Ideal Agent Trait #10: Proactivness

Find an agent who is proactive. He or she should make a schedule for you of the things that have to happen and when they have to happen. He or she should also have a list of all the relevant parties and work with them while the deal is being negotiated.

Many inexperienced or poor agents don't take control of their deals. They get a buyer, find a house, make an offer, and if it's accepted assume their job's done and let the deal go forward as though it's some kind of wind-up toy, then feel victimized when the deal goes through because they didn't do their job. If you catch one like that, throw them back.

There can be various levels of complexity to a real estate transaction. I've lumped them into three levels for discussion sake. It's much more complicated than even this. But, consider these:

Level 1: When there are 3 parties: a buyer, a seller, and a settlement entity (title company, real estate attorney employee). A buyer sees a property, identifies the owner, makes an offer, the offer accepts it, and it goes to settlement which is done by a third party. There are no real estate agents involved, though one of the parties may have sought the advice of a friend or associate or a realtor may have recommended a settlement entity.

Level 2: When there are 5 or 6 parties involved. In addition to buyers and sellers, we have an agent or lawyer for each, a title officer, and maybe a mortgage Representative if a mortgage is required, which it usually is. Some places lawyers play more of a role or are required. It works differently in different places.

Level 3: When there are more than 6 parties involved, they could be title insurance agents, inspectors, appraisers, insurance agents, lawyers, contractors, roofers, brokers, and so on and so on. More than 6 people.

No matter what the level of complexity of the deal, the agent has to identify the relevant parties and the tasks to be done and make sure that it happens.

You can't assume that a deal won't go bad if your agent does everything he or she can. Real estate transactions are very complicated, and deals can fall through for any number of reasons. But he odds of a deal going away at settlement are greatly reduced if your agent stays on top of everything.

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

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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 #9: Diversity

Choose a real estate agent who had done a lot of other things. If the agent has done more different stuff, he or she has come into contact with a lot of different situations the agent knows more, different ways to handle new situations that crop up.

And believe me, there are lots of different situations that crop up.

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 #8: Leadership

Choose a real estate agent follows the laws of leadership. What does he do when he's not doing real estate? Does he exhibit the characteristics of a leader? Does he help you chart a course? Do people listen when he speaks? Who are the people around him?

If you're not sure what I mean by the laws of leadership, read John C. Maxwell, The 21 Laws of Leadership (1998) or any of his other books. Also, check my earlier blogs at www.hatman2.blogspot.com.

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 #7: Relentlessness

Looking for a real estate agent? Look for one who represents you relentlessly. He's there for you and leaves no opportunity unexplored to act in your interest.

I had a listing agent say to me once, "I can't let you see the house then because the owner wants me there on all showings, and I have a full-time job. It will have to be on a weekend day or in the evenings." My buyer couldn't do it then, so I was never able to show that house.

What kind of representation is that? Lazy representation, I'd guess.

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 #6: Being up-to-date

You want an agent who's up to date. He/she doesn't have to be the biggest geek in the world and an expert on every new electronic toy to come down the pike. But, she/he ought be conversant with the newer tools that come into use that he/she can put at your disposal.

She/he ought to be familiar with the social media, scanning and emailing documents, blogging, etc. Society changes so fast these days you have to stay up to date. We're like a dog chasing a car.

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 #5: Knowledge of the Area

A good agent knows the area you want to live in. Not every agent is going to know every area.

When I was a new agent someone called looking for properties in Upper Darby. I took down his prerequisites, i.e. price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms (I should have asked other questions), etc. Then I pulled 20 or so properties that met those criteria off the multiple listing service and looked at them. I didn't know Upper Darby for anything. They were just numbers on a page. I referred that buyer to an agent who works in that area.

I'd worked in Center City. I've shown, sold, gone to brokers opens, etc., there and I know the area well. I've walked its streets, shopped in its stores, know its neighbors. When someone asks me a question about a given house, I may actually have been in that house. At the very least I know what its like there.

Pick an agent that knows the area you want to live in.

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 #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.