Home Buying
How (and Why) to Fire your Real Estate Agent!
June 2nd, 2010 Categories: Home Buying
How to fire your Real Estate Agent – 101
Yes I realize it’s an odd topic coming from me, a top-notch real estate agent, but sometimes we find ourselves in a position where we don’t really know where we stand with a client. Let me clarify – sometimes we don’t always know where we stand with our BUYER clients. It’s pretty obvious where we stand with a seller because 1) we have a listing agreement 2) we usually have a lockbox on the door, a sign in the ground, a listing in MLS and 3) we are usually in pretty close contact with our sellers.
Buyers are a little different! Even with a signed buyer agency agreement, our name is not tattoo’d on our buyers’ foreheads – they are not wearing an ankle bracelet that emits some sort of signal if they are approached by another agent OR if they approach another agent for whatever reason – we are in the dark!!!
Why might this happen? Well, a myriad of reasons beginning with an agent’s lack of competency, lack of market knowledge, lack of responsiveness all the way through things that are beyond their control – perhaps they are geographically less than desirable; or perhaps the buyer has just decided now is not the right time for them to be in the market. There are hundred more reasons why a buyer *might* want to end their relationship with their buyer agent.
My advice to you, as a consumer, is this. IF you would like to end your relationship with your buyer agent, please please please be up front and direct. Be polite (unless the agent really has been unprofessional, dishonest, irresponsible, etc…), be direct, be honest – try this:
“Agent X, I want to thank you for the time that you have invested in us but at this time we have decided to work with another agent because we feel you don’t really have the knowledge of working short sales that we really need to guide us through this transaction.”
“Agent Y, we want to let you know that at this point we will be ending our contractual relationship with you and will no longer require your services as our buyer agent” (you may want to use this one if you feel your agent truly has wronged you and you just need that clean break)
“Agent Z, we really love your market knowledge and your responsiveness to our needs – but we feel we really need someone who is a neighborhood specialist to help us be successful in this competitive market and you live and work 45 miles away. Best of luck to you”
The bottom line is DO SOMETHING – don’t just go dark… I have experienced this as an agent and when a prospective client just goes dark, it’s unclear whether I should continue working for you, providing listings, valuable insight, etc… OR whether you’ve moved on… Also, something very important to consider, if you just stop communicating you could be liable for compensation to that first agent when/if you make a purchase based on the language of your buyer agency agreement – the last thing you’d want to find out is that you actually owe double commission on a transaction simply because you didn’t formally end your relationship.
So… carry on… there’s a lot of great homes to buy – if you’re looking for one – give me a call!
Happy Wednesday
Jennifer
| Discussion: 3 Comments »
A Look to our Neighbor, McLean Virginia
March 11th, 2010 Categories: Home Buying, Home Selling, Market Stats, McLean Dirt
So most folks come here to read about Arlington – yet sometimes I get asked “why is your office in McLean and you write about Arlington.” Well, I have a long history with McLean, having grown up in McLean, graduated from Langley High School a few years back (define a few, I dare you!), and it’s always felt like a natural place to hang my real estate license. However, as many of you know, when we came back to the area, we settled in Arlington, but VERY close to the McLean/Fairfax County border – so I sort of feel like I have TWO homes.
Because my office is there, I do tend to get a lot of questions about McLean, but the 2 I seem to get more than others are:
1. Can I afford to live there?
and:
2. Are there ANY types of homes besides MANSIONS?
Let’s begin with the 2nd question – McLean is home to all sorts of property types, from condos to townhomes, from starter homes to TRUE mansions. There are fabulous contemporaries, wonderful statuesque colonials; there are craftsman new construction and even a bungalow thrown in here and there. The condos range from affordable garden style buildings through the luxurious Palladium which was completed a few years ago. Similarly there are a variety of townhome communities from starter to the very high end and we see those same broad spectrum options in the single family home market too.
As for affordability – McLean is certainly home to many many MANY multi-million dollar homes. However, with the upper market affected by tumbling values, there can be some great deals! So here are the ranges:
In the condo market over the last year, we saw a 1bedroom/1 bath sell for as little as $150,000 and it was NOT a foreclosure or short sale! On the other end of the spectrum, 2009 saw the sale of a 3br/3.5ba 2000+ square foot unit for $1,425,000.
As far as townhomes go, on the low end, we had sales that ranged from $460K for a bank owned townhome in the heart of McLean to $1,275,000.
Now, single family homes – HUGE spread from a low of $325,000 which was basically a lot right on Rt 123 to a whopping $8,250,000 cash deal for a beautiful, one-of-a-kind piece of history.
So affordable? I would say: yes? no? maybe? Could you find something to buy that fits your budget? We’d have to discuss whether your wants/needs line up with what’s available, but one thing’s for sure, I know McLean and there are plenty of opportunities. Give me a buzz and we can explore it together.
Happy Thursday
Jennifer
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Multiple Offers, 2010 Style…
March 2nd, 2010 Categories: Home Buying, Home Selling, Northern Virginia Basics
Were you around in the real estate world in 2004 here in Northern Virginia? Whether you were a buyer, a seller, a real estate agent, a lender or even
friend of someone in the market then, you were well familiar with the woes (from a buyer) or thrills (from a seller) of multiple offers! We heard stories back then of properties receiving FIFTY offers – can you believe it? FIFTY!!! That’s a lot – how did one distinguish themselves from another? Well, back then it was price and terms.
The Escalation Addendum was born… it was a lot like proxy bidding on eBay! In it, a buyer would indicate the highest price they were willing to pay in some increment they determined (it was largely a made up number – often catchy… the house address was a clever gimmick – so for 123 Main Street they may offer $123) over the next higher offer. That’s obviously an oversimplification, but that’s how it worked.
The second factor was terms. Buyers would waive home inspection, waive radon inspections, no financing contingencies, waive appraisal and waive even their right to cancel under the Property Owners or Condominium Association acts. It was NUTS… and if you were really lucky (although in retrospect, I’m not sure if luck is the phrase I would use…) you would be the winning bidder at some ridiculous price – but even in that hairy scary world, the market was setting the price in it’s odd way.
Flash forward to 2010 – we find ourselves in a low inventory situation and
once again, and since history does have a way of repeating itself, I’m seeing multiple offers crop up once again. I just had a listing where we had multiple offers after just 3 days on the market. One of the buyer agents asked me about the escalation addendum and how I felt about it. What did I say? ”I LOVE escalation addenda but c’mon – these days they aren’t worth the paper they’re written on” (this is assuming that price is right to begin with AT or as close to market value as you can get and that all bids are already at asking price)
You see, if a property is priced well, and the market responds with multiple offers, the seller and the listing agent are well aware that they still have a MAJOR hurdle to jump over to get to settlement – it’s the bank! It HAS to appraise. Very few people in this day and age are willing to waive ANYTHING much less their appraisal contingency. So we find ourselves with banks artificially suppressing home values. You see – the market determines the price for a house – you know that, right? Not the seller, not even the buyer really – but a negotiated outcome between what the buyer is willing to pay and the seller is willing to accept. If the “market” is increasing the value because of a housing shortage and increased affordability due to low interest rates – guess what – prices CANNOT rise because the banks control the appraisals and thus the pricing.
So the bottom line is this: if you find yourself in a multiple offer situation here in 2010 you will HAVE to get creative to set yourself apart from the competition. It’s likely that offers will be largely identical with a few places for deviance… so get creative, make sure your agent is a go-getter, well schooled in creative offer writing and presentation. If you’re a seller, you may likely have all of your wishes come true (oh, except for a higher price).
If you’re thinking of jumping in, give me a call – I have the experience and creativity to guide buyers through the process. If you’re a seller, I can help position your property in the best way for the best possible outcome!
Happy Tuesday
Jennifer
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
So You Met On the Internet, Now What??
February 26th, 2010 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Home Buying, Home Selling
There’s nothing I love more than getting a phone call that goes like this:
Hi, My name is __________! I’ve been reading your blog and I love it, it’s been so helpful. I’d like to meet with you about my upcoming home sale/purchase. Can we meet this weekend?
OK – Those are the BEST!!! I LOVE those calls. And for those of you who WERE one of those calls for me, I thank you!! I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
So, bear with me for a moment and think about this – what if I had been BAD? What if I was not as thorough as I am? Or what if I wasn’t as experienced as I
am? OR What if you didn’t LIKE ME?? Or,what if I passed you off to a team member when that wasn’t what you’d prefer? There are so many things that can go wrong and, listen up, just because someone writes about real estate, or local restaurants or events, or just because someone follows statistics doesn’t make them the best fit for you nor does it necessarily make them the self-declared expert.
Now I know you’re thinking this is odd coming from me; but I’ve seen so many people pretending to be something they’re not; pretending they’re more experienced than the next guy; pretending they’re infinitely more qualified. they network like crazy and talk a good talk… Honestly it makes me CRAZY!
So what’s the point? Do a little homework – ask a few questions – here’s what I’d start out with:
1) how long have you been in business?
2) how many transactions do you handle each year?
3) do you sell real estate full time?
4) how much business do you do in my neighborhood/building/town? (now while this is NOT a deal breaker in my book, if someone is BLOGGING about one town or area and they live 30 miles away… not so sure about this and it would cause me to ask a few more questions)
5) can I speak with a few past clients/references?
There may be more, but you get the drift. You see, I’m confident in my ability to not only write about my community, but essentially put my money where my mouth is. I’ll gladly share my experience with you, information about past transactions, where I’ve sold, where I’ve shown, where I’m comfortable and where I’m not. We will also know after a face-to-face if we click or not – that’s important too!
So give me a try! Let’s meet, discuss your real estate needs and see if we are a fit! What have you got to lose?
Happy Friday
Jennifer
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