Is a Remote Listing at all Practical?

Question

Hello. I was speaking with a home owner about potentially buying their property as an investment. After a while I realized that my price wasn't going to work for them. At this point I offered to help list the property so they could get top dollar. The big caveat is that I am 6 hours away from their property and they are staying in Alabama. I explained to them that this might be a problem but they seem to like me and want my help and kept saying things like "Oh in this day and age everything is virtual.." etc. I offered to refer them to an agent but again it seems like they want me to list the property. They want to sell as-is and they don't want to have to move their stuff out right away and basically they want to put it on the MLS and see what kind of attention it attracts. I know you will all probably tell me this is stupid and I should just refer him to someone which is honestly what I am probably going to do but I thought I'd write this post out of curiosity to see if anyone has ever listed a property remotely and how it went.

Bruce Lynn · Answer

Do you have competency in the area?   Do you belong to the MLS of the area where the house is?  How easy would it be for you to show if you get a call?   Is it worth driving to put on the lockbox and the sign and do showings?   Six hours seems far away to me....but then that might just be up the highway if you are in LA on the 405....If not, refer them to a local agent.   You might ask your broker for advice as well.

Josh Mohland · Answer

Hey Account Closed -- Full disclosure -- I'm an agent up here in Arcata (yay BP keyword alerts). Typically I'm doing the opposite (sending referrals to the Bay Area). If your seller's comfortable working with a different/local agent (doesn't sound that way though), a broker-to-broker referral is the way to go. Essentially you and the referred brokerages work out a % split of the overall seller commission -- your broker should have a form in-house for those. You give up a % of commission, but it's the easiest from your end (broker who you refer the seller to does all the work) :D

Alternatively, if your seller wants to work with you specifically you can always find a local brokerage up here that can do a co-listing agreement. The local co-listing brokerage can help out with anything physical (lockboxes, scheduling, local expertise -- e.g. make sure you get your Sewer Lateral Cert done here in Arcata) and you can handle all seller comms + offer reviews.

Happy to chat further if I can help! I've got buyers looking in Arcata right now (super low inventory) so get it to market please ;)

Account Closed · Answer

@Josh Mohland Hi Josh did you receive the pm I sent?

Account Closed · Answer

@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce thanks for your reply. I don't have any competency in the area beyond the brief research I've done on zillow. I'd like to note that I'm a new agent and have never had a listing. As for showings I was wondering if the owners property manager could let people in to see? At this point I think the best idea would be to refer it out to a local agent. Any tips for how to structure that? The property is up north in a small town called Arcata and I'm in the Bay Area. I don't have access to any MLS currently thats something I was going to look into today. Is it something I have to pay for? My brokerage is 100% commission so they haven't given me any training. Thank you!