Drive on…

June 6, 2013

So I’m letting my realtor go tomorrow.

Strike one was that I was trying to get in touch with her to submit an offer to the first place, but she took too long to send it in. She waited several days after I signed all the papers and it went pending in the meantime.

Strike two was that she went out of town for half of May and wasn’t able to arrange it so someone else could show me around.

Strike three was that I asked her to look into a list of 5 lofts so we could narrow them down and see them before the weekend. I felt like they wouldn’t be on the market much longer despite the length of time some of them had been listed.

True to my inkling, three of the ones I was most interested in went pending in the meantime. (She couldn’t take me until Thursday…3 day wait).

I was letting her slide for a while…

She helped me find the place I live now a few years ago. And she was showing me stuff periodically last year when I wasn’t even pre-qualified yet. Thought I owed it to her to be loyal.

Meanwhile, my co-worker who also used her to find their home said she wasn’t very available…and didn’t even go to their closing…

And my dad was in my ear saying she was lazy…

Justified it all…maybe she thought the co-worker didn’t need the extra help as they’ve bought homes several times!

And my parents had executive relocation services! Their realtor gave them gifts, drove them around in nice cars, and waited on them hand and foot, mostly because they were getting 10k+ in commission…

I’m not on that level and thought that wasn’t to be expected.

Then I heard that other people’s realtors actually looked up places for them…the process wasn’t as manual as mine (I looked up all the places we went to see myself. She didn’t really offer anything).

Also every time she picked me up to go, she had tons of excuses of why she’d been MIA (we had a dinner party, my kid had a recital, my mom’s in town…)

Meanwhile, 2 other realtors were calling me several times a week trying to get my business….

So yeah.

Interest rates are climbing daily.

I have to be out of my place by 31 July.

Things are not staying on the market very long at all.

I don’t really care about your personal life…you’re costing me money here. Kinda need someone who has time for me.

SO at 9:40 PM, I emailed one of the other realtors who routinely blew up my phone.

She responded 10 minutes later.

We’ll see how this goes…

House Hunting

7 Comments

June 6, 2013 at 9:18 pm

Ms. Minx

Yeah that sounds extremely lazy. Clearly she was coasting. She’ll have to sit up and act right if she wants to make any money!! Smh.

Good luck with the new person, and with the whole house-hunting process
Reply
- June 7, 2013 at 1:44 am
  
  KaNisa
  
  She’s pretty awesome. She’s sent about 8 emails today with listings and always responds to me within 10 minutes no matter what time it is.
  
  Now just have to see how she is when doing showings. One thing the last realtor was good at was pointing out stuff like foundation cracks or looking for water damage in the attic.
  Reply
June 7, 2013 at 2:18 pm

Patrice

Opportunities lost due to her incompetence. That is frustrating. I wonder if she is just trying to blow you off because she feels like she has put in more hours already than you’re worth as a ‘low value’ client. Regardless, there is no excuse for dereliction of duty. Better luck with your new realtor.
Reply
- June 8, 2013 at 6:23 pm
  
  KaNisa
  
  I mean she would have gotten a 7k commission with me. And we’ve only gone out maybe 4 times…all to see things that I found on my own. She didn’t pull any listings for me.
  
  If I were a realtor, I’d do it the same way I approach end-user requirements for the applications I work with :
  
  Sit down with the users and ask what they do as their job (Ask about their lifestyle)
  Ask how do they do their jobs now and shadow them for a day (Ask them to take me through their place and tell me what they would change/add)
  Make low-fidelity mockups and test them with the users (Pull listings based on their broad requirements)
  Make high-fidelity mockups and test them with the users (Take them to see narrowed down options)
  
  Then iterate any listings I pull based on their feedback instead of taking them to more of the same stuff.
  
  But that’s just me…
  Reply
  - June 9, 2013 at 2:32 am
    
    Patrice
    
    Whoops, I miscalcuated the commision by a factor of 10. (But still, the agent keeps 50% of the commission, and out of that pays her epxenses).
    
    Something to read. Refers specifically to the Atlanta market.
    http://www.profitconfidential.com/real-estate-market/best-explanation-on-the-fake-housing-market-recovery-ive-seen/
  - June 9, 2013 at 11:51 pm
    
    KaNisa
    
    My dad has been saying the same. Is convinced there will be another stock market crash later this year.
  - June 10, 2013 at 1:18 am
    
    Patrice
    
    Yes, there has been talk of that for months now, but the bulls are having none of it. Some pullback mid last week, though, with indications that the Fed will slow QE2. Sell or hold – have been wrestling with that for the last few weeks.