What's a dead giveaway that my agent is lazy and inefficient?

Question

I recently got an agent referral from a coworker. We hit it off so i asked the guy to help me find a home. From there he referred me to a one of his preferred lenders and now i am completely pre-approved for a mortgage with that lender.

Long story short, though its only been about 2 or 3 weeks, this agent doesnt appear to be actively trying to find homes for me. He put me on an automated MLS email list based off of my search criteria (which i've heard is what lazy agents tend to do). The automated emails i get from him come in at the same time my redfin notifications come in so I don't think I'm getting any real benefit from him sending me those.  That being said, I am looking for a home in Seattle which is a very competitive market, with really low inventory and i have a very strict budget and criteria to stick to. Do i just have unrealistic expectations or can my agent be doing more?

What are some thoughts?

(We've made 2 offers, one of which was a home i'd found by myself on redfin and we've gotten outbid on both. He hasn't really been reaching out to me to try and maybe re-strategize)

Ivy Wang · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs @Levi T. I work everyday as well lol. Most of my transactions are off-market pocket listings and sell sometimes in the middle of the night. It depends on your niche, clientele, and network. There are all kinds of agents for different customers, however, the OP is now disappointed with the service, which I think may be unwarranted and the result of unrealistic expectations and/or poor communication. The difference may also be whether his agent sees him as a first time home buyer or a serious big-time investor. I certainly don't work the same way with all my clients.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

Lennox, is the co-worker who referred you an investor or an avg Joe home buyer that needed a little hand-holding? You're agent will continue to do what they have done. It's what they do and we can't fault them for that or expect them magically to change into something they are not.

What is your specific criteria? Are you trying to buy a rental or a primary? Single family or plex?

Seattle is an insanely hot market. If you have a specific area nailed down, you will have to do the work to get to know those owners. Be on top of mind when they decide to sell.  That's what I do.  Farm my area. Tend my crops. Be ready for harvest even though it may take a while - then boom- 3 at the same time.

Can't say if you're agent is lazy or apathetic. At least they're doing something. How close were you on your 2 offers?  Post your buying criteria for better feedback.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Ivy Wang  in one of my markets I buy in  ( I buy in 15 across the country) I get 90% of my deals probably 95% from MLS direct feed to my personal e mail.. the rest go to my teams in that state and they filter them out.. but this one market we are ONLY buying lots so I want to see each lot the day it comes on.. I usually offer within an hour on one I like... and then we some times will have to do highest and best... and or escalator clause ( which I just won one of those because the other agents and buyers I guess never heard of an escalator clause )... In hot markets if you want something that tic's your box's ... you need to be on it.. your agent can't do that for you .. its up to me the buyer but then again .. agents have to decide is my buyer a consistent client or just one off.. And is my buyer realistic given market conditions..

I have seen all the folks come through my brokerages fresh out of guru school or a site like BP were they are building their power teams but have never bought anything.. and their expectations of what a realtor can and should do is totally unrealistic to reality.

there are agents in my market here in Portlandia were I live.. that work pretty much exclusively with investors.. but boy its hard to break into their club.. they have their for real buyers who are regulars and known to them to be able to close with cash in 5 to 10 days.. that's what it takes in the northwest if you buying a distressed asset with day one upside.

Albert Bui · Answer

The market is blazing hot right now. I've seen over priced offers lose out to lower, but strategically placed offers. Sometimes a lower offer gets picked for various reasons ranging from past working relationship with the agents, non contingent terms,  catered offer to seller needs, short contingencies, unique clauses that favors the seller and achieves buyer criteria simultaneously, and others.

I've also seen agents who I've been adjusting pre-approval letters for who are just throwing in default MLS template offers (default contingencies for inspection, appraisal, financing, etc) that are constantly rejected.

I've also worked with agents who get an offer accepted on the first or second try.

I will say, like others before me, that good communication is usually the key difference to have a successful real estate experience.

Levi T. · Answer

@Ivy Wang My team and I have our eyes and ears everywhere that we are buyers. We have agents who know we are buyers for x property and x price, cash, and we buy everyday, even on Sunday. I've gotten calls from those agents in the middle of the night about deals, and bought it on the spot. We know about deals before some owners know they are going to be selling. To get to that point, you have a long road ahead. Right now your green to the business so not everyone will turn to you as they have someone like me, just a phone call away from a done deal that can close in a few days.

You don't just want one agent looking for deals, you want agents everywhere calling and emailing you about deals everyday. After a while people will know not to call or email unless hits your desired criteria. At first your going to get everything under the sun, after a while it will slowdown as you refine your criteria, and a few will stick around and feed you a deal from time-to-time. Good deals don't come everyday, otherwise they would not be good deals!

Thomas S. · Answer

Each individual has different needs and requirements from a agent. For myself an agent is no more than a individual I call upon to process paper work. They do very little work for me and get paid by the sellers. For me they are a free service so I do not expect much. You may require a agent that can take the lead and hold your hand.

I do not use the same agent for selling as I do for buying as the two have much different requirements.

You need to sit down and communicate with them and determine if they are the best fit for your personal needs.

Joel Owens · Answer

Yes Jay that is why buyers have to be schooled on the markets and asset classes as to what is possible.

I find some buyers pick a number in their mind that has nothing to do with the data or cycle of the market.

Some buyers tend to get upset when they cannot have what they want and are told it is not realistic. Now there are some brokers/agents that are really lazy and want buyers to buy anything no questions asked. I am not talking about those.

I am talking about if a broker/agent knows the market and looks at hundreds to thousands of properties weekly and sees in commercial 7.5 cap rate is tops in XX market and most are trading at 7 cap flat then I try to get my clients 7.5 cap on the best asset.

If they want 8.5 cap which is pricing of 3 years ago in the cycle I wish them well.

I run into that with local guys where I live. They see pricing from 4 years ago and now want to jump in with stronger economy but want 8.5 caps or better on high end quality stuff. I usually sell to out of state investors.

There are many buyers in California that have had run ups in the cycle but now values are peaking and they have maybe 3 to 4 percent cash flow. They do not want to be in residential another 6 to 10 years waiting for the downturn in CA and the next up cycle for equity growth so they are doing 1031 exchanges. For them to take out equity growth before it falls again and buy a 7 plus cap rate in another state they are thrilled with that.

Now they are not buying crappy areas but high quality areas with national tenants backing the leases. I get many clients from California.

Joel Owens · Answer

Revisit expectations with your agent.

What you want might be really hard to find so they are not spending much time with you etc. It's also possible they could be just lazy.

Some agents or brokers back fill clients if better ones happen to fall out.

Personally I like the broker philosophy of telling a potential client if they are unrealistic or will take up too much of your overall time with your business for a low return that you can't help them right off the bat.

It's better for a broker/agent to never take the business then to be labeled on later as lazy, not caring,etc. when they never really wanted to work with that client.

For example a buyer contacts a broker/agent. They want a 3 bed and 2 bath for 150,000 when the area sells for 200,000. On top of that it has to meet certain criteria.  So if the broker/agent searches the MLS history for the last 6 months and only 2 properties have come up out of thousands listed and those received multiple cash bidders then a buyer wanting financing is almost a lost cause.

The broker/agent will spend umpteen hours and have a 1 in 100 shot of winning the property with their buyer as many other buyers want the same thing and almost no inventory exists.

It's like when commercial buyers want a quality property and call me wanting premium areas for under 2 million. VERY TOUGH to do that. I have to analyze when sub 2 million if they are paying all cash? Are they realistic on cash on cash returns with down payment and loan terms? Is cap rate reasonable for the market they want to own in? This lets me know with my thousands of contacts nationally if what they want is realistic or a needle in a haystack that will take me hundreds of hours or longer of time to find. Sometimes you will never find it and the buyers are still looking 1 to 2 years later. Now they want to wait until the market has a downturn again. I find these buyers never buy anything and are a tremendous waste of time. I have been on the commercial side for a very long time and after you talk to thousands of people over many years you notice trends with potential buyers and a screening process.

I hope you find the property you are looking for. How about a 4 unit where you go FHA and down payment of 3.5% and rent out the other 3?

What's a dead giveaway that my agent is lazy and inefficient?

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