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Live in KY and making our 1st trip to Florida next week. Working with 2 agents as our interests are 2 hours apart.
We are just feeling out areas , neighborhoods, cost of living and potential part time jobs as we are semi-retired.
Knowing That we will not buy on our first visit and won't until our house is sold.
Agent #1 is going to meet us and gladly drive us and show us areas with homes in which we are interested.
My present home agent hooked us up with this experienced Agent about 4 months ago
Agent #2 Have worked with agent about 3 months phoned several times has sent a far amount of listings.
Knowing we are mot ready to buy.
Talked a week before flying to Fl and at the last minute asked "When are you going to buy ? ". Well not this trip. So now I'm told that agent will leave maps with zip codes of homes which we are interested.
Tells us to go explore and walked the neighborhoods and call if any questions.
Is this proper for an agent to do this with a new out of town potential buyer ?
Thank You for Your Honest Opinions.
It hasn't been my experience when buying out of town several times. Whether I was planning to choose a house that visit, 1-6 months, or 1-3 years depending when I found the house I liked the realtors met or picked me up, drove me around different areas/neighborhoods, and showed me houses.
The third realtor almost blew it with me because after agreeing to show houses for my mother/sister to screen for me in between a few trips I was planning to make she lost patience and said something to the effect that the arrangement wasn't working and indicating mom/sis weren't up to finding my house. It was working great for me so I decided to ignore that drama and fortunately the next day, the perfect house came back on the market in a short sale status and slashed by $100,000. And BTW my mother found it before the realtor did.
Unfortunately for the realtor she did blow it with my mother, so she wont be getting the listing when my parents put their house on the market in a couple weeks.
My advice is don't deal with someone who doesn't want to give you the level of service you want.
I also think its rather presumptuous of her to automatically assume someone near retirement is capable of "walking the neighborhood".
Both ways are correct. It all depends on what the buyer is looking for. Many times, if someone has never been to Austin, I send them listings in the areas they think they want to be in along with houses that fit their criteria, and they drive around and jot down notes. I tell them to visit the local grocery stores and stop in at some Ma & Pa restaurants in the different areas so they get a feel for the atmosphere and people.
Many people think Texas is all land and acreage properties, but we're tract home central with average lots about 60-70 X 120-140. People call them "postage stamps". Just driving around helps people see what they can expect so when they really want to start looking to buy, areas have been narrowed down.
If someone has narrowed down the area or school district and they want to see what they get for their money, I'll show them 2-3 houses so they can see what $300k gets them verse $400k verse $500k. This makes the most sense.
But I am not a tour guide and I will not show someone the city for 6-7 hours a day for multiple days. There are services for that
Selling property in a resort area is a challenge for agents because often people are buying second or third homes and they are not tied to a given community like they would be if they were looking for their primary residence. Too many agents I know that work in resort communities only harvest low hanging fruit during tourist season.
Most Realtors are independent contractors so you will see a huge difference in their approach even at the same brokerage! Figure out what your "weakest link" is (local knowledge, access to homes, finance options, new construction or remodel, VA benefits, first time home buyer programs, etc., and then go out and find the right Realtor that knows the most about the part you need the most help in.
But I am not a tour guide and I will not show someone the city for 6-7 hours a day for multiple days. There are services for that
We can tell very quickly if we have little or no interest in a particular home. We know what we like and what we don't like. When we look, we speed shop. We expect the realtor to be prepared for our process and speed, and keep up with us. We expect to have the area shown to us and to see 8-10 homes a day. The realtor is getting paid very good money and we expect them to earn it. We tell them up front and if they can't handle it, we go with someone else.
I'm also an out of town buyer who has been looking since March 2014. We are looking for a vacation home that will eventually become a permanent residence. Our house hunting has involved three visits over a two year period. The agent we've been working with has never hesitated to meet with us even though she knew originally that our time horizon for purchase could be three months to three years. I would never have continued on with her had she given me a map and some information. I wouldn't have called an agent had I wanted to search the neighborhoods. I could do that without the help of a broker feeding me listings. She is a very successful realtor, so it's not like she is sitting around waiting for a client.
Maybe proper or improper isn't the correct terminology, but I would say he/she isn't aligned with what you desire. I would probably break any ties with this agent and find someone who meets your needs.
Good luck!
I have to ask....
three visits over a two year period.
Maybe proper or improper isn't the correct terminology, but I would say he/she isn't aligned with what you desire. I would probably break any ties with this agent and find someone who meets your needs.
REALLY???? NEED? 2 years away??? Heck we could all be dead by that time! Things change- a lot!
do you not think our time is worth anything? Do you honestly think we sit at the phone waiting 2 YEARS for your call to say... yep, I'm ready to make a purchase this time.
Would YOU wait 2 YEARS for someone to make a decision on something that you give for FREE, but it costs you money to do, and it's taking you away from clients that are here and now ready to do something NOW?
"She is a very successful realtor, so it's not like she is sitting around waiting for a client. " yes.. true!
....not 2 years from now when THE MARKET has COMPLETELY CHANGED from ANYTHING that you could possibly look at now has NOTHING to do with what is available now.
Please, please, please... give us a break here. Why would you actually think you would be at the top of our priority list? WOULD YOU BE on the top of yours?
Me.. yes I would show you some homes, give you the lowdown on what is happening and some of the areas you would like, etc. I would not spend my day with you since it's literally a waste of time. The market changes every day and someone looking for so far away is not really a client at all.
USE SOME LOGIC.. put YOURSELF in her position and then see what you'd do
We can tell very quickly if we have little or no interest in a particular home. We know what we like and what we don't like. When we look, we speed shop. We expect the realtor to be prepared for our process and speed, and keep up with us. We expect to have the area shown to us and to see 8-10 homes a day. The realtor is getting paid very good money and we expect them to earn it. We tell them up front and if they can't handle it, we go with someone else.
ok... The realtor is getting paid very good money and we expect them to earn it.---- ARE YOU paying the Realtor? NO the Seller is.
Keep up with you-- gee try me.. I look fast too, I can open a front door and say yes or no in a heartbeat. MOST people can't. Most people will continue to look at a house they don't even like! I have to pull them away and say... ok, let's move on since you don't even like this one...this is after I have taken all the houses would COULD look at and narrowed them down to the ones we will see after they have told me what they like and dont like... and I have seen photos of the house they live in.
8-10 houses a day.. lets try 15..and you throw away the listing page of the ones you dont like and keep the ones you do so we only have a couple of houses left when we're done. Then we go back to those and narrow it down again.
ok... The realtor is getting paid very good money and we expect them to earn it.---- ARE YOU paying the Realtor? NO the Seller is.
Keep up with you-- gee try me.. I look fast too, I can open a front door and say yes or no in a heartbeat. MOST people can't. Most people will continue to look at a house they don't even like! I have to pull them away and say... ok, let's move on since you don't even like this one...this is after I have taken all the houses would COULD look at and narrowed them down to the ones we will see after they have told me what they like and dont like... and I have seen photos of the house they live in.
8-10 houses a day.. lets try 15..and you throw away the listing page of the ones you dont like and keep the ones you do so we only have a couple of houses left when we're done. Then we go back to those and narrow it down again.
Every one is different. Find the one that fits.
I was saying I expect 8-10 house to be shown per day, in addition to giving me a tour of said area. As a realtor, you really can't expect to only have clients who will look at just two or three homes and make a choice, never getting a tour of the area. Sometimes you have to lay the foundation ahead of time, knowing it will pay off for you later down the line.
North.. never said that isn't what should be done. Any Realtor who only wants to show a couple of home is wasting your time unless there is nothing else on the market that fits what you are looking for.
I do give 50 cent tours.. sometimes in depth $1.50 tours, depends on what I need to do and what the client needs.
Another problem with some of them is that they will ONLY show you listings from their office or only their own. That's bull since they are not giving you ANY kind of service at that point. ASK them. I can show you ANY listing by anybody.
IF you are really picky, I go over the photos of the homes that we can see and WE pick what you will look at. Cuts down the wasted time for both of us by not looking at houses we don't like to begin with.
I always send you the list of homes anyhow so you can look through them ahead of time. I will have already taken out the ones that either don't fit, are too small for what you want, have been on the market forever (which means something is really wrong with them besides being over priced)...etc. Looking at TOO many houses is confusing for most people.....unless you really have no idea what you want. That's another story in itself.
If you don't know the area, then you need an education. Photos on the Internet do NOT give you the proper impression of anything. You can see a nice house photo on line and when you get there its a completely different house- looks nothing like the photo --because the photo was taken 5 years ago! Also, the photo doesn't show you the house next door with 7 cars in the yard and music blasting.
Many times I have driven up to a house, gotten out of my car and gone back to the client and said, ya know, lets skip this one...just by looking at the neighbors yards etc, I don't think you'd be happy (or safe) here. They can decide if they still want to see it or not.
Major street- you don't know the area -- you have little kids and/or pets -- my advice would be not to live on a high traffic street - but, it's up to you.
Crime - well, my area doesn't have a high crime area, but other places do. If you are worried about that, I will send you the crime map of the area so you can see for yourself what's going on. Most will let you put in an address and show you what is going on in that area. It should also list sexual offenders.
Just a few things you should be looking for and few that will have you change to someone else.
Live in KY and making our 1st trip to Florida next week. Working with 2 agents as our interests are 2 hours apart.
We are just feeling out areas , neighborhoods, cost of living and potential part time jobs as we are semi-retired.
Knowing That we will not buy on our first visit and won't until our house is sold.
The scenario discussed is this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy
We can tell very quickly if we have little or no interest in a particular home. We know what we like and what we don't like. When we look, we speed shop. We expect the realtor to be prepared for our process and speed, and keep up with us. We expect to have the area shown to us and to see 8-10 homes a day. The realtor is getting paid very good money and we expect them to earn it. We tell them up front and if they can't handle it, we go with someone else.
I'm with FHW. No way I would show 8-10 homes a day for several days for a buyer not interested in buying right now and not even sure if they want to live in your area. Investigative buyers are different than relocation buyers that have already settled on buying in your area.
For me, we chat on the phone/email to get their criteria, meet for coffee talk about the area and amenities, then I drive them through neighborhoods that meet their general criteria based on our discussion. I will take them into vacant homes since no one is asked to leave for those, but I won't ask a seller to clean, pack up kids/pets, for investigative home buyers. I'll give them 1/2 day of my time, but that is it. I get too many of those each year to spend several days showing them homes. I'm clear with them when they contact me that is how I work though.
If an agent is showing you 8-10 homes a day for several days while you investigate areas, they will not be in business long.
I'm with FHW. No way I would show 8-10 homes a day for several days for a buyer not interested in buying right now and not even sure if they want to live in your area. Investigative buyers are different than relocation buyers that have already settled on buying in your area.
For me, we chat on the phone/email to get their criteria, meet for coffee talk about the area and amenities, then I drive them through neighborhoods that meet their general criteria based on our discussion. I will take them into vacant homes since no one is asked to leave for those, but I won't ask a seller to clean, pack up kids/pets, for investigative home buyers. I'll give them 1/2 day of my time, but that is it. I get too many of those each year to spend several days showing them homes. I'm clear with them when they contact me that is how I work though.
If an agent is showing you 8-10 homes a day for several days while you investigate areas, they will not be in business long.
It's the team concept that thrives on this stuff.
Rainmaker kicks the buyer to the "Buyers' Specialist" and says, "If YOU can close him, you get a cut."
And then leans on the "Specialist" to close on that great lead.
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