Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'negotiation'
Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers
I am seeing a very disturbing trend these past few months. Rather than do the work they should be doing, listing agents are treating the entire short sale process as a kind of "Black Box", delegating the negotiations with the...
Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers
I just got off the phone with an agent who claims to have three offers on the property, but he doesn't want to counter the offer. He just wants my client to voluntarily throw more money (or more something)...
The Tollbooth Model of Real Estate Agency
Over the last couple of decades, there's been a rising movement, mostly on the part of those who want a piece of real estate agents business, to sell agents as a toll booth. Tollbooths sit there, guarding the entry to...
"I'm Working With Someone Else, But Could You Just Help Me With..."
I recently got an email from a reader that was coming into a property as I left. I dropped my card and we did the lockbox shuffle thing, then there was an email when I got back to the...
The Sperm Donor Theory of Buyer's Agents
Some fathers, sad to say, are not involved in their children's life beyond conception. Maybe it was just a one night stand and they have no idea they even have a child, maybe they were involved with the mother on...
Some Secrets to Good Transactions
Be prepared for trouble before it happens, know how strong your position is or isn't, and don't ever overplay your hand. Real estate transactions are the largest transactions most folks get involved in. Even small percentages of $500,000 or more...
I'm Competing Against Multiple Offers. How Do I Proceed?
The first thing to consider is that maybe you shouldn't. You never want to get involved in a bidding war. There's a classic riddle I ask every single one of my buyer clients at least once. "How often does...
The Seller Always Knows More About the Property Than the Buyer
Real Estate information is asymmetrical. One of the central facts of real estate transactions is that the seller always knows more than the buyer. They've lived in the property for years, and had to deal with any defects first hand....
The Measurement Unit For Desirability Is Dollars
I have been asked by more than one person how to measure desirability of real estate objectively. Fortunately, the Phoenicians did all the hard work for me three thousand years ago when they invented money. Precisely what that measurement unit...
Buying Real Estate Isn't Simple
And I don't know why people expect it to be. Cancel that. I do know why. Popular media. It's not all that common in popular media, but on those occasions I see someone buying a house in the movies...
You Want an Agent That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU
A lot of advice gets given to choose a "top producing" agent. These highly corporate offices may have the name of an individual agent attached to them, but they are in fact transaction mills. They have done pretty well for...
There's Nothing Sacred About Asking Price in Real Estate - Variable Range or Regular
A few days ago, I had an agent get angry at me about an offer below a range asking price. I had submitted the offer with extensive justification as to why it was an appropriate offer. Basically, this clown had...
Variable or Range Pricing of Real Estate
About half the listings around here do not have a single number asking price, but rather a range in which "offers will be considered". Even many agents have trouble understanding range pricing. I've seen and heard more than one agent...
Listing Agents and Pre-Approvals or Pre-Qualifications
It has become very trendy to ask for pre-approvals on loans, because so many escrows are falling through. Unfortunately, as I have explained in the past, Loan Pre-Approval Means Nothing, and prequalification means even less. Both are literally wasted paper....
Competing Offers From The Same Agent For The Same Property
I wouldn't have believed this one if I hadn't been there when it happened. Another agent in my office had a listing where the property went into default. We just happened to find out about it; the seller tried to...
The Good Faith Deposit for Real Estate
A search I just noticed asked the question "Who gets the deposit if escrow falls through?" The theory of the deposit is that here is an amount of cash that the buyer is putting up as evidence of their ability...
How Agents Should Respond To An Appraisal Below Purchase Price
It really helps my perspective in a lot of ways to be both a Realtor and a loan officer. Just the other day, I had a loan only client where they were already under contract to buy a property...
Buyers: Stretching Your Budget Means Compromise
As a good buyer's agent, I love a challenge. When someone comes to me trying to make a budget stretch just a little bit further than it would usually go, that's the kind of client I love to have....
What Can A Real Estate Seller Do To Find Out if A Potential Buyer Is Qualified
A high percentage of buyers out there have no idea of how qualified they really are themselves. They have no clue as to any of the major factors in determining credit-worthiness. To be fair, there are dozens, if not hundreds,...
Why You Want A Buyers Agent To Deal With Developers
Not too long ago I got an email from an ex-prospect who decided to buy a developer's property without a buyer's agent. They persuaded her that she would get a better deal without them having to pay a buyer's agent...
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