real estate agents: Who Does That Agent Represent? - 05/03/13 04:15 PM
Yes, Mr. Buyer, I CAN show you that house - I can show you any house for sale. No, I am not the Agent for that HOUSE. Agents do not represent Houses; Agents represent People.   We represent our clients.
If our CLIENT engages us to represent them in Selling their home, we are the Seller's Agent (aka Listing Agent). We Market the Home but we Represent our Client.
If the SAME CLIENT engages us to represent them in the purchase of their next home, we are their Buyer's Agent (aka Sell-ing Agent) in that transaction.
If a different CLIENT engages … (64 comments)

real estate agents: The Magic Month For Selling Your Home - 05/03/13 11:04 AM
People often ask when is the best time to sell their home. When asking this question, they mean winter, spring, summer, or fall. While there are a higher number of people looking at homes for sale during certain times of the year, a home can be sold in any season. 
The most important thing to remember in timing the sale of your home is the 'Magic Month.' The magic month is the first 4 weeks a home is on the market. This is when it receives the most activity and also the time it is most likely to sell for the … (1 comments)

real estate agents: Selling Your Home in Kansas City: What Do You Need To Know? - 04/29/13 12:52 PM
If you're thinking about selling your home, you need to know a few things before you can make an informed decision. How is the real estate market in your area? How much can you expect to get for your home? What kind of marketing and advertising will the agent utilize to sell your home? How long will it take? These are the types of questions most homeowners ask when they call me to sell their home. 
Here's what's happening in the Kansas City real estate market today:  
Inventory is down. Prices are up. We are seeing multiple offers on properties in … (1 comments)

real estate agents: Yes, I'd Like To See The Brick House For Sale in Prairie Village - 04/23/13 10:18 AM
lol - I know this has happened to you too! The phone rings; I answer.
Caller: "Yes, I'd like to see the brick house for sale in Prairie Village. I don't remember the address - aside to wife - honey, what street was that house on?"
A conversation ensues while I wait patiently (patiently) for him to come back to the phone call he initiated. It's a bit amusing to listen as they try to retrace their drive to figure out which street they may have been on. More amusing is their combined description of the house they relay … (27 comments)

real estate agents: Real Estate Sharks in Brookside: A Real Estate Lesson - 06/25/12 09:33 AM
A client called me about 2 months ago asking if I would help her friend sell her house. Her friend is a senior citizen with some mobility issues and she wanted to make sure her friend got a real estate agent who would take good care of her. We'll call the lady 'Sally' to protect her identity. Sally's home is in Morningside, a very desirable neighborhood in Brookside. So, I pull the comps and go over to talk with Sally about listing and selling her house. Sally tells me that she wants to sell her house in Kansas City so that … (3 comments)

real estate agents: How Do You Know Maria? - 04/15/12 09:54 PM
As Sophia from The Golden Girls would say, picture this: We're on facebook. Under one of the photos covering the tornadoes and hail in the Central Plains States is a comment by my cousin in St. Louis. Next comment is by a friend here in Kansas City. My cousin then comments to my friend "I know someone with your name but your profile pic doesn't match. How do you know Maria?"  My friend comments back. "I did an Air Guitar Flash Mob with Maria last year." LOL- hadn't thought about that for a while!
Why did I do such a thing? … (8 comments)

real estate agents: Real Estate Retainers - 04/05/12 03:14 PM
When a homeowner contracts with a real estate agent to sell their house, the house itself gives some assurance that the seller is serious and the agent will eventually be paid for their time and expenses. This is assuming that the agent accepts only listings which have a chance of actually selling.
When a home buyer contracts with a real estate agent to buy a house, the agent has no assurance of ever being compensated for their time and expenses. Sure, we sign a buyer's agency agreement pledging our fiduciary duties to that client and exacting a promise of compensation upon … (65 comments)

real estate agents: FAQ: How Do You Know If You Got A Good Real Estate Agent? - 02/19/12 03:49 PM
There are several things to look for in a real estate agent - the person you trust to help you sell your house or land.
Keeping in mind that one of the ways people will be searching for their next home is by doing an area search on a map, check this out:   
This is where the map is pointed to a house listed for sale in Kansas City, Missouri. Now, we do have a Kansas City Kansas as well but neither Kansas City is in China. The Listing Agent either doesn't know how to place the pin in … (7 comments)

real estate agents: Showing Homes To Unqualified Buyers - 02/08/12 08:51 PM
Do you show unqualified buyers into houses listed for sale?
One of the 'real estate gurus' called me today to personally answer some questions I'd asked in an email response to his offer of a new and exciting real estate site. (You know how I like to learn about anything new.)
The guru told a story of an agent using his site to sell a house to a buyer she'd never met until they went to look at the house. Okay. I ignored the safety issues, instead asking how the agent had qualified the buyer before showing the house. … (17 comments)

real estate agents: They Really Don't Mean Any Harm - 12/13/11 01:16 AM
Really, they don't. Recently, a number of other agents have told me about friends and family members buying or selling houses without even calling them. They feel betrayed. They feel like their friends are letting them down.   
They say things like "Don't they know that's how I put food on my table? Don't they understand that I can't buy them presents if they're sending business to other people? Don't they get that I have bills to pay too?"
No, they don't get that; they may never get that. Furthermore, they are your friends; it's not up to them to … (16 comments)

real estate agents: 5 Ways To Increase The Success of Your Property Marketing Efforts - 10/25/11 10:55 PM
..by Maria Morton
The ultimate GOAL of marketing any property is to get it SOLD, right?   If you are only interested in getting your name up on the yard sign for the free advertising, just overprice the home and ignore the following suggestions. 1. Put the home on Centralized Showing Service (CSS).This makes it EASY TO SHOW any house to Qualified Buyers. Around 90% of homes sold will have an agent representing the Buyer. The Cooperating Agents need to be able to show the home. If the Buyers can't see it, they won't make an Offer To Purchase. Sure, I know … (7 comments)

real estate agents: You Know The House Is Extraordinary When The Agents Are Oohing And Ahhing - 09/20/11 08:49 PM
On Tour today, I saw an extra-ordinary home for sale in Hyde Park. Every real estate agent who toured the house recognized its' exceptional attributes.
Comments included "Wow!"  "Look at the woodwork!"  "Check out the pocket doors!"  "I love the leaded glass windows over the landing!"  "Will you look at the size of the bedrooms!"  "Did you notice the closet space?"  "Have you seen the finished basement?"  "I could move in today!"  "I need to win the lottery so I can buy this house!"  "This is one of the grand old Hyde Park homes - what an opportunity!"  "It's even … (3 comments)

real estate agents: What Kind of Clients Do You Attract? - 08/13/11 12:27 AM
Our real estate blogs are read by people all over the world. People getting ready to buy or sell their homes are doing their research online before calling for help. The people who call me have usually read 10 or 20 of my Active Rain blog posts before deciding I'm the one they want to talk to; you probably have the same experience.   
Who are these people? What is it about my blog posts that attracts them? 
The one post that most people mention during our first phone conversation is "Do You Know Jack?". This was a tongue-in-cheek, rather humorous post … (44 comments)

real estate agents: Surefire Way Not To Sell Your House - 08/11/11 11:23 AM
The buyers and I all had busy schedules. We found an hour when we could meet to see the house. I made the showing appointment the day before so the sellers had plenty of notice. 
On this particular property, the sellers had elected NOT to use an iBox. They preferred to have someone let the buyers in. No problem!
 
Unfortunately, the seller's representative did not show up at the appointed time. The cash buyers were not impressed. We discussed the situation on the sidewalk in front of the house for sale. We agreed that if the seller and his agent … (8 comments)

real estate agents: Nothing But A Big Red Truck - 04/12/11 10:31 PM
One day my Uncle Edwin was driving with my Aunt Iris in the front passenger seat. At an intersection, he asked her how the traffic was from her direction. She replied "It's all clear this way, there's nothing coming this way...
....except a big red truck!"
Uncle Edwin pulled out into the intersection before Aunt Iris completed her sentence.
No one was injured so it is just a funny family story. But it makes me think about how important it is to listen to other people.
In our real estate business, we talk to a lot of people and, sometimes, … (13 comments)

real estate agents: Why Would You Want A Real Estate Agent in Kansas City to Refer You To Another Agent? - 03/26/11 06:56 PM
What could a Real Estate Agent in Kansas City possibly know about real estate and agents in other states and cities? More than you might imagine. As a member of NAR, MAR, KCRAR, ABR, SRES and Active Rain, I am constantly communicating with other agents around the country - sometimes out of the country.
Why do you care who I talk to? Well, if you're like most people, myself included, you don't want a salesperson when you are buying a house, you want someone you can trust. 
But how do you know which real estate agent to trust? Just ask one … (5 comments)

real estate agents: My Friend's Friend Chose Another Real Estate Agent and It Didn't Go So Well - 03/26/11 06:29 PM
This is a true story but we will change the names of the people and the place to protect identities. We'll call my friend Joe. Joe has a friend in, let's say Florida, who wants to move back to Kansas City. We'll call Joe's friend Betty.
Betty needs to sell her home in Florida before she can move back to Kansas City. The real estate market in Betty's city is dismal. She is anxious about being able to sell her home. Betty tells Joe all about her concerns so Joe says 'Not to worry, I have a friend in the business.' … (6 comments)

real estate agents: What Goes Into a Great Marketing Plan? - 09/02/10 02:51 AM
What goes into a great marketing plan?
My marketing plan shows you, in writing, how I will market your property. It goes into detail on actions in each category so that you know what's being done. Since the goal is to sell your property, I am constantly updating my websites, systems and techniques so that your home gets the exposure needed to entice a ready, willing and able buyer to make an offer to buy it.  
I. Activate the Real Estate Community –  Since we know that the majority of buyers use a professional real estate agent when making a real estate … (3 comments)

real estate agents: Are You A Slacker Listing Agent? - 05/26/10 10:25 AM
Here is an entry in our MLS that shows substandard work.  As we all know, the MLS is a tool we use to communicate with one another in keeping track of the inventory we work with every day. 
Our MLS instituted a rule last year requiring Ownership to be filled in. Notice that this agent did not fill in the Ownership space.  From the price and condition of the house in this neighborhoood, and the low commission offered, I would guess this is an REO.If the house is privately owned, this agent is doing a great disservice to the owner/seller.
There … (6 comments)

real estate agents: Pop Up Agents Reviewed on Trulia - 03/24/10 02:05 PM
Pop Up Agents Reviewed on Trulia
Here's a great example of a "Pop-Up Agent" and how the homebuyer feels about working with agents like this.
From Daisy :  "I called an agent, they showed me a property after work one night on Friday, then on Saturday we looked at a few (all pretty close in location).  While they spent the day with us (my fiance and I), I wasn;t feeling the relationship.  He continued to use closing lines, and although we are lookng to find something quickly, it's annoying.  He also suggested I do more "leg work" online, to get one … (1 comments)

 
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Maria Morton Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

Kansas City, MO

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BHG Real Estate - Kansas City Homes

Address: 435 Nichols Rd. Suite 300, Kansas City , MO, 64112

Office Phone: (816) 410-5499

Cell Phone: (816) 560-3758

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