Realtors - Good, bad, ugly?Follow

Afternoon everyone,

What are some of the good points to being a Real Estate agent and what have been some bad points that people have experienced?

The reason for my question is twofold:

1.) Our house just got placed on the market. Our realtor could probably use a lesson in customer service. Seems she was fine on writing up the contract for the house we want to buy. But now the lack of communication is killing my wife and myself. Perhaps our emotion is getting the best of us but I want to know if other realtors are calling and checking on the house!!!!

2.) I am in the process of completing the study requirement to get licensed in the commonwealth of VA. I just have to pass the state and national exam to become a realtor. I would like to know what good things realtors have down and try to avoid the bad ones.

Bub

On the other hand, in places like Southern California where averege house prices seem to flaot around 500K and up, one can sell 5 houses all year and make decent green. Some people are just salesmen too. I do agree however, that most sales positions have ups and downs, and a person thinking of going into sales should plan accordingly.

my experience in south florida.

there are probably 20 realestate agents for every house for sale. they beat each other to death for a customer. they will even skuttle a good contract if they have to split the commission with another agent if they can find their own buyer for a property they list.

realtors work for the contract. period. not the seller, not the buyer. the contract is their paycheck.

i have actually had a realtor buy a house i found and asked her to get me an apointment to see. paid cash. let the owners move out when ever they wanted. then sat on it as its value skyrocketed. the buyer? me? she found a better paycheck.

they rank along the same line as a car salesman IMO.

what i also found out, that many people are learning in every state. YOU DONT NEED ONE. AT ALL.

hire a realestate lawyer instead to do the paperwork. he/she will write a contract for YOU, cause they get paid a spacific amount no matter what you buy or where. they will research the title, and find any outstanding or open permits, leans, or other title problems too. they will do the closing.

i used my attorney to write the contract for my house, do the paperwork and closing, even negotiate the price for me. my cost? 2000 to both sell my existing home and purchase another.

the house i bought? ROFL, her realestate agent did NOTHING. absolutly NOTHING. i found the house. i submitted the contract. my atorney did the closing. she did NOTHING and walked away with 24,000 dollars of the sellers money.

for NOTHING.

selling my house? again, i useed the same realestste lawyer. didnt pay a dime to any agent. the buyer for my house? rofl, gave me a dollar deposit, not 10 percent most realtors require. we worked out the closing, move in and move out between ourselves. i even rented me house from him for 1 month after the closing while i waited for the realestate agent for the house i was buying to get her paperwork together for my closing. my lawyer was ready within 2 weeks of getting my signed contract. it took her 6 weeks to get an apointment worked out.

car salesmen. just paid better.

as a job, i would recommend COMMUNICATION a priority. it may be your paycheck, but buying or selling a house is extremely stressfull on both buyer and seller. make sure your client knows exactly what is going on, how long to expect it to take, and follow up with the client on any delays. make sure they know exactly where they stand, and exactly what they are waiting for, and how long it will take.

most of them just file their paperwork when the contract is signed and ignore the buyer / seller from that point on. they focus on getting new contracts, and ignore the process till its time for a closing, then they get mean if your not ready immediatly when they are, and cant do it on their schedule.

and remember, it is a contract. you can add or take off anything on that contract you want to irreguardless of what the agent tells you. for instance, the part where the agent gets 40 percent of your deposit if you back out of the contract? the reason they want a HUGE deposit? just cross it right off, and if she dosnt like it, tell her you will find one that will.

the usual line "standard contract" and "reqiired by law,state,agency,etc" all bull crap. you can make any adjustments to the contract you choose. it is then up to the seller if she will accept it or not, and i bet you wont find a single seller that wont let you put a small deposit on a property as long as you are qualified. if its one dollar, or 100,000 dollars, they cant touch it till closing reguardless.

they lie. just like car sales people. they do not work for the buyer or seller. they work for the contract. the house is a painted over rotted out dump? too bad, they have a contract that says they get a paycheck, and i bet they even had THEIR inspeactor inspect the property as a "service" for you.

Best realtor I ever had was a family friend. The #1 thing I liked about her is that she was honest. She didn't try to get us to sell our souls for a house we loved but couldn't afford. She was pretty straightforward about additional expenses that we hadn't thought of, and a classy lady who never showed us a place she wouldn't live in herself.

She passed away some years ago, and many of her clients paid their respects. She had quite the loyal fan base.

Yep. I think we will be giving her a call tonight or tomorrow morning to lower our price to her level.

Most of the places in our neighborhood have been selling for $138-155.00 a square foot. Thats new and used. Ours is on the market for $126.00 a square foot, has a vinyl fence and gas logs that the other places didn't have. However no one would pay $150.00 sq/ft for our duplex because it would push it into the 330,000 range. Guess we bought the biggest duplex in the neighborhood instead of the smallest...

I love the fact that we will be paying her and another agent approx $38000 in commissions for doing something that any $10.00 per hour wage earner could have done. This for probably 2 months of time and 5 days worth of work.

Unfortunately its to late to cut out the agents because we would have to pay them commission anyway because they could prove they started the process...