There is a plus side to the housing market being in a decline, and that would be the limited amount of bad agents out there. This is a great benefit if you are in the market to buy or sell a home, because chances are you will find a more reliable, up-to-date realtor. In the past a lot of agents did a lot of their work from their offices, but now they really do need to be out in the field in order to be successful. With that information though, you do still need to be careful in choosing your agent.
There is still the part time agent that is out there just to make a sale a few times a year for some extra cash. The cashier at the local grocery may take advantage of a not so up-to-date client in order to make some extra money. Even an utility worker in your town may try to pass himself off as a full-time realtor. In cases like this, they are more hurting their clients than helping them.
The market has undergone a massive upheaval and you can not do business the same way as five years ago. In Big Bear, bank owned properties make up 10% of the inventory and 40% of the sales. If your realtor is not proficient in dealing with REO’s, Short Sales, etc, you are asking for trouble.
Here is an example of a predicament one of my clients was recently involved in. The clients I had been working with made an offer in escrow with a bank that was out of our area. We held up our part and followed all instructions that we were supposed to, while waiting for the escrow to be opened. With the last 20 sales that I have worked on with bank owned properties, there has always been an issue opening the escrow.
With this deal, I felt cool as a cucumber at first, but then I started to sour when I hadn’t heard back from the bank in quite a while. Weeks later they confessed to having filed the deal with the wrong office. Then they suggested we may have to pay delay fees. I couldn’t believe how ridiculous these people were. Needless to say, I was not having it and we got the deal squared away. But it was quite a lesson in the nerve of some people.
Had I not known what I have learned from all my experience with REO’s, this could have gone really bad for my client. Less-experienced realtors are dangerous in these types of situations. So protect yourself and only work with someone who works in realty full time.
Contributor Bryan Cole is an experienced realtor and well-trained in resort area realty. He is in fact one of the most respected realtors in his field.