Best reason Number 1– Unlike a Seller’s Agent, a real estate Buyers Agent is permitted to advocate for you during the negotiation of your offer. This works in your favor, increasing the possibility of achieving the best price and terms.

Best reason Number 2– You will benefit from rigorously objective guidance as to the market value of the property as well as real estate market cycles. Because of many state’s progressive agency rules a Buyer’s Agent can supply a comparative market analysis replacing opinion with statistical facts, which Seller’s Agents are not permitted to do under many state’s new agency laws.

Best reason Number 3– The Seller’s Agent represents the seller. A Buyer’s Agent can research and reveal information to you that may be purposely left out of the seller’s presentation. The Seller’s Agent has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller and can only tell you what the seller wants him to tell you. A Buyer’s Agent can tell you everything he finds in his investigation, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Best reason Number 4– Unlike a Seller’s Agent, a Buyer’s Agent is permitted to recommend a trusted home inspector as well as recommend their favorite real estate lawyers and lenders. (more…)

When you ask your Buyers Agent questions, the answers you get should help you establish fair market value. The answers to these gems never help but only get in the way. Avoiding these questions will take confusion out of the business at hand which of course is establishing fair market value.

Worst Question #1 – “What percentage below asking price should I bid”?

My advice must be to first find a Buyers Agent you trust. With a little bit of grade school math and some common sense he can arrive at a number that makes the asking price look like a wild guess. Your Buyer’s Agent should be able to nail down the fair market value within 5 percent. The fair market value may be higher or lower than the asking but we are going to ignore the asking price. The number your Buyers Agent comes up with only takes 20 to 30 minutes but that will be a number you can hang your hat on as it was arrived at statistically and hopefully not influenced by personal opinion or conjecture. If you want to check you Buyers Agent’s figures ask him to show you all the sold units he did or didn’t use in his calculations (more…)

Did you know that a recent high profile magazine survey asked the question – “Do you trust a real estate agent?” A whopping 70% of people said no! Add to this, the economy has been in a steady decline for a few years. Additionally the fees that estate agents charge aren’t exactly cheap and you can understand why so many people want to sell their own house. If you are going it alone, then the first thing you need to do is get educated and as quickly as possible! In this article I would like to provide some handy tips on how to sell your own house:

1) Advertising is the key to selling your own house. If no-one ever visits or views your property, it’s never going to sell! Learn how to write ads that grab attention and get the reader interested. Read through listings in newspapers and magazines. Check out websites such as zillow.com and craigslist.com and see what catches your eye. If you find there are any local open houses, then go and visit. See how others try and sell their homes! (more…)

A Champion realizes it’s not what happens but how they react to it that counts. It’s not the absence of challenges, struggles, and slumps that makes top level Agents more successful. It’s how they approach them mentally and move through them that separates these Agents from the crowd.

When I speak, I often ask groups if they think that an Agent who sells 100 homes a year has more slumps, challenges, struggles, problems, and distractions. Most Agents say that the large production Agent has fewer, not more. The truth is these Agents have more of the above, not fewer. They usually have more staff, which automatically qualifies as more problems. They have more exposure to problems because they are doing more transactions. It increases the number of times they have to work with challenging co-op Agents, difficult sellers, and problem transactions. (more…)

Many agents are tempted to team up with another agent. This is especially so when the agents are just starting out. But be careful, the agent you choose could sink your career, or worse. This article will discuss three reasons to not team up with another agent if you are considering doing so.

The first reason you will want to be cautious if you are thinking of teaming up with another agent is because you can never be sure what your partner may say or do to sink whatever deal you are working on. You might work for weeks or months to find a willing and qualified buyer for one of your listings but once you find the right person, your teammate remarks that there are many homes in the area that might be a better deal. This is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and is certainly a possible scenario with the wrong partner. (more…)

Selling a home correctly requires a skilled professional. A selling real estate agent can make your job as a seller a whole lot easier, but only if you hire the right agent. That’s right – not all agents are created equal! Before you put the sale of your home in the hands of someone else, be sure that you’re comfortable with them and that they are qualified to sell your home.

1. Do you work full time as a real estate agent?

Hiring your friend’s part time real estate agent acquaintance may seem like a good idea at first, until they don’t have time to negotiate your deal because they are at their day job. When you want your home to sell quickly, you need someone who is completely dedicated to the job and has the full time experience to help you.

2. How many years have you been in real estate? Can you show me your professional designations? Can you refer me to your previous clients?

These questions all go together because they can give you a good sense of the agent’s success rates. The number of years that they have been working are important because it will let you know what experience level they have and professional designations will clue you into their level of professionalism. Good real estate agents have clients that sing their praises. (more…)

If you are planning to take on a partner and work as a team in your real estate practice, keep in mind there are plenty of agents out there who can ruin your career, or worse. Prevent this from happening to you by carefully considering the personal and professional traits any potential partners have on display. This article will discuss three of the most important of these traits you will want to make sure any potential partner possesses.

The first of these traits you will want to find in any potential partner is honesty. This is also the most important because everything you do and everything person you meet will be affected by the honesty of all members of your team. If one is caught lying, the net result will be the same for everyone so make sure to find an honest person to start with. (more…)