Real Estate Agent

Smartmoney.com: Consumer Action: Ten Things Your Real Estate Broker Won't Tell You Thursday December 29, 2005 3:23 PM ET U.S. Markets close in: :37 Search (choose an option below) Quote Charting Earnings Ratings Competition Financials Profile Key Statistics Insiders Site Search News (Enter Symbol) advanced search SmartMoney Select My Portfolio Tools Maps Stocks Advanced Trading Funds ETFs Personal Finance Autos Career Journal College Planning Debt Management Health Care Insurance Life LTC Insurance Real Estate Retirement Tax Guide Economy & Bonds Small Business SmartMoney TV SmartMoney Magazine SmartMoney University Business Travel Technology SmartMoney Mobile Holiday Survival Guide Select Homepage Stock Screener Market Map 1000 Fund Screener Stock Compare Fund Map 1000 Fund Compare XStream Quotes More... 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Editor's Picks Features Ten Things Real-Life Index Advertisement 4.25% APY with hsbcdirect.com Online Savings. Earn 8X the national savings average and make money into big money. No minimums. No monthly fees. Member FDIC. Email This Story Print This Story Save This Story Send Us Your Comments Add this column to your News Alerts (New!) 1. "Your open house is really a party for me." Hire a real estate broker to sell your home and one of the first things he'll likely suggest is hosting an open house, so potential buyers can casually check out your property on a weekend afternoon. While open houses are promoted as a great way of finding a buyer, a National Association of Realtors study found that their success rate is a mere 2%. No matter. Having an open house serves another important purpose — for the broker. "It gives him a database of clients," says Sean McNeill, an independent real estate broker based in New York City who says that he doesn't like open houses, preferring to match clients with appropriate buyers. "At open houses, you get all kinds of people walking in. Some are [trying] to see how much they should sell their own places for; others just want to get a look at what's out there." All are perfect pickings for a broker looking to increase his roster of buyers and sellers. "Think about it," McNeill says. "The broker is devoting a couple hours of a weekend. He won't do that unless it helps him in a big way." 2. "My fees are negotiable." Brokers like to make it sound as if their fees are engraved in stone, but that's rarely the case — especially in a brisk market, when brokers fiercely compete for properties they can unload fast. This past summer one broker in the Midwest says he lowered his fee by a full percentage point because there was so much demand for good properties that he needed leverage. Indeed, says the broker, who asked not to be named, sellers should shop around for broker's fees. He suggests these negotiating tactics: "If somebody's willing to commit to me for selling one place and buying another, I give a discount. If you're in a particularly desirable neighborhood with a house that will bring a lot of traffic" — say, at an open house — "that can be used, because the broker will use the flow of people to get potential customers. And with some [smaller] brokers, all you need to do is ask and they'll lower the commission." 3. "Think you've had no offers? Actually, there've been several." Legally, the broker you hire to sell your home is obligated to tell you about all offers that come in. In reality, some don't. Perhaps he thinks the offer is insultingly low for you, but more likely, "the broker thinks it's too low for his own purposes. He wants to hold out for a bigger commission," says McNeill. Or else there's an outside broker (or "co-broker") circling your house, and the primary broker is waiting for one of his own clients to make an offer so he can keep the full 6% to himself. "You must be clear with your broker that you want to be informed of all offers," McNeill says. "Otherwise, you may be leaving him to make decisions that you should be making." Check the listing agreement drawn up when you hire the broker; if the promise to disclose all offers isn't listed explicitly, insist that it be added. 4. "I talk about you behind your back." You spot your dream house as you're driving through a neighborhood and call the broker listed on the For Sale sign. That's how a lot of buyers stumble on a broker — who, in turn, happily shows you other houses, asking about your needs, laughing at your jokes. It's easy to get loose-lipped and forget whom you're dealing with: someone else's agent. "Legally, brokers are obligated to provide their sellers with any information that can help them get the best prices for their homes," says Stephen Israel, president of Buyer's Edge, a Bethesda, Md.-based company that represents homebuyers. "If you tell the broker that you're willing to pay $500,000 but want to offer $450,000, they'll pass that on to the seller. They have to." Also, some brokerage companies encourage prospective buyers to get preapproved for loans. While that can make a buyer more attractive to a lender, it also tells a broker whether a buyer can afford a $600,000 house when he's trying to haggle on a $400,000 property. "When somebody asks for [a preapproval], find out who they're representing," says Israel, acknowledging that such details can short-circuit your negotiating leverage. "If they represent a seller — or someone in their office does — they shouldn't have it. The broker may tell you she will be impartial, but how can she be?" 5. "Sometimes I forget whose side I'm on." The past 10 years have seen the proliferation of the buyer broker, agents who are supposed to work strictly in the buyer's interest, helping him get a fair price on a home as well as avoid pitfalls along the way. Unfortunately, things don't always unfold so nicely. While buyers may think they're getting a broker who isn't commission-hungry, many buyer agents are just that: They usually get about 3%, the same amount any broker typically earns when he gets involved with another agent's listing. "Buyer brokers are sometimes too focused on closing the sale and getting that commission," says Max Gordon, an Overland Park, Kan.-based real estate broker and attorney, so it's often in their best interest to see you pay as high a price as possible. Even worse, some brokers who call themselves buyer advocates are actually working for companies that also represent sellers. "Brokerages offer bonuses to buyer agents if they sell an in-house listing," says Israel. A good way to get a broker who has no such conflicts of interest: The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, whose Web site (www.naeba.com) can help you find a buyer agent near you who pledges to help you get the best deal possible and has no ties to sellers' agents; many even work on a fee structure rather than on commission. Page 1 | 2 Consumer Action Archive To license this content, click here ADVERTISEMENTS Click here to get your FREE report -- The Motley Fools´ 2 Top Picks. 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real estate investing books

Real Estate Investing Books Realestate Book Investment Tips Seminars Foreclosure Course Seminar TeleCourse Real Estate Courses Realty Software Location: Home Books Free Trial | Login | Home www.foreclosurefreesearch.com's Recommended Reading Create Wealth By Learning The In's And Out's Of The Foreclosure Industry Uncover The Secrets to Buying Foreclosed Homes by Lance Young Unlike many real estate investing books that getyou all fired up to earn big profits and then baffledwhen it comes to actually getting started, "Uncover the Secrets to BuyingForeclosed Homes" offers easy-to-follow instructions. Our Price: $19.95 Click here to Buy It Now! Learn the 5 Secrets of Real Estate Millionaires by Elaine Zimmermann The Secrets of Foreclosure Millionaires Course is designed to give youall the information you need to know to buy and sell foreclosure realestate immediately with no money, job, credit or previous experience.Thousands of people have paid $500 or more for this invaluable information.( This edition is for online viewing only ) Our Price: $19.95 Click here to Buy It Now! How to Buy Foreclosed Real Estate by Theodore J. Dallow Whether you are looking for a new home or a sound investment property, How to Buy Foreclosed Real Estate is the only guide you will need!With over 50 years of real estate experience, author Theodore Dallow provides the expertise and information you need to make your dreams of owning property come true. Our Price: $9.95 Click here to Buy It Now! The Reality of Real Estate Investing (Soft Cover) by Allen Watkins Focusing on Foreclosures & Bank Owned properties. Your Nuts & Bolts Guide for Acquiring Below Market Real Estate. No puff! No fluff! Just the meat & potatoes! Easy to understand step by step instructions to acquiring and managing Real Estate, & creating financial independence! List Price: $24.95 Our Price: $19.95 You Save: $5.00 (20%) Click here to Buy It Now! The Reality of Real Estate Investing (Hard Cover) by Allen Watkins Focusing on Foreclosures & Bank Owned properties. Your Nuts & Bolts Guide for Acquiring Below Market Real Estate. No puff! No fluff! Just the meat & potatoes! Easy to understand step by step instructions to acquiring and managing Real Estate, & creating financial independence! List Price: $29.99 Our Price: $24.99 You Save: $5.00 (16%) Click here to Buy It Now! How to Make $10,000, $20,000 or More Every Time You Buy Real Estate Foreclosure Properties by Howard A. Small This well organized book presents a step-by-step investment system to help you make huge profits in real estate foreclosures. The book describes strategies for finding and buying pre-foreclosures, auction properties, and bank repossessions. It explains how to talk with homeowners and foreclosure attorneys, how to analyze each deal before you buy, how to get the cash to buy the property, how to do repairs, and how to market the property for resale or rental. The book is filled with Author's Notes and Hot Tips to guide you through the process. It also presents the 10 commandments of foreclosure investing, and highlights the 10 biggest mistakes to avoid. List Price: $36.97 Our Price: $29.97 You Save: $7.00 (18%) Click here to Buy It Now! FREE Foreclosure Alerts | Learn Real Estate Investing! | Foreclosure Books | Become Debt Free! | Stop Foreclosure | About | FAQs | Login | Lost Your Access | Free Trial | Partner With Us | Contact | Books | Links | Articles & Tips | Home | © ForeclosureFreeSearch.com, Inc. 1999-2005. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy & Security Statement and Terms and Conditions of Service and Use and Referral Disclosure Company News / Press Releases Site Map Info