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I used zip realty to search for homes so I could get a general idea of what type of property we liked. We then did a trip to Vegas to see homes on the market. I would never put an offer down until you have been in the house. We saw a lot of homes that looked great on the web then when we got inside it was not even close.
This is just a question of how the RE Agent does his job. It is not hard to keep up with client email and it makes no difference whether it comes from San Diego or London.
Recently closed a couple of Europeans. Went smoothly.
It is difficult if not impossible for anyone other than a Canadian to finance but cash works quite well.
The one complexity is earnest money. Practically it can be solved by wiring the earnest money...but almost all the time you need an American check to get the offer considered. So it is highly useful to have an American checking account. That can generally be worked through one of the banks with foreign offices or by opening an account while you are here.
Note that if functioning as an investor you need either a SS number of a TID. In Nevada it may in fact be better to use an LLC. Practically if not theoretically you need to file a US tax return to own US rental property.
Note that ZIP Realty is simply another IDX feed. It is simply a subset of the MLS feed. What it may be is that people like is a good interface. The only thing wrong with IDX feeds is they don't have enough information for many kinds of searches. Search for VA financing for instance.
Sadly, 99.4% or real estate agents are worthless. They generally fall into the categories of:
a) pathological liar
b) financially clueless
c) all of the above
Most of the knuckleheads believe they deserve to be rewarded for simply showing you a property they know nothing about, in a neighborhood they know nothing about.
So my question is: what level of service can one reasonably expect from a buyer's agent these days?
It is difficult at this time as homes go on the market and off very quickly.
However .. it can take many months to close the sale.
You would serve yourself better to rent for six months to a year while looking.
You can see where in the valley works best for your life style.
An apartment complex would be a great place as they often have pools, hot tubs and more ..
Sometimes I think the homes that are for sale are photo-shopped as they look so much better in the photo ..
Not to mention how much better they can smell.
So you can't blame the realtor for not wanting too much responsibility.
There are some great deals at the very high end ..
The problem is the conditions vary ..
Angry people who have lost their investments have wrecked some places ..
Even gone as far as pouring quick setting cement into toilets ..
As there is paperwork and earnest money required ... there may not be enough turn around time to lock a sale from your location ..
It can be 2/3 days with your 8 hour time difference.
I know the this as my spouse is from Ipswich and most the family is still in England.
If you are interested I can send the apartment complex we have enjoyed and the realtor we have been working with (to death) in a private message.
The agent could also help with a rental.
Sadly, 99.4% or real estate agents are worthless. They generally fall into the categories of:
a) pathological liar
b) financially clueless
c) all of the above
Most of the knuckleheads believe they deserve to be rewarded for simply showing you a property they know nothing about, in a neighborhood they know nothing about.
Do us a favor. There are three or four RE Agent here. None of us appear to suffer from pathological lying or are financially clueless. So you have been gifted with an unusual set of agents.
Enjoy it...and don't throw innuendos in a closed room.
Hi,
My wife and I are moving into the area in May and have been doing a lot of work with the intention of buying a house. We were matched with an agent who looked good on face value, but didn't seem to get back to us by email for upwards of a week. Not a big issue normally, but we currently live in England, so due to the time change and costs of making a lot of phone calls email is usually our best option. We've been up front about this.
Well, after a couple weeks of no information from our first agent, we canned him and got another. He put in the effort up front and assured us that he would be in contact with us frequently, respond promptly, and be "our guy." Well, as time has gone on, his interest (or something like that) has waned and he seems to not quite be providing the service I might expect. He set us up an automatic search and all, but has done nothing else other than that. We are considering even making a bid from afar if we see something perfect, but haven't received much tailored advice. Of the properties we've seen and been interested, he responds with one line emails often not answering obvious questions we've asked. This leaves us a bit wanting in our relationship with him. We've had previous agents emailing us with comments on potential properties, seemingly excited to help us find our home. But, we're just not getting that feeling this time unfortunately.
So my question is: what level of service can one reasonably expect from a buyer's agent these days?
Your not being unreasonable at all, if I may suggest you need to interview the realtors you come into contact with for the job, your time is important and why waist your time working with someone that is not dedicated to giving you the best service possible.
I suggest that you ask for references since your from England you may want both an email and phone number to contact the reference, ask the person your calling how they were treated how fast did the agent get back to them, how was the agents knowledge of the market did the agent listen you.
Do you feel the agent responded in a timely matter when you asked for information. Ask if there were any problems that came up did the agent know how to handle it in a timely matter. Did the realtor have access to sources that were helpful to you such as the lender and the title company. Ask them how they would rate their realtor from 1-10 10 being the best
As the realtor how they get their leads. And how many of their transactions were from out of the country and other states. Just because a realtor may have a flashy website may not mean they're good at their job.
If they can't supply you with these things, and they're are slow at getting back to you these are signs to move on.
85% of sales are generated by the internet meaning the buyer or seller first starts their information gathering on the internet. A internet realtor that gets 99.9% of their leads from the internet is more savvy in keeping the client informed not only on the properties but the economy and the housing market. They have to be your eye's and ears and be willing to give you the good the bad and ugly regarding the housing market.
Unfortunately there are going to be ineffective,lazy,non-progressive people in every field of work. But to save you some headaches ask questions, they are going to be working for you and like any employer you want a good employee. I hope this helps you to make your search more enjoyable and productive.
We currently live in Japan so the idea of house hunting was way overwhelming. I found a realtor team that claimed to be expert in relocating people to LV. So I got in touch with them-they were not 100% quick in responding. BUT when my husband arrived, the Realtor we chose showed him about 25 houses in 5 days. He took my husband to a couple homes that were about $40,000 over our budget to that ticked me off a bit. The biggest problem was the condition of most houses-trashed carpets and walls, stucco issues etc etc etc. I was horrified looking at the pictures here with the kids in Japan-but the Realtor explained that so many of the houses look like this due to people's financial situations. About 90% of the existing homes he showed my husband were short sales (north/northwest master planned communities). SO...when all was said and done we went with a new construction home in a small gated community. Right price, good builder. I can't really say the Realtor really did a great job, I'd say good job.....and we were very involved with spelling out exactly what we wanted.
Its kind of scary house hunting strictly online (and even scarier letting the husband go to LV to buy the house haha!) but obviously it can be done. Maybe you could test out the waters and shoot off a few emails and see how long a few of them take to come back. Express your concerns! Nobody needs that much of a commission if they're not willing to work for it.
I think a great deal of the frustrations that exist over realtors is the buyer/seller is unaware of many things. First of all, a realtor rarely has any idea what the interior of a house he is showing will look like. Only if he happened to show it previously would he know. You can't ask a seller, if they are currently occuping the house, to get everything together for a showing just so he can walk through alone and preview it. Multiply that by the total number of showings each property gets and the seller and the realtor are both going to be rung out. Trust me, when the realtor opens that door and comes across a mess, he is as unhappy about it as the perspective buyer is.
Secondly, reference is often made about the great amount of money he/she is earning. When this is said, I'd often like to ask "how much do you think that person really made on the sale?" Apparently it is a common misconception that the individual realtor keeps the entire amount of the commission. And the general public has no idea all the expenses involved in selling real estate; i.e., licensing fees, state and local business fees, MLS fees, key and lockbox fees, required continuing education fees, office rental fees, car expenses and then, a nice portion of the portion the agent gets to keep gets cut even further for the broker or agency he works for.
I would be the first to admit, just like in any other occupation, there are those that are really great and those that just skim by. But to catagorize all realtors as worthless, money greedy people is totally unfair.
This is just a question of how the RE Agent does his job. It is not hard to keep up with client email and it makes no difference whether it comes from San Diego or London.
Recently closed a couple of Europeans. Went smoothly.
It is difficult if not impossible for anyone other than a Canadian to finance but cash works quite well.
The one complexity is earnest money. Practically it can be solved by wiring the earnest money...but almost all the time you need an American check to get the offer considered. So it is highly useful to have an American checking account. That can generally be worked through one of the banks with foreign offices or by opening an account while you are here.
Note that if functioning as an investor you need either a SS number of a TID. In Nevada it may in fact be better to use an LLC. Practically if not theoretically you need to file a US tax return to own US rental property.
Note that ZIP Realty is simply another IDX feed. It is simply a subset of the MLS feed. What it may be is that people like is a good interface. The only thing wrong with IDX feeds is they don't have enough information for many kinds of searches. Search for VA financing for instance.
ZIP is a great interface. I enjoy real estate and have thought(a lot) about doing it myself. Agents do work hard and I've heard some great stories from the other side of the table.
We currently live in Japan so the idea of house hunting was way overwhelming. I found a realtor team that claimed to be expert in relocating people to LV. So I got in touch with them-they were not 100% quick in responding. BUT when my husband arrived, the Realtor we chose showed him about 25 houses in 5 days. He took my husband to a couple homes that were about $40,000 over our budget to that ticked me off a bit. The biggest problem was the condition of most houses-trashed carpets and walls, stucco issues etc etc etc. I was horrified looking at the pictures here with the kids in Japan-but the Realtor explained that so many of the houses look like this due to people's financial situations. About 90% of the existing homes he showed my husband were short sales (north/northwest master planned communities). SO...when all was said and done we went with a new construction home in a small gated community. Right price, good builder. I can't really say the Realtor really did a great job, I'd say good job.....and we were very involved with spelling out exactly what we wanted.
Its kind of scary house hunting strictly online (and even scarier letting the husband go to LV to buy the house haha!) but obviously it can be done. Maybe you could test out the waters and shoot off a few emails and see how long a few of them take to come back. Express your concerns! Nobody needs that much of a commission if they're not willing to work for it.
if it were me, as a realtor, i would have checked the houses and conditions prior to emailing you some samples
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