Realtor

[SuzySunshine]

What do you look for in a selling agent?

I am interviewing 3 now for two reasons. 1-to find one I'm comfortable with now so I just have to call in February and say we're ready. 2-so that they can tell us what needs to be done to the house so that we have many months to do it.

I got the three names from a friend that used to be a realtor here that was also a resident wife.
So if it was you what would you look for?

[DCJenn]

These are the things that I've found to be helpful:

1) knowledge of the market. I've found my best and most motivated realtors either live in the neighborhood or own property in the neighborhood. They WANT you to get the best price, and not just for their commission. They also know what has sold and what things should sell for down the road.
2) a sense of humor. Crazy stuff happens and it's important to have someone who understands what's important and what you can laugh about later
3) flexibility- especially with kids/dogs because they will need to show you house and you will have to pretend that you don't have children or pets- I'd have to clear out with dude and Petey and go to my mother's house when we had open houses or planned showings. I therefore needed a heads up to get everything tidy.
4) a keen eye for the buyer- again, this is related to knowing the neighborhood. Knowing what buyers are going to be attracted to your house in the first place which means that you can then market your house to that type of buyer. Brutal honesty helps, too. My guys in DC were wide open about the bathroom being a huge sticking point. and also you have to be brutally honest with them about the things that you need from them.

I am very good friends with my Realtor here and my guys in DC I'd go hang out with anytime. We have that level of comfort.

Jenn

[houseelf]

I have some post real estate transaction stress syndrome so I'm probably NOT the person to talk to about realtors right now.

I would ask for references making sure I pointedly asked, "O.K. now that you've told me what you liked, what could this realtor have improved on..."

Best of luck.

Kelly

[Deebs]

We were very upfront with all of our Realtors about expectations. We told them our rock-bottom of what we needed (in addition to what we hoped for) to sell the house for in order to PAY THEM (which in both of our sales seemed to help). For our last house, I had our Realtor redo all of the marketing materials - they were skimpy for the price of the house. The most important thing I would focus on is what makes your house stand out. In Rochester, there are only a few variations on a house in that price range. I would also make sure that the Realtor is ready to list before Match Day. Your best bet is selling to another resident, so make the most of that chance.

[SuzySunshine]

Thanks ladies - we'll definitely have it on the market before match day, that is why I'm meeting with and choosing a realtor now. The one I met with yesterday comes highly recommended and while I like her in some aspects I also have some questions in others. I meet with the other two on JUly 7th so we'll see. I'm also very interested to see what the other two say on price. Yesterday's said we could list it for what we paid but would probably get about $4K less, I know the market is different but I didn't think it was that bad. I have a realtor friend that moved away a year ago and at that time she said we could have listed it for $10K more then we paid for it.

Since we've put in new carpet, new windows, new tile and remodeled one bedroom I'm not nuts about taking less then we paid for it - we'll see...

[houseelf]

Hey, your comment just made me think of something. Be very sensitive about the computer generated price parameters on sites like Edinarealty, Realtor.com, etcetera. I have no idea what your asking price, but here is a phenomenon in our former neighborhood. Three houses three bedroom homes are currently on the market: $202,000, 200,000, and 199,900. The house priced at $202,000 misses out on hundreds of potential buyers over a statistically small amount of the asking price. The price that falls under the computer generated parameters yields a much higher audience. Anyway, just thought I'd offer my free unsolicited advice.

[SuzySunshine]

No that makes sense Kelly, the realtor actually said something very similar yesterday.

[Meenah]

Start boxing up things now!!!!!!! Anything you can do without should be put it in a box. Right before you list the house put the boxes in a storage unit.

[SuzySunshine]

I don't know what to do. I got the three names from a friend that left a few years ago that was a realtor, so I trust her to only give me people she would be comfortable selling her own house.

Realtor #1 - I didn't feel like she was overly friendly but she used to live just down the street, used to be involved in our neighborhood association, she knows the area very well and I know she has sold a few houses for a few friends in the last few years. She did send me a follow-up e-mail today to ask if I had anymore questions because she knew I was meeting with #2 and #3 today. I don't feel she gave me much feedback on what needed to be done to the house while she was here but part of that could have been because she was on crutches with a broken foot. She gave me a number that we should list the house at which is about what I was expecting.

Realtor #2 - is a medical spouse, there are two docs at the hospital with her last name so I'm not sure which one is her DH but DH says they're both kind of odd, not sure what that means. I felt like she gave me the most information as far as what she would do for me and how she works with her listings. She had already done the comps on the area and gave me a price about $2K less then #1.

Relator #3 - sold a good friend of ours house this past year, his dad and his brother work with DH. I thought he was most helpful as far as what needs to be done with the house and said he'd probably have more ideas once we got to actual listing. I didn't feel like he was overly trying to sale himself, I know he works with a lot of residents and has helped several guys in DH's department buy in the last few years. He gave me a lot of "all realtors do x" type examples and he has only himself, no staff or assistants. One nice perk that he has is that if your house sales in the first 30 days he takes a 1/2% off his rate and if he brings in a buyer he also takes a 1/2% off. He also has a trailer he lets his clients borrow to take things to storage which we're definitely going to need. He did not give me a price because he said he thinks the market is changing to much and has no idea what it will be like in 8 months.

I don't know what to do! And of course DH won't get to meet any of them so he can be a sounding board but probably won't have an opinion.

[Meenah]

I like number 3!!!!!

[Pollyanna]

I like number 3!!!!!

Ditto!

[DCJenn]

You would likely be able to negotiate the same sales terms w/ #1 and #2 as you did for #3. 5% is better than 0%. or 2% is better than 0%. To me #3 sounds smarmy. He'll say what he need to to get your listing. Go on to Realtor.com and see who has the most listings in the 'hood/ then see how long they've had those listings. See of any of the top listers are your peeps or at least the same brokerage.

I like #2. She knows what you need and she knows your lifestyle.

Jenn

[SuzySunshine]

So another thing that I'm curious about. 2 of the 3 recommend a pre-inspection, one doesn't. For those of you that have sold, did you have them done?

[houseelf]

The preinspection is becoming more popular in a market where many sellers are taking losses. Two of our friends did this because they knew that their transactions would be razor thin regarding whether they'd have to bring any money to the table on top of purchasing a newer larger house. Bringing a nominal amount to the table versus bringing that amount plus an allowance for a new roof are completely different considerations. The problem with this strategy, however, is that your preinspector works for you to ensure all systems are working. Conversely, the buyer's house inspector works for the buyer, and as such, will be actively looking for things wrong with the home.

[SuzySunshine]

See that is my issue because I know more then likely either inspector is going to note that the furnace and a/c probably need to be replaced in the next 5 years. So be it but we're not paying for them. We have no worries about anything else really except maybe an issue with the deck which I think we should have someone look at whether we have it inspected or not.

We know things like the roof (done in '03) are fine, the windows are new, etc.

I don't know...