All Forum Posts by: Jenna Estefan

Are you referring to Zillow Instant Offers? Because even that still involves real estate agents in the process. Zillow loves agents, it's where all their revenue comes from. They take our listings from the MLS (which we also pay for) and sell them back to us. (And Zillow leads are expensive. I'm talking like $100/lead in my area with an average conversion rate of 3-4%).

I think your question may be true when it comes to investors and other savvy purchasers, that are heavily involved in the real estate world in one way or another. They understand the market, know that risks and pitfalls they may run into, and feel comfortable when it comes to negotiations and real estate specific contracts. I think finding a more streamlined process for them would be great. 

However, as others have already mentioned, retail sales is a different animal. What about the seller that receives an offer from an investor? Would it be incumbent on them to have someone on their side to ensure that their interests are protected? My youngest client is currently 21 years old, looking for a first home for his family. I couldn't imagine sending him out on his own without the guidance of a personal adviser to ensure he is getting a fair deal, knows what things to watch out for in inspections, make sure his financing is ready to go, etc, etc. In this market, does a buyer know what they can do to strengthen their offer to compete with other offers? I sure do, because I do this every day. My record is beating out 14 other offers to get my buyer's offer accepted (and no, we were not the highest offer price either).

Another interesting fact: About 80% of For Sale By Owners are ready to list with an agent after about 60 days of trying to market the home themselves. And this stat comes from Fizber, a company that is specifically made for people looking to sell without an agent. 

Everything is constantly changing and evolving. If new and better models evolve from the advancement of technologies, I'm all for it. As with any other industry, we need to be adaptable to change. As far a real estate agents being completely cut out of the picture in the future, I don't think so.  

sorry the accidental double post 

True! Each sale is so unique and every seller does have a different perspective. I'm surprised that this seller didn't see the advantage of a price reduction as opposed to completing the repairs, but you're right, sometimes it is just the psychology of it all. 

One other thought, our WA Association of Realtors has a legal hotline where we can ask an attorney these types of questions. Hopefully your agent is a Realtor and they have a similar benefit in CA. Something worth looking into. 

Good luck! 

Sounds to me as though the broker/agent already satisfied their agency duties by bringing together two willing and able parties. I don't believe the broker/client relationship has any bearing on your already signed contract. The contract is still valid as long as the agent was licensed at the time of signing, even if he/she loses their license status before the transaction has closed (at least this is how I understand it in WA).  

I agree with previous posts, the broker issue is not your problem. Your problem is now you have passed the escrow date without closing, so not only is the seller in breach for not completing repairs, you are in breach for not closing on the agreed upon date (because the seller never signed the extension agreement). Unfortunately, I would have to recommend that you seek the advice of any attorney, as agents are not licensed to give legal advice, and breaches and remedies of contracts are beyond our scope of expertise. 

That said, it sounds like you would still like to move forward, are there any repairs you would be willing to renegotiate? Or negotiate a price reduction in lieu of repairs so you can just get this thing closed? It's hard to advise you without having all the details, but you need to find out why the seller is hesitating and dragging his feet so you can figure out a solution that works for everybody. And show him why it's worth it to just finish up and close with you as opposed to going back on the market just to start the whole process all over again. 

Going back to JD Martin's point, leaving repairs up to the seller really just complicates things, especially when the seller's idea of a repair may be completely different than what the buyer was expecting or hoping for. When I negotiate inspections, seller credits or price reductions are ideal. Or, the buyer should bring their own contractor to get quotes on the repairs, then present that quote with their reponse, writing it up along the lines of "Seller shall have xyz company complete repairs in bid attached." It's more work for the buyer, but could potentially save a lot of trouble in the long run. 

Keep us posted on how it works out! 

Hi James - If you want to message me the address I can take a look at some numbers for you. 

I'm interested in multifamilies in the area. Will you send me the info on what you have? Thanks! 

Luckily, this is not my property, but a past client's, and the situation is interesting to me so I thought I'd see if anyone else here has had any experiences with this. 

When my client moved these tenants in, he foolishly did 0 screening. They were relatives of different tenants he has, and that was basically the extent of any checking he did on them. Back in October, there was a crime committed at the property, and the police told him he needed to get the tenants out. Here we are in Jan, and he yet to do so. He says the police call him a couple times a week, and now he is ignoring their calls. Why he is not dealing with this urgently is beyond me. He says the tenants have been paying their rent, and the crimes are not his problem but the police's problem. 

When I gave the background of the situation to the eviction attorney I referred him to, she said, Yes! He needs to evict or the police can seize the property. As soon as the eviction is filed and underway, then the police cannot move forward with the seizure. 

Maybe I am ignorant, but I was surprised to hear that the police could seize your property if a crime was committed there. The house is now listed with a different agent (I didn't take the listing because he wanted to overprice it by $30k on a $200k house, not to mention I would be concerned about safety issues while showing the house with these particular tenants). In the agent remarks section of the listing, it says that the tenants are moving out by Feb 28, but could stay. This just seems like a huge liability on the listing agent and seller's parts. 

I am curious to hear your thoughts on this, and if anyone else has run into a similar experience? Has anyone ever had their property actually seized by the police? 

 Great question! I actually had to go back and look at the old listing because I couldn't remember. Turns out, the sellers were offering a 3% commission to the buyer's agents when it was listed with the flat fee service. Looks like it was the marketing that sold it. I think the pictures made a huge difference. 

I believe we provide the same level of service for every price point. Many of our costs are fixed, such as website hosting and pro memberships to the big sites. My team has purchased camera equipment and a drone, so every homes gets great pictures and video tours. Adwords is a huge expense for us, but as long as we're converting sales we can continue to do it. Each seller/property/situation is unique, so obviously a junker property is going to be marketed more towards investors who don't care as much about beautiful pictures but the numbers, whereas Brant will need to focus on owner-occupants, where fantastic pictures, staging, etc will have more impact. But again, it depends on each unique situation. And, even though the commission is lower on cheaper properties, if it's attracting investor buyers, we're happy to go above and beyond in the hopes of repeat business.  Also, the average sale price is our area is $250k, so that allows us a decent marketing budget. 

How many homes have you sold before? If you have the experience and feel comfortable managing the transaction start to finish, I'd say go for it. 

However, some things my team does that would not be cost efficient for an individual seller are SEO marketing and pro subscriptions. We get your home on as many websites as possible, and pay a good amount of money to make sure your home appears at the top of search results. We're part of an international MLS, so we get eyes on your home from all over the world. We put together a kit of flyers, door hangers and business cards and go door to door to advertise your property. We do professional video tours. Not to mention you have a professional that looks at homes everyday to help you price correctly, which is extremely important if you want to sell your home in the shortest amount of time and for the most money.

Don't forget that 6% isn't set in stone either. I know many top producing agents that would be willing to negotiate. I bet you could probably find an agent that would be willing to stage for you as well. 

One time I had buyers that were interested in a home that was listed with an MLS flat fee service. I talked to the seller, and the home was already under contract with another buyer, but he was feeling extremely unhappy with the way the sale was going. Unfortunately, he was under contract so there wasn't much we could do but wait and see if it fell through. He would call me about once a week, asking if my buyers were still interested, and then he'd tell me about what was going on with his transaction. He foolishly signed a 30-day extension. And not once, but twice! No agent in their right mind would allow their seller to sign a 30-day extension, let alone two. This is just one example of how this guy got plowed in the transaction, whereas an experience agent would have better protected his interests. It took him 5 months to close that deal! Also, at least in WA, after a certain period of time, sellers can basically force the buyers to waive their financing contingency! So if financing fell through after that period, seller would keep the earnest money as a remedy. This is just one example (I can think of lots more!) of a tool that sellers without a lot of experience might not be aware of.

One of my teammates took an expired listing from a client that had listed with a flat fee service. After 6 months on the market with the flat fee service, my teammate had it under contract in a week, at the same sales price as the flat fee service. 

I sold a home that was listed with a flat fee service. Everything went fine, but that home was on the market for 6 months before it sold. I am not opposed to flat fee services, but from my experience, they always seem to sit on the market longer. 

Sorry for the long-winded post. Hope it helps! 

Hi Matt - If you plan on occupying the property, there are low-down payment options available. With FHA financing, you can put down 3.5% down on properties with up to 4 units. There is also a down payment assistance program through WA State Bond that can help with your down payment. You can get investor loans from traditional banks with 20% down, and you do not have to occupy the property. If your student loans and car loan are the only debts you have, I would say you're probably in pretty good shape, as those types of loans tend to be low interest loans. The bank will look at the ratio of your monthly payments to your monthly income in order to qualify.

I would suggest talking to a lender now. They can offer you good advice, and you don't have fill out a loan application if you're not ready for that. But you might be surprised at what you qualify for. And YES you can invest outside of Seattle without having to live there, just expect to bring 20% down to the table. You can also find a lender that will be able to use the monthly rent (if the units are already occupied) toward your income to help you to qualify as well. Personally, I feel "house-hacking" your first purchase is the way to go. It's a great way to get your foot in the door and start building equity. After a year (or more), you can purchase your own single family home if you wish, and still have your multi-unit in the books. 

Just to give you a little more confidence starting out, the income on my tax returns is about half of yours, and I have a decent amount of personal debt, and I was able to qualify for a duplex up to $280k. I agree with the others about making sure you have reserves set aside for vacancies, repairs... etc.