How much time does a Realtor spend getting ready to talk with you about your real estate needs (either buying or selling)?  How much time should they spend?  Well, how well did you prepare for your last job interview?

Truthfully, successful Realtors spend a LOT of time on job interviews.  Every meeting with a potential buyer or seller is a job interview.  Going on lots of interviews gives a Realtor practice.  Most people don’t get as much practice interviewing potential employees as Realtors do interviewing potential employers so here are some important questions to ask and (more importantly) the answers you should be looking for:

1) How do Realtors work in this area?  All agents in NC are required to review a document called “Working with Real Estate Agents” at “First Substantial Contact (FSC).”  FSC occurs when a customer/potential client begins to disclose personal information.  Any Realtor should be able to give you a very clear understanding of how agents work in your area, including dual and designated agency.

2) What percentage of your business is buyers and what percentage is sellers?  This question will give you some real insight into the type of agent that you’re interviewing.  If they don’t know the answer, it’s a sign that they aren’t taking their business seriously.  The answer that you’re looking for is generally a balanced business (about a 50/50 split), but this may change given local market conditions.  Additionally, if the balance is heavily weighted towards either buyers or sellers, make sure that it matches your needs- you may not want to list a home with someone who specializes on working with buyers.

3) How many homes have you sold in the last year? This is a great question to ask a Realtor whether you’re interviewing them about listing your home or helping you find a home to purchase.   In general, an agent needs to be selling at least a home a month to be considered full-time and, when interviewing someone to help you find a home to purchase, you need to make sure that they can demonstrate expertise in the area where you want to buy.  As an example, I would never sell a home in Southport- I simply don’t know the market.

4) What is your agent rank in the local board? This is a good follow-up question to #3.  Given the current market conditions, some Realtors may not have huge sales numbers, but still rank well in the board.

5) How do you market listings? In this question, I urge you to seek WHY an agent markets listings a certain way.  There are many, many new and different toys out there for marketing listings but not all of the really sell homes.  According to the recent NAR Home Buyer and Seller Surveys, the overwhelming majority (over 80%) of buyers that purchased homes in previous years found the home that they purchased through either the internet, a Realtor or a yard sign.  It wasn’t a “homes” book and it wasn’t from direct mail.  Make sure your agent has a well thought out plan for marketing listings and good reasons for the way that they do business.

6)How do you communicate with your clients? The number 1 complaint about Realtors is that don’t communicate well.  My definition of exceptional service is insuring that my clients NEVER have to call me to find out what’s happening with their listing or transaction. A great Realtor will answer this question with the question “How would you like for me to communicate with you?  How often and through what method, phone, text, email or all of it?”

7) Why should I do business with you?  If a Realtor can’t answer this question honestly, from the heart and with great confidence, you’ve probably got the wrong Realtor.  Truthfully, if an agent doesn’t think that they are the BEST Realtor to represent you, they have a fiduciary obligation to refer you to the agent that is the BEST.

8) What is my house worth?  This works for your current (if you’re a seller) and future (if you’re a buyer) home.  A Realtor should be able to answer this question with some well thought out reasoning as to why the home is worth a certain amount.  Additionally a good Realtor should be able to explain the trajectory of the market and why things are doing what they are doing.

9) Do you offer any type of performance guarantee?  What happens if you, as the consumer, are unhappy with your agent’s performance?  Do you have the right to terminate the agency relationship?  Most good Realtors have some sort of release clause in their agency contracts.

10) May I have a copy of your references?  If the agent that your are interviewing doesn’t have references ready for you to call, you should talk to someone else.  This may mean that they don’t have any good references, or that they haven’t sold enough real estate to have references, or that they don’t care enough about their past clients to stay in touch with them.  A GREAT agent will give you all the clients that they’ve done business with in the last 12 months as well as reference’s phone number.

Good luck interviewing your next agent.  If I can help you in any way, please contact me!

I recently represented a buyer in the purchase of this oceanfront second home on Topsail Island, pictured above.  The house was originally listed for $599,900, features beautiful ocean views and is tucked away in a quiet, private are of Topsail Beach, NC.  I was able to negotiate a sales price of $510,000 with some seller paid closing costs. The key to negotiating this transaction was understanding the market, how many homes are available, how long the property had been on the market.  Special thanks to the listing agent for being a real professional and collaborating with me on getting the deal done!

To read what the buyer had to say about my services, CLICK HERE.

Unbelievably the first quarter is already over!  Here’s the Wilmington area market by the numbers:

• 1066  is the year of the Battle of Hastings, but for the purpose of this blog, it is the number of transactions (including land, multi-family, and boat slips) closed in the first quarter 2012.  This represents a 9.56% increase in the number of transactions closed in the first quarter of 2011

• 497 homes (these are single family residences only) were sold in New Hanover County during the first quarter

• 5.46% increase in the total volume sold in the Wilmington market

• $210,490 is the average sales price for the market, representing a 3.74% decrease compared to the average sales price in First Quarter 2011 ($218,664.62)

• 403 Realtors sold anything, which represents approximately 25% of the total board population

The meaning behind these numbers is important.  The increase in number of transactions and volume indicates that we have seen a turn in the market.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that we are at THE bottom, rather that the market is turning and we are consuming inventory.  Consumption of inventory is massively important in getting back to a balanced real estate market.

The relatively small percentage of agents that have sold anything is a good indicator of who is really in the business and who’s just along for the ride.

Hope this snippet is helpful and, of course, please let me know if you have any questions!

Special thanks to my business partner, Joe Williams (Co-Founder of Keller Williams Realty) for sending his most recent thoughts on the economy to me.  I thought you’d appreciate learning his perspective!  Joe Writes:

“I found myself at the doctor’s office this morning, perusing a copy of TIME from last October.  As I was reading the weekly magazine’s content, which is normally a “snapshot” of the previous week’s events and predictions, I was struck at how completely off-base every economic prediction was just six months hence! To say that everyone’s dire predictions were so out of touch with our current situation was an exercise in the reality of assuming things.

I have an advantage many of you do not, and that is 34 years of watching how real estate and economies interact.  What is amazing, and I’ve seen this before, is how short term projecting is almost always fraught with inaccuracy.  Nassim Taleb, in his compelling book, The Black Swan, extols on “what an impossible task it is to foresee the short term, and yet people constantly get caught doing the wrong things because of it.”

While only six months ago, economists were warning about the “double-dip,” the positive rumblings we all see right now are light years ahead of what was being portrayed. And this market will actually pick up steam because the greatest mover is what sits between everyone’s ears, not what politicians or economist think.  Consumers drive the American economy, always have, always will.

This election year will also be quite different from past election years for a couple of reasons.  In 2008, it was in the Democratic Party’s best interest to portray the economy (via the media) in a terrible light, although that was not entirely true.  Their strategy worked.  But once elected, the media had so thoroughly instilled such a “bunker” mentality, that the economy was doomed.  The resulting recession was a logical result.  This time neither party is going to portray the economy in such a harsh light, so that is a good sign.  One party will be trumpeting the good news, and the other hesitant to look out of step.

Add to this the specter that interest rates, long dwelling in the cellar, will start to rise with the first hints of inflation, and there will be a lot of closet buyers that finally decide to act before rates get too high.  The good news is that just three years ago everybody thought that interest rates of 5%-7% were great rates.  So with any luck at all, we may be able to come out of this on somewhat of a “roll” for the future.  I would not be surprised to see this happen sooner, rather than later.  We’re already seeing the signs of shortages long in the making.  Finished lots, apartments, and rental housing, just to name a few.”

The real estate market here in Wilmington has DEFINITELY picked up.  I’m as busy as I’ve ever been.  Stay tuned for a review of the first two months of data!

Several months ago, I posted 8 Stupid Realtor Tricks in an effort to warn consumers about things that I’ve seen agents do that could confuse and take advantage of consumers and clients.  I’ve received some criticism about the post, specifically Item#2, Alphabet Soup and want to clarify my opinion about Realtors and designations.  For my fellow Realtors that I may have offended, my apologies.  It certainly takes quite a bit of effort to earn designations and if you’re interested in reading what it takes to earn those designations, you should visit www.NAR.org.

This particular component of the post was based on the fact that I’ve seen many Realtors with designations list them out with no further explanation, especially on their business cards. I’ve always felt that they should actually spell out the designation, ie Accredited Buyer Representative so that it makes some sense. My thoughts are that it’s confusing to consumers (to see a name followed by ABR, SRES, SIOR, CDPE, MBA, JD).  And yes, I’ve seen a card with all those designations on it.  Further, I think that a Realtor who has earned the designations doesn’t get the full benefit of a client understanding what those designations mean by just using the various initials for their designations. Obviously the advent of Internet and social media can help create a better understanding (on the part of the client) as to how using a agent with various designations will be beneficial to the client.

To be clear, I mean no offense to my fellow Realtors that hold these designations.  Many of these Realtors have worked hard to earn the designations and are GREAT agents, representing their clients well.  Many aren’t.

Ultimately my point is that consumers should be extremely cautious in choosing a Realtor. In my own experience, (as both Realtor and as a consumer) Realtors with designations are not necessarily good Realtors nor are they always wise choices as a representative.  Frankly, I’ve seen Realtors with those designations behave unethically and, in some cases, illegally.  I recommend that consumers should cautiously and thoughtfully choose a Realtor and spend more time looking at the character of the agent and their track record than the letters behind their name.  I’d recommend that about any professional, for that matter.

So, as a quick update, here are the “11 for ’11.”  I’ll be adding more and commenting on these as we go forward.  Enjoy and please feel free to contact me with any questions!

1)      The Average Sales Price fell another 4.58% from $231,119 to $220,534

2)      The Median Sales Price fell another 5.69% from $183,512 to $173,063

3)      The total number of homes sold rose 3.59%

4)      The total volume of real estate sold in the area fell 1.16%

5)      The average days on market for 2011 were up 16.3% (from 128 to 153) from 2010.

6)      There were 47 houses that sold for $1MM or higher

7)      The largest discount on one of those 47 houses was 51%- 1808 Starfix Terrace was originally listed for $3.8MM and sold for $1.85MM after 351 Days (CLICK HERE for the Zillow Profile)

8)      On average, houses over $1MM sold for 75.8% of their original list price

9)      The most expensive sale in the MLS was for $2.895MM- 26 Island Drive (CLICK HERE for the Zillow profile)

10)   Of approximately 1800 Realtors in the local board of Realtors, only 907 sold ANY homes

11)   Of Approximately 1800 Realtors, only 342 sold more than 5 homes in 2011

In light of all the questions and uncertainty in the real estate market today, I thought I’d share a quick success story that worked out being a real Win-Win for buyer and seller.  I recently helped put together a 2 year lease purchase for one of my buyer clients.  This was a real win-win because the buyer’s income from a new (and successful) business couldn’t yet be counted for mortgage purposes.  The seller’s house was sitting vacant and empty and the seller was making payments.  The result: seller has a pretty strong guarantee of getting their home sold in the future, buyer has a place to live, seller is no longer coming out of pocket to make house payment.

So, exactly how does this work?  Well, here’s the insight:

• The buyer pays a lump sum fee up front (in some areas this may be considered an “Option Fee” which effectively buys them the right to purchase the house for some time into the future.  In this case the fee was around $3000 and my clients are “under contract” on the house, and must close by 12/31/13
• The buyer and homeowner execute a lease for the same period of time, agreeing on monthly rent payments and other details surrounding the buyer/tenant occupying the property

That’s the gist of what’s needed to take care of this transaction.  Of course there are always pitfalls, so I’d suggest consulting with a professional attorney or lender.  Here are few other precautions that should be taken.  A major precaution to protect buyer and seller is to record a memorandum of contract.  This provides public notice that there is a contract for the purchase of the property and will give the highest assurance possible that the seller/owner can’t sell the property to another buyer.   A local attorney can take care of this.

In today’s market, it pays to be creative and look for the win win- hope this gives you some ideas!

In this video, CB Johnson of Fine Coastal Living, turns things over to Mark Williams to show us exactly what we should be looking for in inspecting our homes. Whether you are looking to sell your house, buy a new home, or just make sure your current home is maintaining its value, inspector Mark Williams walks us through an inspection and tells us what to look out for.

In this video, CB Johnson of Fine Coastal Living, turns things over to Mark Williams to show us exactly what we should be looking for in inspecting our homes. Whether you are looking to sell your house, buy a new home, or just make sure your current home is maintaining its value, inspector Mark Williams walks us through an inspection and tells us what to look out for.

In this video, CB talks with inspector Mark Williams about the importance of inspecting your home and why a good inspection is vital to a solid real estate transaction.