David Townsend · Commented on ‘We’re not ready; we want to fix up the house’

This can be dangerous business practice. As a broker I have had agents “front” money for repairs and never close on the property due to no fault of thier own and then never get reimbursemtent from the seller. Be careful and have a plan in place in writing that provides you reimbursement.

Another issue is if you hire someone to do repairs you may be held accountable for that contractors mistakes.

Best practice, if a client cant afford repairs have them get a credit card from a major hardware store and have you help them order and coordinate repairs and improvements.

I am not advertising for these companies, but many of the repairs / updates can be ordered stright through the hardware store with thier approved contractors.

Be careful out there. And “always do the right thing”

Angela White · Commented on ‘We’re not ready; we want to fix up the house’

You are exactly correct. Risky business should there be a [lull] in the market place. You end up with a real problem as it was your recommendation and now they are not netting enough. Some realtors expect their contractors to hold on the money. Then you have another even bigger issue should the listing not sell or they change their mind. I have seen that also where you fixed something on the property to enhance its value and now they like the house more and don’t want to move!

Frank Reali · Commented on Will Realogy’s executive shakeup reignite growth?

A positive real estate market always poses a problem with growth. Brokers who may want to sell believe their company is worth much more than it is, agents see dollars and run to the highest split many times not worried about what is available there, knowing they can make another change when the market flips a bit, wanting to take advantage of making more money. Broker to broker referrals are suffering due to the continued information on the internet many times making their oown decisions on who to work with. When you get as big as Realogy is growth just has to be slower unless money becomes a non question. When a startup can raise 30-50 million to enter the real estate market whose money are they playing with. It does appear that Realogy is being prudent with their cash, and will probably handle a little less growth for smarter growth later on.

Liz Regis · Commented on Anything can happen when you’re happening

In everything I’ve been reading or listening to what keeps popping out for me is the word “ACTION” but action with optimissm. Thank you for sharing 🙂

Tom Wemett · Commented on How agents can get paid faster

What is missing from this discussion is the separating of the commission for buyer agents from the listing agent commission. I’m an exclusive buyer agent. The seller and listing agent have no business telling my buyer and I what I’m worth. It is time to take the buyer agent fee out of the seller and listing broker’s hands. It is also time for the mortgage industry to allow a buyer side commission to be added into the purchase price so the buyer doesn’t have to come out of pocket for any buyer agent fees.

Sean Cummings · Commented on 21 common objections (and how to handle them)

A lot of this can also be addressed by utilizing some up front work in the way of scripting at the start of the visit. It’s important to remember that an objection is not a no. A no, is a no, and that means you can still overcome objections by sticking with a structured approach. I always recommend at the start of the visit for realtors to ask a very important question: “What [criteria] will you be using when deciding on a realtor for your home?” They will typically come up with one or two (if at all) and this is a good opportunity for you to help them answer the question. Pull out a sheet that shows what you do for your clients (staging, repair recommendations, proper pricing, vigorous social media marketing plan, the number of likes on your FB business page, all of your 5-star reviews, etc) then ask: “If I can show you folks that I meet all of these criteria, can you see me as your REALTOR®). They will typically say yes. If they say “We still need to think about it” then you probably didn’t do a good job with your warm up and they don’t yet like or trust you.

Top comments are compiled by Inman’s editorial staff in no particular order.

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