For decades real estate agents represented the seller either as the listing agent or as a sub-agent of the listing agent.   That meant that if you hired a Realtor to help you find a home and draft an offer and negotiate, that agent whom you thought was working for you was actually a sub-agent of the listing agent, and that was the law around the country.   In other words, “your agent” was really working for the seller.

But consumers woke up one day as if out of a long dark sleep, and demanded that the misrepresentation stop.   Consumers wanted their own agents who represented their interests and not the sellers’ interests, directly or indirectly.

In 1983 the Federal Trade Commission concluded that 72 percent of all buyers believed the agent they worked with was representing their interests. The report was the catalyst for a nationwide legislative movement that forced the real estate industry to disclose who their Realtor represents. By 1988, most states had disclosure laws.   This also woke consumers up to the need to be sure they addressed this issue when hiring an agent.   Agents began to respond to the need as buyer’s agents.

Janet Branton, executive director of the 44,000-member REBAC (Real Estate Buyer Agent Council) said, “A survey conducted in 2001 found 46 percent of home buyers used buyer representation. Buyer representation is not the exception anymore, it’s the norm. Consumers now know they have the right to be represented.”

Here’s something I find interesting.   Many buyers from outside the Sequim or Port Angeles area will see a sign and simply call the agent off the sign.   That’s fine, but here’s where it gets interesting.   The majority of these callers assume that the listing agent they call can represent them as their agent, too.     Many hire that agent to write an offer on that agent’s listing without any thought to the inherent conflict of interest.   I’ve interviewed many buyers and other agents, and there is almost never any attempt by buyers to interview their agent, to do their due diligence on experience and knowledge, or to discuss dual agency.

Dual agency is legal in Washington, and it is codified as legal in RCW 18.86.   That certainly doesn’t prove it’s in your best interests.

As much publicity as dual agency has gotten (and all the lawsuits over it), and as much as “buyer’s agency” has been discussed and written about, many buyers are still unaware of the need to hire their own buyer’s agent.

I strongly recommend that you hire your own buyer’s agent in Sequim or Port Angeles.

I am also a Buyer’s Agent for buyers throughout the State of Washington and can be reached at chuckmarunde@gmail.com or on my cell phone at 360-775-5424.  With email, faxes, and the Internet tools available, retaining me from anywhere in the state is easy.  Want to see more of my background?  Chuck Marunde as Realtor and Retired Real Estate Attorney:  Resume

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Searching the Sequim MLS for homes and land (and Port Angeles MLS) on the Internet has made the gigantic challenge of finding the right home, filtering through the maze of listings (over 800 homes in our MLS) so much easier than it used to be.   Does anyone else remember the old printed MLS books?   They were about 250 to 350 pages thick in 10 point Helvetica and organized by area and then by price.   There was no easy way to search by parameters (bedrooms, square footage, acreage) and get an instant list of qualified homes.   But you can do that on the Internet now, and you can do it in a matter of seconds.

Technology has take giant leaps forward in the past three to seven years, and you are the beneficiary.   Some of my friends in the print newspaper business and in the print magazine business have gotten the short end of the stick in these shifting times, but consumers like you are coming out ahead.

What a difference a few years can make!   Thirty years ago traditional print media was the way to advertise and the way to find real estate.   Today, the Internet and the many tools available on the Internet, have left the old behind.   Thirty years ago this snow machine seemed like a modern marvel.   Who would think of trying to drive it today to get somewhere?   Why not use modern technology to help you find your next home?

You can use a very powerful MLS search website, one I had programmed and has the features my clients requested, including all the parameter and advanced search options, and the visual map search:   Search the Sequim MLS.   Don’t forget to bookmark this MLS website tool.

But do not sell the Internet short.   It is much more, much more than just a convenient way to search the multiple listing service.   It is also a powerful tool to find an experienced professional Realtor, who can make your search and negotiation so much more enjoyable (not to mention saving thousands of dollars in the negotiation).   Don’t underestimate the value of a true professional with 20 to 30 years of experience in your corner.   Did you know that a professional buyer’s agent does NOT cost you a dollar, but negotiates exclusively for you to get the best possible price, and the seller pays his fee at closing?   Is that amazing, or what?

The Internet is also a great information gathering tool on the communities of Sequim and Port Angeles, recreational activities, volunteer activities, hobbies, and nearly everything under the rain shadow of Sequim.   Do you have a niche interest?   Is it not amazing how powerful the Google search engine can be when you are searching for something rare or unique?

You can use this site, and the affiliate sites to search almost any subject on real estate for the Sequim and Port Angeles areas, including checklists for buying vacant land, tips on finding a builder who will build you the highest quality home at a guaranteed contract price, tips to avoid traps for the unwary, powerful and proven techniques to negotiate the best price, articles on earnest money, contract language, contingencies, adverse possession, easements, well logs, dual agency and how it can cost you money, and hundreds of other topics.

You’ll find photos of Sequim and Port Angeles, video tours of the area, links to the best local resources, and video instructions from an experienced local real estate attorney and now buyer’s agent.

Use the Internet as a resource right here.   All of this is given to you at no cost, courtesy of Chuck Marunde, your favorite buyer’s agent.

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When you write an offer on a house in Sequim or Port Angeles, you’ll have to write a check for the earnest money.   The earnest money is what makes the contract a legal offer that can become a binding contract.   In contract law there must be consideration, and the buyer provides that consideration with earnest money.   The seller’s consideration is the promise to sell you his house at the agreed price.

How much should earnest money be? There is no rule, just guidelines.   The more expensive the home, the more the earnest money should be.   I’ve seen earnest money for as little as $100 and as much as $10,000.   It is common to see earnest money checks in the amount of $2,000 for a house priced at $200,000 and up, but it is also common to see earnest money of $5,000 for more expensive homes, especially in these uncertain times where financing can be questionable.   If a buyer is serious and can afford to purchase a $350,000 or $750,000 home, he or she can write a check for $2,000 to $5,000.

The earnest money check is not even deposited until there is mutual acceptance on the price and all the terms.   Once that happens, the final contract and the earnest money check are given to the escrow company, and they deposit the check.   Most real estate brokers, including me, don’t keep a trust account for that purpose as the regulatory requirements have gotten far too cumbersome.   Escrow companies have trust accounts and are set up to account for all the debits and credits on the HUD-1 settlement statement.

What happens if you reach mutual acceptance, give the escrow company the contract and they deposit the earnest money, but subsequently a contingency is not met (like you don’t qualify for your loan)?   How do you get your earnest money back?

Your buyer’s agent must draft a termination of the transaction and release of the earnest money, and the seller must sign that agreement.   While this is not required by law, the escrow companies all insist that they have a signed release from both buyer and seller. You can imagine that if the sellers refuse to sign the release, the escrow company will not release the funds to you.   In that case, after 14 days, the escrow company must tender the money to the superior court, and you either walk away from your earnest money or you hire an attorney and sue the seller for the return of your earnest money.

The reality is that most sellers are going to sign the release.   They realize that if you did not get your loan, or could not satisfy some other contingency, you are entitled to the earnest money, and the vast majority of sellers gladly cooperate and move on.

I recommend you hire an experienced Buyer’s Agent to watch your backside when it’s time to make an offer on a home.   We live in challenging times, and it’s easy to get in trouble these days without even trying.   May I suggest you hire me as your Buyer’s Agent?   I’d love to work with you to find your perfect retirement home.

Chuck Marunde (retired real estate attorney and now Sequim buyer’s agent)
360-775-5424

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I recently read a blog by another real estate agent somewhere in the U.S. who wrote that if you are a buyer you can get good professional help in any real estate office by any agent, or words to that effect.   I disagree with that statement.

Does anyone think all lawyers are the same?   Or how about all school teachers, or football coaches, or dentists, or auto mechanics?   Of course they are not the same.   Neither are all real estate agents equal.   I recently received a very insightful question from a prospective client.   I love his question, because it shows me he really is thinking about who he retains as a Realtor, and he knows it makes a difference.   Here is his question and my answer.

Hi Chuck:

I have been corresponding via email with a couple of agents in your neck of the woods.   All are very helpful. I have read some of your articles and a question came to mind:   why should a potential buyer pick you over   other agents working diligently in the market? We haven’t visited Sequim as yet, but will in June ’09, and we will at that time decide if this is the place to buy a home.

Thanks, [name withheld in this article]

My response follows:

I love your question.   I wish every buyer asked that same question.   One of my pet peeves is that I compete with every Tom, Dick, and Jane who got a real estate license, but if clients don’t do some due diligence, how will they ever differentiate us?   I’m not able to talk too much about my own resume on my blogs, because that would be arrogant and turn people off, including me.   [Remember reader, I'm   breaking my rule here and answering a question about myself.]   My business is client-centric, so I try to write about subjects that clients are actually interested in.   BUT since you asked a direct question, “Why should a potential buyer pick you over other agents working diligently in the market?,” I will answer it directly.

1.   My education includes a B.A. in economics, a law degree with a focus on real estate, and three decades of real estate seminars on legal issues, sales and marketing, and negotiating.   But education without more is meaningless.

2.   My experience in detail would bore you here, because it includes 30 years in real estate, but suffice it to say that I’ve handled thousands of transactions as a Realtor in Alaska, Nevada, and Washington, and as a real estate attorney of 20 years.   (See my detailed resume.)   I just sold a $475,000 house to a buyer from California, and his testimony is probably the best reality check you could possibly get on me.   I called him and asked if he would mind if you called him and asked him how it was working with me, and he said he would be delighted to talk with you.   He’s worked with other agents, too, so he can give you a real comparison.   [Client's name and number withheld]

3.   As your buyer’s agent, I cost you nothing.   The seller pays my fee.   I love that.   I enjoy negotiating for my clients to get the best possible price and terms.   In once case I saved a client $80,000.   In another recent case, I helped a client as a buyer’s agent buy a house for$251,000 in a very intense negotiation that saved him about $38,000.   As a buyer’s agent, I’m selling a house every other month.   There are agents here who haven’t sold a house in over a year.   By the way, I do no print advertising.

Here are more detailed articles that I’ve written for your benefit on these subjects:

How to Research Your Next Realtor
Dual Agency Can Cost You
Dual Agency and the Exclusive Buyer’s Agent
Chuck Marunde’s Detailed Resume

You may have seen my sites, but here are the links:

SequimRealEstateNews.com
SequimPortAngeles.com
Search the Entire Sequim & Port Angeles MLS

[name withheld], I’d love to work with you, and I honestly believe you will get more from me than any other agent.   I would recommend you meet with me when you get here, and see if you are convinced I’m competent and trustworthy.   I’m looking forward to meeting you and working with you.

Chuck E. Marunde, J.D.
Broker/Realtor
Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC
618 South Peabody St., Suite I
Port Angeles, WA  98362
360-775-5424

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Are you buying Sequim real estate, an existing home or a vacant lot?   If you are searching for the ideal property, I recommend being careful about the neighborhood, and I’m talking about junk freaks.   They live in every city and town in America.   They’re typically nice people:   they just happen to be junk freaks.

The problem isn’t the junk freak–it’s what he does to his property that will adversely effect your property.   Who wants a disaster of a junk yard next store or even down the street.   Many buyers have told me as we drove around looking at homes that they would not consider a particular listing because there was a grotesque junk yard nearby.

Driving around the block is important, but drive a larger radius and see just what is out there.   You may not have to look over or through the fence at broken down cars, rusty barrels, and refrigerators from the 1960’s, but if you ever plan to sell your home (or your children do), consider that buyers either won’t buy a home near a disaster zone, or they will pay a lot less.

Even when you do buy a lot or home in an attractive area, does the neighborhood have CC&R’s (covenants) that prohibit junk yards and pig farms?

If you are moving to Sequim or Port Angeles from California or Arizona, I recommend that you do what many of my clients do before they arrive here.   Email with me while you gather information to make a wise decision, search the MLS on my website, ask me about particular listings, the neighborhood, schools, recreation, and covenants.   By the time you get here, you and I will already have a sweet list of good prospects, and you’ll feel like you have a good feel for the area.

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Dual agency is legal in Washington, but I strongly believe there is a huge conflict of interest when an agent tells his selling client, “I promise to get you the highest possible price,” while also telling his buying client, “I promise to get you the lowest possible price.”

Imagine what a listing agent does for a seller. He or she has worked with a seller for six months to one year to list and market a property, with many many hours of paperwork, planning, writing ads, posting listings, meeting with the seller many times and having phone calls weekly, emailing and talking with prospective buyers, spending numerous hours behind the scenes, encouraging the seller and building an emotional bond, and who has committed his or her best efforts to get the highest possible price from any buyer who does show up.

Now imagine a buyer who drops into town and who calls that listing agent to drive around and look at homes for one afternoon. How can we honestly suggest the agent can fairly represent both the buyer and seller without bias?

Do professional athletes have dual agents?   Not a chance.

I did a very short video on this at:   Dual Agency Wrong

For an interesting debate on dual agency by real estate agents across the country, take a look at this article, Right or Wrong:   Dual Agency.

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The fact that hundreds of real estate brokers are in trouble across the country is no surprise at all.   This real estate and economic downturn has spared no one, and certainly not real estate agents and brokers.

I’ve written elsewhere about the dramatic changes taking place in how people buy and sell real estate,   and the extraordinary changes in how real estate is advertised.   I’ve written about the dying breed of traditional real estate brokers who hang on to large brick and mortar buildings (and massive mortgage payments or huge leases) and expensive traditional advertising that no longer is effective, and the way-too-high overhead associated with that model.

With real estate commissions way way down, and overhead maintaining a level financial strain for brokers, it is no surprise that hundreds of real estate brokers around the country should seek bankruptcy protection, merge with other companies, or just close their doors.

Here are just a few large offices that are seeking to survive or morph into something that can survive:

1. Prudential Americana, a brokerage company in Las Vegas, Nevada that has 1,100 agents.
2. Century 21 Advantage Gold, a real estate brokerage in Las Vegas, Nevada with 300 agents.
3. Century 21 Town & Country, a real estate brokerage in Rochester, Michigan, that has 550 agents.
4. Prudential Cranbrook Realtors, a real estate brokerage in Troy, Michigan that has 90 agents.
5. LandAmerica Financial Group, which was the third-largest U.S. title insurance company
6. Help-U-Sell Real Estate, a fee-for-service real estate brokerage franchisor that has 1,000 offices in 46 states
7. Foxtons, a cut-rate commission real estate brokerage company in West Long Branch, New Jersey
8. WCI Companies, a Florida-based luxury home builder
9. Haskins Realty Northwest, a real estate brokerage in Portland, Oregon
10. RE/MAX Town Centre, a real estate brokerage in Orlando, Florida that has 60 agents.
11. Robert and Loraine Dyson, luxury home real estate brokers in Solana Beach, California

What does all this mean?   It means the real estate brokerage of tomorrow is not the traditional real estate brokerage that is top heavy.   It means buyers are looking for an experienced real estate agent who has powerful tools they can use from the comfort of their own home computer.   It means sellers are no longer willing to pay high commissions to cover all the overhead of a traditional brick and mortar.   Buildings are still nice, and we all need a place to work, but clients are not as interested in the beautiful hard wood conference tables and the luxurious furniture of real estate offices anymore.   Honestly, they spend very little time, if any, in those offices, but the brokers still have to pay for it.

At Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC, we are working hard to meet our clients’ needs and desires, and we’re doing that on the Internet more dramatically than any of our competitors.   How can we help you?

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I’ve written elsewhere about the conflict of interest inherent in dual agency, and why simply calling the listing agent and hiring the listing agent to also represent you as your agent can cost you money. Read more from a Seattle Buyer’s Agent who also writes about the danger of dual agency.

This cartoon does a good job of visually making the point.

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Real estate and the way people buy and sell homes has been going through a dramatic change of tidal wave proportions.   For several years now, even before the real estate and national economy fell from its perch, this has been true.   Consumers have been voting with their checkbooks, and consumers have been voting based on how and who they retain as their Realtor, if they use one.

The change has taken many traditional real estate brokers off guard, although it has been a slow and consistent change, and has been obvious to some of us for several years.   I’m reminded of a phrase we used as children, “Ready or not here I come.”   Like playing hide ‘n’ go seek, consumers have been saying to the real estate profession, “Ready or not, this is what I want and how I want it.”

Here’s what my clients and prospective clients tell me they want, and I think this is a national trend:

1. I want the convenience of being able to search for homes using an online MLS search.
2. I don’t want to be harassed by an aggressive and obnoxious agent.
3. I want to be able to use the Internet to further my research, and I am not willing to pay a fee to use the Internet to do my MLS searches and my research.
4. I get turned off when I am forced to register to search the MLS.
5. I truly do not care about a brick and mortar building or a plush conference room at a Realtor’s office, because I am interested in finding my home, and I don’t see that as essential to helping me find my home.
6. When I look for a Realtor, I do not fixate on a franchise name.   I don’t even think of saying to my spouse, “Honey, let’s hire a franchise to help us find our next home.”   I’m hiring one agent, not a corporation and not a building.   It always boils down to one agent helping me.
7. Like over 80% of other home buyers, I start my search on the Internet.
8. When I do need or want a Realtor, I am thinking about finding a Realtor who is actually knowledgeable, experienced, and professional.   Not to sound harsh, but this is a huge investment for me, and I want to get it right, so I’m not interested in hiring a man who previously was a janitor for a school district and was recently licensed, or a female agent who got her real estate license recently after being a housewife for 20 years.   Nothing wrong with being a housewife, but I need a professional, not a housewife, to help me find and negotiate the best deal on my home.   So I will want to know what my agent has been doing all these years.   I feel I’m entitled to know before I retain him or her.
9. I don’t expect my Realtor to wear a $2,000 pin-stripped suit, but I’m not going to hire someone who is unkempt, wears shabby clothes, and doesn’t give me warm fuzzies with his or her demeanor.   Appearance is an indication of professionalism to me.
10. The Realtor I hire must be competent and trustworthy.   I expect that he or she will be able to answer every question I have, including every aspect of a real estate transaction.   If I know more than my Realtor, I have the wrong Realtor.
11. I expect and demand total loyalty and honesty from my Realtor.   I am not willing to do what 95% of all consumers have done in the past:   ASSUME that the first Realtor they talk to on the phone is “the one.”   I will do some due diligence and interview a Realtor, and maybe more than one Realtor.   The truth is, I want to find the best Realtor out there who can do the best possible job for me.

Consumers are taking control, and they should.   I applaud this kind of thinking, and I hope and expect that anyone who is considering retaining me as their Realtor would also do this kind of due diligence.   Any prospective client can learn more about me on the Internet (at no cost and with no required registration and no obligation) than any other agent or broker in all of Sequim or Port Angeles.   I give away more information on real estate (after almost 30 years in real estate, 20 as a real estate attorney) than any other agent I know of anywhere.   Why?   I believe people deserve information and honesty.   And if I can help to improve the quality of someone’s life by freely sharing what I have learned and experienced, I think it will eventually come back to me in clients, friends, and even commissions.

As a close to this argument, here is a 2002 video of a traditional brokerage approach, which is definitely so outdated, one would think it was made by cavemen back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

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I do a lot of writing and give away a lifetime of real estate law and sales tips for buying and selling real estate in Sequim and Port Angeles. It’s not too often I simply write a short and bold sales pitch for my services, so I hope you’ll give me a second to do that here. I was thinking that unless I actually tell people what I offer, they may not know.

I’m a Realtor and Broker and practiced real estate law for 20 years, which essentially means when you hire me as your buyer’s agent, you get all the experience of a real estate lawyer for free. Clients seem to love that, and during the process and after closing they realize the value.

I have 30 years in real estate law, sales, marketing, and Internet marketing. All of this is yours absolutely free, because sellers pay my real estate commission.

On this site, you can find hundreds of articles to help you decide how to buy and sell real estate in Sequim and Port Angeles, articles on buying an existing home, land, or building your retirement home. I hold nothing back. I tell you insider secrets you definitely won’t find anywhere else.   My philosophy has always been to give it all away, and eventually it will come back, and that has been true.

You can search the entire MLS in Sequim and Port Angeles, and you can watch videos I’ve produced to help you gather relevant information on the market, prices, inventory, negotiating, building, avoiding nightmares, and much more.

If you are in the market to buy, I would love to take all of my professional experience and offer it to you at no cost. As I say, the sellers pay my commissions. If I can help, simply email me.

If you are wanting to sell a home, you might want to take a look at my 1% commission   video (2.5% for the selling agent, total 3.5%).

Chuck Marunde, J.D.
SequimRealEstateNews.com

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