Christmas was not long in our rear view mirror when the calls started up again today. We love inquiries on our listings; that’s what we work for. However, there are calls, and then there are calls. I can tell with some calls that these folks are first time buyers and just starting out. You have to start somewhere, but two calls in particular made me reflect on them more like they were incoming freshman who would need to get their feet wet than capable buyers. I just said to my wife that I wish I could fast forward to July with those two people after they learned the ropes. 

The details aren’t important (although you might smile). What is important is that every year, a fresh batch of would-be buyers enters the market, and many jump in haphazardly without an advocate, representation, and without advice from a professional. Many get disappointed, hurt, or both. And most of the stories I’ll hear in six to nine months will start out with the one of the following:

• We didn’t use an agent. 
• We used a terrible agent. 

Even in the current down market, real estate mistakes in Westchester County are really expensive. The median home price is well over half a million dollars, and annual property taxes of $10,000 or more are commonplace. There is a lot to think about, and the agent listing a home you call on yourself was hired to eat your lunch. A casual throwaway remark can cost you $25,000. How do I know this? Because I have advised my clients to make moves based on those casual remarks when the buyer uttered them. But if you have your own agent, I can’t hear a word you say because we’d never speak. 

Those of us who have short sales as part of our brokerage business can relate to Mike’s frustration. Short sales allow distressed sellers to leave their home with dignity, get a fresh start, and avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy. But that’s not the reason for banks to streamline the process. 

When a bank approves a hsort sale on a non-performing loan, theyliquidate a toxic asset years ahead of time, save on the legal fees related to foreclosure,  avoid selling a repossessed property for a far lower price, and avoid the complications related to the robo signing scandal. Simply put, they get more money for their non performing loan,  faster. More money faster. 

YET- getting a bank like Chase or any other entity to approve a short sale in a reasonable period of time is like wishing for world peace. And they often have to be dragged to the closing table kicking and screaming. 

Look, the banks did a fine job of wrecking home values and decimating the economy. They shouldn’t complain that they can’t get more to pay off these loans. They should devoate triple the resources to getting short sales approved and closed so we can rebuild the housing market. 

It is always interesting to shift gears from figuring out a way to get my listings on page 1 of Google for certain hyper local keywords frequented by consumers in 2012 to a question straight from 1995. Specifically, I was contacted by someone whose house recently expired unsold and we discussed their options. As they picked my brain about how I sell my listings, the question was posed “do you have an office?”

Now, this is not a dumb question. It is actually an understandable question. Having worked from home for some time and then opening up our brick and mortar office, I did see a difference in perception from colleagues and consumers alike. Office space can make a difference. That said, if your home is unique and appeals to a more uncommon, specific niche buyer, the real question for me is “what are you going to do that my last broker couldn’t?” or “how will you market the home differently to make it stand out?” Those are the crucial questions, because when you’ve been with a fancy big name office with national advertising and gourmet coffee in the lobby and still failed to sell, you start to realize that walk ins (i.e., folks window shopping who literally “walk in” to the office intending to speak with an agent) aren’t your bread and butter.

I’ll repeat it here: When Ann and I started the firm in 2005, we had a desk in my parents’ old bedroom. This was the same room where my crib was in 1967. It had a desk, a fax machine, a desktop computer, and a broker who planned world domination through an Internet presence that made the public percieve us to be larger and more more established than we were. That was the plan, and it worked well enough for us to open up on North State Road in 2007. We now have a small branch office in Upper Manhattan on Amsterdam Avenue as well. 

So yes, we have an office. It is at 522 North State Road in Brarcliff Manor in a brick professional building with a mansard-style roof and lots of parking. Italian food is walking distance in both directions (I wouldn’t have it any other way).  And from this office we manage 25 licensed agents and sell homes all over Westchester, the Hudson Valley, and even the boroughs of New York City. From this office I sell condos in White Plains, homes with acreage in Dutchess County, REOs in Staten Island, co ops in the Bronx and Queens, stately colonials in Pelham and Armonk, ranches in Nyack, and tons of other property. 

And none of that closes because of our office or because we were “in the neighborhood.” We get the job done because of how we ply our trade. We live in the question of how to market our listings better, how to help our buyers get better deals, and how to increase our stature online. And while we do get the occasional walk in, we don’t depend on them to pay the bills. The plan to leverage consumer friendly technology from day 1 has been followed religiously, streamlined, and improved month after month, year after year. This is why we have grown, and this is why 2012 will be a breakthrough year for our client family. 

Perhaps my colleagues can relate to the following scenario:

A buyer is interested in your listing. Their agent emails you a slew of questions, and you get all the answers. There might be one of those 2nd or 3rd showings where where half a dozen extended family members come by and stay for 90 minutes to kick the tires while your seller client improvises family dinner at Arby’s. We recently had three generations of a family look at a house in Yonkers for 2 hours and when my seller returned to his house the washing machine was broken! What in the world were those people doing? 

We have had prospective buyers come back for 3rd visits and stay for hours. They’ve walked through with friends of the family. In laws. And that is fine in this cautious environment. But at some point, lines and protocols should be clarified, even in a buyer’s market. Taking your contractor buddy, your HVAC guy, or your architect is not appropriate unless and until you have an offer in on that house. 

Unless you have really peculiar circumstances, structural inspections and most types of due diligence are done once you have a deal. In most areas this is known as the review period of contracts, and in Westchester County it is done before contracts but certainly after an acceptable offer is made. That’s how it is done. 

BUT PHIL, I can hear some agents say, My people don’t know if they want to make an offer until they make sure that their roofer/plumber/electrician/rabbi/sheetrock whisperer say it all checks out! To those agents I would say learn how to sell real estate. If I had a client ask me to do something backwards I would, um, tell them that is backwards. I would educate my client.  

BUT Phil, I hear another agent say, I don’t want to WASTE MY TIME if they aren’t going to go forward. We have to make sure everything checks out before I type up an offer … To those agents I say, do your job and stop trying to cut corners. It is ironic that you are so willing to waste the seller’s time. The occasions where there should be something verified before going forward exist, but they are rare. 90% of them probably involve you going to the town clerk or building department, not in the garage and attic. 

Deal first, due diligence next. Here’s why. If I as the listing agent encourage my sellers to allow curious, albeit uncommitted buyers and their posse to track insulation dust throughout the house enough only to have them not go forward, at some point my clients blow an O-ring. The broker’s job is to smooth out the process, not introduce a period of intrusive hell into their lives. Selling a home is disruptive enough. 

And when I represent buyers, it is the same thing. Here’s why: If a buyer has a deal on  a house, he has leverage on the seller. The seller does not want to lose the deal. And if the discovery period yields an issue, the seller is more likely to address the issue for a committed buyer than with someone they perceive as a nuisance. Buyers get far more consideration than lookers. Doesn’t that just make sense?

That’s the takeaway for consumers. You have to give to get. It isn’t about making things convenient for the seller (although that doesn’t hurt- alienating the seller is not the way to start an offer), it is about leveraging a stronger position to get what you want. And if your agent says that something is a bad idea, don’t get upset that they won’t be obedient; be glad you have a strong agent with backbone. They’ll be a better negotiator for you. 

If you are a buyer and the house feels like home but you have a reservation about the physical condition, that is what inspections are for. Lock the deal in first, then you do your due diligence. Any risk that you’ll find vampire bones in the basement is abated by the seller being more likely to fix the issue for a good faith buyer than a looky loo. Deal first, due diligence next. That is the rule of engagement, and that is why the protocol works. 

Update: Read Debbie Gartner’s comment: 

 I’ll also add perspective from the contractor’s end…it is very frustrating and a waste of your time to have us do an estimate, if you are not even sure that you are going to buy the house.  I’ve wasted too much time doing this.  It’s one thing if I lose an estimate to someone else, but totally different if the customer doesn’t buy the house.  my time is valuable too.  I try to avoid these like the plague.  I’m happy to go if it’s in contract.

Today was a first since I started my brokerage in mid 2005. I did something that I actually think more brokers and managers should do on occasion. 

I informed an agent that they would no longer be with our company. I fired someone. 

I’d love to say that it was difficult or that I was conflicted about the cut, but I was not. It was absolutely the right move, the company is better for it, and I haven’t scintilla of a doubt about my decision. Frankly, I am glad I terminated the person before they did something that would harm the reputation of the company or, worse, harmed the best interests of a client.

Back in October, I wrote a post entitled How Salespeople Can Prevent Their Broker From Premature Gray Hair. I undertook that one because one of our part-time agents was, inexplicably and for reasons I’ll never understand, unresponsive about fixing a relatively benign issue. If you ignore that small minor toothache it eventually becomes an abscess. And that is what happened.

The details are unimportant. What is important is that our firm has standards, and when Ann observed that we could never sleep at night if this person pulled this stunt on a client instead of with us, I knew I had to act. So I did.  Every opportunity was extended to make things right; it was to no avail. We are now a 25-member firm instead of 26. And I am completely at peace with that.  I have dealt with brokers and managers who demurred taking decisive action when their agent did something incredibly crappy. It’s like they could never part with anyone who brought in a dollar, like you can’t find someone to replace them who is better.  I will never be that milquetoast. 

I love growing my company and my brand. But only with good solid people. I’ll never sell out. I’d never hire or retain someone just for numbers, or, worse, just for money. Anyone who doesn’t share our values can do so from afar, but never under my roof. I am glad I did what had to be done before this person could let a client down. 

Pop quiz:
In the State of New York, if I as the listing agent bring my own buyer to the closing table, does that automatically make me a dual agent?  

If you answered “yes” you’d be wrong. If a New York real estate agent sells their own listing to their own buyer they are NOT automatically a dual agent. As a matter of fact they probably shouldn’t be.

Dual agency is one of the most misunderstood and controversial topics in the real estate industry. Part of the problem is that even professionals can’t agree because the rules vary greatly across state lines. Earlier today, on a discussion board on improving industry standards and practices, a licensee from another state wrote that if a buyer who had no agent called to buy one of her listings that she would refer them to another agent. In her state, she would be doing the right thing.

I would assert that in Westchester County where I work, if a buyer were hot for one of my listings and I did anything short of scheduling a showing with the intention of producing an offer for my seller, that I would be acting contrary to what my seller client hired me to do. My seller want me to get that buyer to commit. As a matter of fact my seller client should want me to bring my own buyer. And not because of the urban myth that there will be a commission savings. 

The reason my seller should want me to sell their listing myself is, pure and simply, advocacy. The seller hired me to sell the house when they list. They are the client. I am their advocate by statute. If we get a call on a sign or Internet entry on a listing, that guy is a customer. He didn’t hire me. I am not his advocate. He just wants to see the house and doesn’t have an agent. I owe him fairness and honesty. But I don’t work for him. When a buyer deals directly with me as the listing agent, he has no advocate. 

What are the advantages to the seller? 

• There is no buyer agent. The buyer has no counterpart to me working for him. 
• There is no buyer agent. I don’t have to call that agent for an update and wait for them to call the buyer and then call me back. I just call the buyer. 
• There is no buyer agent. There is no one with MLS or broker access to the comparable market activity to educate the buyer. 
• There is no buyer agent. The buyer is negotiating the largest transaction of his life with me (and my 500 transaction background) with no professional help. 

Are you getting the picture? This is why we tell buyers they need an agent to represent them, because the listing agent may well eat their lunch! But when a guy walks in cold off the proverbial street to see one of my listings, that act alone does not hire me as his representative. He is a customer. The seller is the client. This makes exclusive buyer agents and consumer advocates cringe, but the consumer I work for is the seller client. If the buyer chooses to not be represented, he does so at his own peril. 

Sometimes I regret asking a question because I hate the answer. 

Just this morning, I saw that it was the last day to submit an entry into The One That Got Away blogging contest, and I asked myself if I could recall a good story on the theme. Unfortunately, my answer came in an email tonight. 

Background: 13 months ago, I listed a true fixer upper for a very nice seller client. It was a gut job that needed everything- heat, electrical, windows, floors, baths, kitchen, you name it. It would need either an all cash buyer or a rehabilitation mortgage. It didn’t sell  in the first listing contract, but I earned an extension from the seller. We got our buyer this past June. 

The buyer’s agent was, from the sound of things, inexperienced. The buyer’s attorney…well, she was REALLY out there. She not only went on the home inspection (never heard of that one), she attempted to renegoiate the terms of our deal after contracts were sent out. Can you say “bad faith?” The icing on the cake was that the mortgage loan officer was really unresponsive. For months we asked for updates and got nothing from the lender, all while the attorney assured us that their mortgage application was proceeding. 

We were informed that a commitment was issued in August, but it was subject to an appraisal. How could they issue a mortgage with no appraisal? Again, no answers from their loan officer. After the appraisal, we were assured that the “clear to close” was imminent. 

Then, the hammer came down. The bank revoked the commitment. The appraisal cited water seepage in the basement and disqualified the collateral. How can you disqualify the house in a rehab loan? When you apply for the wrong loan. The loan officer, who was now not only MIA but being covered for by other colleagues, put the applicant into a steamline loan and not a full bown renovation loan. They applied for the wrong mortgage. The lawyer and agent didn’t catch it, and their loan officer was out to lunch.  

Since  commitment was issued, our position was that the buyer either needed to re- apply for the correct mortgage or forfeit the deposit. They were unresponsive for weeks. 

Outcome: Tonight, my seller emailed me and asked to be released. Shooting the messenger? Absolutely. Just yesterday I was on the phone with the owner of the other brokerage discussing how to get his buyer to stop stalling and proceed. I made it clear that the deposit was in jeopardy, especially in light of the attorney’s reassurances that the mortgage process was proceeding well (pretty crazy when she didn’t know her buyer applied for the wrong loan). But my seller had enough. She wants to start anew with another broker. 

The Lesson: Deals are either green and growing or ripe and rotten. Leaving the success of the loan in the hands of a rookie agent, a moonbat lawyer and an inept loan officer was the formula for losing the deal and as it turns out, the listing. Even though this was not my buyer and not my client, I should have asserted myself and either caught the mistake or flushed out the deal earlier. Even if that resulted in the loss of the deal it would have saved time, money, and certainly my standing with my client. 

Never again will I tolerate unprofessional behavior without a fight. Never again will I let a rookie learn the ropes on the back of my client. I won’t care about feelings, diplomacy or complaints. If advocacy means making waves, surfs up. 

You might notice in the Sidebar of my blog that I have some excerpts to client reviews I have received with a link to my Zillow profile and ratings.

When Zillow announced their agent ratings system, I voiced some understandable skepticism. However, Sara Bonert, whom I like and respect, gave me some rather convincing reassurances that safeguards would be taken against system gamers and fraudulent reviews from the unscrupulous. I then published a post, to be fair, that Zillow was going about this ratings system in a responsible way. I wish it ended there. It doesn’t. 

I have to tell you that as an owner and operator of a company, this is a seasaw that I wish would stop moving.  A few days ago, I received an email that began with the following:

A review was submitted for your Zillow profile indicating that you did not respond to the Reviewer’s inquiry. Consumers who contact you through Zillow or otherwise have the opportunity to share their experience by submitting such a rating and review.

Since we realize that things outside your direct control could have contributed to this, and because we assume that you have every intention of following-up with leads, we are extending you a “Free Pass” and will not publish this review on your Zillow profile. Please note that this is a one-time courtesy and that you will not receive a “free pass” for similar reviews submitted for you in the future. We kindly ask that you follow-up with any and all leads that come your way, and that you ensure your Zillow profile is kept updated with your most current and reliable contact information.

Let’s set aside the reference to inquiries as “leads.” So, apparently, not just clients or customers can rate us. Anyone with a keyboard and Internet access can. Some guy somewhere inquired about something on Zillow, presumably to me, didn’t hear back and attempted to give me a review saying I ignored them. That would very likely to damage to a 5-star rating that I have earned through hard work and dedication to my clients in the sidebar. This is ridiculous.

First, anyone that knows me will attest to the fact that I follow up on all consumer inquiries pretty zealously. It is how I built my company and why I sell the volume that I do (an “off year” where I only rank 22nd in transactions out of 6500 in my MLS, putting me in the top 0.3% in ubercompetitive suburban New York). I don’t need Zillow’s bot wagging it’s cyber finger at me to do my job.

Well, I do my job. There are just too many variables at play for a random consumer inquiry to have the same power to review me that a past customer or clients has. As you might expect, many consumer inquires through online portals like Zillow are from people with emails with typos or phone numbers like (000) 111-2233. Not everyone that is asked for their contact information will give it. Moreover, even in the cases of well meaning consumers, responses can be sent to spam folders, overlooked,  or otherwise missed through no fault of mine. And anyone who has spent 30 minutes in the real estate business will attest to the fact that a huge number of answers to consumers go unacknowledged. If I had a dime for every email and voicemail that went to black hole hell I’d retire. It is the business. How am I supposed to know if my response got through? And if you pester people, they get annoyed and time is lost from more fruitful endeavors. 

We can argue all we want whether a brokerage like Redfin, a 3rd party aggregator like Zillow, or anyone for that matter should rightly be a conduit for agent reviews. I for one am fine with it- so long as the execution is done correctly. This is absolutely not done right, and it flies in the face of the assurances I was given. I was given a mulligan this time, but what about next time? Any creep can tank my hard earned ratings? Seriously? 

Zillow needs to do the right thing and give the power to rate agents only to those people who have actually worked with the agent, not to any random guy who sent an email once. There is too much room for the abuse that I was assured would not occur.