real estate agents: Flat Fee Service vs Real Estate Agents
- 03/24/16 04:27 AM
We have all heard about the flat fee real estate service companies like Trelora, Help You Sell, Assist to Sell and many others. They tout a one low flat fee to sell your home and promise to save you thousands. The flat fee prices vary as does the services offered for each rate. Some suggest you pay a full 2.8% in commission to the agent and supply the buyer, yet still some others think you can get away with offering as little as $2,000 or $3,000 to the buyer’s agent. Sounds great! Problem is, it rarely works.
If you take nothing away … (1 comments)
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real estate agents: Buyer Loyalty By Marc Bayes
- 06/12/14 02:15 AM
Recently, I’d learned a very valuable lesson when it comes to working with buyers. Have a buyer agency agreement. For the first time in my career as a real estate agent, I lost a buyer and I have no recourse because I did not have a buyer’s agency agreement. The truth is, I like to run my business on the premise of buyer loyalty.
The buyers I lost I liked a lot. They were very nice people and I did really want to help them find a home. In fact, we were close to writing on a few homes as well. … (2 comments)
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real estate agents: You Cannot Say Enough About Referrals. By Dan Polimino.
- 11/18/13 04:53 PM
Real Estate is, has, and always will be predominantly a referral business. Yes, I know that with Internet technology, real estate agents can mine hundreds of leads every month, of people they have never met. In fact, my team, The Colorado Dream House Team, has invested heavily in Internet leads. About three percent turn out to be real buyers or sellers. While we appreciate this newfound source of business, nothing compares to a lead that is a good referral.
We spend a ton of time trying to make sure that each and every client has a good experience with us, just like I know … (1 comments)
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real estate agents: Open Houses. By Marc Bayes.
- 11/05/13 07:29 PM
Did you know that open houses actually work to sell a home? Manyhome owners today that put their house on the market are against open houses and for a variety of reasons. I want to put to bed some of those myths right here and right now.
I’ve been told that sellers don’t believe open houses actually bring buyers to their home. This is false. I was showing homes last month to friends of mine that mentioned they wanted to see an open house that was down the street and it was the first day the home was on the market. They loved … (0 comments)
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real estate agents: Toxic People. By Dan Polimino.
- 06/10/13 11:24 PM
There is a saying in business that 20% of the people you deal with create 80% of your aggravation. I believe this to be true because I have seen it time and time again in my own life. The question is: what do you do with the 20% that you consider as toxic people? Answer…you remove yourself from doing business with that 20%. How does this pertain to real estate? Simple: real estate is all about relationships. As an agent, do you click with the buyer or seller? Does Mr. and Mrs. Seller or Buyer click with the agent? If you … (54 comments)
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real estate agents: An Open Letter to My Real Estate Colleagues. By Dan Polimino.
- 05/27/13 11:01 PM
In 1999, my business partner, Gary Lohrman, and 11 other Realtors came together to start a new brokerage firm called Fuller Towne and Country. They decided to build the business with two simple principles in mind. First, create a place and atmosphere where they wanted to work and have fun. Second, treat other agents joining the team as if they were their own clients. What the owners realized early on was that the brokerage firm is “the agents”. If you wanted to be successful, you better treat those agents well, give them all the resources they need, always let them know … (1 comments)
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real estate agents: A Huge Year in 2012 for KW Luxury
- 11/28/12 12:51 PM
This past Sunday, the Denver Post released an article summarizing an amazing year we had at the Luxury Division of Keller Williams, DTC. Establishing the new luxury division has allowed us to double our sales output in 2012 versus last year and we know that this is just the beginning.
Outside of our beautiful Denver Tech Center office space and the fabulous grand opening party that we hosted in November for our clients and other Colorado real estate agents, one thing our team is really proud of is the culture that we have established here. Our culture within our organization … (0 comments)
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real estate agents: Appraisals Are a Problem Again. By Dan Polimino.
- 08/06/12 05:41 PM
When the market crashed in 2008, you heard story after story of homes that were priced at $500,000, but appraised at $425,000. There clearly was a shift in the market. The buyers picked up on the shift right away, the appraisers followed behind shortly thereafter, and it took about two years for the sellers to get the message. Eventually, sellers came to terms with the loss in the value of their homes and started pricing more at market value. Buyers were still buying, appraisers were doing their best to stay ahead of the curve, and real estate agents were getting their … (0 comments)
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real estate agents: Happy Days Are Here Again. By Dan Polimino.
- 05/14/12 07:01 PM
This week’s column is dedicated to my brethren in real estate. I know that many of you read this column on a weekly basis. I know this because of your continued emails and phone calls, or in the course of doing business together. I am always flattered when a fellow agent contacts me to tell me how much they enjoy reading my column. I equally appreciate it when fellow agents contact me and tell me how much they disagree with what I write in my column. We may not agree on every topic I write, but I always humbly recognize your … (2 comments)
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real estate agents: FHA position on homes impacted by Meth use or labs
- 09/08/11 01:05 AM
One of the many great benefits of working for Crestline Mortgage Bankers, a division of Universal Lending Corporation, based in Denver, Colorado, is the information put out by the underwriting department to help avoid problems on the front end, so the deal does not blow up before closing when it could have been avoided.
"After confirming with two separate sources at the Denver HOC office, we have learned any home, including HUD Repos, which have any evidence of the use of meth or creation of meth or even if a police report has been issued stating meth was in use … (3 comments)
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real estate agents: Real Estate Agents and Lenders: Love Story or War of the Roses?
- 08/25/11 12:38 AM
Most of the time the symbiotic relationship between real estate agents and lenders is more like the movie Love Story than War of the Roses, with a kumbaya moment at the closing that often turns into a mutual admiration society for all involved. Nothing is better than a borrower thanking you for a good job and saying the process was easier than they expected. Communication, coordination, and realistic expectations are essential to insure a smooth closing on time. While mortgage underwriters have the ability to read minds and see the future, loan officers do not. Everyone needs to be on the same page. One guiding principal I have noticed … (4 comments)
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real estate agents: M.A.R.S. By Dan Polimino.
- 05/10/11 12:24 AM
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission came out with the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services Rule, also known as the M.A.R.S rule for real estate agents. The intent of the rule is for more disclosures to sellers involved in a short sale transaction. They now require an additional addendum to be present with the listing agreement on all short sale transactions. This addendum actually supersedes the listing agreement. In short, it tells sellers what the total cost of an agent’s services are, that the seller may stop using an agent at any time, that the broker is not associated with the government or … (0 comments)
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real estate agents: Are We Better Off Than We Were Three Years Ago? By Dan Polimino.
- 02/14/11 08:25 PM
“Are we better off than we were __________?” You hear politicians use this phrase all the time on the campaign trail. I remember when Ronald Reagan used it for the first time so successfully in his bid to be President. We are always asking the question if we are better than _________. Better off than last year, two years ago, before the recession. Are we better off with more money in our pocket, do we have better jobs, more safety and security, and even just more hope? There are a lot of offshoots in which you can discuss the “are we … (1 comments)
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real estate agents: No permit? No loan!
- 01/25/11 10:49 PM
We all know that borrowers are being more closely scrutinized than ever before. What you should also keep in mind is that the property is also being examined more thoroughly than ever. Whether the mortgage is for purchase or refinance, the property must have a building permit(s) if there is evidence the property has been worked on. This is a potential deal killer that must be taken seriously and should be addressed at the beginning.
A classic example is a house that was built with an unfinished basement that is now finished. Appraisers these days will look at the county assessor records and compare it with the present … (77 comments)
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real estate agents: Vote Compromise For 2011. By Dan Polimino.
- 01/11/11 12:34 AM
I met a guy named Curt the other day he told me that he and his wife just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last Thanksgiving. He seemed so proud and had a smile on his face from ear to ear as he told me about the life he has shared with his wife. I have only been married 10 years so I felt compelled to ask him the one question that I am sure everyone wants to know, “How did you make it 55 years in marriage?” Curt looked at me straight in the eyes and mentioned one word…compromise. I wish … (0 comments)
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real estate agents: It’s All About Perception. By Dan Polimino.
- 09/07/10 12:35 AM
I speak with a lot of real estate agents on a daily basis and they all seem to be talking about how many deals are falling apart over inspection items. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, it is when a buyer puts a home under contract and then terminates the contract after the home inspection. The question is, why is this a growing trend now? To answer that question, let’s take a look at two different time periods.
It’s 2005 and it’s a hot real estate market. Bill Smith has a home for sale and Tom … (2 comments)
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real estate agents: It’s Spreading To The Agents. By Dan Polimino.
- 08/08/10 08:06 PM
I have often talked about the battle between buyers and sellers in today’s real estate market and I don’t want to badger the point any further, but I think that the problem has now spread to the realtors. I think today’s realtor gets up every morning and puts on their proverbial fatigues and helmet then heads out the door to what to do what he or she perceives to be “going to war.”
Today’s realtors are stressed out more than ever. The pressure to sell homes, sell them quickly, and sell them in a “not so hot market” has never been … (3 comments)
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real estate agents: Keeping Up With The Jones’. By Dan Polimino.
- 06/28/10 12:09 AM
Last month, I received an email from a reader of this column telling me that the problem of “keeping up with Jones” was one of the main reasons we got into real estate trouble in this country. What he is saying, if you are not familiar with the term “keeping up with Jones,” was that some people over bought or bought too expensive of a home for their income level just to keep up with family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues who had similar size homes. Still, others may have been ok with that level of mortgage payment had the economy not … (1 comments)
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real estate agents: You’re Over Analyzing It. By Dan Polimino.
- 11/22/09 05:15 PM
A husband and wife were just about set to buy a home. They had narrowed it down to the final two choices and wanted me to go out with them one more time to help them decide. It was Tuesday night when they had contacted me and we were meeting on Thursday. By Wednesday morning, the two final homes had grown to six. They decided to look at four more including their final two choices. By Wednesday night, two of the six dropped off their list and they added four new ones. If you’re doing the math at home, that’s eight … (4 comments)
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real estate agents: What You Really Want From Your Agent
- 02/05/08 12:41 PM
This past December I interviewed Anne Randolph of Murray Consulting, and I must say she gave me much food for thought. My primary question for Anne: What is the number one thing consumers want from their transaction with real estate agents? I was sure that getting the highest possible price for their home would be consumers' top desire. Or maybe moving their property quickly would take the pinnacle spot. I was wrong, on both counts. According to Anne's research, 89 percent of people surveyed since 2000 say the most important thing for them is "to feel like the real estate agent … (0 comments)
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