About 3 or 4 days after our realtor put in our 2nd offer...verbally, my husband and I went into the sales office alone to see if they had other homes. We found out from the sales agent our dream house was sold, and she [had] called our realtor about the other offer (but she never called to tell us). About another week went by without hearing from her, so I sent her an email telling her we were going to continue our search on our own and no longer required her assistance. She responded very unprofessionally and rudely, but I expected that from her.

 

Weeks went by with our stress level rising, our lease coming to an end, and running out of houses to look at. We kept broadening our search but every time something we'd be willing to look at came up- it would be under contract, or we'd see it in person and it would be trashed.

 

One day we went back to the sales office where we put in the other offer to see if they had any other homes available. They had one so we checked it out. This one was even nicer but was more expensive. As we were getting desperate and we loved this new house (which was above what we wanted to spend) we decided to just put in a low offer. I typed up everything we wanted (add study, fix this fix that, pay closing etc) and went up there with my check book. I left feeling pretty good. 3 hours later I got a call that had me almost jumping through the roof. They accepted our offer.

 

So, we're closing in about 1 month. Its a brand new house with everything we wanted and more, and we got it for about 30k under their asking price.

 

I owe you a big thank you for writing that blog about verbal offers. It is what really got me thinking about ditching our realtor, and had we not done that- who knows what would have happened. So, again thank you so much for your advice. We're extremely excited to move into our first house.

(C) Susan Pruden.

I was reading an article about blogging this morning, from a broker in Canada. He made an observation that caught my attention, that up until the early nineties, real estate agents controlled the information and doled it out as they wanted. Now there is so much information out there, we should be prepared to help people understand it.

I know that when I'm researching something -- buying a new printer or looking for software that will help simplify a task, for example -- I look for reviews and comments by other people. I read the manufacturer's information. I pour over statistics and prices. And for many items, I finally just go ask the salesperson at Best Buy and ask what he thinks. I get so bogged down in the minutiae that I can't make any kind of decision.

Real estate is both complicated and simple. It's not rocket science, for sure, but it can also be very complex. Evaluating the market, especially in these difficult times mortgage-wise, is no easy task. That's why, in any news site, you can find an opinion that goes one way and another opinion that goes in the exact opposite direction.

Much of that is simply because real estate is local. The market here in Cheverly is different than the market in Chevy Chase, which is different than the market in Northern Virginia, which is different than the market in D.C. and so on. Different factors, such as price, inventory, and the relative desireability of the neighborhood can make the market on one street different than the market on another. House styles, both inside and out, go in and out of fashion just like any other commodity.

I got an offer recently from an agent who does most of his business in D.C., though in this case, the property was in Maryland. The offer was ridiculously low and when I asked him about it, he said that in D.C., he always recommends that his buyers offer 10% lower than the asking price. Needless to say, his was not the accepted offer! If he had known the differences in the marketplaces, he would never have made that recommendation to his buyers. His advice possibly cost them the house they wanted. His buyers needed someone who could give them a better understanding of all the news that says we are in a buyer's market.

I think it's great that all that information is available. However, I read so many articles that take a local or personal experience and extrapolate that experience into a national trend.

It just ain't so.

(C) Susan Pruden.

Occasionally, an agent will have a listing that expires (meaning it didn't sell within the term of the listing contract). There are lots of possible reasons for that, such as a) the property being priced too high - usually the seller's fault, b) inadequate marketing - usually the agent's fault, and c) a just plain crappy market (nobody's fault).

One of the tools that buyers use in determing the price they will offer on any given property is the number of days the property has been on the market. If it's only been on the market for 2 days, it might be difficult to get a seller to accept a really low offer. On the other hand, the seller of a property that has been on the market for 200 days might be willing to accept a less-than-full-price offer.

So the days on market indicator is a tool. It also helps agents when they're doing a market analysis. (BTW, if you read our listings, DOMM means the number of days a property has been listed under a specific MRIS listing number. DOMP means the total number of days the property has been listed regardless of the listing number.) And we REALTORS® are bound by our code of ethics to present a true and accurate picture of the status of the property.

Some agents try to mask the actual number of days on market by manipulating the data when entering the listing into our listing service. And now our listing service (MRIS) is getting tough.

As they say, the cost of doing business is going up.

• 1st violation - a warning.
• 2nd violation - a $1000 fine (up from $50).
• 3rd violation - $2000 fine (up from $100).
• 4th violation - 30 day suspension from using MRIS and a total of $3000 in fines.

I say it's about time.

(C) Susan Pruden.