I had lunch with my friend Bob Casagrand today, and he told me he’s had many instances of sellers bringing money to closing.
He only works with buyers. To him, listings waste too much time. That said, his buyer’s seller paid $540K for a house that’s selling for $480K, so they have to bring $60K + commission to closing.
Condo sellers are offering him 3.5% – 4% commission.
He gets all these buyers by having a website. He has so many buyers now, he refers some to other realtors. His business is booming.
Bob understands how to use the internet to leverage his business. Too many realtors out there are still doing business the old way: pounding the pavement, putting ads in papers, printing flyers, holding Open Houses, and putting listings on realtor.com.
Like I wrote a few months back, listings used to guarantee a commission, but no more! You’re dealing with sellers who overprice their homes, and you end up spending thousands of dollars marketing the home which doesn’t sell because they won’t take your advice on lowering the price.
Enter the buyer’s agent. You deal only with buyers. You make sure the buyer doesn’t get attached to one home. Homes are not like spouses: don’t think there is one soulemate. Find 4-5 homes, give a 24hr offer period on each and make it a firm and final offer that is below market price, and if they counter, move on to the next one.
What I like about Bob is that his is upfront with all his customers. He tells them not to expect appreciation, not to refinance, to get a mortgage they can live with a long time.
Bob’s business experience is amazing. Guys like him always figure out how to improve on things, find an edge. He’s a family man, very smart, very nice. I am fortunate that he considers me a friend.
Bob said that the outflow of people is amazing. On a recent weekend he took his buyer to see 5 homes, and each seller was leaving SD upon sale. We’ve got 15K families/year leaving SD, meaning 15K/year vacant homes. It’s the slower sales that’s increasing the inventory.
Don’t rely on pendings to forecast next months’ sales. Pendings often fall out of escrow, as lenders are starting to tighten up on first time buyers.
He said the market topped in August 05 for high end, in August 04 for low-end homes. This market has been decline since August 2004, and I didn’t even know about it!! Again, don’t ever count on the media or your realtor to tell you the truth about housing. They are just as cluelss as the average joe on the street.
When I am ready to buy, Bob is my guy to go to. He understands the market better than any realtor I have ever come across. A true buyers’ agent.
