fsbo: Customer? Client?
- 12/05/09 07:31 AM
One area of consumer confusion revolves around the use of the words Client and Customer in regards to a real estate transaction. And there are some VERY important differences between the two. Let's start with the basics...(this applies specifically to GA, but might be true in some other states) What is a Client? A Client in a real estate transaction is the person that a particular agent represents. That means the client has a written contract with the agent to represent the Client's best interests. In essence, the agent is required to put the best interests of the client above their
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fsbo: 180* Turn...
- 10/14/08 01:00 PM
I had a great thought for a blog post. I was surfing some of my daily reading, and ran across an item and after a few synapses fired in my brain... unrelated post idea sprang to life. So, I jumped into my Admin Panel, ran across a particular spam comment... New Subject... (the other subject will be on LilburnDwellings.com in a little while) The spam in question was from someone that "buys homes for cash to help home owners." The part that is funny is that I can see the email address they leave in order to get the comment
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fsbo: Flat-Fee must be really flat...
- 08/15/08 05:25 PM
For anyone not paying attention to Inman News, or some other source, you might have escaped noticing that Help-U-Sell's franchiser filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy recently (reported Friday, August 15th, 2008). Since 2006, their franchise offices have shrunk from 820 to about 450. Go read the story before it drops behind the Inman curtain... And then let's think about something. Ready? Those that are touting discount brokerage have been calling on the death of the "traditional" real estate brokerage for some time. When the market started to slide, they knew that discounters would prevail and full service brokers would fall by
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fsbo: Let's debate FSBO (unrepresented sellers), Part I
- 07/28/08 03:48 PM
I just finished catching up on my feed reader... and I was WAY behind. Behind enough that I am just getting to the Housing Rumble on US News & World Report. Actually, I came to it from seeing Jay Thompson's posts on his PhoenixRealEstateGuy blog. I think Jay is a great guy. And he is a fantastic real estate agent. But, there is a problem debating about FSBOs on most websites... no matter HOW good your case, there are so many people that just want to pile on and kick the agent that it is almost impossible to win. But, since
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fsbo: Is FSBO the way to go?
- 04/30/08 02:52 PM
Maybe. Maybe not. Let me draw a parallel. I often hear from sellers that are choosing to go unrepresented that they can do just as good of a job as an agent. After all, it isn't that hard... and they can save a LOT of money. Right? Maybe. Maybe not. Since many of my readers are car people, I'll put it on those terms. Anyone can run up to Home Depot and pick up a nice little 110v Lincoln Welder. Walking out of the store about $500 lighter with the welder, helmet, wire, gloves, grinder, and assorted consumables and other
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fsbo: First time sellers?
- 03/23/08 04:02 PM
We see so many seminars for first time buyers. Everyone and their assistant it seems has a seminar for first time buyers. They bring in a mortgage pro, perhaps an inspector, and talk about the issues that people face the first time they buy a house. I think it is a great idea. There are a lot of potential pitfalls, and it is a event. Aside from the fact that the buyer is going to live in this property for years to come (we all hope), there are financial and tax implications as well. First time home buyer seminars
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fsbo: Should we sell our own homes?
- 03/15/08 02:44 PM
Ok, not today... Seriously, though. I ran across a post by Cynthia Tilghman asking if we would hire ourselves. It gave me a different thought though. I hinted at it in my response to her. She asked if we would... If we looked right, and said the right things. But, SHOULD we hire ourselves? Odd question. Obviously we have the knowledge (or at least I would hope) to do the job. We should have the experience, skill, tools... everything it takes. But... there is one other thing that we have and when we sell our own property, I would contend
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fsbo: MLS? Zillow? Trulia?
- 12/13/07 04:46 AM
I ran across a blog post by Jay Thompson regarding a story in the Wall Street Journal about on-line home searches. He noted that in his area the WSJ had it wrong. He researched the numbers for the local MLS, Trulia and Zillow. His findings were that Zillow only showed about 10-31% of the listings shown on the MLS, and that Trulia only had between 69-90%. So, I decided that I should take a look at a few zones in Gwinnett County. For 30087, I came up with 442 (FMLS), 457 (Zillow), and 482 (Trulia) Hhmm… That seems odd. Reviewing 10
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fsbo: Wandering through the DoJ website...
- 10/19/07 08:02 AM
What is it going to take to make them happy? Did someone at the DoJ have an unsatisfactory experience with a real estate agent? Or is it simply that they know our approval ratings are down there with our Democrat led Congress (which would love to have even the dismal ratings of George W. Bush), so we are an easy target? There is an interesting report called "Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry" that is a pretty interesting read... ok, not that interesting as a read, but interesting to look through because of the way things are presented. I'm
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fsbo: The New (real estate business) World Order
- 10/17/07 08:18 AM
Real Estate as a business is changing all of the time and on multiple fronts. Whether one is an agent, buyer, seller, investor, or support person there have been many changes over the last several years, and there will be many more changes. For buyers, the biggest change is the greater access to information. There are numerous sources of listings, loan info, and everything else revolving around the purchase of a new or existing home. The internet is the major driver of these new information sources. A buyer could almost carry the entire transaction, from finding a home, scoping the neighborhood,
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fsbo: Z is for...
- 09/17/07 03:20 PM
Z06 Corvette, Nissan 240Z, Z28 (1LE!), Zamboni, Zagato, Zonda, some other fabulous car beginning with Z.... No. Zillow. I mean really, this is a real estate blog. How could I go through the alphabet and not hit Zillow for Z? If you don't know what Zillow is, go ahead and Google it... we'll wait... Got it, ok. There is a whole language that has sprung up around Zillow. The valuations that they provide are called Zestimates. But, most interesting is the use of the word zillow and zestimate as verbs... comically. Zestimate: to provide a wildly inaccurate valuation. "The
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fsbo: T is for Technology
- 09/11/07 05:20 AM
Talk about a can of worms... As an agent, there are so many types of technology, and so many options within those types that it can be overwhelming. Every day, I get dozens of emails offering me the exact new technology that is going to make buyers and sellers step all over each other to do business with me and nobody else. Some are quite intriguing, other... not so much. Whether it is broadcast html email, radio broadcasts, lights for my listing signs, listing sheets sent via text message to phones, listing enhancements for popular websites, or search engine optimization, I
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fsbo: K is for Knockdown
- 09/03/07 07:59 AM
So, Bunky, life got you down? Are they building "McMansions" on your street? Do you have the smallest house in your neighborhood? Do you think it's time you sold your older home? Let's look at this a little deeper. First, if this is the situation, your house would probably be considered a knock-down or tear-down. If it is, then you need to look at your house in a completely different way. Condition means nothing. Curb appeal, staging, other regular factors get shown the door. Land value starts to be the single most important consideration. The other consideration is the cost
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fsbo: A is for Appraisal
- 08/27/07 03:42 AM
An appraisal is simply an estimate of value made by a certified appraiser. That is all... However, there are a few other terms that are often used (wrongly) as interchangeable with appraisal. Other value estimates, such as a BPO or CMA are often confused with appraisals. While all three aim to accomplish the same thing, there are a few key differences. The most common real estate valuation tool is a CMA. They may also be referred to as CMSs, but are essentially the same thing. While we generally agree on the initials, what they stand for varies from region to region,
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fsbo: Is NAR's "non-poaching" ethic actually bad for clients?
- 08/19/07 04:53 AM
I was reading Scott Daniels' blog, "It's Saturday, we can't run around for a key!". It got me thinking about something... Always a dangerous proposition. For those of us that are REALTORS(R), we are prevented from directly marketing to other REALTORS'(R) clients. I understand the why of this policy. But, it is hard sometimes. I mentioned in this post that I regularly wander by a new development that is not being promoted by the listing agent. Of course, I didn't point out the agent or the listing, since I don't think it is right... or ethical according to the current standards.
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fsbo: Do you have a Unique Selling Proposition?
- 07/26/07 02:52 AM
I touched on this in another thread, but I think a lot of people thought it was actually about cars, so I am going to go into a little more depth, and be a little less cryptic. But, the main point of the thread was... They are saying that they specialize in EVERYTHING. If one specializes in everything, they really mean that they specialize in nothing. I mean, really. How can you specialize in everything? Now, let's tie this back to real estate. Have you ever seen an ad that said "I specialize in
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fsbo: The Dirty Little Secret that the FSBO Companies won't tell you.
- 07/24/07 01:56 AM
I keep seeing and hearing about "dirty little secrets" that real estate agents won't tell their clients. Most of them turn out to be pretty stupid points. However, today while going through my morning routine (dead-heading, so my brain needed something to do) I thought of the dirty little secret that FSBO companies don't tell their customers. We all know what it is, but many of us just might have never thought of it this way. They don't care if you sell your house using their service. That's it. It doesn't affect their business plan if you sell or don't sell
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fsbo: Pictures are the first (and maybe last) impression you will give a buyer
- 07/19/07 03:04 AM
So, don't screw it up. Do you feel like you should rush out and buy this house? This particular house isn't listed with an agent (to my knowledge), but is FSBO. But, this is the foot they are putting forward to try to get a buyer. Unfortunately, I have run across NUMEROUS examples that were as bad, or worse, that WERE listed with agents. In some other cases, there are problems when moving away from native resolution. Normally, when one clicks on the picture, a full sized image pops up. In this case, it doesn't. Make sure
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fsbo: Customer dis-service Pt. I
- 07/18/07 09:49 AM
There are a few things that have my shorts in a bunch... so, here they are. Careful. They've been brewing for a little while. There is a house in my subdivision that has been under contract since February... that's right, February. It will six months if it closes on time. This house is listed with a flat-fee company. The listed price was reasonable (I'll be curious what it actually sold for). When it went up for sale, it was a well kept house. Of course, now it looks pretty run down. The grass was cut once or twice, and is LOADED
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fsbo: But Wal-Mart does
- 07/15/07 03:32 AM
I promised a continuation of my last blog, and here it is. In the last entry, I talked a bit about limited service and discount brokerage. This time, it will be more about eliminating agents from the picture. OK, here is the shocking statement to start off with. Buyers and sellers don't need us in order to complete the transaction. That's right, we are not a necessary ingredient. Obviously, the buyers and sellers need each other. They need a real estate attorney to complete the transaction. Usually, they need a mortgage broker. That's pretty much it. They don't need a
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