Pounced on by Realtors at an SFV open house?

I applaud my buyer clients who go to open houses by themselves and most home buyers do that nowadays. They've viewed the home on line and only have Saturday or Sunday to see it.  But here's what often happens:  a buyer innocently walks in to an open house and is immediately assaulted by the Realtor there and peppered with questions -- what are you looking for? Are you preapproved? How much are you preapproved for? What do you want your monthly payments to be? Are you working with an agent?  What do you have for a down payment? The poor buyer, who was compelled to sign in, finds themselves called, emailed, texted, sexted, you name it.  I used to do this kind of hard sell when I was a new agent too -- until I realized that people hated it.

Do you think that they are doing this because they are working hard for the seller? Nah. They are trying to pick up business -- your business -- any way they can.  (Again, disclaimer: I used to do this too back when I was a new agent and the earth was still warm.) There are lots of hungry Realtors out there.

Here's my client's experience from yesterday, and it's all too common: What I failed to tell you about my experience at ... open house yesterday is what a hard sell I ran into. I was met by 2 agents AND a mortgage broker. I felt like I was at a Mercedes CPO lot and everyone was trying to meet their month-end quota. I was "required" to fill out their guest sheet and now I'm getting calls and emails. 

AND, one of the agents was trying to steal my business, "I know you have an agent, but I might be able to find you some things."  

Sure, buyers, there are lots of great Realtors out there who are doing open houses.  They'll greet you, and give you the information about the property that you seek.  And then get out of your way. Sellers, please keep agreeing to open houses.  They work.  But you might want to reign in your agent's obnoxious hard sell enthusiasm. Buyers, please keep attending open houses.  They're a wonderful way for you to see a property when your agent can't be with you.  But be firm with pouncing Realtors.  Or take your pepper spray with you.

Groupon and real estate

Groupon now has a "deal" for "express" real estate licensing classes. Great.  Just what the world needs -- more barely-knowledgeable Realtors.

5703 Troost, North Hollywood is sold and I get taught a lesson

5703 Troost in North Hollywood, listed in September for $495,000, sold this week for $512,000.  It had been in escrow for $515,000 but that got 'walked back' during the inspection process.  My sellers were wonderful, savvy clients who moved to get a shorter commute.

I met the buyers at the open house and it was immediately evident that they liked the property.  The buyers told me they were going to use an agent from a popular online site that we'll call Greenscale.  I told them this would put their offer in a bad light -- Greenscale chunks its tasks down so much that you never know what agent you'll be dealing with that day, or who said what to whom, or who has the paperwork, etc.  Because of that, they are quite difficult to work with and that's a material fact I would have to tell my sellers as they considered the multiple offers we received.

So the buyers picked a regular Valley agent instead.  Hurray -- but not so fast.  This Realtor is completely untrained on the internet or any electronic communication devices.  I should have known I was in trouble when I received a hand-written offer on forms that were six generations old.  Anyway, we wound up double- and triple-doing and communicating everything over and over again, which is exactly what I wanted to avoid with a Greenscale agent.  And I got taught a lesson about trying to make transactions easier.  But the transaction closed, and I will miss my sellers and their baby.

Is your loan broker or Realtor a sole practitioner? Yikes.

There are many, many wonderful mortgage lenders and Realtors out there who have only your best interests at heart.  There are some that are not so good, as well.  I'm sure that comes as no surprise.  I've been having lots of bad luck with sole practioner Realtors and loan brokers lately.  Why? Because they don't answer to anybody, not even you, their client.  They're in business for themselves for two reasons: they don't want to work with other people in the business (hey, we're all a little misanthropic sometimes, but...) and they want every. last. dime. for themselves.  Make sure that if you're interested in working with these folks, you check them out very, very carefully.  The neck you save may be your own.

Notables of the week

Nicest house of the week: My two listings, of course, at 648 Birmingham and 2845 N. Lincoln in Burbank. Both will be open Sunday from 2 to 5.

Second nicest house of the week: a townhome on Valley Spring in Studio City. Just lovely, and with its own garage! I'm not going to advertise it further here in case my buyers want to buy it.

Best view of the week: from the for-sale house on Via Montana. You can see all the way to the County Hospital and the Ralph's warehouse! And downtown, Glendale and across the Valley.

Laughable seller statement of the week: "You don't need a/c in the summer in the Valley."

Trend of the week, continuing: Realtors that make their listings impossible to show.

Trend of the week, new: Realtors that don't read showing instructions on the mls.

Bank of the week: None other than Bank of America. If you read this blog often, you know that my recent BofA refinance took six months. Bank of America isn't doing much better with purchase money loans, apparently. I've heard lots and lots of anecdotes in the last few days about how long it takes for their loans to be approved, funded, etc. Way to bring your "A" game, BofA!

Headlines and Bad Foreclosure Realtors

Okay, first the headlines from the LAT: Sales were up 65% last month over September 2007. This is largely due to the number of bargains and foreclosures that are on the market. And the median price in the county is now $308,500 -- that's what? Down 25% from last year? Or more? We are still seeing more price stability in many neighborhoods, though, such as Burbank, Toluca Lake, Studio City, etc. Yes, prices have come down, but not by 25%.

And, thanks to the new California law that requires lenders to contact home owners before they foreclose, there are now 61% fewer Notice of Defaults filed than there were last quarter, and 45% less Notices of Trustee Sales. So you're right if you think there's less inventory out there.

Unfortunately, the downturn in the market has not attrited out the lousy Realtors. Here's how not to sell your foreclosure or trust sale: list with a Realtor that doesn't return calls, doesn't give property status, doesn't list things correctly in the mls, doesn't bother placing pictures on the mls, and doesn't give correct lockbox or combo code information. I attempted to show four short sale or REO properties in Altadena this weekend; two houses we tried to see are listed with Reators like this. So if a short sale or foreclosure is on the market in the current climate for over 70 days and you're wondering why, it's likely because of the Realtor.