About Me

If You Don’t Remember Me, I Don’t Deserve Your Repeat Business

by John Rice

For as long as I’ve been a realtor, I’ve always liked to look at the listing history for houses on LBAR.   What amazes me is that most people don’t use the same realtor to sell their house that they used when they bought it.

I guess my fascination with this all goes back to my very first listing.  I met a seller at his work while he helped me load paint in my car.  He told me he was selling his house himself and wasn’t having much luck.  We kept talking, then he later  interviewed me and several other agents.  I remember going to their house and seeing several calendars on the fridge from other realtors.  I wondered why they didn’t use one of them?

I haven’t had this problem in the 6 years I’ve been a realtor.   Want to hear some of the stories?

I met a dating couple back in late 2005 at an open house.  We looked at houses one time and the soon-to-be-engaged-lady bought one that we saw that day.  I remember thinking that there was no way they would ever remember me since it all happened so fast.  The house had a dilapidated door to what was like an outside closet.  I tried to get the seller to fix it.  They wouldn’t (Keep in mind it was a seller’s market then and there had been multiple offers!)  Then I tried to get the FHA appraiser to make it an issue.  No luck there either.  In the end I bought a door and put it on myself.  I just wanted her to have a good door.

A few years later I am at an open house and my phone rings.  It is an agent who says some clients of mine came to his open house.  Turns out it was these people.  Guess they remembered my name after all?  They were now engaged and needed to combine households.  We sold the soon-to-be-husband’s house, then they bought a new one, then we sold the one I put the door on.  A couple years later, they decided they wanted a ranch on a big lot, so we got one and sold the first house they bought together.  That is 6 deals with the same people.

I have another client that I met while showing a listing of mine.   He was looking for a bargain.  This was about the time that all the foreclosures started hitting the market.  We looked at a bunch of houses.  Then one day a really good one came up that was in really good shape and in a great location.  I told him it wouldn’t get any better than that one.  There were multiple offers, but I got it for him.  I thought he and his family would stay forever, but they wanted to do it again just over a year later.  Good thing I picked such a good house because it sold pretty fast during the period after the tax credits expired.  I am now working my but off on one of the most difficult deals I have ever been in for this family.  We should close it next week.

I’ve also had a few other clients who have gotten transferred and called me out of the blue to sell their house for them.

All this is one reason why I don’t send post cards announcing day light savings, or basketball schedules.  I guess my attitude is that if my name doesn’t  come to mind when my past clients need a realtor, then I don’t deserve their business again.

Why that house DIDN’T sell for what it should have?

by John Rice

I frequently boast on Facebook when a buyer of mine gets a house for way under the appraised value……Although I really think it has more to do with a listing agent who didn’t know what the house was really worth than my ability to get a good deal for my peeps.  An appraisal is like the CMA that agents should do when they list a house.  Both are really more focused on the comparable houses, rather than the house being marketed.

And I guess that is what this is all about today:  Listing agents that don’t know what their listing will really sell for.

When I was a new agent, they trained us to do a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis.  They give you a sheet of paper that has values for things like a half  bath verses a full.  What a square foot of space should be worth in each price range.  What a basement is worth.  Etc, etc, etc.  I remember all the new agents sitting there like the first day of algebra class, trying to work through the formula with no idea what any of it really meant, or having a clue as to the concept behind it all.  We were just following a formula, and in the end, we all had our value for the house and were really proud of ourselves.

I don’t think many agents have really gotten past doing it this way.  I say that because on several occasions, I have talked to agents who have told me how they did a CMA when they listed a house and are shocked that it didn’t or hasn’t sold for more.  According to the comps, the house is a bargain they alway say.

Well, that must not be true, because if it were a bargain, it would have sold.  I think that most agents don’t take a close look at the house and add/subtract value for things that aren’t on the CMA list we all use.  These things are features like a big house with a tiny backyard whose probable buyer is a family, the house that backs to an apartment building, the house with purple carpet, the house with an awkward floor plan, or just about any feature that knocks it out of being somebody’s first choice.

I recently sold a house in Beaumont Reserve that the listing agent told me how shocked she was that it didn’t sell for about $50k more than it did.  It was the same floor plan as others that sold for more.  The lot was typical.  The finishes were typical.  On the CMA sheet and appraisal, it was worth more.  Here is the deal, the house was painted off white, with off white carpet, and the seller’s furniture didn’t help any either!  See, to a buyer, the house seemed just too plain to sell for what other similar ones did.  My buyer painted it and spend some money on updating it.  It is now in line with what the other ones are selling for in that area.  That house was worth less in the “Real” market than what any apprisal or CMA showed because neither has a value for how a buyer feels about a property.

The “Real” Market is where the rubber meets the road.  An agent should be able to look at the comps, do the science part of the CMA, and then also be able to make adjustments for things that buyers will respond positively and negatively to.  Why?  Because they are things that matter to a buyer, and a house is only worth what a buyer will pay for it.

If you’re not a cheeseburger, don’t pick a #1 agent

by John Rice

I just got back from vacationing in Florida.  Just about anytime I go anywhere, I always pick up those free real estate booklets.  I like to see what houses are worth and see what the local realtors do. 

What amazed me about this trip is how many of them claimed to be “The #1 Agent in this or that town, suburb, neighborhood, condo complex.”  What they are talking about is how much property they have sold.  See, we  call that “Volume.”  You just take the sum of all the sales you have made for a given time frame.    I guess where I am going with all this is that you, as a buyer or a seller, DON’T want this kind of agent!

Why?  The simple reason is that they don’t have time for you.  I’ve worked with some of our big producers here in Lex.  Only two of them are worth anything in my opinion.   When you are closing a deal a week, and are listing houses left and right, you are basically the McDonald’s of real estate.  May as well paint the golden arches on the side of your car and write “Billions and Billions Served” under it.  When you go to McDonald’s, lets face it, it isn’t about getting the best burger you have ever had  prepared just the way you want it.  McDonald’s is about efficiency.  They are cooking multiple burgers at a time.  Look in the kitchen.  They have an assembly line going.  Put 12 buns on a tray.  Toast them.  Drop the meat on the bottom buns.  Squirt ketchup and mustard on each one.  Throw 2 pickles on each.  Add a slice of cheese.  Bam!  12 identical cheeseburgers ready to go. 

Ever go to McDonald’s and ask for something like a plain double quarter on a Big Mac bun?  And if you have, what percentage of the time was it accurate?  My wife always gets a plain Filet O Fish.  She even goes as far as saying “ONLY THE BUN AND THE FISH!!!!”  Still sometimes she’ll open the box and there is a regular one with the cheese and tartar sauce.  Sometimes it will only have the cheese.  Only occasionally is it right.  Why is this?  Because McD’s is about volume.  To get volume, you need to standardize procedures.  You cannot take the time to slow down, yet alone stop to do something different.

A friend of mine worked with one of the top producing agents in town a while back.  I thought this was really funny, in a sad way.  The agent has a team to do flip all their burgers….I mean take care of all their clients.  Seems nobody on the team bothered to tell the seller that the home inspection was scheduled.  The seller was pretty shocked when the inspector showed up.  I’ve had similar experiences with this team before.  I’ve asked them questions my buyers have had after viewing their listings.  They don’t have time to bother with a reply.  I’ve also made courtesy calls to let them know when they have entered the wrong subdivision on a listing. They always appreciate that, but I do it for their sellers, not really for them.   Again, when you are juggling so much work, you just don’t have time to be accurate.  Real estate deals aren’t all identical like McD’s cheeseburgers!

So, I will probably never be able to say I am the #1 Agent in Lexington for my sales volume.  Sure, it would be nice more than double my income, but I’m not gonna treat people like a cheeseburger to do so.

What Kind of Realtor would Yoda be?

by John Rice

 

I get soooooo much junk in my inbox.  In real estate, there is a class or program for everything.  Most of it is how to get more leads.  That is the big one.  I have always thought that if Realtors would spend as much time being good at their jobs as they do trying to be on the first page of google, people would come to them.  Speaking of which, I am on the first page of google for a lot of things, but I have done it accidentally.  Hopefully everything has to do with real estate.  I read other agent’s blogs sometimes and am amazed that they write about the best cupcake place in town, or a day at Keeneland, or their newest listing.  Don’t know about you, but if my dentist had a blog, I wouldn’t go there expecting to see a post about eradicating crabgrass from my lawn.  Or if my accountant had a blog I wouldn’t expect a post about the best place to have LASIK surgery……Sorry to get off track here, but I’ve been waiting to say that for a while. 

Back to the class thing.  Now I am all for education.  I learn stuff everyday and really like it.  What I am getting at here is that all these courses I have seen just give you information, but they don’t teach you how to use it.   Especially designations.  Agents are pretty much just playing Wheel of Fortune and buying letters:  CRS, C-CERC, ARB, etc  (etcetera, not another designation!)  I think what we are needing is something to teach agents how to think.  Guess I call that wisdom…..putting the info you have to good use.  If Yoda were a Realtor, he would tell you to use the Force and “Search your feelings, you know it to be true.”

Things are changing everyday in real estate.  You can’t just default to what worked in years past.  For example, in the boom days, you would, as a default, use multiple offer situations to force a good deal for your seller.  Now I think it can actually hurt you to boldly proclaim to a buyer’s agent that there is another offer on the table and they have an hour to give you their highest and best offer.  I have seen several times recently where one buyer will say “I’m not going to get into a bidding war,” then walk away.  One of my buyer’s recently said just that.  I think what a listing agent in this situation needs to do is look at this like chess…..If I do this, then what will happen?  If it goes this way, what will likely be next, if it goes that way, what do I think will result.  I am not that good at chess, but I totally respect the fact that the good players have the next several moves planned way in advance.  That is thinking!

I’m in a deal right now where we made an offer, and another offer was going to be coming in.  My peeps wanted the house, so we went up a little.  We were doing a good job at thinking things through.  We decided to check the box on the contract that says we want an inspection, but we won’t ask for repairs.  We also left the closing date open for the seller to pick.  Why did we do this?  The seller was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife and was moving in with family.  We thought that making it simple and easy for him would appeal to his family more than top dollar.  The other agent (who is one of about 10 in Lexington that I think is any good) was also thinking too.  See, he didn’t wait around forever to get the other offer.  He knew we had a good offer and didn’t want to risk losing us.  A bird in hand is better than two in the air as they say…..whoever they are.    The seller took our offer.  That was a wise decision in today’s market.

Each deal is unique because of the people involved.  The more info you have about the other party can really help you to come up with a good strategy, but you have to use wisdom to know what to do with all the info you have collected.

I think it would be cool to have Yoda for a Realtor.  You’d have 900 years of wisdom and experience.  He’d be like “Remember selling this land on Richmond Road to Henry Clay, I do.”  He could sense if the house was right for you, “Knew you would not like Hamburg traffic, I did.”   And most importantly, he could use his lightsaber during negotiations to get you the best deal.

Tree houses & The Tax Credit

by John Rice

I just didn’t know what to do.  I’m the guy that always gets everything just right before I put a new listing on LBAR.  That’s just how I am.  Buuuuut, I had a new listing that the photographer wasn’t going to be able to get to for two days.  Normally, I’d wait, but that $8000 tax credit had everybody out buying.  Even though I know nothing about basketball, I know that when the shot clock is about to run out, its time to throw the ball.

Soooo, I went a head and put the listing on without the pictures.  It was totally killing me that it was going to have one of those “No Photo Available” tags on it.  Then I got an idea.  I thought since the only real reason I was putting it on early was to get it noticed, I might as well do something that would really get it noticed.  So I cut and pasted a picture of a giant tree house to the listing.   Of course I had to then explain in the marketing remarks that wasn’t the house, but pictures were coming soon and it was worth getting on your radar now since the house was so nice.  It worked.  I had the most agent and public hits that I have ever had on a new listing in a 24 hour period.

Once we got the pictures, I deleted the listing and copied it to a new MLS number.  This way it not only came up as a new listing again, it also re-dumped it into the portals that agents set up for clients.  So, I got a little early exposure and still got to do something that didn’t violate my standards.

So far, we have had 3 showings in less than 24 hours on this house.  The seller did a whole lot of work to make it look great to a buyer.  I owed it to them to think outside of the box and try to catch a buyer before the tax credit expires next week.