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Perhaps I misunderstood you, but I thought you said you wanted somebody to work hard on your behalf for 12 months while you are renting and then the 3-6 months it might take to find you a house. Do you expect to reward that agent for their work when you ultimately buy or hire another agent?
To add some perspective, in NC agency agreements are limited to a maximum of 12 months.
To add some perspective, in NC agency agreements are limited to a maximum of 12 months.
That's interesting Mike, I can write them for 1 house, 1 day or years, I guess. I don't think Maine has a statute.
I learned a painful lesson early on in my career working with a couple moving across the country for an entire year, sending them and discussing listings, spending the entire Christmas week, 5 days, showing them 30 something houses only to have them buy 20 miles south with an agent in one of our branch offices without the courtesy of telling me.
Ok, go ahead and shoot me. I have nothing to gain to share this, but here is how I would do it (the OP). You likely have a target town/city. It is a 75% likelyhood go to place. Because of their referral system, I would search for a RE/MAX agent with a CRS plus CHNS or CPS designations as your initial contact in the likely area you will land. Tell them your plans and story, let them know of your willingness to commit. Then if you choose not or can't land in their market area, have them "refer" you to another professional who serves the second market.
By doing this, you win by being professionally represented and all the brokers/agents involved win because they don't simply walk the plank because your fate didn't include their market area.
So why do I say RE/MAX, because RE/MAX agents directly refer business back and forth between each other, there is no middleman disrupting the flow of information or commission incomes.
Why do I say CRS, because Certified Residential Specialists make up only 4% of the Realtors of the US. It is the only designation which requires minimal experience (number of transactions/years in business) plus education to obtain the designation.
Why the CNHS or CPS? Because a Certified New Home Specialist (CNHS) or CPS are additionally trained to better understand the intricacies unique to building a new home.
Can you tell who is active and on top of the c-d forum where you wish to move? Do you need help contacting people who do a good job?
I was with Re/MAX for 9 years. I am independent now. Does that make me less helpful, knowledgeable, experienced? no. Since I am not paying $15,000 + a year to a franchise, I can be more flexible in a transaction to get the deal done, and leave the client happy.
What Tomocox suggests sounds reasonable to me - anyone disagree?
It just depends on whether or not you want to limit yourself to only RE/MAX agents. I know many non-CRS agents that are better agents than CRS agents. There are great RE/Max agents and there are mediocre ones.
You can go to any of the large franchises and they typically refer in house to another franchise. If I were you and looking to move to NC, I would ask MikeJ for help. Even if he isn't in one of your target cities, he's a good, competent agent and can help you weed through some agents. He would get paid for helping you with a referral fee. I care about competence and ethics not company. So that's what I would do if I were in your position, but do what feels right to you.
Thank you ALL - especially MikeJ, Silverfall and rjrcm.
Yes, Mike J is a great source, very knowledgeable and in NC. I third or 4th him. For disclosure, Tom owns a Re/Max so he's a big biased.
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