Comments for The AgentHarvest Blog

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:58:30 +0000

Daniela:
My clients are never kept waiting.

Comment on Is Your Real Estate Agent Doing Everything Possible To Sell Your House? by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:56:14 +0000

Dianne:
The best form of advertising is putting your house in your local MLS. From there it gets propagated to the feeder sites like Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow and many others, including all agent sites that incorporate MLS feeds into their site by IDX. The best part is that all of that is done automatically. The price of admission is either a negotiated commission with an agent or a flat-fee from a flat-fee listing agent. Your best marketing efforts will be done on the local or community area. You don’t have to know past clients to call them. Ask the agent for a list of houses they’ve sold, then pick a sample of houses that either took a long time to sell or had a large price reduction and then pick a few others that fall in the average. Ask the agent for their contact info and call them. People don’t mind. The best way to evaluate an agent is to compare them to other agents. That’s why I recommend interviewing at least three. For recommended price and improvements, consensus rules. If the building you own is in another city, nothing changes. Everything is available on the Internet. You will have to plan a weekend trip to meet the agents and you’ll definitely want to have them walk the property with you to see their reaction and get their ideas. Study them while they are studying your building. The rest can be done from afar. It just takes a little longer. Best of luck and take your time. You’re making an important decision.

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:39:48 +0000

Being part time has no bearing on my intelligence or dedication.

The same can be said about full-time agents. I’ve never said that all you have to do to be successful is work full-time. It looks like you’ve found a great alternative to full-time that is beneficial to the client. Like I said before, there are ways part-timers can do it without sacrificing service to the client. Distributing the work among a team is certainly one way.

Yes, it’s way too easy to become an agent. The classes should be harder and there should be some sort of apprenticeship involved. A college degree or associates degree should be a prerequisite. Maybe even a requirement of assisting an agent with 10 transactions from start to finish. Unfortunately licensing and membership are revenue generating so the more licenses the state can issue, the more money they can make. The same goes for membership into the National Association of Realtors.

By the way, I hope you do become next year’s salesperson of the year!! Best of luck on your new career.

Comment on Real Estate Agents – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:28:56 +0000

That’s funny. Thanks for sharing. Important Realtor tip. If you’re going to use the death of a relative as an excuse, make sure it’s one of your relatives and not someone related to a member of the other party. Sometimes I feel compelled to help the bad Realtors too.

Comment on Real Estate Agents – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly by Dave Hameetman

Dave Hameetman — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:40:25 +0000

Realtor in Hillsdale, New Jersey stooped so low to delay a closing that she claimed my attorney had suffered a death in his family and could not handle my closing on the agreed date. Needless to say we closed on the appointed date and she could not bring herself to even look at me or my attorney at the closing.

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Sales Person of Next Year

Sales Person of Next Year — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:59:46 +0000

I have sold over six homes and two of them on my own. I have worked with four realtors. They were all full time, I was only impressed with one. Full time is not needed as much as availability and that can be accomplished by working as a team. I just got my license and plan on becoming full time within three years. Being part time has no bearing on my intelligence or dedication. If time is an issue, my associate will step in,just like the full time salesperson used for my home! The fact that too many people have their licenses is due to the level of intelligence and dedication needed to get it.I have seen fantastic part time and horrible full time employees in a variety of areas. You are making a small point of time over ride the more important points of being a strong agent. I have seen many lazy full time workers and many energetic part time people. You have made this argument to shallow and black and white.

Comment on Is Your Real Estate Agent Doing Everything Possible To Sell Your House? by Dianne Bailey

Dianne Bailey — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:36:52 +0000

Where does one find these national websites in order to advertise and post pictures of their property? How do you check out an agent? Especially if you don’t know any of their past clients. Any advice if the building you own is another city from where you live? Thanks.

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Daniela

Daniela — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:49:37 +0000

Bill -please get back to work -your clients are waiting…for someone that promotes this view point, you sure have a lot of time to goof off online.

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:24:31 +0000

New Home Salesman:
Great alternative. Thanks for sharing. It’s a great way to get started. You’ll learn a lot especially if it’s new-construction. New-construction is harder because you sell a lot and then help the clients assemble a home from available packages and options. If you master new-construction sales, then you’ll gain a greater understanding of homes and construction that you can pass on to your clients.

Comment on Part-Time Real Estate Agents… A Career Or Just A Hobby? by Bill Petrey, Realtor

Bill Petrey, Realtor — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:19:02 +0000

Jay:
Wow, you do your homework. You forgot to mention my favorite color. I’m not against doing multiple things. Obviously I’ve certainly multi-tasked over the years. How was I able to do it you ask? Either the occupations or achievements were not overlapping, or are run with the help of employees!!! However, I’ve never multi-tasked at the expense of the client. I’m not against part-time real estate. I believe there are things you can do in the industry that conform to your part-time schedule, that are not to the detriment to the client.

I’m glad you explain everything to the client about your limitations. Do you also discount your fee?

I disagree that it’s different in every situation. It’s not. It’s exactly the same. The client doesn’t care what you’re doing when you’re not an agent so justifications, excuses and personal situations do not matter. The constant is a part-timer spends less time in real estate than a full-timer while charging full-time rates. In your non-real estate career, are the repercussions of missing a deadline different from missing a deadline but having a good excuse? Never worked for me in college. In your real-estate career, the client is your boss. Excuses are nothing but justifications for failure.