Bill the Broker Blog

I’m just starting to contribute to a Real Estate investing forum called BiggerPockets.com

In one of the posts I’m commenting on, a reader writes:

“What, exactly is part of the JOB description of the real estate agent, beyond showing property, selling it, and getting the check? …. I’m not happy with him right now. What is the agent’s job beyond opening properties to show a potential buyer? ” You can view the entire post here.

I’ve covered this a bit before in a previous post. This post was a bit more specific so I thought it would be of value to post most of my reply. You can view the entire reply here.

Ofgift,

You ask, what’s a Realtors Job. It’s to make 100% certain you’re comfortable in the transaction. All your questions and concerns should be addressed to the maximum ability they’re addressable. Your Realtor should inform, educate and ensure the integrity of the transaction. In most all cases, an agent should put your needs above their own.

One of the keys to selecting a good Realtor is to put ‘em through the ringer. Think of anything and everything you could to ask them, then ask the questions before any work is done. If that’s not possible, then do it at the first possible opportunity. If you don’t like their answers or they don’t seem well informed, politely bow out. There’s plenty of fish in this sea of ours. If you need some question inspiration, Googling “questions to ask a Realtor” gave me a pretty nice list of resources.

Your Realtor should be generally knowledgeable in the area where you’re looking to rent or buy. They should be able to answer way better than half your questions. The few that are leftover should get handled quickly and thoroughly at the soonest possibility.

It’s true, there are sub-par Realtors out there, but rest assured there are plenty well informed, intelligent, hard working professionals out there. Chances are they’re not hard to find either. Just find some signs around town and start calling agents. Make 5-10 calls and someone is sure to stand out.

Best of luck!

Bill Ferrante

This, of course, is great news. We’ve been seeing the market come around more and more over the last couple of months. Just through chatting with people, it’s plain to see that consumer confidence is coming back. Earlier this week I heard a client finally say ‘hey, we can get a really good deal right now.’ He couldn’t be more right.

From Fran and Rowena out in Sunny California.

Article at MortgageBankers.org

Nick’s Take:

Don’t get your hopes up: “for the week ending December 8.”

Either a weekly fluctuation linked to Christmas bills. Realization from homeowners that they need to act before the end of the year. Or carry over from lazy brokers that didn’t want to close during Thanksgiving.

The adjusted inflation rate is low (that is minus all of the auto industry problems) and that means either we will stay at this rate or it will go up.

Until this inventory catches up all of this other stuff really doesn’t matter. We are coming down from the high and with a normal market there is an overcorrection (which ideally would be the best time to buy and the worst to sell). But with our inventory levels this overcorrection might last a few years.