Six Things Real Estate Agents Don't Want You to Know
by
Andrea Reynolds © Copyright Andrea Reynolds 2008.
This article may elicit hate mail from
real estate agents, and it’s not my intention to cause
anyone to lose business, but I can honestly say I’ve only
once been represented by a real estate agent who helped me.
Some even tried to kill a sale for me and I had to step in
and deal directly with the buyer. (Yes, she still received
her commission.) I don’t dislike real estate agents; I’ve
known some nice people who sold homes for a living, but
I’ve had better luck selling homes and property on my own.
If I were selling a $200,000 home, not a $20,000 home I’d
prefer a real estate agent or broker handle it for me.
I am *not a real estate agent, but rather an investigative
journalist. My mission has always been to immerse myself in
a subject, not just by reading, but also by experiencing
and observing to provide accuracy. I also hosted a weekend
radio show in the United States called Open House. Each
week I interviewed a rotating guest list of 3 realtors and
a real estate attorney. Each week I asked the guest to give
me a subject they wanted to discuss, but I found it
difficult to get their assistance to make them sound like
experts to the listeners. With two of them, I found getting
them to answer questions on air was like asking a toddler
to explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. However, the
third realtor offered to pay my way through real estate
school if I’d come work for her. (At that time I decided
not to: writing didn’t require that I buy a fancy car,
wardrobe, and jewelry in order to get paid.)
* Addendum:
After writing this and after a wonderful experience with a
real estate broker who worked with me to sell my $146,000
condo, I have decided to obtain my license to sell real
estate and have almost completed my course work prior to
the state licensing exam.
From my
interviews and from my own home buying/selling experiences
I gleaned these pearls of wisdom you should consider.
1.
Many, not all, real estate agents are vertical thinkers,
not lateral thinkers.
Lateral thinkers
are brainstormers. Vertical
thinking follows the most likely paths, lateral thinking
explores the least likely. Don't expect a real estate agent to think
outside the box, especially for mobile homes. Their
training teaches them one way to think and act and not
deviate. Here’s what I mean:
When I wanted to sell my second mobile home and my
neighbors were making it difficult to sell, I brought in an
agent to help me. There had been a fire in a mobile home
park across town where about 40 mobile homes were
destroyed. Forty families suddenly needed homes. Assuming
only half of them owned their homes and had replacement
insurance that's 20 families that would be financially able
to pay cash for a home. I called my real estate agent to
ask if she would drive over there and distribute a
photographic flyer of my home, which were already created.
She refused. That's not how she was taught to market homes.
In other words some real estate agents don't actively find
buyers; they put up an MLS listing and post a For Sale
sign, advertise and wait until a buyer phones them. I was
annoyed because there was a clearly identified market of
potential buyers all in one place, easy to find… going
untapped. I should have done it myself.
2.
Many real estate agents are hobbyists.
Few real estate
agents work full-time as real estate agents. I once
attended a conference in Pennsylvania of all the agents and
brokers in the county. Many licensed agents see real estate
as a hobby and some see homes as investments for themselves
which they can scoop up. In an audience of 600 agents only
about 6 could be identified as full-time, aggressive sales
individuals. If you aren’t lucky enough to get one of those
6 agents, you’ll be stuck with someone who gives you
half-hearted service. If I’m going to hand over a 6-10%
commission I want better than half-hearted service.
Remember: When you call a real estate agency (broker),
unless you ask for a specific agent, you will be assigned
the agent who is next in the queue. This allows those
agents who aren’t getting listings or sales to have an
equal chance. It’s unsettling to think that your assigned
agent is the default agent.
3.
Often they bring bodies through just to impress you that
they are doing
something.
I know that my agent was bringing people to see my home who
did not want to buy a mobile home and didn’t even want any
home in my area. Why did she do this? It was to show me
that she was bringing live humans to see my home. That’s
not only unproductive, but also a waste of my time. For
every showing, I had to take a half-day away from earning
an income to dismantle my office and make my home a
showplace for a non-buyer. I don’t need dress rehearsals:
give me opening night! The simple truth is she had no
prospective buyers and she was trying to cover that up by
making herself look busy. I lost disrespect for her because
she disrespected my valuable time.
Here’s a marketing technique you may not know about.
Sometimes your home will be first on the list of a few
dozen homes the agent wants a prospective buyer to see.
What agents may do is show the least desirable, or the
least expensive, home first and then show progressively
more appealing homes until the buyer is hooked on a more
expensive property. Your home goes into the discard pile.
4.
Open houses aren't to show
your
home.
Your open house
may be a waste of time. Not always, but many times it will
be. Often the realtor will try to get lookers into a more
expensive property than yours. Every open house I've been
to the agent tried to up-sell me to a more expensive
property, sometimes one of her own. One mobile home I saw
during an open house, the agent tried to “save” me by
telling me why I should accept Jesus. I came to buy a home,
not receive a sermon.
I recently tried an experiment. I invited 25 realtors from
different agencies to my open house, held from Noon to 6 PM
on Saturday and Sunday. I made sure there was ample time
both before and after the own open houses they may be
hosting which are usually scheduled 2-4 PM. Each one said
they would come only if first I signed a listing agreement
with him or her. I said just come see it first. What could
they lose to have a look? Even though the weather was mild,
not one of the 25 realtors showed up on either of the two
days. That tells me if they aren’t hosting the open house
themselves (with the owner absent) there’s no point in
seeing a new property.
5.
Listings aren't meant to sell your home.
They are bait.
Think: fishing lure. A listing’s real purpose is to hook
prospective buyers and reel them in to see more expensive
properties. Why would they want to sell a $20,000 mobile
home when the commission is bigger (for the same amount of
effort) on a $150,000 stick-built home?
Think about this. When I talked to those 25 agents, quite a
few recommended that I set the asking price of my condo at
less than the amount of mortgage I had left to repay. In
other words: sell it at a loss. When I explained that I was
denied a loan to cover the deficit because I couldn't
show earned income (long story), the agents still
wanted my listing. They wanted the listing knowing the
transaction could never go through. Read that again.
If I were to do as they advised my home would be off the
market for 4.5 to 6 months or longer with no chance of a
sale. I would be forced to endure countless people tramping
through my home knowing that no sale would occur for the
duration of the commitment. The only person to win would be
the agent who could use my listing to generate new buyer
interest in higher-priced properties. It would have been a
complete waste of time for me. I have no interest in being
a slave to someone so unconcerned about my interests.
Ever notice that those ads real estate agencies place for
your home in newspaper and magazine real estate sections
don't carry your address? Bait.
6. You probably are better at selling your home than you
think.
When I had
$40,000 for a down payment on a home, a real estate agent
took me to see $40,000 homes. I had told her that I was new
in the country and didn't think I had enough of a credit
history built yet to get a mortgage. But I had cash. She
could have helped me get a starter mortgage and shown me
decent homes in the $80,000 to $100,000 range, but she
didn't. Instead she showed me derelict, flood-damaged homes
with disgusting odors in slum neighborhoods. She didn't
even consider nice mobile homes in nice, clean,
well-manicured communities. I asked her to show me some,
but she wasn’t interested. But you would have wanted her to
think of your home, wouldn’t you? And I knew her agency
listed manufactured and mobile homes, but her commission
would have been too low for her taste.
One day, not long after, I became lost while driving in an
unfamiliar neighborhood and discovered the mobile home I
eventually bought. It was perfect for me and I didn’t have
to spend anywhere near my $40,000. I contacted the owner
myself (who was selling without an agent) and we amicably
worked out a deal with no agent involvement.
To sell your home all you need to do are:
• see your home with the eyes of a buyer,
• recognize and point out the great features of your home,
• keep it well-maintained, clean, uncluttered and
presentable at all times,
• use the marketing and selling tips we recommend,
• use online advertising that provides a wealth of detail
and photos, and then…
• when the right buyer appears, edit and adjust the
Purchase Agreement templates provided on this site to suit
your and your buyer’s specific needs.
Resources
Booklet: Sell Your Home in 60
Days
Templates: Purchase Agreement
Package
Profile: Your Home’s Virtual Open House
