[SD Realtor]

In response to SDbear –

Never apologze for basic questions!!

My answers may not be law but here is my take.

Basically to buy and sell real estate or mortgages in the state of California you need a brokers license.

Now a broker may hire agents to work for him/her and they can represent buyers and sellers to help sell real estate.

The criteria for obtaining a brokers license is more stringent then a sales agent license. To get a sales agent license you take a few rudimentary courses and then take the test. That gets you a conditional license. Once you have that and complete another course your license is no longer conditional.

Now once you have your sales license, or even your conditional sales license you can go work for a broker. Typically brokers employ lots of agents. Now even though each of those agents may have several listings, the actual listings ALL belong to the broker. The broker is ultimately responsible for the listings. A typical Coldwell Banker office may have a few brokers and 10 to 100 agents!

The criteria for getting a brokers license is that you first get a sales license, then there are several courses to take, then you may take the test for a brokers license.

A Realtor may be a sales agent or a broker who is a member of a local association of Realtors. A Realtor is not a licensed designation by the state Dept of Real Estate. As a member of the San Diego Association of Realtors I pay dues and I attend classes offered by the Association. In general it is good to make sure your sales agent is a Realtor. Realtors generally have a higher regard for ethics and have taken more classes, seminars, etc then sales agents and are more experienced and knowledgeable.

Brokers can also sell mortgages and can be involved in financing. Indeed, some brokers don’t know much about real estate at all as they simply got licensed and then went right into the financial aspect of our profession and do nothing but loans

Most of what you learn on the job in real estate is when you are hands on. At least it has been in my case.

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The law about commissions and real estate in general varies. In San Diego, a principle (buyer or seller) cannot receive a commission directly. Here are some of your options:

1 – have the listing agent represent you and ask the listing agent (or the sellers) to credit you a portion of that commission.

2 – same as 1 but ask the agent to have the sellers reduce the sales price by some or all of that commission.

3 – find yourself a buyers agent and ask that buyers agent to do the same as 1 or 2.

One pretty popular misconception is that when people deal directly with the listing agent they will get a smoking deal. That is speculative at best… In many cases that listing agent will receive full commissions from the seller for both sides without a discount being applied. It all depends on what the listing agents broker will allow the agent to do. You really never know. Also many a time I have spoke to a buyer who felt they were not represented well by the listing agent who was also acting as thier agent. They felt that basically the agent wanted to just get the deal done.

I am not saying this is the norm, I am just saying it has happened. Personally I would recommend to get a buyers agent who will pass on a credit of that commission to you. That way you can feel good about your representation.

Hope this is helpful. If you have more questions email me at [email protected] and I will be more then happy to answer your questions or at least help you find more info.

[SD Realtor]

That 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?

[SD Realtor]

Just a few examples from some listing appointments I have been on regarding the profiles of people who have gotten into risky financing. Two were young couples, first time buyers and 1 was an older couple. The older couple did it to pull cash out and rehab a duplex. Needless to say they are in deep you know what now.

[SD Realtor]

Kind of off topic but what the heck… Took the family to Havasu City over the 4th… We have some friend who bought there in 2001. Lots and lots of homes being built…Lemme tell ya though, I saw a ton of for sale signs EVERYWHERE…

Oh yeah it was roasting!! However it was pretty fun on the river.

[SD Realtor]

Kind of off topic but what the heck… Took the family to Havasu City over the 4th… We have some friend who bought there in 2001. Lots and lots of homes being built…Lemme tell ya though, I saw a ton of for sale signs EVERYWHERE…

Oh yeah it was roasting!! However it was pretty fun on the river.

[SD Realtor]

Odd stuff. I am a member of SDAR so I cannot comment on the MLS up in L.A… FYI each county has thier own association of realtors. That association basically has an MLS that is run by the association itself or a 3rd party. In San Diego SDAR is out association and Sandicor runs and maintains the MLS.

So here is what I tried for ya…I verified that the MLS number on one of my listings on Realtor.com matches the MLS that was assigned by Sandicor. I also did the same for Zip. They both matched and when I did an MLS number search on zip it did come up and find my listing.

So… not sure what is going on. Again, the listings you are looking for may be subject to a different numbering system which is why there are hyphens… (This is admittedly a long shot)

Your best bet is to simply call an agent and have them look up the MLS number. The listing agents information is at the bottom of the listing on both Zip and Realtor. Then you can see if Zip or Realtor actually is corrupting the MLS number. Sorry I couldn’t help more.

[SD Realtor]

I know Pam as well! Yeah Gordon and Diane are very nice people. Both of them worked for GMAC (One Source Realty) for many years. Then he bought the Poway franchise a few years back. He also bought a downtown HUS and then he sold that recently. Definitely a low key down to earth type. I am glad you did well! Having more people like him in the industry would be nice.

[SD Realtor]

Empowering is not being an ass .

Bugs I didn’t mean to imply being an ass to your Realtor. I just have seen alot of cases where people get intimidated by certain Realtors. They seem to forget that the Realtor works for them! Also to remind people that there are an awful lot of alternatives out there for them and trying to point some of them out.

Powayseller did you work with Gordon and Diane Kane? They own the HUS on Poway road and they are VERY COOL people. I know them well as I owned the Rancho Penasquitos Help U Sell a few years back and then sold it.

[SD Realtor]

one last thing…IDX receives downloads on a regular basis from the target MLS. Recall every association has thier own MLS. So the time from when the agent actually changes the status of a listing, to when the IDX grabs it, then updates thier database, and then sends it to the 3rd party subscriber (in this case Zip) is usually a day or so… Sometimes even longer but not usually.

Also expect to see alot of listings to start dropping off as we come to a summer close. Listing contracts that were established in the spring are hitting expirations. In a desperate attempt to keep the customer, agents are telling people to drop out and come back next spring and everything will be magically okay again.

[SD Realtor]

one last thing…IDX receives downloads on a regular basis from the target MLS. Recall every association has thier own MLS. So the time from when the agent actually changes the status of a listing, to when the IDX grabs it, then updates thier database, and then sends it to the 3rd party subscriber (in this case Zip) is usually a day or so… Sometimes even longer but not usually.

Also expect to see alot of listings to start dropping off as we come to a summer close. Listing contracts that were established in the spring are hitting expirations. In a desperate attempt to keep the customer, agents are telling people to drop out and come back next spring and everything will be magically okay again.

[SD Realtor]

Zip and every other on line listing provider receives thier listings through a service called IDX. IDX is a great business by the way… wish I would’ve thought of it. IDX providers pay local real estate association for a distilled version of thier databases. IDX providers then sell thier distilled databases to places like Zip, Housevalues, even other brokerages. I even use IDX on my website. This has been the primary technology that has empowered consumers to search for homes on line. It really is a very cool thing.

Now, in the actual MLS (at least the SDAR MLS) the following listing classifications are as follows:

active – actively for sale
pending – in escrow. (note you can be in escrow and still be active but that applies only if there is a sales contingency in place)
sold – sold
withdrawn – the listing is still under contract but has been withdrawn from active status. (maybe the sellers are rehabbing or taking a break) Note that market time will not increment during this classification.
cancelled – The listing agreement has been cancelled at the request of the seller or broker.
expired – The listing agreement has expired.

Now if you are looking at a site like you mentioned, Zip and the listing is inactive my guess would be it is either withdrawn, cancelled or expired. The distillation of the MLS information doesn’t really allow you to find out. Call an agent who is a member of that association and you can find out.

Also in answer to the above posting, if you have not signed a representation agreement then there is no binding contract in place. There really is not such a term as an “assigned” agent. Either you are represented (through a signed contract) or you are not.

I routinely send people MLS listings without a contract. It is part of the business. Frequently they take those listings and work with other people and that kind of sucks but it is part of the job. Thats the way it goes!

[SD Realtor]

Thanks powayseller… I have been trying to find what the all time inventory high point is. With an 18 month old and a 3 month old it is tough.

One other point…. As you guys all most likely know the best months to put your home on the market are Feb-May. So many people who list and then don’t sell will be trying this again. What will be especially interesting is the inventory stats next spring.

Can it top 30?

[SD Realtor]

I am surprised that she has done so well in Phoenix. I have heard that the market has changed there. If she is doing well, then good for her! Personally I have found people who get emotional about financial transactions enjoy talking about the successes but clam up about negative outcomes.

[SD Realtor]

On the front lines

Murray, I admire you for sticking to your guns. Once again, I feel that people who take the data as a lump fact and then apply commentary are making a mistake. It is simply not a correct thing to do.

Okay I service the entire county. I have listings from Oceanside to Eastlake and as far east as Harbison Canyon and a new one out in Pine Valley. To use a simple single median number is NOT THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Murray, to be more specific, single family detached homes, in the majority of neighborhoods have already experienced depreciation. This includes many of the central San Diego neighborhoods like North Park, Normal Heights, College area, San Carlos…. South San Diego, especially the Eastlake zips have been hammered. North county inland has been whacked as well.

Please do not include high end. Yes Rancho Santa Fe, high end La Jolla, Fairbanks Ranch, Del Mar and other coastal communities have done well and will not be affected as much by the downturn. Do not include high end properties either.

Again, it does not help the first time homebuyer, or the young couple thinking about buying to lump all this stuff together and form an opinion based on numbers that have been massaged by the industry. If you have some median priced homes in some of these zip codes I will be more then happy to run numbers for you to see what the true depreciation or appreciation has been compared to last year even.

I admire your points but disagree with most if not all of them. What I see now is alarming for many reasons but the biggest is a very substantial lack of traffic. The demand is substantially less for a variety of properties I have listed in many locations in the county.

It is scary Murray.

[SD Realtor]

Condos are taking a beating and yes they have been affected first and will continue to suffer.
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sdrealtor –

Not sure what you have seen but I have seen much more condo depreciation then SFR. Once again it is very dependent on the neighborhood and quality of condo… UTC/UC has been absolutely pounded, take a look at places like Lucera… 2/2’s there are below 2004 pricing when the actual conversion happened. San Carlos condos have been similarly whacked as Mission Valley has been.

The only thing worse would be the downtown condo market.

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