I just read an interesting post here on Active Rain on the private "Member Only" side. It was about a real estate agent bringing in an offer from a buyer and trying to get the listing agent to respond in a professional way.
This is certainly a common problem in many markets, fortunately here in Ann Arbor it is the rare exception.
But in that post, the agent talks about trying to get the buyer to make a higher first offer. And out of about 50 responses none of the regular real estate agents even questions that effort.
Now it is important to understand that every negotiation and every transation is different. So there may be times when it is appropriate for a buyer's agent to suggest a buyer make a higher initial offer. But, in today's market that situation is not the norm.
If you are a buyer and you have NEGOTIATING POWER in the form of OTHER OPTIONS, then your best strategy may be totally different than what all those regular real estate agents naturally want you to do.
I'm not going to reveal the details here because some other real estate agents in our market sometimes read my posts, but, DON'T EXPECT A TRADITIONAL REALTOR TO BE EFFECTIVE IN REPRESENTING YOUR INTERESTS. Most of them still FOCUS ON SELLING YOU A HOME!
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
It is funny how much we depend on technology in the Ann Arbor real estate business these days.
About an hour ago I started having problems with our MLXchange system. (That is the database of property used by the Ann Arbor Area Board of REALTORS.)
Today the MLXchange system was crashing a lot when I tried to look at some detailed property listings. To the point is was almost unusable. So I decided to take a break and catch up on some email.
Just now I received an automated email of a price reduction that sounded too good to be true. It is a West Ann Arbor home that would be priced around $245,000 and the price noted was $125,000. So, I pulled up the complete data and sure enough it looked like there was a big price reduction.
Well the listing agent is someone I work with a lot and she is normally very professional. As I looked at it closer something didn't make sense so I decided to call her and see if it was just a typo she would want to fix.
It turns out she knows nothing about a price reduction! It would appear that the MLXchange system reduced the price without human intervention!
Either that, or, it has let some quirk in the data slip by where somebody else's reduction was made on this property.
Very strange day for real estate!
Update: The listing is changed back to the original $255,000 price. I'll try to get an explanation from her the next time we talk.
As always if you are interested in finding the best home for your needs and buying it at the best price, give us a call. That is all we do and we do it very well!
Being an expert involved with the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org) has given me some interesting national exposure.
A month or so ago I spoke Jay MacDonald of Bankrate.com about the exagerations we see in the listing information. As the Ann Arbor company who represents BUYERS ONLY we focus on being truthful and pointing out the nagatives of homes as well as the positives.
As a result of that interview author Jay MacDonald wrote the piece for Bankrate.com and it has been picked up by quite a few websites and mentioned on almost a thousand webpages. Here is an excerpt:
Most homebuyers have encountered a "lying listing" -- the house for sale that doesn't even remotely resemble its colorful description in the Multiple Listing Service or classified ad.
Jon Boyd, an exclusive buyer's agent and broker for The Home Buyer's Agent in Ann Arbor, Mich., recently showed a self-described "stunner" to one of his clients.
"The only thing that would 'stun' anybody about the house was how bad the previous owner did the work to ensure that every room would need to be redone," Boyd chuckles. "I don't know what was going through the listing agent's mind to say that."
Presenting all homes, even the nightmares, in the best possible light is part of the listing agent's job, of course. Most buyers know this and view colorful descriptions with a healthy skepticism.
If you are interested in buying the best home at the best price, call our office to schedule a no-obligation meeting to talk about your needs and how we can help you. 734-662-6240
As an Exclusive Buyer's Agent office we show a lot of property.
And, we get opinionated.
And, this month I seem to be running into a lot of listing agents who are happy to tell me over the phone what a wonderful large or deep lot their listing has, but then they are too lazy to provide:
1. A copy of a mortgage report survey or at least some kind of written drawing of the lot and the boundaries. (Even if it is labeled as not exact or estimate, as long as it is what the seller thinks they own it is normally useful.)
2. The lot dimensions. (Tonight I'm showing a home in the city with a reported 1/2 acre lot, but there are no lot dimensions provided. Just a "the home has a deep lot".
Note to listing agents:
If your listing has a nice lot, get some specifics and share them. Thank you!
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
I've posted before about the concern with poison drywall from China. It is a big problem in Florida and a number of other states.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission now has a website devoted to the topic here: Drywall Information Center
And it looks like there have not been problems reported to date in Michigan.
This is very good. Some people are predicting this will be the largest liability issue to hit the country ever.
If you hear of it becoming a problem in Michigan please let us know and send us a link so we can share it here.
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN January 19 -- An Ann Arbor real estate Buyer's Agency released data on their 2008 purchases today. The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor reported that their average savings figures are up 39% to $22,777 per purchase compared to 2007 levels.
Unlike traditional real estate companies who try to sell their listings for the highest price, a buyer's agency works to help purchasers get the lowest possible price.
"The economic conditions have certainly brought down the property values and put more foreclosures into the market," stated Jon Boyd, Broker/Manager of The Home Buyer's Agent of Ann Arbor, "but these savings numbers are the product of many conditions coming together, including the skill and passion of our buyer agents. Since many brokerages have moved away from full fiduciary level service into limited designated agency, it gives our more experienced team a greater negotiating advantage."
Savings for buyer's agencies are typically calculated based on cost reductions in multiple areas, including purchase price, negotiated repairs, mortgage costs, and personal property. These savings numbers include a broad variety of property from luxury homes to vacant land and condominiums. A more detailed explanation of savings calculation is available on the company's website here: Ann Arbor real estate savings calculation
"Since most real estate licensees in our area work as designated agents and are only involved in a few home purchases a year, the added complications of short-sales and foreclosures makes it hard for them to be as effective in negotiation" concluded Boyd.
The Ann Arbor real estate buyer's agent is the oldest Exclusive Buyer's Agency in the state of Michigan and has helped hundreds of home buyers save millions of dollars on their home purchases. Since Exclusive Buyer Agents only represent home buyers and never sellers, these companies avoid the conflicts of interest of traditional real estate companies and offer home buyers 100% loyalty.
It sounds like some incoming physicians doing their residency here have been receiving bad information about available mortgage options
The mortgage market has changed dramatically over the last two years. There are now only about a half dozen zero downpayment mortgage options now where two years ago there were about twice that many. (And they were dramatically more available.)
But, when you are buying a home you only need one mortgage, and if you are a physican here for your residency then realatively easy zero downpayment options are still available.
It will take some preparation and there are some limitations, but in general the Midwest Financial Credit Union is still a good option.
They offer: Closing before first paycheck Zero downpayment Ignoring student loan obligations in most situations No PMI (but a higher interest rate to compensate for some additonal risk.) A physician friendly application process
Note: These loans are specifically for physicians, so they are not visible on the credit union's website.
I heard an interesting story yesterday from a home inspector that works in the Washtenaw County area.
It was about one of those enlightening moments in his career and it happened ten or twelve years ago.
He was at an inspection and he was talking to the home buyer about radon and how it was a suspected carcinogen an how it was prevalent in the area. He also recommended that the buyer have a radon test done on the home.
Later that day after the buyer had left the nice real estate agent came up to him and said something along the lines of: "If you ever mention radon to a home buyer again I'll have to stop using you."
That was such a clear instruction, and so anti-buyer, that it made a huge impact on him. At that point he knew he either had to get under the thumb of the real estate industry or build his own referral base totally outside of the REALTOR organization. He chose the latter and he is still in business today.
And, our office is one of the only real estate companies in the market that actively uses this guy.
If you are looking to buy a home and you want a real estate company that will always be on your side, in your corner, and looking out for you, call us.
We serve the Ann Arbor - Brighton - Plymouth - Novi - Canton - Ypsilanti areas in Southeastern Michigan. And we can guarantee that you will never be stuck with designated agency, dual agency, or non-agency. We will always be your buyer's agent!
Call us today at 734-662-6240 to talk about how we can help you achieve your home buying dreams!
The national association most of the top buyer agents belong to (naeba.org) just posted this press release:
AVONDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As fewer transactions are split up between a relatively fixed number of real estate agents, those agents are using whatever tools they can to hold on to home buyers, in some cases against the buyer's will. One of those "tools" is an outdated industry secret called "procuring cause," and it is frustrating many of today's home buyers, according to the home buying specialists at the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA).
Procuring cause is an industry term that describes the ability of any agent who showed a buyer a home to claim that they should be paid if the buyer eventually wants to buy that home.
Many buyers get "married" to agents who show them a property without ever knowing it. Charlie and Meg Bear, of Acton, Massachusetts, are like many buyers in today's market. When they started house-hunting, they went to the Internet. Click ... they found a house to see; click ... they sent a request to the listing agent. At the second house they saw this way, the agent who showed them the house disclosed that he was a "buyer's agent." He was the husband of the listing agent. Charlie did not want a buyer's agent who was married to the listing agent. "This disclosure is not a contract" was clearly on the form. Meg signed the form; Charlie did not.
Time went by. Charlie and Meg hired Connie LeDuc of Authentic Home Buyers Brokers in Southborough, MA. When they eventually decided to make an offer on that home they saw through the Internet, confusion reigned. The "buyer's agent" did not want Connie to represent Charlie and Meg on his wife's listing. The listing agent, his wife, was all for getting this home sold to the Bears, but her husband insisted that he was their "buyer's agent." After much negotiation between the brokers, the Bears bought their new home.
"Potential homebuyers who attend open houses or view properties with the listing agent, or a licensee working for the listing agency, may forfeit their opportunity to have full representation," said John Sullivan, President of NAEBA . "To have 100% representation 100% of the time, homebuyers should have a written agreement with an exclusive buyer's agent that spells out the duties and obligations of both parties before looking at any home."
What did Charlie and Meg Bear learn from their experience? "People like us don't know they should find their agent before they find their house," says Charlie.
The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents was founded in 1995 to help consumers become educated home buyers. NAEBA is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to be the "champions of real estate buyers' rights and representation." NAEBA offers industry standard certifications, ongoing education, client referral services, technology, and information sharing. The NAEBA Code of Ethics pledges undivided loyalty to real estate buyers only. For the name of an Exclusive Buyer's Agent in your area, visit www.naeba.org.
SOURCE National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents
When you think about it the idea that a wife can be a seller's agent and the husband can be a buyer's agent on the same transaction is a complete scam. Why don't those licensees admit that they are dual agents or non-agents and stop destroying any confidence that consumers might have in the profession.
Amazing!
If you are looking to buy a home and you don't want to expose yourself to this kind of nonsense we can help.
We serve the Ann Arbor - Brighton - Plymouth - Novi - Canton - Ypsilanti areas in Southeastern Michigan. And we can guarantee that you will never be stuck with designated agency, dual agency, or non-agency. We will always be your buyer's agent!
Call us today at 734-662-6240 to talk about how we can help you achieve your home buying dreams!
Insights on home buying in the Ann Arbor Michigan area, including Saline, Plymouth, Canton, Chelsea, Dexter, Brighton, Ypsilanti, Belleville, Howell, and Whitmore Lake
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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