1 *Agents that are rude. Sellers often pick these agents under the mistaken impression that it will benefit them because they have a “tough agent”. But in most real estate markets, other agents typically don’t want to deal with them and are less likely to show their listings. Additionally, when buyers run into a rude listing agent, they are more inclined to come away with a negative impression of the property.
2 *Agents that make it more difficult to show their listings. In most states agents, can put a lockbox on a house. Some agents in these states will put in the listing that you have to make an appointment with the listing agent. Since the buyer’s agent has to call and make appointment instead of just showing the listing, this dramatically cuts down on the number of showings these sellers receive.
3 *Agents that only work as real estate agents occasionally. While it seems like a good idea to use your brother’s friend that has sold 3 houses in the last 5 years, it’s probably not. These agents don’t know the market as well as a full time agent. Additionally, they don’t understand what is typical in a real estate transaction in your region and an experienced buyer’s agent can use this to their client’s advantage at your expense. If you were going in for a root canal you would not want to use a dentist that has only seen 3 patients in the last 5 years. In the same way, you don’t want to hand over the sale of your largest asset to someone that is inexperienced.
4 *Agents that are so desperate they try and steal clients away from every agent that shows the house. While this is rarely successful, it does make an agent think twice before showing the listing to another client knowing there is a hungry vulture waiting there for them.
5 *Agents that don’t work on the weekends. Real Estate is a 7 days a week business. If your agent is not answering the phone on the weekends, you can expect that the number of showings you will receive is going to be cut down. Sometimes buyers are in from out of state for the weekend and are planning on making an offer while they are in town. They usually narrow it down to two or three properties. While your agent does not return calls about your property over the weekend, the listing agent for the other property probably will answer the buyer’s questions about their client’s property. When it comes time to make an offer, the buyer is going to make an offer on the house they know more about and feel more comfortable with.
6 *Agents that have a bizarre set of rules that is atypical for the industry. This can come in many forms. Some agents want all correspondence with them to be done by fax instead of telephone or email. If the option fee is usually $100 and your agent is demanding $500 you can expect that their eccentric rules is turning away potential buyers. Being eccentric is great with art, but in a real estate transaction, it usually makes people wary.
7 *Agents that don’t take photos of your property. There is no good excuse for not taking photos of your property. If your agent is only going to take 1 or worse 0 photos, it’s time to find a new agent.
8 *Agents that don’t have a website. As real estate has become more of a business based on technology, with buyers looking online for houses, and more of the real estate transaction taking place through email, you want your agent to be operating in the 21st century. If your agent doesn’t have a website it’s a good sign that they are still practicing real estate in the age of dinosaurs.
Posts Tagged ‘Avoid’
Useless Real Estate Middle Men and How to Avoid Them!
Friday, November 13th, 2009How do HomeGain, Realtor.com, Service Magic and other companies like this make money? These companies are called lead generation companies. They spend vast amounts of money advertising on TV, the Internet, radio, and in print so that you’ll go to their website to find information about real estate. When you click on a property and request information the company then either sells the lead at a fee ranging from $20-$50 for an unqualified lead or up to a 35% referral fee for leads that are more valuable.What does the company do for the fee charged? The answer might be pretty surprising. They don’t do anything, but forward the lead to a service provider. Yep, that’s right. You can search the MLS on any number of free websites so the website they provide is little more than a mechanism to get your information. Some people think agents, contractors, or other service providers are overpaid for what they do. Take a look at these companies and ask yourself if forwarding an email is worth $1500 (That’s the commission split they would receive on the sale of a $150,000 home.).Who pays the fees that these companies charge? For the most part, the Realtor, mortgage broker or other service provider pays for these leads. The laws of business provide that you can’t get something for nothing. This is very true. So by adding no value to the transaction and taking up to 35% of the payment for service, the middle-man is taking value from both the consumer and the service provider.Why is this bad for consumers? In real estate like many other service industries, the best Realtors obtain their business through referrals. The weaker, newer, less experienced agents typically buy leads from sources such as these. The next time you visit a site like these lead generators, think twice about giving them your information and go directly to the source. You’ll cut out the middle-man and get a better agent for your hard earned dollar.
Why You Need To Avoid Pushy Real Estate Agents
Friday, October 2nd, 2009Whether you are buying a home or selling a home, you are most likely going to need the services of a real estate agent. Most people have seen movies and heard horror stories about pushy real estate agents that try to get you to buy a home you arent interested in or list your home for a price well above what its worth. The last thing you want is for the real estate agent you work with to be anything like the stereotypes.
A real estate agents success will tell you a lot about how he or she works. How many homes does that agent sell? An successful agent that sales many homes is usually easy to work with. When you are interviewing real estate agents you might find it helpful to ask for references. Of course, these references should have experiences relevant to the services you are looking for. If you are buying a home from the real estate agent, speaking to someone who has had a positive selling experience with the agent will not be of much help.
Choose an agent based on a referral you receive from someone you trust. When a friend or family member gives you the name of a real estate agent, there is a greater chance of you having a successful experience with the agent, than if you randomly choose one from the telephone book. Make sure the person who is referring the real estate to you has had a recent experience in working with the agent.
If you are a buyer working with a real estate agent, make sure to give the agent the details you are looking for in a home along with the maximum price you are willing to pay. Your agent should make every agent to show you homes that meet the criteria. There are some agents that will attempt to show you homes that are above your maximum price or do not meet your priority criteria. Usually this happens because the agent has some ulterior motive for selling the property. Respond to this situation the first time by asking that the real estate agent only show you homes that meet your criteria. If the agent continues to disrespect your wishes, you should move on to an agent that will abide by your requests.
Pushy real estate agents are fairly easy to recognize. You will notice that the agent does not truly seem interested in your needs or wants. The agents primary concern will be to sell you something. For buyers, the pushy agents will try whatever is necessary to get you to purchase a home that you arent interested in. These agents might express frustration when you do not make a swift enough decision to meet their satisfaction.
When working with a sellers agent, be wary of real estate agents that pressure you to make decisions before you are comfortable with working with them. A professional agent will assist you in making educated decisions based on facts. This kind of agent will even provide you with the information necessary. If you feel that a real estate agent does not have your best interests in mind, kindly thank them for their services, and enlist the services of another real estate professional.
Avoid Top 10 Mistakes Made By Real Estate Investors
Friday, September 4th, 2009Real estate investment is perhaps one of the most lucrative forms of investment today. But it is also equally risk bound especially when one is not well versed with the trends and nuances of the real estate market. So if you are contemplating on investing in real estate, it is best to avoid costly mistakes in real estate investment especially when you invest your hard earned money into it. Knowing the most common mistakes made by real estate investors helps one steer away from making such mistakes in the future and ensures good return on investment.
Here are the top ten mistakes made by real estate investors, according to bankrate.com. Bankrate has put together the top ten mistakes after speaking to established, full-time real estate investors and other professionals involved in real estate investment such as bankers. Read on to know them and avoid them.
1. Not planning up ahead. Lack of a proper plan is the biggest mistake made by novice investors. Finding a house after forming a proper investment strategy is the right way instead of looking for a house to fit the plan. Many make the mistake of buying a house because it seems to be a good deal and then trying to see how they can fit it into their plan. Instead of buying a house and thinking one can plan in due course, investors should rather concentrate on the numbers and try to make offers on multiple properties. This will ensure a good property that not only matches their investment model but also works out well with the numbers they had planned for.
2. To believe you can make money quickly. The second major mistake that real estate investors make is to think it is very easy to get rich in real estate. This is only a myth and the reality is that investing in real estate is a long term project.
3. Doing it single-handedly. For becoming a successful real estate investor one needs to build a team of professionals who would assist the investor in his deals. This would ideally include a real estate agent, an appraiser, a home inspector, a closing attorney and a lender.
4. Making excess payment. One another reason that investors in real estate goof up in their investment is by paying too much for the properties they buy. Paying too much and locking up all the funds in the erred property deal will leave you with no money to redeem yourself.
5. Leaving out the groundwork. Not doing your homework could be a costly mistake if you were a real estate investor. Every field of business needs sufficient amount of homework to be done, and real estate investment is no exception. Learn the fundamentals and then venture into investing in properties.
6. Throwing caution to the winds. Investors have to exercise a certain degree of caution and take earnest efforts while making a deal. New investors often fail in this regard and sign a deal without doing adequate research on the property.
7. Miscalculating money flow. Investors whose strategy is to buy, hold and rent out properties need to ensure sufficient cash flow for maintenance. Property managers could be expensive and the owner has to incur more expenses such as mortgage, taxes, insurance, advertising costs etc. Investors have to allocate their budget such that all these expenses are taken care of, or end up having their asset turn into a liability.
8. Lowering the volume. A larger volume of deals or transactions helps in increasing the profits by reducing the impacts of marginal deals.
9. Getting trapped in your own deal. Having more number of options at hand for the property you buy is a wise strategy. This helps one to be prepared for fluctuations in the real estate market. Plans to rent out the house could go awry when the rental market slumps. Having alternative plans helps you cut down losses and tackle unexpected situations.
10. Making incorrect estimates. People who plan to rehab their house need to check if they will still reap the benefits at double the time that they had estimated. This ensures they do not miscalculate and lose money on the deal.