go through life knowing you were successful because you deceived people? All it takes is for one person to catch on to your ways and your reputation is tarnished. You see this in other industries such as contracting. Some deceptive contractors have the nasty reputation of intentionally low-balling bids to win a contract, only to hit up the customer with change orders later on. This might work a time or two, but customers eventually catch on.
July 17, 2006 at 3:36 AM #28550ParticipantSD Realtor, do you tell the guy that these other brokers are doing a “bait and switch” on the price? They mislead you – they promise high prices, and then chase the market down? Second, does the seller understand real estate pricing? The price is set by the market, not by brochures. When the seller looks at homes, would he pay more for a home because he saw it featured in a brochure?
It sounds like so much of your job is seller education.
July 17, 2006 at 1:08 PM #28590no_such_reality
ParticipantMost sellers are in denial. Sadly, so are their agents. Many of the agents are as clueless as many of the investor’s you see the house flipping shows on Tv. They’re just chasing easy money during the boom.
I spend most of my time in OC, and it’s pathetic to see people think they’re going to get $1.3 million for a home when their kid’s bedroom has extensive chew marks from the gerbil on the door frame and the whole house needs paint and new floors while the house down the street (same sub-division) is immaculate, same size, better floor plan and priced at $999,999.
What’s worse, 80% of the homes for sale seem to be in this kind of denial. They’re looking at the annual flat or slight appreciation and thinking they need to get out, but what they haven’t been watching is the homes that are moving, are clean, fixed, move in model ready and priced below where they were a year ago, the median sale has moved up, but housing hasn’t appreciated.
July 17, 2006 at 1:09 PM #28592ParticipantI like this quote, “the median sale has moved up, but housing hasn’t appreciated.” It’s another way to say that the median is useless.
July 17, 2006 at 3:32 PM #28612ParticipantPowayseller –
Yes much of my time is spent educating sellers. It is my job though so I actually enjoy it. I can honestly say that I have never left a listing appointment where the seller didn’t learn anything new. I sit down and logon to the MLS with them at thier home with MY login so the get to see the agents view of the MLS.
Anyways to cut to the chase, it is a very frustrating line to walk. I am not the type to badmouth other agents because honestly most of them are good people. While I do not agree with some of thier tactics I try to simply educate the seller to ASK INTELLIGENT QUESTIONS rather then say this agent is blowing smoke up your you know what. If more sellers asked for hard data to back up claims that are made that are more speculative in nature then I would have 3 times the listings I currently have.
So how do I deal with it?
Well not in the greatest way. I do not lie nor do I mislead. When I am at a listing appt I tell the seller what my price RECOMMENDATION is based on the comps AND based on my read of the market FOR THAT LOCAL MAPCODE. More often then not my recommendation is lower then the price the seller wants to list at. I tell the seller I will list at his price if he wants BUT THAT IN MY OPINION, it will be a stretch not only for him to get that price, and he may not get much traffic. Also that it could not appraise if it is to far outside the comp range. So by doing that, I still am in the game to get the business, but I have put my opinion out in the open.
Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. In some cases I get the call back from the seller saying he is going with the other agent who promised a marketing onslaught will do the trick. Other times I get the listing, the home goes on the market, gets little to no traffic, we reprice and then the home sells. Sometimes we reprice and we end up chasing the market and the home never sells. Other times the seller cancels on me after a period of time where no traffic came through. Even though I forewarned of this event! What can you do… My wife tells me I do way to much work for free and in most cases I agree with her. My sister in law who works for Coldwell also says the same thing… Many a time I send out comps and do alot of legwork only to get a call saying thanks for all of your work but we went with someone else. Alot of times I see the same pictures I took used on listings that used to be mine. Last month I did alot of legwork for a lady who wanted to list a place in Luecadia. She came in from Hawaii… I comped it for her, looked for a handyman for her to fix it up, did a fair amount of work over a 4 week period. Then two days before the listing she calls me and says she is gonna have her best friend list the home. So why didn’t she just work with her friend from the beginning. She was very nice about it and told me she has recommended me to alot of her friends. Since this happens alot I always leave it on good terms and I told her hey no worries, I will keep an eye on her listing especially if I have a buyer. So then I noticed when her listing did come out the listing agent took LAME photos. So I sent her an email saying hey, you may want to ask your agent to hire a photographer or get a virtual tour, that stuff is super cheap. So I get a TOTAL NASTYGRAM from the agent after that. All I was trying to do was help the seller…
What the heck… What is funny is I do not consider myself a super agent. I am just a scrub! I have had my license for like 2.5 years but in that time I have done a ton of transactions. Also have my own rental properties for many years and doing alot of real estate helped.
So for what it is worth, yes I try to educate sellers but again, they need to ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. It all may seem like common sense to alot of people posting here, but to the average person it is not.
I try to help…
July 17, 2006 at 3:46 PM #28615Participant>>My wife tells me I do way to much work for free and in most cases I agree with her. My sister in law who works for Coldwell also says the same thing…<< No offense, but with median home price above $500,000. For a 6% commission $30,000. A lot of work should be done. Yes I realize the agent has to split it and the firms take the majority, but still, an expected commission is $30,000 for most Americans, that represents a year's worth of work.
July 17, 2006 at 5:23 PM #28623ParticipantHi no_such_reality –
My site is http://www.1800grrealty.com. I work for 1% commission. Not 6% commission. I also own the brokerage so all of the operating costs are mine as well.
Please realize that not all agents or brokerages are alike.
No offense taken.
July 17, 2006 at 6:12 PM #28627waiting hawk
Participantyou know theres a bubble popping when…..
you run over a Century 21 sign in the middle of the street.
July 18, 2006 at 2:48 AM #28664ParticipantHave you considered going back to your high tech roots? Or do you like the freedom and excitement of the real estate business?
I think realtors should charge for each part of their service. A fee for a listing appointment, another for taking the listings, etc. Or are you happy with the 1%, because of the high volume?
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