‘Fess up fellow ziprealty gloaters

[mrquoi]

I am not ordinarily a person who slows on the highway to check out a wreck. But I cannot help myself.

I have a lot of houses saved in “my homes” on the Ziprealty site. Over the past month I think 1 of 25 has sold. These are pretty average houses for their areas. But, every time I login and all those houses are still available, I gloat. It is not a pretty side of me, I must admit.

Then there is this utter unseemliness that overtakes me when I see price reductions. There’s a house in Mission Hills that’s fallen from $860,000 to $799,000. The one in Solana Beach that’s been reduced 4 times from $985,000 to $925,000. The one in Mira Mesa that’s gone from $575,000 to $500,000. The one in Encinitas from $749,550 to $695,550. The one in Leucadia that’s gone from $799,000 to $699,000.

[ocrenter]

saving of homes is one of the best features about ziprealty. not only does it allow you to track price reductions (or tricks like price increase of $100 followed immediately by a 4100 reduction), but if you save the “inactive” homes, you can catch those re-listings aimed at getting that ZERO DOM.

[PD]

The house across the street from me has been for sale for over 500 days yet you would never know it by the DOM.

[Anonymous]

I am in 92648 coastal Huntington Beach.

Inventory is high and growing.

334 for sale today per ziprealty, with at least 2 more FSBO on top of that.

42,000 people live in this zip, with an AGI of $78K

Pop to listing ratio of 125.

Average price guess is about $1.2.

Yes, I derive pleasure from helping to puncture the bubble psychology of smug easy money.

Famous quote from multiple sources.  "The least we can do is comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

[powayseller]

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.

[Farls]

Powayseller,
Long-time, no talk. I like your posts…at least most of them…haha.

Regarding your meeting with Bob Casagrand….You’re very convinced he’s a great person and a great Realtor. Which I think is just fine…The items I’ll mention below are in no way a personal attack on Bob (or you)…as I think he says a lot of the right things (per your posts) and has a lot of the right data.

1) He only works with buyers. To him, listings waste too much time.
This is an interesting statement. The top agents will always do a lot of transactions via listings. It’s been said in the real estate business that it takes approximately 10 times the time, energy and effort to make a buyer sale compared to a listing sold. (I understand that it takes longer for a listing to sell than during the previous “hot” market.) Most of the agents that are specifically buyers agents are typically inexperienced or don’t have any good specific reasons for a seller to list a property with them. If you were a top agent would you want to spend your weekends driving around clients who will only write lowball offers? With all Bob’s data…don’t you think he could make a proper listing presentation to get a seller to list his/her home (with Bob) at a price that would cause it to sell? Good listing agents take listings that will sell…and walk away from ones that won’t. Scared agents who don’t feel they have the ability to compete against experienced listing agents don’t try to get the listings at all….So, why would Bob not even try to take salable listings?

2) Condo sellers are offering him 3.5% – 4% commission.
You make it sound as if these sellers are only offering HIM these commissions. The commission amount to the buyers agent is stated in the MLS (and agreed upon by the seller at the time the Listing Agreement is signed) and is the same to whichever buyers agent brings the offer that gets accepted.

Wouldn’t this also show that sellers are now willing to pay MORE commission to get their home sold? I thought we were moving into the time of a 3% total commission…and making Realtors obsolete….

3) 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.

Great for Bob…I’m glad he’s doing well.Could you please ask Bob how many transactions he’s closed year-to-date so we can get a feel for the type of activity that’s out there for agents now? Good agents prioritize “leads” and refer lower quality ones to other agents. So, he’s doing the right thing there…

4) 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.

I agree with some of this. But as a point of clarification: Agents don’t put listings on Realtor.com. They are a default directly from the MLS which the agent has no control over when they appear (Usually within a day or two..as a new listing) or disappear (when it goes into pending). The agent does have control over the description of the listing and can pay an extra fee to be able to add custom copy and extra photos. In my opinion as a former agent that did a lot of listings…Realtor.com was by far the best way to show a listing via the internet. The amount of hits on that site will blow away any that Bob (or any other agent with their personal website) gets on their site. I wasted money on several of my own websites before just putting the money into Realtor.com. (This has been said by SDRealtor on earlier posts and is exactly right.)

5)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.

A lot of what you say is true…But a lot of these are listings that were taken by desperate agents, working for mom-n-pop unknown companies whose only reason they got the listing was them saying….”I’ll do it for less”. A good listing agent with the proper data, comps and “objection handling” skills can still get a listing that is priced right and will sell….

6) 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.

Interesting. Weren’t you the one who said there was little value in a buyers agent earlier…and that all people find their new home on the internet…and that you just need an agent to handle the paperwork….and you expect the agent to give you a large proportion of his/her income???

7) 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.

Great! I agree….

8)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.

Wow, you’re laying it on pretty thick here. Are you seeking a campaign contribution from him? Just kidding. All this is great…But it doesn’t make him a great or successful person in the real estate business. I’ve met former landscapers that become so good at helping their clients that they sell several hundred homes per year and make millions of dollars doing it….In a nutshell, a prior business career certainly helps in understanding dealing with people, situations, processes etc…But it does not guarantee a sucessful real estate career. I personally would choose an experienced person in real estate to handle my transactions.

9) 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.

With so many sellers wanting to leave town…you’d think there were some salable listings out there…..People who would price their home to sell at the right price…

10)…….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.

Bob=Truth in all real estate aspects.
Other Realtors= “Dipsh*ts”………as you said in an earlier post

Again…my business goes to an active agent that does a lot of business…especially in my neighborhood….

11) 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.

Again Powayseller, you earlier said a buyers agent was a highly paid taxi driver…..and all people find the home by themselves on the internet…I thought you said the Mackey Team was the team to go to??? I thought you would just have an Attorney do the paperwork so you could put the commission savings in your pocket???

OK…Finally finished and sorry for the rambling…..and nothing personal in this post…

Farls

[powayseller]

To understand the RE market, you need the contact with a realtor who is in the market. When I said I would go to Bob, I meant as a consultant. I would pay him a fee for the advice on the market conditions.

You seem interested in the way Bob does his business. I am sure he would love to share it all with you. Why don’t you just e-mail or call him, and you can get all the other questions anwered.

Schahrzad

[Farls]

Actually, I’m not at all interested in the way Bob does his business so there’s no need for me to contact him. I’m more interested to see how much business he actually does. Even though he may be a great guy with a solid business background I suspect he doesn’t sell very many homes. If you’re going to be promoting him so strongly I think you owe it to the people visiting the site to show if he actually sells homes…or just puts out good data. We had this discussion awhile back……..

Farls

P.S. Powayseller, I think you were right to sell your home when you did…and I feel the market is in for a big correction….I’m shocked at the journalists who continue to print articles saying prices are still increasing across the board…So, we do agree on these and many other areas of the market…

[Anonymous]

Chris Johnston

Sunset, I assume you are the same person who participates in Lanser’s blog? If you are would you mind giving the link to that place that updated listings in OC each week. I think it was OC Renter’s blog. That link does not seem to be working right now. Would you mind re-posting that here?

[North County Jim]

I would pay him a fee for the advice on the market conditions.

For you PS, a colossal waste of money. With the amount of time you put into this, why would you pay for his advice?

[Anonymous]

Yep, same guy from Ben's and Lansner's.

 

Here is OC Renter's blog.

 http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/

 It is on blogger and blogger is notoriously unreliable, but you get what you pay for and blogger is free.

[Anonymous]

Chris Johnston

Thanks sunset. I have my blog there also, and it is unreliable at times.

[powayseller]

Farls, he told me he’s involved in 8 deals right now, and is turning away business. His first 2 years in RE were slow, and he is now getting busy, as his website is finally generating lots of leads. I know you can look up his sales, so why are you asking me? You can look this up yourself.

What I like about him is that he knows how to work the system, how to take advantage of the rising inventory.

I bet there are realtors out there who have 20x the real estate sales experience and sales of Bob, who haven’t figured out that internet appeal matters more than curb appeal, that you don’t let yourself fall in love with just one house, and that you write up 4 offers with 24-hour windows before you submit your first offer so you have negotiating power, and can walk. He never carries a contract with him in the car.

I put all this out there to help you and sdrealtor and other realtors who visit this forum. That’s why I suggested you talk to him. He’s a mentor type of guy, and he has no secrets. He likes to help people.

[sdrealtor]

Bob has sold 3 low priced properties for a total of approximately 1.3M. He has no listings and nothing in escrow unless it is directly with a builder (i.e.not in the mls). These properties were located in Lakeside, Pacific Beach and South SD. That’s alot of humping around. Two of the buyers did 100% financing. The other put down about 20% and must have a rich Dad. Her last name you might wonder????……..Casagrand

I currently have 3 listings in escrow none of which is more than 3 miles from my home and one of which will sell for more than his 3 sales combined. One more thing…I’ve never sold a home to a buyer with 100% financing though a couple of my lsitngs have been bought by buyers with 100% financing.

[equalizer]

After seemingly months of watching this debate go on, its time for me equalize this debate. No disrespect for anyone here is intended. My background as an engineer with an MBA has taught me “nothing” about the RE or loan industry. My experiences from buying two homes and selling one and talking with friends/colleagues have taught me a lot. Powayseller, you are approaching this discussion from a scientific manner, which to put it bluntly is IRRELEVANT. As sdrealtor has stated, this is a industry that is COMPLETELY based on emotion (OK, neg am loans due play their small part). The despicable ad put out by REALTORS that had the wife demanding a place with a realtwhore on speakerphone stating that you can do this is worthy of PhD topic since it IS how RE industry operates. Geeks on the fringes like us may use spreadsheets, statistical models, etc to help make RE decisions, but most people see friends in fancy digs and follow them blindly. That’s why RE prices are now at 10 times avg income.
As for the internet driving 80% of sales I DONT believe it. [I only speak when I’m confident on an issue and this leads to many arguments with co-workers because they never believe me. Unfortunately, even though I’m always right, people don’t trust me because they are either arrogant or they are evoking a self-defense mechanism that is guarding their ego, memory, etc]
Yes, people may look at houses on realtor.com, but that will generate a call to the agent, i.e. a sales lead. Where does Bob generate his leads? Did he game the search engines or pay them to be a top listing? For example, Google search for “Poway homes” delivers many agent websites, some from ads purchased on sides and others from gaming the system. I don’t see Bobs name. But wait. How many people who are looking for an $800K Poway home going to blindly put in Poway homes in Google?? Bob sounds like a number crunching economist who probably saves whales in his spare time and sdrealtor [is he really jim the realtor??] may be destroying north county preserves in his hummer, but the latter two are going to get your house sold. They may not show you 100 homes, while Bob might.
Enough said. Good night!

[Author]

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