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The Need For Hourly Real Estate Consulting
invite response
2011 Oct 4, 8:14am 15,543 views 54 comments
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gregpfielding
2011 Oct 7, 5:47am
Think dual agents, where your agent doesn't actually represent you.
This is incorrect. In a dual agency, that agent represents both parties and has a responsibility to look after all of their interests.
In a dual agency, that agent represents both parties and has a responsibility to look after all of their interests.
That's the same as looking out for either nobody or the seller. The only incentive is to make sure the deal goes through.
Shit, even the bible can tell you this. Matthew 6:24. And you know something's up when I'm quoting the bible.
Agreed. It's a problem within the whole business model.
If we could start over, agents should be paid hourly, just like an accountant or lawyer. The good ones charge more, the weak ones, less.
To answer your question about how many hours of actual work involved in selling a house. A typical sale might look like this:
3 hours initial setup and getting property on the market.
1-4 hours for the first week of follow-up with agents, potential broker’s tour, and marketing.
1 hour each additional week on the market doing market research, checking out new competition, following up on showings, and talking with agents who have interested buyers.
1-3 hours of contract negotiation time once we get an offer.
2-4 hours each week during escrow for inspections, additional disclosures, misc. paperwork, and continued negotiations.
2-4 hours for actual closing and then closing out the file.
Haha. That would be a nightmare. If agents got money upfront, they'd drag their feet on the whole process. People would start avoiding agents altogether.
If we could start over people would use a computer to list their own houses with many more pictures, video!, rough sketched floor plans, the works. Without that 6% payment, prices would be lower, the realtors wouldn't screw the seller over by making deals with their friends, the banks wouldn't ship foreclosed homes to the realtors first...
The world would survive and prosper without sleazy middleman gumming up the works as they've been for so long. Some jobs will need to be done like a home inspection and someone for paperwork, but the current % is crazy and paying realtors by the hour would just make things worse.
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We will spend hundreds of dollars consulting with attorneys, therapists, accountants, doctors, healers, decorators, and other niche professionals. But we never really consult with a real estate pro… even though a home is usually our biggest asset, liability, and most central element in our lives.
Why is that?
We feel bad “consulting†with an real estate expert and taking up their time when we know they won’t get paid for it. And, the advice we get is biased because that "expert" only gets paid if we hire them and take action.
This system is broken and it’s a real shame. Consumers are the ones who lose.
Hiring me hourly solves all of this.
Are you thinking of buying investment property and want an expert to look at it first? Well worth a few hundred bucks.
Considering buying your first home and thinking this might be the time to enter the market? Thinking of selling now, or waiting until the Spring? Thinking of renting? Maybe you need to hear about short sales, foreclosures, and strategic default from a real estate perspective.
Debating selling your home or renting it out? Maybe you want to start flipping houses. Or maybe you want independent research on one home versus another. Or maybe you inherited a home and need to know your options. Maybe you own several properties and you are debating selling them. Should you hire a stager? Should you paint or remodel first?
Do you feel like someone else is pushing you to so something and you want someone independent to take a look?
And you need the truth, not a sales pitch.
A few hundred bucks today could pay for itself a thousand times over in the coming years.
The price is $150 per hour.
This not a replacement for the typical commissions that my brokerage and I charge in a normal sale. And, if you have already hired another real estate agent, I may not be able to give you specific advice about a transaction you are involved in with them..
Many of you here would have no need for this service. Yet, even for the I-can-do-everything-myself crowd, a few hours of my time could save you a lot of time, money, and headache down the road.
Think about all of the poor real estate decisions that people have made over the last decade... in the grand scheme of how much we spend on real estate, a few hundred bucks in insignificant, but the benefits could be profound.
And if you think $150 per hour is too expensive, I would suggest that advice worth less than that probably isn't worth taking.
Quite a few of you out there know me and have followed my blog for years. Patrick has promoted dozens of my articles. I am no Kool-Aid drinker.
I'm one of the good ones - someone you wish your friends, neighbors, and family would listen to.
Patrick.net fans who want more integrity in the real estate business should be supportive of what I am trying to do. It doesn't solve all of the industry's problems, but it's a start.
Here's a link to my blog with more information http://bayarearealestatetrends.com/hourly-consulting/
Looking forward to all of the snark, sarcasm, and hopefully even some constructive comments below,
-Greg Fielding
#housing