All Forum Posts by: Matt Overbee

Definitely must go see! I've heard many stories specifically about Hubzu pictures not telling the whole story about the condition, and not disclosing situations like mold in the description even when it's obvious. 

Also know that if you do bid and win, and sign their contract there are usually no contingencies at all, so either close or lose your EM check, which is usually 3%.

Watching it for the first time right now.

Just like to catch a predator, only with bad contractors, LOL.

And hosted by Adam Corrolla!

Great point by @Walt Payne that Realtors often use very similar verbiage.

 It's just a marketing tactic, it's not a contract.  As long as your very clear on what you will do once you get the person to call, then I say no harm, no foul.

Don't give up on it @Dan D. . Make sure to throw in a Back-up Bid, it should give you that option still. 

The one I'm currently under contract for with them was also previously "Under Contract", and fell through and offered to me as the back-up. And if you read about a few others' experiences with them, it seems like MOST of the properties they got they were offered as the back-up bid on the site, when the original bidder bails. 

Seems like a lot of people bail out. They probably don't realize how one sided the contract is going to be and get cold feet.

Wow very interesting arguments, great post!

I don't think they will completely go away either, as there will always be people that want the white glove service, and want their hand held through a transaction of this magnitude.

But I do agree that this is an industry just begging for disruption, that may significantly reduce the number of realtors needed in the future.

The few reasons I believe so are:

• Every day huge strides and advancements are being in made in Data Science. While the Zillows and other auto-valuation tools are very inaccurate today, they will continue to get better and better, and I find it hard to believe they won't one day surpass Realtors ability to estimate price, many of which were most concerned about the Math that was going to be involved in the license exam.
• The MLS to me is by far the most valuable tool to a realtor and the service they offer. But it's just another database. If one day associations lose their strangle hold on this, or another silicon valley start-up cracks that code and makes an even better FSBO based MLS type of system providing those benefits, that could be easily challenged.
• And having just recently completed getting my license, I have to say it was very quick, and I found it fairly easy. I realize that experience is needed as well, but I could easily see there being a future for a Realtor type of call center-ish type of service to guide people through their transactions. Of course with the help of a lawyer as well.

Anyway, just a few thoughts I had. As someone said this may not be in the next 3-5, or even 10 years, but many industries are being disrupted today that never saw it coming. No good reason to not think it could happen here.

@Account Closed 

Yep, that's the one. 

Not sure if 75 hours is accurate, seems like a bit much. It's essentially a pretty hefty text book, with about 25 chapters that you'll jump around through based on the curriculum they tell you to follow. There's also a short commercial book, but I think you only read like a chapter or two from it. 

I would say it took me about a month and a half or so to get through it and start taking the tests. And that was just reading a chapter most weeknights... and skipping a few days here and there. ;)

I think it's well aligned for the state exam. I didn't feel caught off guard by anything when I finally took the test.

I probably should've added that I went through IAR (Illinois Association of Realtors) for mine.

Hi @Account Closed,

I recently completed getting my IL broker license a few months ago while working full-time. as well.

I did the 75-hour self study option. I highly recommend it if you need the flexibility to study when you have time on your schedule. Of course that probably also depends on if you are good at self-study and teaching yourself. Some people I know struggle with the discipline needed to do that. 

There is a 2 day webinar that you will have to attend afterwards where you will get some instructor time to ask questions about things that may not be clear as well. They also provide a contact person during your self-study time that you can call if it's needed on a certain subject.

I found the textbook and other  materials pretty comprehensive. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I don't believe it's a scam either... If it is I'll find out soon. :)

I did end up accepting their last counter to me last week for the property I was watching and we have an executed contract, planning to close mid-October.

It's just a horrible system for selling a property. It is an auction similar to ebay with a reserve, but there is just no sense in their strategy. If you go weeks with no bidders then get one finally that doesn't accept your counter. Why would you start the next auction at that price, obviously no one was interested at that price point for weeks!

I think it's just very robotic and scripted, I don't think there's anyone behind the scenes that even realizes you're the same bidder. Once you win they hand it to a processor in India that will also be very robotic scripted, like your standard customer service line these days.

The silver lining is that their one-sided contract and policies generally scare off the normal consumer and most realtors don't want to deal with them, so they eventually have to make the price appealing to investors. :)

@Dan D.  Nice. That's pretty consistent with what I've seen, that they would relist $1K above the last bid. If no one bids they'll reduce at least the starting bid, potentially not the reserve price though. It seems like they reduce the reserve after about a month with no contract.