When the real estate market goes through a phase of uncertainty, as we are now, and especially in the slowest time of the year, clients are asking important questions like:

Should I put my house on the market now?
What is a fair listing price on my house?
How long would my house be on the market before it sells?
Is this a good time to buy a house?
Should I buy a home in Sequim or in Port Angeles?
Should I buy an existing house or have one built?

Clients do not want to look into a crystal ball. They want professional guidance that comes from experience and integrity. If you are buying or selling, this is a time for strong leadership from your real estate broker and agent. Do the due diligence to find an agent you can trust and who can do an outstanding job for you. Knowledge, experience, and trustworthiness are all important. Don’t buy or sell your home without them.

Blog Manager: Chuck, in this interview I want to take a more personal approach to an interview such as this. I’ll ask about the new brokerage and your experience, because that will be important to people, but I think people also want to know who you are. Chuck, give us a brief vignette of who Chuck Marunde is, your business and real estate background generally, your connection here and your family.

Chuck: I’d be glad to. I started in real estate sales in Alaska in the 1970′s, and went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane. I practiced real estate law for 20 years with a 4-year stint in the Air Force as a JAG. In 1994 I moved my family back to Washington and to Sequim where I continued my real estate law practice and raised my four children. If I may plug my children, I have the cutest little girl in the world, and my boys are amazing, too. Brady is 6’4″ and a great basketball player. Bristol is a professional mixed martial artist, and while he is a humble and gentle person outside the ring, he is very dangerous in the ring or the cage. My oldest son, Jesse Marunde, became one of the strongest men in the world as a professional strongman. He placed 2nd in the World Strongman Contest in Chengdu, China three years ago. Jesse died in Sequim at his gym last August from a heart attack. It was a terrible shock, but I can say I am very proud of him.

Blog Manager: Many people in Sequim and Port Angeles knew Jesse. He had an incredible impact on a lot of people. For being only 27 years old, he left a huge legacy.

Chuck: He did.

Blog Manager: With all those athletes in the family, what do you do for exercise?

Chuck: I love to run, workout in the gym, watch my sons compete, and ski with my daughter. Of course, I’m always taking photos of my kids.

Blog Manager: Many people know you, but not everyone knows the extent of your experience in real estate. If you were forced to describe your real estate experience in one sentence, what would you say?

Chuck: I’m not big on talking about myself, because my new brokerage, Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate, will be all about the client, not me. I really mean that. But people are entitled to know who I am if I am going to represent them in selling their real estate or representing them as a buyer’s agent. I only get once sentence?

Blog Manager: Right. But you’ve already used four. Do you want to try again?

Chuck: [Affirmative nod] My sales experience in real estate goes back 30 years, but my 20 years in real estate law gave me a great foundation in dealing with critical details and problem solving and for building a client oriented business, and along the way I have headed up an escrow company, closed 100′s of real estate transactions myself, put together loan packages before they had software that typed everything, negotiated 100′s of transactions, drafted 1,000′s of real estate documents, litigated 100′s of real estate issues, resolved many real estate conflicts successfully, have been an adviser to many real estate brokers around the state, including many agents right here in Sequim and Port Angeles, have handled many commercial transactions, have been an adviser to real estate investors and millionaires, have done many foreclosures and forfeitures, short sales, and creatively structured transactions, am licensed with the State as a real estate educator, and I’m a published author on real estate topics, for example, I write for the Pacific Northwest Home Owner Magazine, I sit on the Seattle PI panel of real estate experts, I’m on several other national real estate panels as an expert author, and I’m an Internet marketing consultant for people in the real estate industry.

Blog Manager: That’s a long sentence Chuck, but full of good information for our readers. Tell us something about your new company.

Chuck: Sure. I wanted to build a company where the true center of focus is the client, where the level of professional knowledge and attention to detail is unsurpassed, where customer relationship management is actually practiced. In other words, I wanted clients to get the highest and best counsel in their real estate transactions, and that means getting the best price within a reasonable period of time, and with so much attention paid to the clients that when the transaction has closed, the clients will not only be clients but friends who are delighted with our service. I could describe in detail how this all works, but I think the best way for people to find out is to work with us. That’s the ultimate test and the ultimate proof that our business model is truly different than any other Broker’s. That’s what Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate is all about, and this is what clients expect and deserve.

Blog Manager: Chuck, you told me earlier that you felt your experience would be beneficial to clients. Do buyers and sellers really want a Realtor who has a lot of experience, and do clients appreciate your real estate law experience?

Chuck: No question about it. Clients want two things, at least. They want a Realtor who is competent and trustworthy. I could talk for an hour about what that means, but long story short, it means that people want someone who really is knowledgeable and understands the real estate business. After all, their Realtor is handling what may be their most expensive investment, their home. They want someone who understands the current market, and who understands pricing, marketing and advertising, the Internet, negotiating, contracts, and who can protect them throughout the entire process all the way to closing and beyond. People don’t just want a slick salesman who talks but does not walk the talk. I think the public is getting very smart about this. They are discerning more and more who has experience and who does not. I think more people are not just hiring the first Realtor they talk to, but the first Realtor who can answer their questions with depth.

Blog Manager: Chuck, you did not join a major real estate franchise. Do you think people look for the big names?

Chuck: I’ll tell you what clients have been telling me for nearly 30 years. They want someone who will help them find what they are looking for. They could care less about the name of a company or the size of the building. They don’t sit in California or Arizona, or even in Seattle, and say, “Honey, let’s call a big name franchise in Sequim or Port Angeles, and see if they can help us find our dream home at a rock bottom price.” About 75% of buyers start their search for their next home on the Internet, and they’re not using real estate portals or franchise websites. Like all of us, they are searching with Google or Yahoo. Again, it’s not about me, it’s not about the company, but it is all about the client and what the client is looking for. I have a completely different business model than 99% of the crowded brokerage business. For me, it really is all about the client, not me.

Blog Manager: Chuck, since you talk about serving your clients more than anything else, can I assume that you have free resources that people can check out?

Blog Manager: Well, there you have it folks. Check out those websites, and thank you Chuck for sitting under the bright lights for us.

Chuck: My pleasure.

To Contact Chuck Marunde:
Email: chuckmarunde@gmail.com, or
Call his direct line: 360-775-5424

Dual agency is legal in every state, provided there is full disclosure to both parties, and provided the dual agent does not compromise the special duties he or she owes exclusively to the seller and to the buyer.

Here’s the challenge. A dual agent owes his client a duty of loyalty, obedience, disclosure, confidentiality, financial responsibility, and reasonable care and diligence. It’s easy to understand how all these duties would apply to an agent’s seller, or to an agent’s buyer, but to both at the same time?

Imagine you are a buyer, and your agent is a dual agent, meaning he or she is also the listing agent for the seller who owns the home you want to buy. Because the agent owes special duties to the seller, there are things your agent cannot share with you. In order for your agent to work in your financial best interest and beat up the seller on either price or terms, your agent would have to work against the seller’s interest. That would violate the law of dual agency, and subject the agent to legal liabilities.

In one case, the buyer closed on a unit in a co-op only to find out later that he could have purchased a unit in the same complex for 40% less, but his agent also represented the seller. Was the buyer upset? You bet, but it was too late, since he had already closed on the transaction. There are many other issues besides price that could be negotiated in favor of the seller to the detriment of the buyer if your agent is a dual agent.

This is why a buyer’s interest are clearly best promoted when a buyer retains a real estate agent to act as their exclusive buyer’s agent. In this case, there are no divided loyalties, and you have an agent who has one client, you. You can be confident your agent is promoting your interests, and your interests only. This gives your agent freedom to withhold nothing from you, to help you negotiate the best price and the best terms, so you come out the winner.

You wouldn’t go watch an NBA game if there was one coach for both teams? Can you imagine the coach running back and forth to coach the players on each team during time outs? What would he tell the players? How would he promote their best interests? Likewise, why would you hire an agent who represents the seller when you want to buy?