All Forum Posts by: Gary Coles

Biggest kid on the playground is a bully and you are surprised
Did someone really imply that REMax is a bully?

Amazing!!!

I purchased Venture Realty in Las Vegas in 2000 after the previous broker died. I found some old signs which were red, white and blue. When I asked the family why they had been changed to some even uglier signs, they informed me that some big bully company came after them for trademark infringement.

They were a tough family - but the big bully had lots more money and attorneys.

I wonder if they will go after Obama for using red, white and blue?

Hi Damon,

Welcome. I think you have taken a great first step by joining bigger Pockets. I have viewed a lot of foums and blogs and thisis one of the best. There is so much great knowledge to be gained here. Also the members are genuine in helping each other.

I also live in las Vegas (although I am in the mountains of Wyoming building a house for my Mom -- about eight feet of snow in the last few weeks -- I miss Las Vegas).

I think that if you are very careful there are some good investments to be found.

Gary

You will probably have to subscribe to or join the local MLS for any area that you are interested in. There is no national MLS. I have had friends who had to join up to six different services to cover one large metropolitan area and its outskirts. What a pain.

Some of the worst areas have had some consolidation. But there is no easy way to get all the information.

My approach would be to network and meet good agents in any location that I wanted to examine. I would work with a Buyer's agent for each of these local areas. I would ask that they return part of the commission as a referral fee - but I would let them make money. Every time that I have purchased a property in a local area outside of my area of expertise, I have relied on a local agent to prevent unpleasant surprises.

I think the coverage of all US companies stinks. I have had AT&T, Verizon and Sprint and my friends have had all the others. One day Sprint is best and the next it is the worst. One phone I kept with AT&T for over 12 years while all my friends and associates kept trying to switch back and forth. It didn't seem to help them.

What we really need is some real improvement from all the companies. My Sprint service has been fair and I have traveled extensively over most of the US and Mexico.

I've met with consultants and technicians and it all comes down to the fact that there really isn't much difference except for personal preference --- and again, all US carriers give the bare minimum of service.

Hope I'm not too late with this information, but I just listened to a webinar on phones for real estate agents. A lot of your choice will depend on what you feel comfortable with personally, but the webinar really ended up in favor of the Palm. One big consideration was the use of MLS and keysafes and the other phones were not really REALTOR friendly.

I have the palm Treo 700p and have gone through the entire series of Palm phones. I am excited about the new Palm Pre which will be released soon.

The speaker in the webinar for the Palm products is a nationally known trainer, Dick Betts. His web is his name (no spaces dot com). I would recommend looking at it before deciding.

If I wasn't a real estate broker, I probably would say iPhone then BB.

Good luck,

Gary

The more I read, the worse it sounds.

I glanced at the profile, because I was curious as to which state this is in. Everywhere is different as far as landlord-tenant rights. To my shock, I see that rescueme is a female.

I think that complicates this even more. If you go to the police, or there is any type of call to them, you could be in trouble too. The police often jump to conclusions and it is to often a case of "guilt by association". They likely will think that rescueme is involved or even is another call girl. Their assumption will be that two call girls are having a falling out.

The only thing that I can think of is to rush to a good attorney. You need to take some type of action.

Nicholas,

You are correct. I'll have to be even more careful when I post late at night after a hard day. As you saw, I gave techniques for the Buyer and I meant to say that the Buyer would do the painting and carpet to make it easy for the Seller.

I like the comments on wincing and staring. They can get your point across without insulting the Seller or his property. Sellers are almost always emotionally attached to their home. Often they will consider a lower offer if they form a bond with the Buyer and/or if they feel the Buyer will truly appreciate the home.

Jeff,

As a real estate Broker, I loved meeting with the Sellers in person when I represented a Buyer.

First, I always set the stage by trying to find out the little things that were important to the Seller and we always gave in on those. For example, if the house was needing repairs or paint, I would usually say, "I know you are extremely busy and want to get on with your life, so we won't bother you about painting or carpet cleaning. The Seller wants to make this a win-win situation and make it reasonable for you, so he will do the painting and cleaning."

Next, we usually threw in some nice extras. In my market the Seller was expected to give the Buyer possession the day of closing. We would say, "I know you don't want to hire movers and spend money on a new place to live before you have the money from this transaction in your account. Even though no one in this market is doing it, we want you to have 2 weeks in the home after closing before we take possession. Free - we won't even charge rent. That should make it a lot easier for you."

Then we hit them with the one point we cared about -- lower price. We really did well in the negotiations.

Another favorite was when the Seller said that they would lose money if they accepted our offer. I would suggest that they treat it like chess. Sometimes a small sacrifice allows you to win. The same thing with the home, a small sacrifice in price allows them to get on with life and any other plans.

These are just a few of the many things we used. They all have one thing in common. The Seller is thinking, "What is in it for me?"

You need to find out some positive items so they have the answer that you want for that question.

Joshua,

Thanks. It is an interesting commentary. However, what surprised me the most was the result of the poll. 89% thought Cramer was right and only 5.5% thought the Obama Administration was right.

I also went on snopes to check this out -- they said that it is false.

The original videos showed cell phones cooking an egg. These new videos with popcorn videos were made by Cardo Systems (a manufacturer of blue tooth headsets -- supposedly as humor). In truth it was a form of viral advertising and their sales shot up by 100%.

They did it by dropping already popped popcorn onto the table and then removing the unpopped kernels by using a digital editing program. The CEO of Cardo systems was interviewed on CNN and told it all. He also said, "But stay tuned, the next round is coming."