Don't focus just on sales.

When you evaluate real estate agents, don't focus only on sales. I know agents who lead in total sales year in and year out. It's important, but you have to realize that sales alone is not a valid indicator of a good agent.

There are a lot of things that go into it. Is the agent in residential or commercial real estate? Commercial deals tend to be bigger and different.

What kind of an area does he work in? We had an agent try to sell a house for us. He was a big deal with lots of sales. He had not a clue what it took to sell a house in our area.

An agent might have smaller sales but work in an area where the average sale price is low. Another person may focus on elite homes worth >$1 million. He/she can have a big sales figure if he's well connected and in a high-price area, but be very good.

Does the agent have a team under him? If so, he/she may be including the sales of all the agents in his/her team in the sales figure.

So, don't focus only on total sales.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

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Ideal Agent Trait #4: Experience

The ideal agent is experienced. He/she's been in the world a while. He/she knows different stuff. If he/she's 35 and can't sling two words together and doesn't know who the Beatles were, go look some more. He/she doesn't have to have been in real estate for 20. He/she has to have had some time in the world. He can be a young, smart, go-getter for example.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing? Go to www.timswritingblog.blogspot.com. Or want to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Ideal Agent Trait #3: Listening

The ideal agent listens to what you say. If you tell the agent you want to look at two bedroom, one bath houses in South Philadelphia priced under $250,000, and the agent shows you three bedroom, two bath houses between $450,000 and $600,000 in Washington Square West, dump that agent and get a good one.

A caveat: it's okay if the agent shares information with you on houses which are larger, more expensive, outside your chosen area, or different from what you asked for some other reason. I've done that in down markets where you could bid low and be successful, which meant you could get into more house for the same amount of money.

But that conversation always followed something like this one: "I've given you information on 25 houses that meet your specifications. Pick between 5 and 10 houses you'd like to see and I'll get us in there. But I think you should consider these more expensive ones as well. I know they're different from what you told me, and it's okay if you don't want to see them, but I thought it was in your interest to tell you about them. Just look them over and see what you think."

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing? Go to www.timswritingblog.blogspot.com. Or want to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Ideal Agent Trait #2: Responsiveness

Several years ago I heard a statistic, that the average time a real state agent takes to call you back is 50 hours. That's a little more than 4 days. That seemed high to me, but I know a lot of agents who never call you back. So maybe it isn't.

The average is the arithmetic mean, so it doesn't take very many extreme values to skew the average. For example, take 5 agents, four of whom take day to return your call, and one that takes over 154 hours (>6 days); add them up and get 250; then divide by the number of agents (5); and you get an average of 50 ((24+24+24+24+154)/5=50). So what we have is a few agents taking inordinately long to call people back.

Agents vary in their responsiveness, but most are pretty good. I used to return calls as soon as I knew I had them. But it's not uncommon for it to take 2 weeks to get a call back. One agent I know never returns phone calls, and when you ask her about it she acts like it's something cute.

It's not cute, it's maddening. When my wife and I first moved to Philadelphia, we called 3 times on a property we wanted to see. The listing agent never called us back. A week later the agent called apologizing for the agent. We told her and she asked us if we wanted to see it. We said no thanks.

There also seems to be a attitude that if a person doesn't have an answer to your question, they don't have to respond. Wrong. The person needs to call and tell you they don't have an answer to your question. Oh, well.

Anyway, make sure the agent you choose calls you back preferably right away, or at the longest within 24 hours, but they should respond as soon as the find out there's a message.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing? Go to www.timswritingblog.blogspot.com. Or want to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Ideal Agent Trait #1: Professionalism

A couple of postings ago I discussed the difference between a professional and an order taker. Here's what I said:

An order taker says, "You go look and find what you want and then call me and I'll fill out the offer for you and submit it to the agent for the seller."

A professional says, "Oh, well let's have coffee and talk about what kind of house you'd like. I'll do a search for you, give you some options. Then you pick about 3-5, and we'll go look and see how you like them. Then let's talk some more."

First, thing, make sure the person is a professional. Rule them out if they are not.

Now some people may think all they want is an order taker. These people are short sighted and are asking for trouble.

As I said last time, there are too many order takers masked as professionals. You have to smoke them out. Only work with a professional.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing? Go to www.timswritingblog.blogspot.com. Or want to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

How to get an agent

If I were a normal person (i.e. not a real estate agent), and if I were looking for an agent, I'd talk to as many people as I could whom I know and trust. Tell them what you are doing and ask for recommendations.

Select agents whose names keep cropping up and interview 3-5 of them. No more than 5 and no fewer than 3. nut what I was doing and ask for recommendations based on the characteristics I'm going lay out in the next 12 blogs or so. There are about 12 characteristics that define the ideal agent.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing, or to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Among first things: Get a Good Real Estate Agent

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, because it bears repeating: First get a good agent.

I said a good agent. A good agent will help you navigate the really nasty real estate environment. It's always changing, and muddling through on your own is just asking for trouble. And you don't pay the agent until you find something for you and it settles.

You notice I said get a good agent. Lots of things can go wrong, and sometimes the things that go wrong can be really expensive. For example doing on your own you may decide that buying title insurance is an unnecessary expense. So you don't get it, and down the road you want to sell it and you find you don't have clear title to your property. Hmm.

A good agent would have strongly urged you to buy it. Now, you're stuck in a nasty and protracted battle with the seller who defaulted on his responsibility to provide you with clear and marketable title to the property. Oops. Then, the seller may countersue you for a frivolous law suit. Hmm

Now, having an agent will not save you from problems. Just like car insurance won't keep you from having an accident. But it greatly reduces your uncertainty and risk.

Plus, you have an advocate to fight for you and an extra set of eyes against which you can measure your views of things. Buying a house is daunting enough without having to shoulder the burden all on your own.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing, or to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Professionals vs. Order Takers

A person I respect asked me what is the difference between an order taker and a Realtor. I told him, too often nothing.

One way they differ is:

An order taker says, "You go look and find what you want and then call me and I'll fill out the offer for you and submit it to the agent for the seller."

A professional says, "Oh, well let's have coffee and talk about what kind of house you'd like. I'll do a search for you, give you some options. Then you pick about 3-5, and we'll go look and see how you like them. Then let's talk some more."

There are too many order takers in real estate. You should only work with a professional.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing, or to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Want to really know how to network? Go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com

Seinfeld Syndrom in Real Estate

On September 18, 2007, I wrote in my old real estate blog about the Seinfeld Syndrom, the name Seinfeld taken from the name of the major character in the long-running sitcom based on the adventures of four dysfunctional friends in New York City. The syndrome was noted in an article in the New York Times several years ago.

The writer observed that among those 25 to 40 years old, men are .3 times less likely to purchase a home as women even though they make nearly 30% more money. For men are afraid of commitment. Women see buying a home as a statement of self. Hence, the reason this particular male buyer didn't buy a house was because he had contracted Seinfeld Syndrome. Seinfeld Syndrome makes you enter every house looking for a reason why it won't work for you. My buyer did this until we found the perfect house. He couldn't think of any reason to turn it down. Then he looked on the corner and asked what the building was. I said it was a neighborhood bar. He said, "On, no, I can't live on a block that has a bar."

Seinfeld's syndrome.

I'm trying to create a more informed real estate customer. Is this working?

Want to learn entrepreneurship? Go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

Want to get a poem or short story published? Go to www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com

Want tips on writing, or to read my first book for free, or maybe get it? Go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.

Want to really know how to network? Go to www.referralbasedbranding.blogspot.com