I've always wondered how people can enter the real estate business, help people buy and sell homes, but have never bought or sold their own home. I call them the "renter-real-estate-agents."
Can a renter be a good real estate agent? Perhaps. But if they're not a homeowner themselves, they lack the true experience and knowledge of homeownership as a whole. They lack the first-hand experience of all that homeownership entails - maintenance, property tax issues, tax deductions, the emotional attachments, and so on.
Most importantly, a renter-real-estate-agent has never experienced, personally, for themselves what it is truly like to be a home buyer and a home seller. They don't have that up-close-and-personal knowledge that can only be gained by personal experience of the stresses involved in buying their home. And, they don't have that up-close-and-personal knowledge that can only be gained by personal experience of the stresses involved in selling their home, either.
Buying and selling a home is an amazing, wonderful, stress-filled, anxiety-laden, expensive, (did I mention stress-filled?) and life-changing experience. An agent who has been through it all themselves can understand, explain and prepare their clients for what to expect, thus lessening the stress. They can better prepare a buyer for the home inspection, give personal examples of how to handle maintenance issues of homes, and share names of contractors they themselves have used. They can share their personal war stories with sellers who quickly grow tired of keeping their home in model-condition and of having strangers traipse through their home.
It's important for real estate agents and their clients to connect on many levels, otherwise the relationship just won't work. Working with an agent who has been through it all themselves should be a top priority on who a client chooses to have represent them.
And, yes, I have bought and sold several personal residences. I've learned more each time, and it makes me not only more compassionate towards my clients, but it also makes me a better and smarter agent.
I've read statistics to the effect that over 70% of agents rent and/or have never owned a home! I know that my viewpoint on business has changed dramatically now that I own a home and I can understand the consequences!
Scott
Don Fabrizio-Garcia
Truer words were never spoken. You are so right. Buying a home is such a complicated matter, just going through it is an education.
I recall the first 4 homes I purchased. I didn't have a CLUE!!
Actually, until I got a real estate license and learned the business, I really just went through the motions. Yet, agents who go through the motions and expect buyers and sellers to have a clue, are not really giving good service. No wonder we hear of the horror stories.
Very important post. You need a gold star for it.
Lenn
Renee - And yet, this person was allowed to sell real estate. I hope clients learn to ask about our own home purchase and sale histories. My personal experiences are freely shared with all of my clients. And I'm still learning all the time!
By the way - we have an Italian Greyhound, too. You don't see them too often. He's a major bundle of energy, especially now that we have a retired racing Greyhound, too.
The same holds true for qworking with investors... if you don't believe enough to purchase, why should the consumer? The experience is so important.
The market will determine the success of these agents. If it's true that 70% are renters (hard to believe) it's important to note that many of them are in the 90% that don't do much business. Clients will see through it, the agents will lack credibility.
moo
And yes, I tried to sell our home. It sure is different. After that experience, I constantly remind myself what would I do if this was my home - for my sellers.
When I was 26 Carter was President. Interest rates were 21%. The company I worked for pulled out of Helena, Mt. Not a lot of people moving into Helena at that time. I sold my house to a guy that had an industrial accident 3 months later and was blinded. He defaulted on the note I was carrying due to the 21% bank rates at the time. I was 1000 miles away and had no way to carry two notes.
Long story short - the bank worked it all out for me. What did I get - off the hook and some very good experience that is paying me benefits right now in this California market. Understanding and compassion go a long way in a people business.
You are so on the money. another pet peave of mine is agents from one market who what to be an expert selling my market. doesn't anyone get that real estate is a local sport and visiting teams do not do very well. They do their clients a major dis-servie. If I have business in the next town, I bring a local agent with me and let them handel the business side of it - and we split something. I'd much rather get a bunch of splits then listings all over the map that I am not as familiar with as I should be.
nOW HAVE A bLESSED dAY,
jOHN oCCHI, hEMET rEALTOR
WWW.jOHNoCCHI.cOM
I am amazed by anyone who is telling their customers they should buy, but don't feel they themselves should.
Aloha to all and have a Hauoli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year in Hawaiian)
The Harper Team - I used to live and sell in Walnut Creek, so I understand the market you're dealing with now. And, yes, it is exactly the experiences such as you have described - what we've been through with our own homes and our own ordeals - that make us great agents. Without it, we'd be the blind leading the blind.
John - I completely agree. I have tried, in the past, to sell outside my knowledge area. It wasn't fair to my clients. I've since created an extensive referral base of agents - my clients deserve the best service, even if that means they shouldn't work with me.
Randy - Mahalo. That's the whole point. How do you know it's good to buy a home, if you haven't bought one yourself. How do you know this is the right thing to do? As an aside, I spent two weeks in Hawaii 10 years ago for my honeymoon. We loved it and have been trying to get back ever since!
Jennifer - Good point - I often ask my financial planner about her personal experience, and about what stocks she owns, and she freely shares that information with me. Even after the Enron debacle, I still trust her, because she had some money in there, too!
When I first got into real estate, I had just turned 24 and was only making about $30k in corporate world. You can't buy a "decent" house with that type of income. I could have bought a condo, but for that price range, it's just like an apartment... so I opted to wait a year. With that, because of my credit scores, I was able to buy a house with stated income only even though I was self employed less than 2 years. The rate was a little higher, but I was now a home owner... and again... and the second time around was a NIGHTMARE!!!
It's not just the realtors that are apartment dwellers but MANY mortgage people are as well. It amazes me how many people can give the ins and outs of loans and not get one themselves though they know all the options.
I am in the real estate business because of my home buying selling experience. The buy side wasnt too bad except it was never disclosed to me that my agent actually worked for the seller. This was in 1996 before buyer agency came to CT. I had NO clue what I was doing and now am amazed I made it through it.
Selling was the catalyst. I found out afterward that there were things that I didnt know about. Like that I didnt HAVE to make repairs that CHFA required. I was told I HAD to. My home sold THREE times. The first two times the person was not even qualified to buy. The house appraised out twice and them somehow appraised out at 10K less on the 3rd go round in an increasing sellers market! My realtor NEVER told me I didnt have to go forward. She NEVER told me I could negotiate. She agreed to a commission reduction and when we got to closing NEVER said a word and collected her full 3%. I found all this out aftwerwards and felt totally betrayed.
ooops...guess I vented there a bit. But my point is without having gone through both processes I would have no idea what an emotional experience it is as well as finanically stressful etc. And I learned what NOT to in my own business.
interesting post, it is really hard to imagine so many agents are renter, this is like "Do as I say, not as I do."
Joanne - Glad to hear that buying and selling your own home turned you on to selling real estate for a living. That's a heck of a way to get motivated, and you entered the profession with a bit of knowledge already under your belt.
Jamie - Because of your own home selling experiences, you now are so much better prepared to truly represent your clients. That experience will prove invaluable to your clients, even if they may never realize it.
Donna - You're right - mortgage brokers who don't have a mortgage of their own, or who have never refinanced their own mortgage, have to be working at a disadvantage that may affect their clients.
I am going to have the least popular post in this entire discussion, but here goes:
If you've ever had a family member suffer from cancer, chances are the physician was not a cancer patient himself. Yet you still trusted your loved one in his hands? Yes, because he has had extensive training, "hands-on" experience, and (most likely) sincerely cared about the outcome. I certainly appreciate the intent of all of the previous posts, but lack of personal experience in a situation doesn't necesarily make someone unable to perform at a high level.
And yes, I've bought and sold property :)
Anthony Clark, Tulsa, Oklahoma
http://TulsaMetroRealtor.com
Funny, sure touched on something here! Great to see that there are so many views
I became a REALTOR because of my experience in buying and selling a home. I bought my first home when I was 26 and I wanted to make sure no one had to feel like I did when I went through it. I knew I could make a differrence.
While I can comment on the posts about the importance of being a REALTOR and a homeowner, the biggest key is the client.
A cancer doctor empathizes with the patient and the family, a REALTOR empathizes with the client. How your communicate and educate and represent your client is what matters. The bond you have with your client is just that a bond. You are the expert- can you know the ins and outs of a transaction solely by your education? Or is it more knowledge because you have personally gone through it? Seems the biggest thing here would be you "feel" the experience because you have been there before as opposed to being experienced in it by prior transactions. What does that mean to the client? The difference in saying to a client 'I did that when I bought my home' as opposed to explaining 'this is what happens'. Is that more for your benefit, or the clients?
Food for thought here, not saying I agree or disagree that a licensee should have purchased a home before or that it impacts the transaction- just pointing out that a good agent is a good agent because of the bond and representation they provide to a client.
Perceptions is 99% of the rule, how does the cleient perceive an agent? What do they expect? Does it just solidify the relationship when an agent can say ' I know how you feel I've been there before'?
I believe our profession is one of great pride, and it's hard when you hear those horror stories of transactions gone crazy. For those agents who believe in what they do and take it seriously, we need to express that to clients. For agents who are in this business for the wrong reasons, or do not take it seriously..............well, stop and think about how and what that means to consumers. It's about the consumer.
Funny, sure touched on something here! Great to see that there are so many views
I became a REALTOR because of my experience in buying and selling a home. I bought my first home when I was 26 and I wanted to make sure no one had to feel like I did when I went through it. I knew I could make a differrence.
While I can comment on the posts about the importance of being a REALTOR and a homeowner, the biggest key is the client.
A cancer doctor empathizes with the patient and the family, a REALTOR empathizes with the client. How your communicate and educate and represent your client is what matters. The bond you have with your client is just that a bond. You are the expert- can you know the ins and outs of a transaction solely by your education? Or is it more knowledge because you have personally gone through it? Seems the biggest thing here would be you "feel" the experience because you have been there before as opposed to being experienced in it by prior transactions. What does that mean to the client? The difference in saying to a client 'I did that when I bought my home' as opposed to explaining 'this is what happens'. Is that more for your benefit, or the clients?
Food for thought here, not saying I agree or disagree that a licensee should have purchased a home before or that it impacts the transaction- just pointing out that a good agent is a good agent because of the bond and representation they provide to a client.
Perceptions is 99% of the rule, how does the cleient perceive an agent? What do they expect? Does it just solidify the relationship when an agent can say ' I know how you feel I've been there before'?
I believe our profession is one of great pride, and it's hard when you hear those horror stories of transactions gone crazy. For those agents who believe in what they do and take it seriously, we need to express that to clients. For agents who are in this business for the wrong reasons, or do not take it seriously..............well, stop and think about how and what that means to consumers. It's about the consumer.
Sandy - thanks for your comments. They caused me to think - enough that I had to read your words a couple of times. But, I must disagree with you that "Perception is 99% of the rule..." A client may perceive their listing agent was great, but what if that agent actually left thousands of dollars on the table? Did that agent represent their client well? I don't think so.
You question whether an agent being a homeowner benefits the client or the agent. Well, think of this - what sounds better? "Well, I was taught in my 60 hours of pre-licensing training that your mortgage interest paid is tax deductible" or "When I file my taxes, all my mortgage interest that I pay each year is a tax deduction. You need to maintain a copy of your closing statement to give to your tax preparer so you won't miss out on this great tax savings. Or, better yet, speak to your tax preparer now to find out exactly what tax benefits you may obtain." Neither one benefits me at all. But the latter statement definitely benefits my clients.