The Trouble With Some Realtors

There is a plus side to the housing market being in a decline, and that would be the limited amount of bad agents out there. This is a great benefit if you are in the market to buy or sell a home, because chances are you will find a more reliable, up-to-date realtor. In the past a lot of agents did a lot of their work from their offices, but now they really do need to be out in the field in order to be successful. With that information though, you do still need to be careful in choosing your agent.

There are still part time housewife’s out there who do a deal or two a year for some extra money. The checker at the local Von’s still dabbles when an unsuspecting victim falls into the web. Even the meter reader for the electric company will try to pass as a full time professional realtor. They are not doing their clients any favors.

The market has undergone a massive upheaval and you can not do business the same way as five years ago. In Big Bear, bank owned properties make up 10% of the inventory and 40% of the sales. If your realtor is not proficient in dealing with REO’s, Short Sales, etc, you are asking for trouble.

Here is a perfect example from my last escrow transaction. I had some clients that made an offer on a property that was out of our area. We of course held up our part of the bargain, and then sat back and waited to hear that the escrow was opened. In the last twenty sales I have had in the last year or so, there is almost always a complication with the bank opening escrow in a timely manner.

With this deal, I felt cool as a cucumber at first, but then I started to sour when I hadn’t heard back from the bank in quite a while. Weeks later they confessed to having filed the deal with the wrong office. Then they suggested we may have to pay delay fees. I couldn’t believe how ridiculous these people were. Needless to say, I was not having it and we got the deal squared away. But it was quite a lesson in the nerve of some people.

Had I not known what I have learned from all my experience with REO’s, this could have gone really bad for my client. Less-experienced realtors are dangerous in these types of situations. So protect yourself and only work with someone who works in realty full time.

Author Steven Blagow is an experienced Big Bear, CA foreclosures realtor and well-trained in luxury realty. He is in fact one of the most respected Big Bear, CA houses realtors in his field.

categories: big bear,luxury homes,resort homes,vacation homes,new homes,home buying,home for sale,house for sale,single family homes,property,property listings,real estate,realty