Author: Greg Swann (page 196 of 209)

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

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Free the Drones, a saving and investing weblog I read every day, has a post today discussing our practice of building a custom web site for every home we list. I’m thinking that I should write on that one topic at length, because the strategy is more intricate than it might seem at first glance. For now, I want to address the caveats raised by Free the Drones:

When I searched for 1102 West Culver St in Google, the website doesn’t come up in the top 50. In fact, the Bloodhound Realty Blog only comes up at number ten with a mention of the street address in the text. What’s the deal?

The problem is the word “St”, which Google might just as well throw away. Search these three for contrast.

It might be the Google Sandbox

I don’t think there is one. If there is, the penalty is measured in days, not months.

It would be a lot better for [that page’s title] to be “1102 West Culver St., Phoenix, AZ”

Absolutely right. We do it that way now. (This site was built in January.) We do each page within the site with the headline from that page, as well.

What would I do instead? I’d have a subpage about the house on the main Bloodhound Realty site, buy the domain “http://www.1101westculverst.com,” and then do a 301 Redirect, which is a way of sending anyone who types in that web site to the subpage you created. That way you can advertise the house as having its own site, and anyone who tries to go to it will be sent automatically to the place on your site that’s about the house.

This might make sense if you were selling your own home, and if you only had one page of content. We are building canonical web sites about the homes we sell. One of their very important purposes is to capture the listing for that one home again and again, every time it sells.

The caveat is that you’re going to have to do your own advertising – getting people to know about your site through something like Google is Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is me in today’s Republic (permanent link), another chance at infamy:

Escape clause would help all

Believe it or not, this can be a rabble-rousing column.

Sometimes I write about the perils of dual agency or why the buyer is actually paying for everything in a real estate transaction or why buyers as well as sellers should negotiate their agent’s compensation. While these ideas might seem simple and obvious to you, in fact they are hugely controversial within the real estate industry.

When I write a column like that, my day will be punctuated by testy calls from angry Realtors and brokers.

Oh, well.

The slim justification for our real estate licenses, and the earning power accruing thereto, is service in the public’s interest.

Too much of “the way things have always been done” in real estate strikes me as being of great benefit to the brokers and the agents, but of no benefit – or even of actual harm – to buyers and sellers.

Here’s another one, sure to make the phone lines light up:

There should be a firing clause in every employment agreement.

Brokers want employment agreements because we work “on spec.” That is, we don’t get paid until we produce the agreed-upon results.

That’s a good thing. It keeps Realtors motivated.

But an exclusive employment agreement with no exit clause traps unhappy buyers and sellers with an agent who may not be producing any results or who simply may not be a good fit personally.

This is language that will suffice:

“This agreement will be terminated upon written notice by either party.”

With this clause, the broker can fire the clients, too, if that seems wise. But the important point is that clients can get out of an unhappy situation if they feel this is necessary.

Their goal, as buyers or sellers, is to achieve their real estate objectives. Buyers and sellers are not buying and selling real estate for the benefit of Realtors or brokers.

Giving consumers the power to escape an employment agreement when things just aren’t working out is the best service of their interests.

I am much constrained by the space limits of the newspaper. I wrote here on the Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Cathy’s clients ended up buying at one of the new home subdivisions I accompanied them to on Sunday. She was tied up today, too, so I went back with them to reserve the lot and go over the contract (more of that tomorrow). I almost never sell builder homes, but this was my second one this week. Go figure.

The price was even sweeter today than it was on Sunday. The builder is trying to close on absolutely every inventory home by the end of the quarter, September 30, so they’re Making Deals, as they say down at the new car dealership. They’re basically giving my buyers a $75,000 upgrade package for free, plus throwing 6% of the purchase price at their down payment. If the Phoenix real estate market gets back to normal soon, they will have a ton of equity fairly quickly. And even if not, this home is an incredible bargain — an unrepeatable opportunity.

Here’s the kicker: The builder’s rep told me in private that the buyer’s agent’s commission is 8%! Unbelievable! I don’t know what builders are like in other markets, but in Phoenix, they leave precious little room for a Realtor to effect any meaningful buyer’s agency. In effect, taking a party to a new home subdivision is a referral, and that could explain why so many builders and Realtors treat it that way. For my part, I’m going to do everything I can to defend and protect my clients’ interests — and that still won’t be very much.

So how much should I get paid for doing not very much work as capably and professionally as I can? Surely not 8%. I won’t even take 3% on new construction. Here’s what I did today: I gave my clients 6% and kept 2% for the brokerage. Even then I’ll make great money for my efforts. But my clients will get an even more incredible bargain…

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by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Note this from Free the Drones:

Pretty much everyone knows the standard rule of garage sales and yard sales: whoever goes the earliest gets the best stuff. But they may not be getting the best deals, as Mighty Bargain Hunter discovered. He found that if you go to them at the end of the day, people are desperate to get rid of stuff. They don’t want to keep it, otherwise they wouldn’t have put it out there – so you can offer people a lot less late in the day and they’ll be willing to sell to you.

I’ll give you a better strategy, then show you how to use it to save more than just a few bucks.

First, do go early to the yard sale. Find the stuff you might want to buy. Discuss it with the sellers. Mull. Ponder. Dither. Writhe. Then leave. Then come back late in the day. If your stuff is still there, commit hard but negotiate hard. They already wanted to sell it to you. Use that to your advantage.

Now let’s buy a house instead — using the same strategy.

Show up soon after the house has listed. Arrive when the sellers are home, if they’re still living there, at an open house if not. If you like it and think you might want to buy it, throw off buying signs. You don’t have to lay it on too thick. Just staying in the house and looking at everything is a very strong buying sign. Come back with your spouse if you think you need to give things a boost. Be fun and personable with everyone. Cultivate their good opinion of you.

Mull. Ponder. Dither. Writhe. Then leave.

Now you wait for the dew to evaporate from the rose. Time on market does two things: It sends buyers to other homes and it dispirits the sellers. You want to give them time to entertain this horrifying idea: “What if it never sells?!?”

Make your offer at the best possible time, strategically. When is that? This is me a few months ago:

So what is the absolute strategic best time to write a Read more