All Forum Posts by: Irene Nash

@Aaron Caddel Sure thing, I hear you. :) A lot of mainstream real estate talk and advice, whether to clients or to new agents, is over-conceptualized and really hard for people to get a grip on and understand how it's going to work or how to put it into practice.

A worthwhile listing agent is not a task rabbit, but a lot of listing agents don't do what they should.

A great listing agent is highly skilled at pricing, number 1. That includes treating every market like it's a new market, even if they just listed a home in that market 3 weeks ago. (Not doing this is why a lot of 'neighborhood experts' get caught off guard when the market is transitioning up or down - they've called themselves the neighborhood expert a few too many times and they're not doing the research anymore.)

Secondly, great listing agents are highly skilled at increasing the market value of the listing before it ever goes on market. This means:

a) coming up with a plan of realistic recommendations (varies by what seller is able to do)

b) helping the seller execute that plan to the best extent reasonable (varies by situation)

c) staging every home, whether vacant or occupied (we do our own staging but it's professional grade, for occupied homes it's usually removing some furniture, shifting other furniture around to enhance flow and feel of space, sometimes adding furniture pieces if the originals date the home too much, i.e. trading out a coffee table or couch, etc.), usually replacing ALL art work and most decor items, advising on specific paint colors that are good for resale, consulting on outdoor plantings/landscaping and often just installing some plants ourselves. Sellers get overwhelmed and it's easier to say 'just do exactly this' and 'we're taking care of this other thing'.

d) getting professional grade photos, whether that means hiring or doing it yourself. And by pro grade that means multiple exposures of each shot professionally blended so that lighting is perfect and you can see clearly out the windows (easy to find people who know how to do blending on Fiverr). 

Just staging, or just pro photos, doesn't do it - you need both.

This all involves understanding what buyers want, what the 'hot buttons' for that specific listing are going to be, not accidentally emphasizing downsides in the photos or remarks (I'm not talking about hiding anything, I'm just saying in our MLS we have a limited number of photos and characters in which to sell the house and I see these wasted with non-appealing or even repelling info sometimes).

Most listing agents get some of these right, very few get most or all of them right.

And sometimes after seeing online photos I feel like the agent should be charged with some kind of criminal offense. My sister who listed in another state told me the agent was good at photos and when I saw them on the MLS I thought I was looking at shots of a Third World prison after a riot.

My husband and I actually flew across the country to do a home staging rescue. But that agent got paid the same commission that we get paid when we list a home. So I understand where your question is coming from.

@Matthew Thornton  I was going by this article from the Mortgage Bankers Association:

https://www.mba.org/2020-press...

This is a quote from the article:

The nearly 4 percentage point jump in the delinquency rate was the biggest quarterly rise in the history of MBA's survey," said Marina Walsh, MBA's Vice President of Industry Analysis. "The second quarter results also mark the highest overall delinquency rate in nine years, and a survey-high delinquency rate for FHA loans."

However, there was also this:

On a more positive note, 30-day delinquencies dropped in the second quarter, which is an indication that the flood of new delinquencies may be dissipating."

Basically any stats are going to be hard to evaluate because we have to take into account the fact that

- There were and still are moratoria on foreclosures for many properties.

- Stimulus checks provided a temporary buffer for some people who may not be going back to work soon.

- Unemployment benefits may run out for some people who won't be able to go back to work soon.

- Millions of people are losing health insurance and that is going to affect mortgage payments for some homeowners.

Generally if we see enough factors in an equation pointing towards the downside and not the upside, it seems reasonable to think the end result is going to be more down than up. So it might be a mild shift, or not, but in general I think the market will cool down at least somewhat in the next few years to come. And as with all things 'economy', I realize I could be totally wrong, of course. :)

Your designated broker should be able to answer that question, or you could call your MLS - although it is maybe a state and not an MLS regulation (not sure about that). NAR also has their own policy on this, if you're a member.

In WA we can represent ourselves, it just needs to be disclosed in the purchase and sale agreement that " Buyer 'name here' is a licensed real estate broker in the state of WA." (Agents are called brokers in WA.) If for some reason you were not a party to the purchase and sale as one of the buyers, I believe that as the buyer's agent you would still need to disclose that you were related to the buyer, your husband. 

Just some things to possibly ask about when checking on the CA regs. And I usually use two different email addresses in the transaction, one for me as buyer and another one for me as the agent, to keep things from being confusing for escrow.

@Alyssa Miller That is just the market in this area right now - I know that sounds simplistic, but current market values (as in, what people are willing to pay for properties, 'people' meaning a large proportion of owner occupants who want to get into a house while rates are super low and they've often missed out on several homes already due to bidding wars) are high enough that it's not an environment in which investors are going to find a lot of deals.

It's kind of like trying to 'hack' toilet paper at the beginning of Covid - the supply/demand curve is not working in your favor.

But, nationwide, the number of properties going into the first stage of foreclosure is skyrocketing right now - I don't think we'll be immune to that despite our strong tech industry. And Boeing moving some production to the east coast is going to hurt Snohomish County. I think deals will probably be easier to find in the next year or so.

Have you looked into USPS Every Door Direct Mail? Google 'USPS EDDM'. Low cost and easy to set up and target neighborhoods might work for what you're doing. 

(PS Totally agree with @Brad Miller about the mailbox thing, the first rule of marketing is 'first do no harm'. :)

I think you need to ask the Texas Real Estate Commission to know for sure. They have rules about what words can be used for licensed agents and teams, not sure how/if that would apply to anyone who isn't licensed. https://www.trec.texas.gov/art...

Hi, I'm assuming your clause stated you'd beat another written offer up to and not to exceed a specific price, is that correct? (There generally needs to be some kind of limit, unless there truly isn't one.)

I wouldn't recommend bumping up your price to compete against a verbal offer. Our escalation clauses (northwest WA) specify that when you win over a competing offer using an escalation (I think it's the same as your continuation) clause, the competing offer has to be a) in writing and b) provided in full to your agent, to make sure escalation clauses don't get triggered by bogus/inapplicable offers.

You could tell them to get the other offer in writing and to send it to your agent, and if so you will send an offer with an adjusted price to compensate for the higher net-to-seller from the unrepresented buyer's offer. (As long as the increased price still fits within the numbers that work for you with this property.)

If they don't do that, that means the other buyer's not willing to put the offer in writing, which makes it meaningless, or else there is no other buyer. Since both offers are cash and therefore similar in terms, it's in the seller's best interests to show you a higher net-to-seller and ask if you will beat it. But as others here have noted, if the other offer is not in writing it's not a real offer.

I agree with @Kobe Xin about the book Never Split the Difference. Among other things it teaches some basic language that is helpful to use and not use in many situations, i.e. "it sounds like" (rather than "I'm hearing..."), "what is causing your client to do (whatever thing)", rather than "why is your client doing (whatever it is)".

Way more than just that stuff and I took pages of notes on the book, but basically it ties in to what Kobe was saying about making the person feel heard.

That being said, it was a helpful book for me because my first and immediate reaction is to want to simply pepper spray people like that in the face - which I'm guessing would also work here. :)  You're in a difficult spot because you're trying to protect your seller. Good luck!

(Also for what it's worth I liked the book best on Audible, a lot of what he teaches has to do with voice intonation and the guy who narrates it has a great voice for that.)

Sorry you're having to deal with this. It would help to know what the context is, or an example of what's being done by the other agent.