Archive for the 'Excellent Agent' Category
B is for Broker
A few weeks ago I went to an indescript little office building in West Hartford Center really early in the morning. My task was to sit in front of a computer for up to 3 hours and pass 2 multiple choice tests. The room was about 90 degrees so that sped me along a little bit. Forty seven minutes later I received the good news from the glowing screen “Congratulations. You have PASSED the Connecticut State portion of the Real Estate Broker’s Exam.” and “Congratulations. You have PASSED the National portion of the Real Estate Exam.”
Thank goodness. All of the time I spent studying interesting facts like “What is the potential fine and prison term for impersonating a licensed appraiser?” actually paid off and now I can open my own real estate firm, if I so choose. (The answer to the question is $1,000 and 6 months, if you’re interested- so don’t go impersonating an appraiser!)
So what exactly does this mean? Well, I am now a licensed Real Estate Broker in Connecticut. Right now I still work for Mr. Bill as an independent contractor and he backs my license. But at any point I can choose to open my own office and hire people to work for me, if I like.
Some people don’t understand why I went through the step of getting my broker’s license if I’m just going to continue working under a different broker. The answer is options. You can never have too many of them when it comes to a career, particularly in an industry that is in such a state of flux…
Ethics and Real Estate Agents
Gallup recently released the 2008 results of their annual Honesty and Ethics of Professions poll. Real estate agents came out in the middle of the pack of the polled professions, with the majority of those polled indicating that they felt the real estate profession has average integrity. This year’s results are not substantially different for real estate agents than surveys of years past.
I never used to think much about these polls when I worked in corporate America. When I would meet people in social situations and they’d ask me what I did for a living I’d respond with “I manage part suppliers for an aerospace company.” Ho-hum. Easy enough. The person would nod and smile and usually get a glazed look in their eyes. I’d typically try to change the conversation to something non-work related, like hobbies or current events or new restaurants, really just anything other than airplane engines.
But when I changed my career to real estate, the reaction I’d get to “what do you do for a living” completely shifted. My response of “I’m a real estate agent” or “I sell real estate” was greeted with a variety of reactions. Smirks. Twitches. Backing away. You’d think I just told the person that I sold my mother to the circus. (Really, she’s a nice lady, I would never do this) My new job was making me a social pariah. What the heck? I was still the same person.
So I decided to do an informal poll of friends and former colleagues to find out why people were now treating me only slightly better than a leper. The general results were that my survey group felt real estate agents were pushy, loud, only in real estate for themselves, and not focused on the needs of their customer but just with closing deals. Huh, awesome.
And what are my perceptions now that I’ve been doing this for awhile? Well, it doesn’t really seem to me that individuals that practice real estate behave much differently than people in corporate America, or any other line of work for that matter. Professional ability and ethical behavior seems to run the gamut. Much of it comes down to the individual’s moral compass. I’ve been in situations with agents that have made me raise my eyebrows and at times say “what you’re suggesting is not legal so don’t even go there.” I’ve been in other situations that could have presented huge conflicts of interest if not handled properly and felt that those scenarios were managed with the utmost professionalism and resolved fairly.
The fact that real estate agents rank in the middle of the pack of the Honesty and Ethics poll illustrates that we have some work to do as a profession. What positive and negative examples have you seen in your dealings with real estate agents? What do you think could be done to improve our perception with the public?
A View from the Field- Part 4
On the road again for appraisal class. One more trip to New Milford next week for a 1/2 day of review and then the Big Test. Then I can take my broker exam in January and I’ll be all done with studying for awhile.
There were a couple of interesting “in the field” points that were made this week in class, particularly in regards to fighting appraisals that come in less than the contract price. Houses “not appraising” is becoming more common because banks are really cracking down on appraisers. They really want to ensure they’re not overpaying for the asset. A few years ago the pendulum was swinging the other way, banks were too lax on appraisal reports. Hopefully we’ll eventually end up at some happy medium in the near future.
But in the meantime, we’ve got all of these properties that are not appraising. In this situation, the Seller seems to be in a more difficult spot than the Buyer. In most cases, the Buyer will not agree to pay more than the appraisal report states as that’s the value that’s accepted by the bank. The bank will not lend on more than the appraisal report indicates, unless the Buyer is willing to make up the difference by bringing more cash. That situation is really not happening now.
So what’s a Seller to do if the house does not appraise to the agreed upon contract price? Well, they can always walk away from the deal. No one is forcing them to sell their house. They can agree to the value on the appraisal report and lower the contract price. Finally, they can try to fight the appraisal, but this is typically very difficult to do and in almost all cases unsuccessful.
Our instructor seemed to indicate that the only good way to get an appraisal reevaluated would be to bring some less than obvious information to the bank/appraiser regarding one of the comparable houses used in the analysis. One way would be if the agent could prove that a comparison sale was not an “arms length transaction,” that might do the trick. For example, if the Seller of the comparison sale sold their house to a relative or a neighbor. That wouldn’t necessarily be an “arms length transaction” because they might be willing to accept a lower price in this type of situation. The comparison sale would then be brought into question, so it could be argued that it should be replaced with a different comp for the appraisal report.
Unfortunately for the Seller, it’s fairly difficult to track down this type of information. And in most cases the appraisal is valid, the appraiser is a trained service provider and they’ve done all the necessary research and are just reporting back their opinion of value for that specific day.
The market is becoming more challenging on all fronts. If you’re a Seller and you find that the appraisal value comes back short, talk to your agent about your options. Everyone’s situation is different. Some sellers will take their house off the market, some will choose to sell to that buyer, and some will keep their house on the market but the buyer will walk away. Only you can make the right decision for you.