April

What if....as a buyer...I am not in love with a certain home and really don't mind at all if the seller decides to take a hard stand on the list price....I don't mind if he holds his house and pays a double mortgage for the next year...I'll just go on to the next house of the 25 to 50 on my list until one of the sellers is willing to take my "low ball" offer......what if?

On the other hand....if I really needed a house today and really loved a certain house and allowed my emotions to get the best of me....well, then I see your point very well.....but...I'm glad that's not me. I like looking for the best deal possible. It takes a lot of hours at work to make 25k.....If I search for a house until I get a lowball offer accepted it's like working full time for 3 or 4 months....except the work is fun. J.M.O. though as one type of buyer who is out there. - Mon Apr 28 2008, 21:53

"I, for many reasons, am not a fan of the part-time REALTOR. I think of the time last year when I dealt with a full-time school teacher, part-time REALTOR.

Aside from the obvious problem of being unable to reach him until after 3:30 p.m. each day, his inexperience left him unable to deal with a situation that caused the deal to tank. After the deal fell through, he needed my assistance to fill out the "mutual release form" to deal with the earnest deposit.

I just wanted to tell him to stick to the day job.

Conversely, if somebody has become a part-time REALTOR after 20 years of being a full-time REALTOR, he probably has the requisite skills to succeed at what he is doing! No guarantees though, right?

-My 2 cents

07/15/2007 01:08 AM by Chris Freeman
http://activerain.com/blogsview/144756/Part-Times-Realtors-Who
The thread was Part-Times Realtors: Who Needs Them?

On this thread there have been over 30 comments. All the comments were started by a professional Realtor who wondered why so many Realtors posted "worthless" answers. The same Professional said that some responses were "completely creepy and seems desperate".

It only took me 3 minutes to find your own personal quote slamming a fellow agent for causing a deal to tank that you had to deal with. You wanted to tell him to "stick to his day job". So it caused you a few more hours of work and you may have lost out on a few thousand dollars. But it got you upset.

As a homebuyer and seller a mistake by you or one of your fellow Professionals can cause me to lose tens of thousands of dollars!!! If me saying we as buyers and sellers need someone who "tells it the way it is without a lot of smoke and hot air" makes you A LOT upset, stretch your mind a little and see if you can start to understand just how upset a buyer and seller can be with 10's of thousands of dollars on the line and seeing agents who are
1. "blowing a lot of hot air"
2. "full of smoke"
3. Not experienced but acting like it on this site
4. Looking out for their own interests 1st and then the buyer’s interests 2nd.
4. Not being professionals. (This applies to you Chris) Getting A LOT upset with ANY buyer is the mark of an armature not a professional. In baseball (your Detroit Tigers "professionals" will tell you getting upset by what the fans say is called having "rabbit ears". Nobody here is cussing you out.

Finally, by calling me out specifically when there are over 30 responses seems like you would rather fight the buyer/seller than with your fellow professionals. Your acerbic response was directed at my comments not at Pauls. As a true professional you would work to bring the buyer/seller together with the Realtors not alienate them. Take an example from Deborah and Sylvia. Their answers are almost always awesome!! They are very professional both with the facts they choose to share as well as their "tone".

Remember...before calling the kettle black be sure you’re not a pot. Just to remind you of how you personally feel about your fellow realtors here is what you said on another Realtor site (and no I am not stalking you...I simply googled you and it took less than 5 minutes to find a quote from you to use here.)

Here from the mouth of Chris Freeman..."I for many reasons am not a fan of the part time Realtor"...."his inexperience left him unable to deal with a situation that caused the deal to tank"...."if somebody has become a part-time REALTOR after 20 years of being a full-time REALTOR, he PROBABLY has the requisite skills to succeed at what he is doing! NO GUARANTEES though, right?"....

When I sell a house and when I buy a home I want an agent who is as close to a Guarantee as possible. Having a site like Trulia really helps the consumer in many, many ways. Not the least of those ways is being able to see clearly that not all Realtors are created equal. There is a huge gap between the Great and the average. I don't like to give $18k or more to an average Realtor. I want a great one. Either way, I came to this site to learn and there are many who have been very willing to share and if I can ever return the favor by giving their name out to anyone of my friends who may move to those areas I will. On the other hand...I fully stand by my statement to Paul

"“We need a "hero" on the "inside" who tells it the way it is without a lot of smoke and hot air.” if that makes you A LOT upset maybe you should find another profession.

By the way, you singled me out on another thread a few days ago too. If you were to focus on professionally representing your current clients instead of on me, you very well might sell your current 8 listings that total about $800k. This would make your clients much happier than spending anytime being an amateur agent by bickering with me. It would also put at least $12k in your pocket before taxes. That's a lot more money that I will ever be putting in your pocket. - Sat Apr 19 2008, 14:28

Paul,

Keep this up and you are going to develop a "cult" following among buyers and sellers on this site. We need a "hero" on the "inside" who tells it the way it is without a lot of smoke and hot air. Patricks post was funny but my oh my it sure had the ring of truth to it. Of course you are going to get thumbs down though. I'm just surprised you only have 4. What's better though is that you have FIVE thumbs up on your question. There are very, very few questions that have that many thumbs up. Hope you continue keeping it honest. It sure provided a breath of fresh air in here. - Fri Apr 18 2008, 07:36

Paul,

Thank you.

April - Wed Apr 16 2008, 13:06

Leslie,

I have purchased a HUD house and have enjoyed living in it very much. It was "as is" but I knew that going into the deal and had a home inspector check it out for me too. I have had to fix a number of things in the house and spent quite a bit of money doing so but it was all worth it to me. I have looked walked through over 100 HUD homes as I searched for the one I live in now and as I see others come on the market. I have very much wanted to be a teacher so that I could get the incredable deal that you will get on a HUD home. 50% off of the price!! And if you have a good inspection done so you know how much repairs you will need to do then even though there are some risks the 50% discount more than makes up for it. There are risks in buying any house, even ones with a home warrenty. I really love my house. There have been a number of HUD homes that were beautiful "move in" condition. Of course the price is higher too but...at a 50% discount for teachers and police officers, if I found a house I liked in an area that I was happy to live in and then had my home inspection to make sure there was nothing HUGE wrong like the foundation etc...I would be jumping for joy to buy the house. Happy house hunting! You should get paid A LOT more money as a school teacher! But, since the pay scale for teachers doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon at least you get some bonus benefits that the rest of us don't get. I hope you get a Great Deal on a house and have a lot of equity when you sell down the road.

ps. there are hud houses in the middle of kansas and north dakota...they don't have to be in Urban areas. They have simply been insured by the government and it is the responsibility of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to sell these houses. There are some good realtors that will sit down with you and explain all of this to you. You can also go to http://www.hud.gov/ which will give you enough reading to explain everything to you or drive you nuts because of so much information (depending on you of course). Take care. - Sat Apr 19 2008, 10:26

Thanks Sylvia. I thought everyone had forgotten about this question. It's already a few weeks old. Or maybe now that I said some nice things about Tman and that Realtor from Arizona named Paul who seems to not be very well liked that maybe now my questions would avoided by others. Thanks for the answer. - Sat Apr 19 2008, 09:55

Elvis,

Thanks very much for an excellent answer!! I really appreciated it. That was exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks also to all the other good answers to this question. - Mon Apr 14 2008, 15:12