Some Common Misconceptions About Buying and Selling a Home… Part 2

Last week I blogged about some common misconceptions about buying and selling a home.  You can view that post HERE.  Here is part 2:

We listed Henry HomeSeller’s 5 bedroom 3.5 bath, $235,000 SPLIT LEVEL home 6 weeks ago. He called me last week and started to chew me out.  He was very upset that even though we have had quite a few showings from other Realtors and a couple of parties interested, WE haven’t personally showed it once.  “As my Realtor I expect you to show it to all of your Buyers.  Isn’t that YOUR JOB???” Henry said.

My response: “Henry, I understand your thoughts.  Right now I am working with 10 Buyers, most of them are in the $120,000-$200,000 price range, and NOT 1 OF THEM is looking for anything REMOTELY close to a home like yours.  If I were to show my Buyer YOUR HOME when they are looking for a 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch on a slab in the $140,000 price range… they wouldn’t be my Buyer very long, and I would be wasting your time.”  Thankfully Henry understood and we are all a BIG HAPPY FAMILY AGAIN!

A good Buyers agent (like all of us are on The Christiansen Team) will not show a Buyer homes that don’t fit their criteria. If I have a listing that fits one of my Buyers criteria YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL SEE THAT HOUSE!!

🙂

Holly HouseHunter called me and said:  “Hey Jared, I know you told me to call YOU if I had ANY questions about ANY HOMES out there, but I got really excited when I drove by the home on Elm St and I, um, well, called the Realtor on the sign.  He is going to show it to me tonight and then if I like it I’ll call you back and we can write the offer.  Is that okay?”

My response: “No Holly HouseHunter, that isn’t okay.  I have been working with you for quite a while and I explained that if you contact another Realtor and have them show you the house, you are roped into working with them on that particular house.  It’s called PROCURING CAUSE“.

Holly was concerned that she was wasting my time by calling me so much. She wasn’t, that’s my job.  If you become one of our Buyers or Sellers you will never waste our time with questions, concerns, or anything of the sort.  IT’S OUR JOB TO HELP YOU!

😦

Chandra Cheapskate was convinced that since it is a Buyer’s market (and she listened to her friends at work) she should make a low ball offer. We found her a beautiful home that fit EVERYTHING she wanted priced at $199,900.  She asked me to write an offer for $110,000 and ask for closing costs (3% of purchase price), a carpet allowance of $5,000, and that the Seller pays for all other costs (around $1,000 more).  Once it’s all said and done, the offer is going to look like an offer of LESS THAN 50% OF LIST PRICE!!!!

I tried to convince her that the offer was INSANE and to put herself in the Seller’s shoes. After a half an hour of me trying to convince her that she is wasting everybody’s time, she INSISTED that I write the offer and present it to the other Realtor.  I’m pretty sure I gave her the MOST DRAMATIC EYE ROLL IN HISTORY before I quickly wrote up the offer.  When I called the listing agent I told her the price and conditions and she started cussing and told me that her Sellers won’t even look at the paper.  Obviously I fired that Buyer.  I still don’t think she has bought a house…

Just because it is a Buyer’s market does not mean that you should offer less than 50% of the list price. Well, unless it’s a $10,000 piece of junk fixer upper and you are paying cash.  If Chandra and that Seller were to come to some kind of agreement (say $185,000 purchase price), I can all but GUARANTEE that Seller and the listing agent won’t soon forget the low ball offer we made at the beginning.  My guess is that the Seller will be a BEAR to deal with through the transaction.

🙂

That closes Part 2 of what should be a very fun series of blog posts.  Come back next week for more or let me know if you have any ideas or questions for me!

If you would like to buy or sell a home  in Fort Wayne, Indiana or in the surrounding communities, please call Jared, Amanda, Deb, or Alisha of The Christiansen Team at 260-704-0842, email us at ChristiansenTeam@gmail.com, or you may want to visit ChristiansenTeam.com for more specific information on the communities we serve.

Relocating or moving to Fort Wayne? Contact us to see how we can help!

Want to know a little more about us?  Check out our Facebook fan page HERE or GOOGLE US!!

The Christiansen Team

HIGH Tech, HIGH Touch

Some Common Misconceptions About Buying or Selling a Home… Part 1

“T” insisted on getting an inspection BEFORE he made an offer on a house. Nope, doesn’t work that way.  #1 the sellers wouldn’t have anything to do with that, and #2 your going to be spending a TON of money having inspections ($275-350 or so).  We need to have an accepted offer on a house before we have the inspection.  If something MAJOR comes up during the inspection then we have grounds to walk away from the deal.

“D” wanted to try to find a home without using a Realtor because he thought he could get a better deal and save money.  WRONG. The commission on most of the deals I have closed is around 5-7% of the selling price.  Normally half goes to the listing agent and half goes to the buyers agent.  If you call the listing agent and he/she represents BOTH sides of the transaction…  guess what?  More times than not the listing agent will take BOTH sides of the commission and you saved ZILCH. On top of that you have 1 agent representing both sides and they aren’t fighting for you alone.  If problems come up during the transaction I am guessing the agent won’t fight as hard for you as they would if they ONLY REPRESENTED YOU.

Susie Homeowner:  I’m going to sell FOR SALE BY OWNER to save money!  You Realtors get paid too much anyway! I have heard this one MANY times!!!  My answer is always the same.  If you have worked in the mortgage industry, for a title company, or were a Realtor in a previous life then GO FOR IT!! Otherwise it’s like me walking up to a mechanic, a school teacher, an attorney, or a chef and saying: 

Hey!  I’m here to do your job.  I have ZERO training and ZERO experience in your field, but I drive a car, went to school, my brother is an attorney, and LOVE FOOD!  Please step away for a few months and I’ll handle everything from here!!!  🙂 Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it just pisses them off, but it is the truth.  You need a PROFESSIONAL to sell  your home, PERIOD.  There are too many details that go into selling a home to try to do it yourself.

I’m not talking to a lender until I find a home first!  My credit is marginal, I can possibly scrape together enough for the 3.5% down payment, but I want to find my home FIRST then I will talk to a lender. Um…  yeah right dude.  You want me to take all the time to schedule showings, haul your marginal ass around town, help you find your dream home, then send you to a lender so they can tell you SORRY CHARLIE, YOUR CREDIT SCORE IS 580 AND YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO BUY A HOME FOR ABOUT A YEAR. Nope, sorry.  Go waste some rookie Realtor’s time.

Tommy Homebuyer:  I want to see EVERYTHING that is listed in my price range so I know what’s out there. No you don’t.  That’s a huge waste of time and you won’t remember 37% of what you see anyway.  Let’s sit down and really REALLY get dialed in on what you are looking for.  It’s my job to save you time and eliminate the homes that I know don’t fit your needs.

That closes Part 1 of what should be a very fun series of blog posts.  Come back next week for more!!!

If you would like to buy or sell a home  in Fort Wayne, Indiana or in the surrounding communities, please call Jared, Amanda, Deb, or Alisha of The Christiansen Team at 260-704-0842, email us at ChristiansenTeam@gmail.com, or you may want to visit ChristiansenTeam.com for more specific information on the communities we service.

Relocating or moving to Fort Wayne? Are you moving to work at the Fort Wayne GM Plant? Contact us to see how we can help!

Want to know a little more about us?  Check out our Facebook fan page HERE or GOOGLE US!!

The Christiansen Team

HIGH Tech, HIGH Touch