How to Identify a REALLY good realtor

General Real Estate Investing
1

Over the years I have dealt with NUMEROUS realtors. Most, in my opinion should be selling used cars somewhere. There are however a few that really stood out. Here’s how…

First…I NEVER give a realtor MY opinion on the home I’m selling. That may sound crazy but here’s the theory. Realtors are like fortune tellers. They look for insight into YOUR thinking. Don’t give them ANYTHING. You want to see how THEY think. If you tell a realtor you like red,guess what color they like?? If you tell a realtor you think the house is special because it’s got a _______, guess what? They think so too!

The first REALLY GOOD Realtor I found laid it all out for me. Warts and all. He told me straight out here’s the price it will sell for. If you want more than that then we’re waisting each others time. I almost fell over. Guess what. He sold that house and 25 others for me. I have DAILY contact with him when he has a listing of mine. I GET ALL the feedback from people who have looked at the home. The good, the bad, and even the ugly. That is PRICELESS. It allows me to tweek each home based on that info. It has directly lead to the sale of dozens of homes.

All offers must have a pre- approval AND the inspection MUST be completed PRIOR to any offer being made. THIS IS HUGE!!! These people are going to pay for an inspection anyway. Why make an offer THEN negotiate adjustment based on an inspection. Get your inspection THEN make the offer. It leaves the home ON THE MARKET, you get people who are REALLY interested and I don’t waste time pulling a home off the market for some dope who wants new pull strings on the basement lights adjusted at $1000.

Great marketing and a great web site are VITAL. If your realtor doesn’t have a web site that potential buyers can easily navigate MOVE ON. PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!! NO easier way to shop for a home than having at LEAST 8 pictures of that home on the web site.

Your realtor should be on the phone with other professional realtors SELLING your home. Realtors who wait for phone calls don’t work for me. I can do that. I’m not paying someone $15,000 to do that for me.

Never sign more than a 90 listing agreement. I STILL do this even with my Pro. If something should happen to him, I’m not locked into a LOSER for 6 months.

Your realtor should be telling YOU this stuff. Remember that. If he’s telling you he’s a Pro he should be bringing a LOT to the table. Most relators I’ve meet give you the same old line. Your home will be in these papers, on our web site, our agency has sold X number of homes last year. It worthless JUNK.

Ask them how they would handle 2 offers made at the same time, one with no inspections but no pre-approval, the other with a pre-approval but needs inspections done? You want to put these people on the spot so you can see how their minds deal with PROBLEMS. Ask then what they think of getting inspections done PRIOR to an offer being made?
What’s wrong with my property??
What would you change on it?

You want these answers NOW not AFTYER your married to them with a 6 month lising agreement.

2

If it is priced right to move it should be gone well before that anyway.

3

You would think so, but I can tell you in this market even homes priced $20K to$25K under APPRAISAL/COMPS (on a $180K home) are taking longer to move.

4

I think that the problem with real estate agents is that they get into real estate sales thinking that they are going to make a lot of money for doing absolutely nothing except for ocassionally driving their car around and showing a few houses.

So 90 % of them sit around for a year or two, waiting for their riches to appear for no work. Eventually they starve to death and a new lazy dreamer takes their place.

Less that 5% of agents make all the sales and they work their butts off. Getting a property sold and through escrow can be hard work and it requires a lot of follow through.

If you get a good agent, they are like gold. They can make you a lot of money and be a huge help in your real estate business.

5

I thought you identify a “really Good” Realtor by their picture…

6

Don’t Really know how good these are but here is a list of over 60,000 Realtors in the USA I use this link to a site called Active Rain and I have used it quite a bit to find Realtors to help me find properties all over the country.

[url=http://activerain.com/action/referrals/wallacehobbs]
http://activerain.com/action/referrals/wallacehobbs[/url]

I feel it is a good resource.

Hope this helps,

7

7 steps finding a good realtor

  1. always look at their picture - glamour shots mean “good realtor”
  2. what kind of car are they driving? If its not a high line SUV they must not sell much
  3. were they wearing a suit when they met you? all good realtors wear a suit and tie.
  4. ask if they will loan you earnest money if you want to make an offer? oh yea and put you in direct contact with the owner so you can save the real estate commission.
  5. On any contract assignments they should find you a new buyer at no charge
  6. they must be available at your beckon call 24/7 - if you want to look at properties at 1am they should take you
  7. they should always give you back part of the commission

I’m j/k - don’t flame me

Ask around - ask other investors in your area, talk to a few of them over the phone.
Figure out what your needs are and have your criteria ready to give them.

A good question to ask is how many properties did you sell last year?
what was the average time period they sat on the market?

this will give you a good idea of what kind of a realtor they are. ask what is the average number of deals they have done with each client. This will give you an idea if they work with many investors. I have one client I did about 40 closings with one year, buying and selling.

Any problems with a property and time on the market can always be overcome with price. You want a realtor who will price your property right.

Most good realtors are busy and have a client base - expect to pay a full commission - especially on your first deal. If you are buying and selling 20 houses a year with them, ok, ask for a discount, but not on the first one.