The Modern Realtor -- What kind of Realtor should you Hire?

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A Realtor is a Realtor is a Realtor. Well, in most cases--that is not a helpful--nor is it true. Successful Realtors tend to have portfolios of what they do well. 

• Leasing Agents help tenants find homes to lease and contract lease agreements
• Property Managers help Landlords manage and maintain lease properties
• Buyer's Agents help buyers find home, negotiate and sign purchase contracts
• Listing Agents help sellers list and sell their property 

Like most professions, just knowing that someone is a Realtor does not tell you enough about that person to hire them for a specific job. Lately, I have noticed some trends that are a little disconcerting and put sellers in a bad place. Maybe this is because the market is so busy right now, but this is certainly something that I think hurts buyers and seller of real estate. Here are "trends" that I am seeing happen in our market:

• Buyers are finding homes for sale on national web sites and are going directly to the listing agent to schedule an appointment to see that house. Why would this be a problem? Because the listing agent has a duty to the seller and only to the seller regarding that property. The listing agent is the sales agent for the seller to represent this property in its best possible light and all the things relating to this property. Not you--the buyer. And in Texas, the listing agent can not represent both the buyer and the seller for the same piece of property at the same time. Also, since Texas is a Non-Disclosure State, information that you might be able to get on market values in other states, don't exist in Texas. Yes, you can get some tax information from public sites, but did you know that the taxing entities don't have access to sold data in Texas either? This is what Non-Disclosure means. Not even the county tax authority has this data--only Realtors have it. So, going directly to the sales agent for a property to get more information and to try to negotiate a better deal is almost always a really bad idea in Texas. 
• The second trend that I am seeing is that Landlords are starting to use Property Managers to list properties For Sale that they have been managing For Lease. Well, these agents are Realtors and they may know the property--so, why wouldn't you do this? Well, I would say, for starters--because it is not really what they do for a living. In the same way that I can not tell you what 5% of the leasing agreements or property management agreements say--many property managers may only list about 1-2 homes a year--which doesn't really make them an expert in this portfolio of the business. They may talk a good show, but I can tell you from having had to negotiate a couple of contracts with Leasing and Property Managers this year, if what you are doing is not buying and selling houses for clients every day, you are probably not very fluent in the contracts, inspections, contracts and negotiations of Texas Real Estate sales. At least not for the people that I seem to be running into. (I had one agent this year say to me "I have seen thousands of these inspections and have never had a problem with it before...". Well, his MLS stats said that he sold 2 houses during the past year. I don't know why he was going to so many inspections if he has only sold a couple of houses. I can only assume that he was in need of some remedial math skill and a better definition for the word "thousands"; talk is cheap if you don't understand the business).
• The third trend that I see is for sellers to look for a Realtor whose business is 95% listings. This is very easy to do. Just count signs and you will see who is focused just on collecting listings and who may not be interested in working with buyers. I have had several prominent listing agents tell me personally that they have no interest in working with buyers. None at all. It takes up their weekends and some agents just feel like that much interaction with a client takes the fun out of the business. The premise here is that a "pure listing agent" that just focuses listings can go out on a listing appointment, get a listing, put it in the MLS and turn it over to junior staff members for day to day management while they go get the next listing appointment. It's a little sad, but sellers fall for this business model every day. It starts with a passionate close from an influential personality in the company and then passing of the day-to-day business to the staff until such time that the senior Realtor has to step in to manage a crisis or serious negotiation. 
• Not all listing agents do this. In fact, the "Modern Realtor" is becoming a hybred of Buyer's Agent and Listing Agent. My personal model is ~70/30 split from Buyer to Seller clients, so that I keep my pulse on both sides of the property sales portfolio. Never losing sight of the Austin area seller's needs or the Austin area buyer's needs. Same set of contracts for buyers and sellers. Two sides of the same coin.

Well, every buyer and seller must decide for themselves what is best for their needs. But here is what I have learned. There is no substitute for business experience. There are no junior staff members who can do what I do. I do not know what a leasing agent knows about leasing contracts or property management profiles--but I have yet to meet a property manager who is a strong listing agent or understands how to manage sales contracts for a buyer or seller. And if you are wanting to buy a home in Texas, you should "hire" a strong Buyer's Agent to represent you; don't believe contacting listing agents who want to show you their brokerage properties is going to put you in a strong position of negotiation to buy. It may be years before you realize that this may not have been your best possible business strategy.

If you are interested in buying or selling in the Austin market, I would be happy to talk to you about your real estate needs. Let's Talk.