patrick.net

so he/she may be more inclined to go with you than someone else who brings their own agent.

This is a big problem. It seems the listing agents don't want to accept reasonable offers from buyers who are represented by other agents for fear of having to split the commission. I made an offer on a home for 200k (very distressed property) Listing agent would not even entertain the offer. I was willing to negotiate and go as far as 230k. We had to threaten her in order for her to deliver the offer (still not sure if she actually did). She said her buyer refused. She later brought in her own buyer and sold for 210k. Like I said, I would have gone up to 230k had she come back with a counter.

I am currently looking at a house that assessed out at 309k two years ago. They are asking 327k today. The comps are 310k, 265k and 285k. All three sold 6 months ago. Market has been steadily descending for the past 2 years. The house that was 310k is a comp but it is also 1100 sft larger than the home for sale. I put an offer of 280k. The listing agent was disgusted. What on earth is going on?????? When I asked to see the comps he used to price the house, he says he doesn't have time for this too busy. What???

rubyrae says

The house that was 310k is a comp but it is also 1100 sft larger than the home for sale. I put an offer of 280k. The listing agent was disgusted. What on earth is going on?????? When I asked to see the comps he used to price the house, he says he doesn’t have time for this too busy. What???

Submit the same offer to the seller bypassing the agent altogether. Tell the seller what their agent said about your offer. Worst case scenario is the seller concurs with their agent, but there's a good chance you may end up getting another lying, self-serving agent fired.

I had the same thing happen at an open house in Simi Valley a week ago. When the broker could see I wasn't a "bend over", and that we shared some things in common...he told me not to buy for 3-5 years! I was blown away.

My loan officer recently told me about a close friend who's in the REO dept at BofA who told her that they have 100,000 properties they would be releasing for sale in the first 6 mos or so of this year.

Little more info on my situation. Turns out the agent showing the home was NOT the listing agent - she works in the same office as the listing agent and was just hosting the open houses for him. But still, my statement above stands. I have been using redfin to search for houses for years and so I want to give back. Also, during this offering process the redfin agent has been very responsive and none of his statements have kicked off my BS meter. He's letting me drive - answering questions and/or offering advice when I ask but otherwise doing what I ask. So far I'm happy.

rubyrae says

This is a big problem. It seems the listing agents don't want to accept reasonable offers from buyers who are represented by other agents for fear of having to split the commission.

same issue here in houston. there is a agent law with the realtors that they will not even write up or present any offer for less than list price and lie that they have several over listing price offers already but nothing ever sells.

Unknown says

same issue here in houston...and lie that they have several over listing price offers already but nothing ever sells.

That is a region, national, and international problem it seems with realtors. Pretty much uncovered in Canada and Australia. Many havent woken up to the practice exists here in the USA.

It will be the third and last leg to fall in the correction (aka recovery).

Same thing going on in southern cali, if you don't go with the listing agent you lose, If they represent the buyer and seller, they simply say to their buyer "you might have to up your offer a little since i've had an offer come in from another agent" Since they also represent the buyer, as a buyer you ask what would you suggest? So your offer will be beat out by a few thousand. And you woun't get the chance to put in a higher offer. And they can represent it as the best offer to the bank or seller.

klarek says

Wow, agents telling the truth? No wonder NAR sees Redfin as a threat.

I wouldn't bank on the whole "dam is ready to break" theory on the shadow inventory. I've been hearing rumors like this for over 2.5 years. But they're likely right that prices are going to continue to fall.

The reality NAR faces is that their entire business is based on lack of transparency in the real estate market. As long as the buyer does not know anything about all the other properties and values NAR can be a profit machine middle man.

But with online mls they aren't needed anymore. RedFin is something like 20/month, thats a lot less than paying some jackass 6% of the property value.

It's going to be painful for NAR types, real estate data is all online, there are multiple online mls, all county assessor data is online too. realtors are doomed.

Barney_Franks says

Don't ask realtors about when is a good time to buy period. Make your own judgement on stats and independent research (avoiding NAR stats). The truth is, nobody is 100% but some will of course guess right!

I have never heard a Realtor® say "it's a bad time to buy". Never.

Make your own bottom, make offers 20% less then listing price.

Meditate ; Why did Real Property sales prices become detached from reality ?

When you have the answer, you will KNOW true value.

hint: 1973 then 1983

TMAC54 says

Why did Real Property sales prices become detached from reality

people willing and able to gamble with OPM, mainly. Plus the self-feeding nature of real estate speculation, valuations going up 2002-2003 due to interest rate drops brought more speculation into the market, the 20% gains of 2004 brought even more, and the new suicide loans added fuel to the fire in many areas, but by 2Q05 the party was over and the unwinding was to begin.

Texas did not experience a bubble because they had sounder lending standards. The looser the standards, the bigger the bubble.

We're buying a house through Redfin right now. My agent actually encouraged me NOT to bid any higher during a multiple offer situation. He advised me that we would probably be outbid given how many parties were bidding and what the listing agent had told him, but he thought that the house was going to be bid up higher than it was worth. That is exactly what happened. We were outbid, but the party that outbid us ended up walking away from the deal in the end. We put in a second offer right away when we found out, and got the house for effectively $12k less than we bid the first time around (and I'm guessing >$20k less than the original winning bidder was going to pay). Good call on the part of our Redfin agent! It proves to me that he is on our side and not just trying to close a deal at any cost to us.

To David Losh and anybody else saying that Redfin tries to target you with a "hot deal" after earning your trust: that has not happened to me in my 9+ months of dealing with Redfin. The only homes I have ever seen with Redfin have been homes that I specifically requested to see. The only marketing materials I receive from them are emails that I opted to receive (that are customized to show me only the homes and areas that I have favorited). So really, I think that you have no idea what you are talking about.

APOCALYPSEFUCK says

Then you can pick up a house for the price of a good used car, which is a reasonable price for a box with a door.

"Box with a door" is excellent! Never heard it put that way before.

FF says

To David Losh and anybody else saying that Redfin tries to target you with a "hot deal" after earning your trust: that has not happened to me in my 9+ months of dealing with Redfin. The only homes I have ever seen with Redfin have been homes that I specifically requested to see. The only marketing materials I receive from them are emails that I opted to receive (that are customized to show me only the homes and areas that I have favorited). So really, I think that you have no idea what you are talking about.

realtors are starting to advertise on patrick.net now.

EMan says

FF says

To David Losh and anybody else saying that Redfin tries to target you with a "hot deal" after earning your trust: that has not happened to me in my 9+ months of dealing with Redfin. The only homes I have ever seen with Redfin have been homes that I specifically requested to see. The only marketing materials I receive from them are emails that I opted to receive (that are customized to show me only the homes and areas that I have favorited). So really, I think that you have no idea what you are talking about.

realtors are starting to advertise on patrick.net now.

wtf are you talking about? I have had the exact same experience, which is why I started this thread. The Redfin agent we work with has been incredible, a big reason we have not bought is because of his guidance. He even knows we are approved for 200k more than what we want to spend and he has advised against bidding up on properties.

I have dealt with dozens of horrible Realtors, but all the Redfin agents have been awesome.

Tude maybe that one agent is great. Telling someone that all of them are ethical because of a single experience is very naive. When ethics becomes a trend this topic can be revisited.

Everyones experience with realtors or people in real estate industry has been hurt with insane realtor conflict of interest. Maybe Redfin agents are better, but I'll only agree with that when enough evidence over time there to support that.

1973 banks doubled the amount a family could borrow for home purchases.

1983 the computer was introduced.

Drop all the complicated mythological and intentional confusing formulae.

The more we make the more we spend !!! We don't make as much as we did during the information age infancy.

FOHO says

Come-on people, Redfin makes money from selling houses (and your browsing history). They are not the federal government. They can't print money to pay their "field agents." At the end of the day, they have to compete with other "realtors" and try to sell YOU a house.

Matt from Redfin here. Redfin does not sell your browsing history. Redfin only makes money when you buy or sell a home with our agents or partner agents.

Its not about price...it's not about interest rate...it's about affordabilty...no other time in history have we had low prices and low interest rates. Stop trying to time the market..no one can. The one thing you can count on is inflation so you'd better own something other than cash.

Read my blog here: http://www.reoavenue.com/crystal-ball/

AW says

no other time in history have we had low prices and low interest rates.

When interest rates are low the marked is rigged to be inflated above it's real market value. You can not have low prices with low interest rates.

Learn about things before you give advice on them and stop spamming.

PS. If you're not incompetent - you are probably a shill.

MCMSinger says

you are probably a shill.

Yeah, it's a shill directing us to his/her site. The comment is mostly nonsensical.

AW says

Its not about price...it's not about interest rate...it's about affordabilty...no other time in history have we had low prices and low interest rates. Stop trying to time the market..no one can. The one thing you can count on is inflation so you'd better own something other than cash.

Read my blog here: http://www.reoavenue.com/crystal-ball/

Nice first post. LOL.