Ronda

Rule of thumb

Condition, price and location
Tour your competetion in your area, compare the price and condition.
Think like a buyer, see the competetion and look at conditon and price.
Do not personalize your features. Look at the basics
Ask your listing agent to take you through the other homes in your area
Think like a buyer
be the best in
PRICE
LOCATION
CONDITION - Wed Apr 23 2008, 17:44

Elvis,
Nicely put....
Kudos to you! - Fri Mar 21 2008, 06:47

Nina,
When I started this career, I too thought floor was the key, and that the leads were not coming.
You should be confident your company is the best company for sellers to list thier homes with. If you do not have that confidence chances are you will be a weak listing agent. Learn and develop your marketing plan and make appointments to share that plan with potential sellers.
The truth is if you have support and training at your current company give yourself a look.
What are you doing to give your business a good start?
Training and more training,
This is a lead generation business, get your address book out and work your sphere of infulence. They are the most loyal and best sorce for leads.
LISTINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get listings and the phone will ring for YOU!
The buyer calls will not go to floor if you advertise your cell phone number and provide good customer service.
Work expired listings, fisbos, and your SOI.
Floyd Wickman has a great program, if you want to jump start your business.
Good luck Nina, this business certainly can be difficult. Hang in there and do not be too hard on yourself the best agents have had struggles this past year.
Being patient, willing to learn, and willing to make changes seem to help me. - Thu Mar 13 2008, 06:09

Illegal, unethical?
Definatly WRONG!
I would have been horrified as a listing agent to have this happen to my client.
This should have not come to trulia, this should have been cared for by your agent.
If this was my listing, I would have taken this to my broker. and examined this to see if I would seek disiplinary action with that agent.
I am not an agent that turns everyone in if they break a rule, but do expect that the standards of REALTOR are followed.
There is a difference between a real estate agent and a Realtor, I am not sure if your agent is a Realtor?
Realtors have a very strict code of ethics we follow.
In addition your state, and your local multiple listing organization may have rules regarding your sitituation.
Some multiple listing services fine or suspend access to agents that do not follow the rules.
Jail seems a bit extreem.
When you say rearranging, I am not sure I see why a buyer would do such a thing. Peek in a closet or cabinet seems enough of a priviacy violaion but to rearrange?
.
If your agent does not offer you an satisfactory explanation ask the broker to reassign an agent to your listing for the duration of the contract.
I can see why you feel angry, I have a solution that would hold your agent accountable.
Request that your listing agent be present at all showings to represent you. Tell him/her you do not feel comfortable that your confidence is shaken.
I have had to do this for sellers and it is a huge pain in the end. - Fri Mar 7 2008, 07:00

Even in these slow times I would not wish to work with a buyer that wants to cut my commision so they can get the better price.
I work hard and if someone does not value that, NEXT
I would move on.
There will be some agent willing to work for little or nothing. The risk of representing someone is overlooked in come of these blogs. The amount of work often is brought up but what about the liability and risk for the agents.
Every single time I had cut my commision I have been run through the ringer, jumping through hoops. This is usually from clients that wanted something for nothing.
If people feel I am not worth my commision these clients end up using and abusing every person they can take advantage of. It makes for a stressful transaction, not worth the little commision we end up with.
Lets see 3% commision
broker gets about 45% of that
then lets uncle sam get his 15.3 % ssi and another 15-20 Fed and state tax
lets advertise every month at 200-500 a month,
Buy other business supplies
Pay for our E & O insurance,,,,, Hardly worth working at times. And we dont do Jack, not worth it? Should cut our pay to have the buyer get a better deal?
How about working harder to negotiate a good sales price and get the good deal for everyone?

I prefer to provide a good service, and be paid according. I believe what goes around comes around and I earn my business and wish to keep it.
If an agent can not negotiate a fair paycheck for themselves do you think they will be able to negotiate money for you Mr Seller/Buyer? - Wed Mar 5 2008, 06:36

The pro's on here are trained professionals that have experience and are a valued asset in a real estate transaction.
We are not here to scare you into paying us.
We are here to provide a service, in turn we recieve a commision.
The commision is already agreed upon with the seller and seller agent. You should not have to pay for buyer representation. Typically, if the home is listed in the multiple listing service and the seller has agreed to pay a buyers broker a portion of that commission.
Maureen is assumeing you loose 3% of a homes value by using an agent.
I disagree.
The contract is between seller and seller agent for commsion, buyers typically do not get to renegotiate the commsion in order to recieve a savings on the listed price.
Maureen seems uninformed on how the system works.
The expense of training, marketing, and other business expenses are often overlooked by the public.
The services we provide often are a great expense for the Realtors. We are independant contractors without a regular paycheck, but very regular expenses to provide service to buyers and sellers.
The furniture store argument, is not exactly the same. But the cost of doing business, is often overlooked by the public.
I am an agent to provide service to my clients, if I honestly believed they could get this service for free I would have choosen a different career.
Try going to your doctor, ask him to not accept payment since you found your symptoms yourself. - Mon Mar 3 2008, 10:01