Noble (No-Bull) Realty
Welcome to "NO-BULL" Realty
This may take a few minutes of your time - but you will be a better consumer and perhaps save a lot of money and hassle if you do read it.
So what's the big deal? How would you rank Real Estate Agents as far as ethics and honesty are concerned? I have heard from many that we Real Estate Agents do not enjoy a great reputation. In fact, the answer to the preceeding question is often that we rank just above used car salesmen. Why? Well, have you ever had an agent come to your home to discuss selling it and heard something like the following.
" So, what do you think my home will bring on the market, Mr XYZ?"
"Hmmm...what do YOU think it will bring?"
" Oh, I don't know you're the expert but, I'd like to get about $300,000"
"Well, what do you know...That's just about what my XYZ Exhaustive Investigation showed! Let's list it!"
" So, what are you going to do in order to sell it?"
" I am going to use the XYZ Aggressive Advertising Campaign - which will include massive advertising in the paper and the real estate magazines, the internet, open houses, agent open houses, broker open houses, caravans of agents and brokers from my company.........and of course it will be on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)"
Now, the agent spends oodles of time and effort making some of the most beautiful advertising you'll ever see and spends oodles of money placing your home in the papers, magazines, and on the internet. He also holds several open houses and so on and so on....And then hands the information to his secretary and asks her to enter it into the MLS
OK - what you need to know here is that in most MLS areas well more than 95% of homes are sold by a cooperating buyer's agent. Here's how it works - the agent does all of this advertising and gets people to call because he has designed his ads to leave out some information that people will call to get. When they call the probability that this is just the right home for them is virtually zero - so he asks "do you have an agent" (of course not or they wouldn't be calling) - "well you should - the seller has one and YOU need one to protect YOUR interests and I am free to you as a buyer's agent. I can help you find the home of your dreams and protect you too - all for free." (This is true so that all buyers can be represented by an agent who will protect their interests - even though he will be paid a portion of the listing fee - he will sign a contract that requires him to protect his buyer).
So, he signs them up and becomes their agent - then he asks them what criteria will make up their dream home and starts to sift through the homes for sale that might meet their criteria. Does he look through the advertising? Of course not - he looks on the MLS and what he sees there is what really matters. Is the listing complete? Is it accurate? Does it portray the property at it's best? Does it attract buyers that might actually have an interest in buying it? Again many agents pass this off to a subordinate and/or just do a poor job. Many spend most of their time and effort on the advertising. --- Incorrect directions, poor pictures, insufficient information, wrong information, lack of virtual tour, lack of floorplan, lack of enough photos to acurately get an impression of what the property is really like.....are not uncommon. As well, The listings are often overpriced (see conversation above) and therefore have virtually no chance of being sold
Would you want to attract buyers who when they actually see the property (and find out that it has been misrepresented or poorly represented) say "oh, this is not what I thought" and leave? It happens a lot. As well, some buyers (who may be real prospective buyers for your property) may never see it for the same reasons.
THE MLS LISTING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!! And yet it is often given a very low priority.
"Yadada yadad ya something something something dum de dum ....oh, and of course I'll put it on the MLS....and my competitors will put it on the MLS but that's all they'll do" Well if his competitor did only that (put it on the MLS) and did a really good job (described below) - then that's all they would need to do. All of his advertising is designed to bring him buyers in a generic fashion and the probability of his selling it directly to a buyer is almost zero. If you doubt this ask any Real Estate Agent what percentage of their own listings they personally sell and you'll hear (if they tell the truth) a very low figure like 1 out of the last 80.
So, here is what a listing should include: Photos photos photos, as many as allowed, a virtual tour, (both of these should depict the property in it's best light - [which might mean going back out to take photos on a blue sky day because the day you took the listing was overcast] but, should never lie { no photoshopping out light poles}), a floorplan with measurements, room dimensions and information to tell which room is on what floor and what's on the floor in each room, directions that are correct, make sense (even to those that aren't good with directions) and can be followed, a survey, an aerial photo, covenants and restrictions, a history of what's been done to maintain and repair it, a list of the costs to run it (heat, electric, taxes,...etc), a verbal description of the property (what it has, how good it's condition, special features, in fact, anything that will give the buyer an accurate idea of what this property holds for them - they should be able to say that they think they will buy this home - before they even go out to see it. Then they go out to see it in order to verify that it relly is what they think it is from the listing. There is a lot to this and it takes a lot of time and effort and the agent has to care enough to do a great job.
Then, (actually before) the agent should offer to pay for an appraisal to be done - so that you and he KNOW how to price your property. Then he is not tempted to tell you a number that's too high (in order to get the listing), you both know how it should be priced, if you get a low offer - he can send a copy of the appraisal to the buyer's agent (there will almost always be one) and tell him that he should advise his client that - we have an appraisal and WILL sell it at that price (or very near) and therfore, if they really want the home, they had better offer at or near that price. It also satisfies any question about whether or not the home will appraise for enough. It should simply be part of the cost of doing business. It works.
Last thing..... When a buyer comes to the agent's awareness and isn't interested in his listing (most often the case) he tells them that they "must have a buyer's agent to help and protect them" - however.....if that buyer actually does have a real interest in making an offer on that property, then he will forgo that conversation and go ahead and help them make the offer (though he will have to explain to them that he represents the seller) and the buyer will be unrepresented. THIS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED! They need an agent until they are interested in your listing and then they don't? Listing agents should always refer this type of buyer to a buyer's agent from another firm and he should request a refferal fee and then give that fee to his seller! Period! Never happens....well, I know of one agent who does this.....
....So, now you know why (some of it - there's more) real estate agents have a certain rep...and you know what you can do...call their bluff, ask for their statistics, ask for a copy of the listing (get it from another agent so yours can't fool you)....demand an appraisal....Call me....Gib Gibson ...828-329-1615... Gib@GibGibson.com. Noble is No-Bull!
