Find a Sequim buyer’s agent, and you’ll substantially increase your probability of finding the ideal home and negotiating the best possible price.  This is true.   Wouldn’t you like to know from an insider’s perspective how a buyer could make the most of working with a Realtor?   It’s not quite what most people assume it is.   So here’s a little tip for buyers from California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas (and elsewhere) who are planning to buy a home or land in Sequim or Port Angeles.

Finding a great Realtor certainly involves some due diligence on your part, and you can do so much research on the Internet now. That can help narrow down the short list of Realtors you may want to work with.   But I want to share something with you that you may never have read before.

If there is one thing that Realtors really wish they could convey to buyers from out of state, what would that one thing be?   A good way to answer this is with a real life example.   The following is part of an email I received from a client I’ve been communicating with for months via email.   We were about to meet after she scheduled an appointment.

First, apologies for canceling our last meeting. . . . I did end up in Port Angeles after all but only briefly.   I was able to meet up with another Realtor (only time for one) at [broker name deleted] who showed me a few properties.   She was very nice but I don’t think I will choose her as a buyer’s agent and am looking forward to meeting you and I will call you and set up an appointment.   I don’t mean to seem fickle, but I’m looking for an agent who will help us negotiate prices.

Perhaps just reading this email already broadcasts to you what concerns me.   This person and I have been emailing for months.   I’ve been responding promptly to her questions, and we’ve had some great exchanges.   She’s had an opportunity to review my blogs and websites, and she is aware of my experience, which includes 30 years in real estate, 20 of which was as a real estate lawyer, and now a full time Realtor and Broker.   I’ve negotiated hundreds of transactions.   She knows all of this.   So when I got her email, I was not surprised, but I was disappointed.   She clearly knew she was being fickle as she mentioned it herself.

Imagine someone making an appointment with a dentist after talking with him for months, canceling the day before by phone, and emailing the following day saying, “Sorry I had to cancel our appointment, but I had something come up.   I did get a chance to come to town briefly, and I met with a dentist just down the street from you.   I don’t think I’ll hire him either.   I’m looking for a good dentist.   I’ll call to reschedule our appointment.”   Or try the same line with an auto mechanic or your Chiropractor or any professional.   It will not go over well.

Selecting a Realtor is an important task, your first most important task in finding and buying your next home.   Do your due diligence by reviewing their online resumes of course, and interview them on the phone or in person if you have the opportunity.   That’s all good.   But don’t play one against another in such a way that shows disrespect.   A Realtor deserves to be treated like a professional.   Due your due diligence, and then hire one.   Respect the others by calling them and telling them you chose another Realtor and thank them for their time.   Hire one and work with that Realtor, and be committed to working with that Realtor.

This is the key to a successful and happy relationship with your Realtor from the beginning all the way through closing.   Believe me, as a Realtor I certainly will pour out my heart and soul for every client who makes a commitment to work exclusively with me as a buyer’s agent.   I don’t ask for much in return, but I do ask for loyalty and commitment.   That’s a two way street.

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Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC has uploaded gigabytes of real estate information for you all at absolutely no cost and no registration requirements.   Another Sequim video courtesy of Realtor Chuck Marunde.

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The way real estate is bought and sold is dramatically changing, and new business models are evolving in the brokerage business.   A hybrid is developing.   There are many reasons this is true, but  some of the reasons are related to how buyers find and purchase real estate and how buyers are represented.

Joel Stern found out the hard way about dual agency and the conflict that cost him a lot of stress and a wheel barrel of money.   The following is from an article that was published in the International Real Estate Digest by Pat Rioux.   I emailed with Joel about this, and there’s no question that this is a nightmare scenario you do not want to go through.

He only found out two weeks after his offer was accepted that she [his agent] was actually working for the seller on the home he chose to purchase. That is when his brother, a commercial real estate broker with over 40 years’ experience, reviewed his purchase contract and alerted Joel to the fact that Thomas had signed the disclosure form as the seller’s agent.

Joel thought he had a buyer’s agent but he then came to understand how he was initially told to bid $50k over asking price, paid $16K over asking price on a home listed by his buyer’s agent boss, put a $34K deposit in escrow that he cannot get back and waived his contingency to sell his own home first which was listed by his buyer’s agent boss.

For Joel, the cavalier attitude of the regulators, the industry, the media and consumer groups only aggravates his feelings about the lawsuit. He feels betrayed by what he perceives as a “wall of apathy” and thinks the real estate agents ignore or flout “rules regarding timely and accurate disclosure of their status thus depriving clients of honest and competent representation.”

Joel should not be expected to know about agency relationships and the need for an explanation of the agents’ roles in his transaction. The disclosure form must be provided by the agents. That is the law. The burden is on the agents to discuss the issue with consumers. Perhaps a lawsuit could have been avoided if Joel had been provided the necessary disclosures about the agent’s role in his real estate transaction.

I believe this is about   much more than just a written disclosure, although that certainly would have put Joel on notice.   I think a buyer needs his own agent, representing his interests and not the interests of the seller.   I strongly recommend all buyers find an agent they can trust to represent their interests.     Dual agency is a conflict, in my humble opinion.   Remember, too, experience in an agent does count.

There are many more reasons we are seeing new business models evolving for real estate brokers.   We’ll discuss more of these reasons and how consumers, especially buyers, are the main beneficiaries.

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You’re on your computer in California, or maybe you’re in Arizona or Nevada right now looking at homes on the MLS in Sequim or Port Angeles.   “Darn it,” you say to your spousal unit.   “There are no photos of the back of the house or the rec room or the garage or shop in this MLS listing either.”   As your beloved multi-tasks from the kitchen, you hear this soft response, “Well, honey, we’ll just have to wait ’till we get there to see the rest of the house.”

I have good news for you.   You don’t have to wait until you get here to see more of that house or the property.   Email me or call me, and I’ll go take some additional photos for you.   I find that clients really appreciate being able to narrow down their search as long as they are fully informed, and that includes good photos of the whole house and property.

I love photography, so I try to capture good photos for my own clients, but let’s face it, most Realtors are not trained in photography or the use of software and the Internet to edit and upload good photos.   A look through the MLS and the photographs that are posted will quickly demonstrate that point.

I’m here as your Sequim Buyer’s Agent or your Port Angeles Buyer’s Agent to help you filter through the available homes in the inventory, so when you get here you don’t have to waste your valuable time looking at homes that simply don’t match your criteria.   Want more photos?   Let me know.   I’ll be glad to help.

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Yesterday I showed houses to a client from California.   We had a great day.   The sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky in Sequim and Port Angeles, and I always have fun looking at houses with my clients.   We toured eight houses.   For those hunting for a home here, this might be especially entertaining.

Of course my client had been using my online MLS search, and he had narrowed his search from 800 homes to less than a dozen with specific parameters, such as three bedrooms, his geographic preference, 1,800 square feet or more, and the price not to exceed $270,000, but the age of the house and the condition of the house were not limited in our MLS search by my client’s choice.

We started with the older homes as a matter of convenience in mapping out our driving route.   The first home was built in the 1920′s, and just trying to figure out where the original kitchen was located and how many additions there had been in the past 80 years was itself quite entertaining.   Once we got through the spider webs in the old slab garage, we played the game of guessing when concrete floors were added and how old the decomposing wiring actually was.   Price:   North of $230,000

The second house was built in 1913.   Touring this house was like going back in time before WWI.   Walking across the floors was an exercise in maintaining balance, since one side of the living room must have been two or three inches higher than the opposite corner.   The windows of that era were small, which meant the house did not get a lot of natural sunlight.   Staircases were narrow and steep.   I cautioned my 12-year old daughter, who came along for the fun, against bumping her head on the way down the basement stairs (and she’s only 4’9″).   Closets and the crawl space “were scary” according to my daughter.   Price:   Above $170,000

The third house was built in 1964, and like the others, was vacant.   The 1960′s were an interesting time in architecture:   dark brown panelling, small kitchens, cheap fixtures, square rooms and narrow hallways.   On top of that, the driveway was so steep, it made me nervous thinking about my car rolling down and into the living room of the house across the street.   According to my daughter, “the bathroom sinks were gross.”   Price:   Over $200,000

The fourth house was tucked in the trees and we almost didn’t see the sign.   We felt a bit uneasy walking down the walkway, which obviously had not been maintained since 1942.   But that wasn’t our greatest excitement with this house.   As soon as we entered, we immediately began to feel nauseous.   Have you ever walked into a home with the strong pungent odor of cat urine?   No sale.   Price:   Over $160,000   (Good luck selling this one!)

The fifth, sixth, and seventh houses are too boring to write about here.

The eighth house was a 1970′s style with add-ons and a makeshift apartment.   There were rooms and doors in odd places.   Apparently for someone this was the ideal home.   That someone would not be my client.   My daughter had no opinion at all on this home.   That concerned me.

At long last we arrived at a brand new home.   It was a spec home built by a builder who had kept building long after the recession started.   Everyone wondered what he was doing, building houses like it was 2005, but he had a line of credit at his bank, so he kept building.

It was a relief to walk through a home with a modern floor plan with the fresh smell of new wood and carpet.   While this home was what I would call “mid-level” quality in materials and construction, it was definitely much easier to imagine this one as home, rolling on the floors with the kids and dog, or relaxing in the bath tub off the master bedroom.   Finally, my daughter gave her nod of approaval.   How did my client feel?   This could be home.   Price:   South of $270,000.

Have you had any good entertainment lately?   Tour anyone?

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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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