SpencerBarron.com

What if there were no real estate agents. Buyers and sellers could meet and hash it out. Let the smarter person win. Let the more educated person take advantage of the lesser. Would it be better or worse? Well I was thinking of what buying a car is like since that’s the second biggest purchase we make in a lifetime and we don’t have representation for that. hmm..

If buying a house was like buying a car?

• You would just accept that when you walked out of closing on your new house, your home’s value dropped 10%.
• Your salesperson would add costs to your purchase if you wanted the home cleaned and give it a fancy name like “detailed.”
• Home values would come out once a year in a blue book for the public.
• A second black book would come out each year for salespeople with the values that the brokers, builders and investors should pay.
• Instead of the HUD, seller’s property disclosure, and square footage disclosure, you’d get a wink, a knod, and a receipt.
• Once you established a price with the salesperson, a second obviously superior salesman would come out to finalize the deal. He would scrap what was agreed upon and play the “I’m going to write a number on a piece of paper” game.

I can’t help but think that agents came into existence out of neccessity. The first ‘agent’ was probably a friend who happened to know more about the subject and didn’t want to see his friend get taken. Sellers would take advantage of first time buyers because they had been through it before and knew the ins and outs. Buyers would make low offers without even being prequalified and waste everyone’s time. Any way you look at it, buying a home is often ten times more expensive than buying a car. You could be paying for the home for the next thirty years; it’s certainly worth having some real estate expert in your pocket.

I would even pay something to have a buyer’s representative when buying a car. Could give me comparable sales, show me what else is available and consumer reports articles on the car I wanted. They could check title and the ‘car history report’. Most of all, they could make sure I get the most from my negotiation, then show up for closing to make sure the paper work all checked out.

Technorati Tags: Buying, Home, Car, Realtor, Agent, Why_Use

Internet advertising is such a waste of money. Definitely overpriced compared to the returns I get from other types of advertising. Not so much my own websites- they have their use, it’s the Internet lead sources that will no longer be receiving checks from me. Lead sources like Justlisted.com, Realestate.com, HomeGain, and the myriad of other companies who are pawning off information that they collected at one of their many landing pages. According to the 2006 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (pdf), three quarters of home buyers use the Internet in their home search. With this premise in mind, you would think an agent should place a large portion of his/her marketing budget into the Internet. That’s where the buyers are, right? Yes and no. They are there, but they really don’t want to be bothered.

People love the anonymity of the Internet. They don’t want to be sold. They just want something that you’ve got. They hate to leave their information, so they will not, if they can avoid it.

‘They’re not that into you’

Unfortunately for agents, real estate is rarely an impulse purchase. Read the rest of this entry �

Being snowed in, I finally found some time to change out my theme to more of what I wanted. I’m going with this Cutline theme by Chris Pearson.

It seems to be fairly well supported, and when I look at the templates it almost makes sense. Well, at least in that I recognize a few English words. This is good because I’m hoping I can make a few more tweaks to make it exactly what I want.

Here are the resources that I’ve found most helpful in putting my page together.

1. Wordpress - Everything you need
2. The Cutline theme page - Great simple theme that really isn’t that simple
3. MyBlogLog - Great social network of fellow bloggers
4. FeedBurner - To track your subscriptions to your blog
5. Google Analytics - Track where your viewers came from, how they got there and what they looked at.
6. Technorati - Blog bookmarking page

There are many other great tools I’ve come across so far that seem to appeal to the entry level bloggers, but these seem to be the ones I keep going back to. I still have a lot more changes to make before I’ll be satisfied with it, but it’s a start.

I love the snow, and Denver blizzards are so much nicer than the East Coast and Midwest blizzards of my youth. The snow is fun for the first couple of days, but it wears on you after a couple of days.

I love to look out and see a smooth white blanket over everything. It appeals to my desire for order. All the mismatching colors and hard lines created by the mismatched architecture now have a unifying theme. I curse the first person to walk through my nice snow. I know it’s just a couple of days before someone will stumble through my yard thoughtlessly leaving their stumbling footprints and breaking up the serenity. Read the rest of this entry �

You’ve spent three months on the internet looking at homes until you’ve narrowed down the area you like. You then spent another month looking at what’s available and have finally narrowed it down to one. You want to make an offer but don’t want to spend too much. How do you start the negotiating process?

What is a home really worth?

There is going to be a difference between what you would be willing to pay and what somebody else is willing to pay. Would I buy a home if I can rent a home in the same neighborhood for half the monthly cost? How highly do I esteem the large yard? Is it more work or a great place for the kids to play? The value of the home really comes down to what it’s worth to you. Read the rest of this entry �

In an earilier post I had mentioned how I had emailed Stephen Gandel of Money magazine with some corrected information on the Denver market. In particular I had been displeased with some of the advice they handed out to buyers. The information for the article had partially been drawn from a local Realtor who suggested that all his clients were getting 15% lower than the asking price. As a concerned member of the public and having access to the correct information, I presented my poorly written but unpoint analysis of each item with which I disagreed. Well, what do you know, Steve read it. Read the rest of this entry �

I don’t get out much.

Admittedly, I don’t love being in large crowds of people. But some things are worth suffering for.

I went to see Guster, December 14,2006 at the Ogden Theatre in Denver and was pleased to see that Rodrigo Y Gabriela were opening for them. It was probably the best opening act I’ve ever seen. Read the rest of this entry �

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of negative feelings toward real estate agents these days.

Did you know that according to a nationwide survey by Harris Interactive, you are more likely to trust your mechanic than your real esate agent?  The study revealed that 20% of people wouldn’t trust a real estate agent at all.  Only 7% of people would trust a real estate agent to be truthful enough to give them the advice that is best for them.   The only profession more maligned were stockbrokers.

Wow right?  Well, actually, I’m sure you’re not that surprised.  

There are many successful agents out there who have built their business around trust and honesty with their clients. I know there are agents out there that provide a high level of service to their clients at reasonable prices.  So why do the majority of people feel real estate agents are not honest and don’t provide a high level of service considering the commissions they make. Are realtors just getting a bad rap? 

If I was to oversimplify my personal list of little things agents could do everyday to overcome that reputation, it would read as follows: Read the rest of this entry �

“I love Zillow.”  “I liked them before they were big.”   

Saying that I was a big fan of Zillow.com from the start is kind of like saying, “I liked Dave Matthews before he got big” (My wife, a Virginia native, loves to say that).  For one, nobody believes you, and second, nobody cares.  Regardless of what people would think of me, I’ll say it. I love Zillow, specifically, the Zestimate™.   If you haven’t been following along, Zillow has come of age. I personally like to go on the record with my likes and dislikes ahead of time. I keep a record whether I’m right or wrong. I feel that there are a couple of components missing that will have to be incorporated quickly if Zillow wants to become a fixture in real estate. One of them is probably the most important.   It’s built off an assumption.  

Assumption - People are inherently lazy. If someone doesn’t have to do something, they won’t.  If it doesn’t look easy, they will put it off for later (and probably never do it!). Bottom line - people will choose the path of least resistance. I know this doesn’t apply to Read the rest of this entry �