Clearwater Florida Home Buyers
I had something happen today in Clearwater, Florida that made my jaw drop and I just had to share it with you all. It made we think about the extinction of Full Service Gas Stations.
How did it happen? When did it all start.....maybe it was when buyers no longer "valued" the extra service over price...we often discuss our services as Listing Agent, however today I'd ask that you answer wearing your Buyer's Agent hat?
We had a potential buyer today, we'll call him Bob. Bob was referred to us by one of our past Tampa Bay real estate clients - normal enough, right?
So one of the first questions we ask Bob is, "Have you been pre-qualified for your mortgage?" What Bob said next made me drop my jaw...
He said, "Yes, I was prequalified for a mortgage by "big national real estate company". Ok at this point I'm wondering why he's talking to us and not the other Clearwater real estate agent??? Well I didn't have to wonder long because what he said next blew me away...
He said, "Yep, they prequalified me and then just handed me a list of their properties to go and pick from" and then he said, "They just weren't very helpful" - at this point I'm thinking that's an understatement, as well as poor professional performance in my opinion. This is a Tampa Bay Real Estate brokerage that gets paid for FULL SERVICE - but in my opinion is delivering PUMP IT YOURSELF service.
So here's my question, we've all been discussing the Redfin interview and Real Estate commissions (explained so well by Broker Bryant)- usually as they relate to being the Real Estate Listing Agent, but what are your feeling about providing "full service" to your Home Buyers. At least Bryant Tutas makes his position clear - he only serves Home Sellers - I respect that he is straightforward and honest about it. I'm struck by the feeling that the original Real Estate company was also only serving the Home Seller - but they were still willing to take a "low hanging" commission if the buyer found one of their "listings", I mean homes to buy. How is this good for the Home Buyer?
Stephanie Edwards-Musa posted a great article outline 12 Steps To Buying Your Home with her.
Clearwater Florida Buyers Agent
What services do you routinely provide Home Buyers you work with?
- Do you find out what they're wants and needs are and then show them ALL the properties for sale that meet their requirements by all real estate companies and not just your brokerages listing?
- Do you do CMA type analysis to consult with them on current market values for the homes they like?
- Do you actually show them the homes they're interested in or do you have them call the seller?
- Do you advise them to pass on homes that are not realistically priced since they will get their escrow money back if it doesn't close but they'll never get the inspection monies, appraisal fees, survey expense and more back if it won't appraise, not to mention the emotional rollercoaster effect on everyone?
- Do you negotiate for them like it was your own money or they were your own family?
These are just a few of the things we do for the Home Buyers we work with.
Jack & I are as passionate about working with Buyers as a Buyers Agent as Broker Bryant is about working with his Sellers. We bring great value to those we serve as Buyer's Agents - we definitely earn our cooperating brokerage commision.
As we get a look at how the public views Realtors and the job we get paid to do - we need to make sure we are always bringing value in the form of:
- real estate expertise,
- consulting skills,
- specialized knowledge,
- advocacy,
- strong negotiations,
- managing all the details of the inherently complex transaction that when mistakes are made can be very costly for buyers and sellers alike;
- and caring for our clients as people - that's what I believe they're paying for.
I'm curious , what do you think your Home Buyers value most about working with you?
Clearwater Florida Real Estate
If you or someone you know is looking for real estate in the Clearwater / Clearwater Beach / Sand Key/ St Pete Beach /Island Estates / Tampa Bay area ~ whether it's a home, condo, investment property, - Jack and I can help.
We offer FREE Search of all properties for sale by all real estate agents in Tampa Bay, Florida area.
Because I'm WooHoo???? Just kidding. For one, I am real. No glossing over stuff. Well prepared to go the extra mile (and I literally mean miles! A lot are military newcomers and we travel many miles showing them different neighborhoods!) and walk them through every detail of the transaction so they understand what is going on. I always keep asking if they understand or if they have questions...okay, this will turn into another post. Mainly, I listen to their wants and needs and keep an open mind. And...and....and!
Cyndee, awesome post. You know the philosophy behind us BROs, well I try to follow them as closely as I can. As to your question: what do buyers value most about working with me? I would have to say is my honesty. My buyers all know that I have every intention to get them to our final destination and I work as If as I am the one buying the home.
Sally - see that's what I'm talking about - that's "priceless" to those transferring to Hawaii and that's why working with you is a real value to your buyers. I also know your clients - become friends and raving fans - which is proof of the real service you give.
We do the same and I believe it's important that buyers understand what services they should be getting!
Sally, thanks for taking time to share :-)
Cyndee, what an excellent post - should be featured!!! You have my STAR on this!!!
There's so much to representing a buyer beyond preapproving them. I think listening, truly listening to identify their needs, their 5,6, & 7. Making sure that they understand the process of buying a home, that they're not surprised or caught off guard, that they know what they can or can not do during escrow, making sure that the loan they're getting is appropriate for them and their risk tolerance... plus of course, all the other things like negotiating on their behalf, strategizing on the best way to present the offer, strategizing on pricing, previewing property and more, and more, and more... :-)
Phew... tires me out just typing this stuff. :-)
Paula - what scares me is to realize how many Tampa Bay home buyers don't understaand the service they should be getting from "their" real estate agent and the value they can realize - at no extra cost to them.
You explained perfectly why buyers in Indianapolis continue to call YOU!
Buyer's don't realize a poor agent could let them bid too much on a house and cost them money on inspections, appraisals and surveys for a home that won't appraise and they can't get the loan - now comes the dirty little secret....
Oh yeah, Mr Buyer, you'll can get your escrow deposit back but you've lost:
Thanks for weighing in - you know I'll send my Indianapolis, Indiana referrals to YOU!
Irina - we have the same philosophy and you are right on! Thanks for visiting and reminding me I've got an agent for buyers in Pasadena California :-)
It just breaks my heart when I meet a buyer who "called the listing agent" thinking THEY could negotiate a better deal since that realtor is getting both sides. Broker Bryant explains this far better than I could.
I'm also surprised at how many home buyers in the Tampa Bay area think if they have an agent working for them it will "cost them extra money" - they don't understand that the buyer's agent get's paid a portion of the marketing fee allocated by the seller.
Cyndee, it's all part of education as both of us know... that reminds me of an incident that happened to me when I first started in real estate. I remember sitting with my clients, husband and wife, both being in middle management corporate America... so here we are, writing an offer, and towards the end, very quietly the husband asks me - So... how much do I owe you for this? We spent hours looking for property, and quite some time discussing offer price, etc and all that time he was worried to death about how much I was going to charge him for the service provided.
Boy... what a valuable lesson that was for me. I do not take for granted, the education level of any of my clients when it comes to real estate transactions. We deal with this on a daily basis and they only a couple of times in their life time. It's too easy to assume that they understand how the compensation works and that the seller pays the buyer's agent's commission.
Great visiting with you!!!
Ashley, that's why you are one of the top real estate agents to work with in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You're focused on your client not selling any one particular house - and it shows! :-)
I saw where Kiplinger had nothing but great things to say about living in Albuquerque - I can see why you love living there. Thanks for stopping by. They had the Tampa Bay, Florida area as the #1 City for retirees because of low cost of living, lots of arts and culture and lots of medical resources for aging population not to mention it's a great climate - sandbars to sunsets, we've got it all.
Annie - We've discussed out philosophy on being consultants to our Home Buyers - which means caring more about helping our clients achieve their goals, we're not "sales people" focused on selling any particular "house" or the brokerage listings.
I know you serve San Antonio, Texas the way we serve Clearwater & Tampa Bay, Florida
Stop by anytime my friend.
Hi, Cyndee! Your service is what's going to bring back repeat business -- or not. Personally, I LIKE repeat business. My aim isn't just to get closed, it's to get that phone call a few years later that it's time again!
When I helped buyers in my past life as a Realtor, I think the thing they valued was my compassion with their time and the ability to devote myself to doing whatever it took to help them find the home or commercial proprety that they really wanted.
On the residential side, I spent 24 hours (I logged them) in the car with one unique buyer's wife. They were looking for a specific feature of a house due to a religious reason... we saw a production builder with the perfect lot for their needs... and then I took them to every listing in their price range, sometimes only seeing the outside to find it wasn't facing the right way. Eventually I closed them with the production builder - but all the shopping put me out a week... so it happened to be that the production builder was having a promotion and I got an extra $1000 in commission that week!
On the commercial side, tenant repping was fun. I had to drive around ALONE to find properties in a particular area... then I would go pick up my client and show them the properties I had located. I was putting a national cellular company into the former first retail space for the Papa Johns chain in Southern Indiana.... it was neat and helped the story of the property.
David - that same service you gave buyers as a Florida Real Estate agent is what makes you uniquely qualified to be their mortgage consultant. You understand the whole picture from both sides and don't even get me started on the importance of an honest, experienced mortgage consultant. That critical decision alone could cost a Home Buyer in Boyton Beach or Clearwater Florida thousands of extra dollars and headaches alone.
I wish I could explain that many of the "Online Mortage Companies" that advertise on TV are just trying to get you to call - My 5 year old believes eveything he sees on TV - but it's amazing how many adults do too!
I have seen time after time, a Florida mortgage expert like you can tailor the home buyer's loan to meet their needs and cost them way less money - and there's no substitute for the personal, individualized SERVICE!
Keep up the good work in Florida for Residential and Commercial mortgage clients alike. Thanks for weighing in on thr topic. .
Cyndee....Once again my friend a masterful post and very well written. You deserive a BIG 5 and I am giving you one right now along with BIG HUG from Idaho :-)
George - your articles often articulate many of these points a lot better than I could. So often you've shared how you live these principles whem serving the good people of Nampa, Idaho looking for real estate.
I must add that I never knew Nampa and the surrounding areas of Idaho had such beautiful "real estate" - you represent you clients and your towns so well - If I was buying a home or land in Idaho - I'd want you as my real estate agent! :-)
Cyndee, to answer your question on my blog about Grazr; I got the idea from Jeff Turner's blog: Add Your Other Blogs RSS Feed To Your AR Sidebar .
First go to Grazr.com. After you register put your Active Rain blog address in and at the end put /rss.
For example: http:// www.activerain.com/blogs/yournameonactiverain/rss. And then if you want you can customize it.
Good Luck.
Cyndee---I just re-read this again and it still blows me away! Some people have gotten "too big for their britches" and expect the world because of WHO they are, who they once were, who they know, and then some! Everyone starts off as one of the little guys...it's the little guys who grooooowww into the big shots, millionaires, investors, and who have friends who are and do just the same. Offer them the service of what they are to become and make it part of "who you are and what you do!" What comes around...will go around and you'll still be "their agent" when it's time to cash in at the end of the day!
Cyndee---you are truly the heart of Clearwater Properties!!
Bettina,
It is so good to have you visit. I respect that you are a pure buyer's agent - that is an awesome service you provide. We offer the majority of our buyers Single Agency and represent only them. The get a great value and service.
Cyndee,
I mostly work with listings...unless it is a listing going into purchase then I have a buyers agent to handle that. Even though the market stinks..I still prefer the listing over the buyer..but that is why my partner deals with that part.
as a lender who deals almost exclusively in realtor referrals and i am in florida.
in the old days when a realtor was new the broker often worried that they would make a quick sale. the worry was because they might think that selling real estate was easy and they would not spend the time learning what they needed to know in order to properly generate sales and give proper service to their clients.
in the florida market for a period of time simply being an order taker was enough and for many these habits are hard to break'
also the downsiide of the great information source, the internet, is that many individuals don't have or develop the interpersonal skills they need, and unfortunately don't offer a high level of personal service.
quite frankly for you it's their loss and your gain. though not appropriate maybe we should thank them.
as for your new client, hats off to him/her/them for not accepting inferior service.
on a personal note they seem to have been lucky to find you reward them with knockout service.
good luck
You did a good job with this. I have never and I never will be anything but a full service broker. I have more than enough ethical skills to handle both sides of the transaction and handle them well, and no one is going to scare me out of continuing that.
I've spent a lifetime in the real estate business, and I've never been threatened with a law suit much less had to defend myself in one. And I am confident that's because I handle my clients' business just like I would expect mine to be handled.
There are lots of us out there who practice this way. And that's the way it should be.
Steven, You are so right. I think we all have to be aware of what value we're giving. I am seeing more and more buyers calling "online lenders" first - thinking all mortage services are the same and it's all about "rate". Unfortunately theres so much more to mortages than rate and so much more to real estate than, "What commission do you charge?"
When consumers perceptions of value change - the market place changes - but not necessarily for the consumer or the traditional businesses.
I bring a ton of experience to the table having done this job for so long. I also don't try to intimidate my clients. I always try to make the experience a fun one for my clients and they seem to appreciate the combination.
Bob Mitchell
ValueList
Because there is no face-to-face secession during the process I see a lack of providing the buyer with full and complete information. I also found that there isn’t the sense of strong negotiations as if it was your own money. My thought is they don’t want to upset the selling agent for they might need to deal with them again and probably never see the buyer for a second time.
As more and more information is obtainable on the Internet and the younger generation who grow up using computers turn to buying and selling homes using this media, will there be a need for more than a broker or title company if it is self service and no commitment to providing full service?
Dear Local Buyer - thank you for taking the time to comment on my article. We find that people appreciate getting the information they want early in the process but then really appreciate the consulting we bring to the them - what's the property really worth, referrals to inspectors focused on the buyer not the seller, that we do negotiate like it's our own money and manage all the hundreds of transactional detail during the process.
Our clients tell us they love the "high tech info" with the "high touch service" - we're excited about the future - especially with the service we provide our buyers.
If you ever know anyone thinking of buying property in the Tampa Bay area we'd love an opportunity to explain how we can help. We even have a toll free number to allow those referred to us to hear how we work. Just email me and I can send it to you.
There's never any pressure when working with us because we believe in helping buyers buy right!