Does The House On Your MLS Listing Look Like This? Would You Buy This House?

The flat-fee listing agency type of service has been around for a while.  A flat-fee listing gives you the opportunity to have your house listed on MLS for a flat fee plus the buyer’s commission.  Usually a flat-fee listing involves the agent adding your house to the local multiple listing service (MLS), giving you a sign for the yard, a lockbox for the door and registering you in the centralized showing system that agents use to setup appointments for showings, if your local real estate market uses a scheduling service.  There are other options available to you but for those are the basic service you should insist on.  From that point, you’re on your own.  You market your house, conduct showings and open house tours, etc.  You represent yourself and take care of all the little details.  I’m not going to argue the pros and cons of flat-fee -vs- full-service listing services, because I believe both have their own merits.  However, I do want to ask flat-fee clients, are you too cheap for your own good?

Continue reading » »

Is this your agent?

According to the “2009 Profile of Texas Homebuyers and Sellers” study conducted by the Texas Association of Realtors, 8 out of 10 sellers said that they would not use the same agent again to sell their house.  The survey doesn’t mention why sellers wouldn’t use the same agent again, but the Texas Association of Realtors speculates that it could be attributed to sellers no longer living in that agent’s area or that agents do not spend enough effort staying in contact with past clients.  I think there are other reasons the article doesn’t want to admit.
Continue reading » »

Beware of the Inflatable Realtor

A real estate agent that inflates a list price beyond reality just to get the listing is deceptive and may be harmful to the sale of your house.  The deceptive practice of inflating the list price is effective because the client wants to hear that their house is worth a high price.  Bad agents are more than eager to feed into this delusion.  Good agents base their suggested list prices on real conditions so they will be lower than an inflated price.  If you want to get the most for your house, and everybody does, you’d naturally pick the real estate agent with the inflated price.  Now you’re falling victim to the Inflatable Agent’s trap.
Continue reading » »

According to the book Freakonomics, written by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, real estate agents sell their own homes for 3% more compared to what they get when they sell their client’s houses.  The authors suggest dishonesty and double-standards as the reasons for this finding, but I think there’s a more honest reason why Realtors may be able to get a higher selling price for their homes compared to their clients’.
Continue reading » »

No matter how bad the market becomes, there will always be buyers and sellers.  Make sure that you fall into one of those categories.  If you are getting ready to list your house, there are several things you can do to ensure that your house sells as soon as possible for as much as possible. Continue reading » »