Now you can Text your Sequim real estate agent to ask for more information about a listing, to ask about real estate issues, and to communicate while your transaction is pending.  Texting has become a favorite method of communicating, and it is convenient and fast.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Resources

If you’re at your computer with Internet access or on your laptop at Starbucks with wireless, you’ll find many powerful free Internet resources for buyers on the numerous websites and blogs of Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate, and you’ll find many of those resources available right here on this blog.  If you’re on your smart phone (iPhone) or your iPod or iPad you’ll find a mobile app in the iTunes store for searching the Sequim MLS.  These resources include a powerful Sequim MLS map search feature, foreclosure search, a Sequim real estate market report of listed and sold properties with lots of data, a weekly real estate newsletter that is delivered to your email, a real estate law site, a real estate blog with over 1,000 articles specifically written about Sequim real estate, buying and selling, negotiating the best price, foreclosures, lots of videos produced specifically for buyers of Sequim real estate, and a lot more.

This Sequim real estate agent gives all his clients a book about Sequim real estate, Buying and Selling Real Estate in the Rain Shadow, written by Chuck Marunde, local real estate attorney and Sequim real estate agent.  This is also available as an eBook download in the Apple iTunes Bookstore.  There is a free eBook for sellers to download to help them understand the selling process and what works.

All of these resources have allowed Chuck Marunde to become the number one Sequim buyer’s agent in 2011.  Why?  Because buyers appreciate free online resources that don’t require them to register their confidential information.  They appreciate the many resources that give them information they can’t find anywhere else, and buyers appreciate the professionalism and experience of someone who has been in real estate for 37 years and who is completely dedicated to the best interests of his clients.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Service

Offering a texting service for clients is simply another way that this Sequim real estate agent continues to demonstrate with action that his clients come first.  “I serve my clients with every ounce of energy that I have, and I bring technology to the table to serve my clients in the same way.”

Sequim Real Estate Agent Text Number 360-775-5424

Chuck Marunde is a Sequim real estate agent, hopefully your buyer’s agent, and can be texted anytime at 360-775-5424.  Put that number in your cell phone contacts list and text Chuck anytime you have a question or want to know the status of a transaction.  This Sequim real estate agent never stops working for you.

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What does a Sequim real estate agent do on a day like today?  It’s been a busy day, and a good one to end the week.  I started the day answering emails from clients from around the country.  Many retirees have been planning their move to Sequim for years, and it seems now is the time for many.  This spring and summer will see many retirees buying their long awaited retirement homes in the Sequim area.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Represents Buyers

I am a Sequim real estate agent, and I love representing buyers as their Sequim Buyer’s Agent.  After answering email questions early this morning, I worked on details of two pending transactions, one a home in Sequim and the other a home in Port Angeles.

In both of these transactions I needed to help my buyer clients address items that need repairs, and I drafted the appropriate language in the legal documents to address those repairs.  We gave the sellers the option of repairing these items or crediting the buyers a certain amount.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Previews Homes

In the afternoon I drove the 30 minutes to Port Townsend to preview two gorgeous homes with stunning water views for clients from out of state.  I do this periodically for clients to save them from flying all the way to Sequim to view a home that appears ideal in the MLS listing photos.  Photos in the MLS are often incomplete or don’t tell the whole story of the neighborhood.  By previewing these properties for clients, I can give them a first hand observation as though they were here.  I like to say that I am their “boots on the ground.”  Here is a small view from the back yard of one of these homes.

This high bluff is almost 150 feet above the beach.  Standing on the bluff you look down at the ocean and listen to the crashing of the waves on the beach.  It is beautiful and peaceful. While I have an office in Port Angeles and one in Sequim where I live, I also represent buyers who buy in Port Townsend and Port Ludlow, which is just 20 to 30 minutes from Sequim.

Of course, in the car while I was driving I was able to talk with clients and also with other agents.  I also spent time today in an online conference call working with another broker from King County.  In addition, I took some photos, including this one above, and I wrote some articles and optimized them for the search engines.

Overall, this Sequim real estate agent had a great day.

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A Sequim real estate agent recently had a bad experience.  He made a decision to do something that had long term implications, at least for several weeks.  And as a result he was afraid to invite clients into his car to look at homes.  That’s no small thing when a Sequim real estate agent who represents buyers has a very important job, which is to drive buyers around to look at homes.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Disaster

On his way to the office he decided to grab a small bag of garbage from his kitchen with the good intention of stopping at the transfer station to drop it off.  When I was young, a dump was called a dump, but today we have lots of euphemisms.  Transfer station is a polite way of saying, “dump.”  Used car lots now sell “previously owned cars,” secretaries are now called “administrative assistants,” and a prison is called a “correctional institute.”  Call it what you want, but a transfer station still stinks.

But back to our story.  Our naive Sequim real estate agent thought he had double bagged the garbage, so he threw it into the back seat of his car with a flash of confidence.  While driving to the office, his cell phone rang, and he got deeply involved in a conversation with a client and completely forgot to stop first at the transfer station.

On his way home from the office at the end of the day, he remembered and stopped at the transfer station, but it was too late.  Something with a disturbing odor (like tuna fish that was not exactly fresh) had leaked into the fabric of the back seat.  The next day after the car sat in the sun for hours, our Sequim real estate agent had an entirely new experience driving the car.  His first thought was, “Oh my God.  How am I going to drive clients around in a car that smells like rotten fish!  This is going to make a good impression on clients.”

Our poor agent learned a good lesson from the school of hard knocks:  Leave the garbage to the garbage men.  Oh, yea, guess who the Sequim real estate agent is?

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Should I hire a Sequim real estate agent or an attorney to help me buy a home?  I received this question from a buyer from out of state who plans to buy a home in Sequim and retire.  It’s not an unusual question form someone from another part of the country. Real estate transactions in some states do involve other professionals like attorneys, and I’m told that in a few states you have to have a surveyor complete a property survey before closing.  Neither are required here, but there is more to the explanation.

Sequim Real Estate Agent or Attorney

Sequim Real Estate Agent or Not

You could hire an attorney to help you review your purchase and sale agreement, the financing contingency, the home inspection and the various clauses, and other documents that are used in Washington buy your home.  You could hire a Sequim real estate agent to act as your buyer’s agent.  You could also represent yourself. I’ve bought real estate as an individual, as a Realtor for clients, and as a real estate attorney for clients.  For what it’s worth, here is my experience.

Sequim Real Estate Agent

First, if I were from outside the Sequim area, I would not try to represent myself as a buyer simply because:  1.) I wouldn’t know the area well and the potential pitfalls of buying the wrong property in the wrong area, 2.) I wouldn’t know the legal documents and customary practices that are used in Clallam County and Washington, and 3.) Unless I had a lot of experience buying and selling real estate and negotiating, I could lose a lot of money.

Second, I would not hire an attorney to help me find a home. I don’t know of any attorneys in the area who have subscriptions to the local multiple listing service, so they won’t be able to locate and compare properties quickly for you.  I should also add that the majority of attorneys are not real estate experts.  Most attorneys are general practitioners and were never Realtors.  That also means that the vast majority of attorneys are not experts in buying and selling real estate.

Third, if I were buying a home in Sequim I would look for a Sequim real estate agent who has knowledge, experience, professionalism and who is trustworthy.  This person will bring more to the table for you as a buyer than anyone else.  By the way, I don’t write this because I am a Sequim Buyer’s Agent. I write this because it is true.

Do your due diligence to find your Sequim real estate agent and you’ll be glad you did.

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Why would a Sequim real estate attorney become a Sequim real estate agent?  There’s a very good reason, actually several reasons, and I’ll share them here.  I think there are some misconceptions about what it is like to be an attorney, and I know there are misconceptions about what it is like to be a Sequim real estate agent.

Sequim Real Estate Agent First

Attorneys generally are poor salesmen.  This is also true of engineers and accountants.  The personality and mindset of an engineer, an accountant, or of an attorney is at the opposite spectrum of the personality and mindset of a salesman.  A salesman has a different set of skills at the very core of who he is.  Attorneys learn to be diplomatic with words and phrases to make their point, but trying to sell a customer a product or service is quite different than trying to impeach a hostile witness or persuade a jury in a closing argument.  The proof is seen over the last 20 years as many attorneys tried to transition into real estate sales around the country, but have failed miserably.  As has been said before, “You can’t teach a cat to bark.”

So how is it that this attorney learned to bark?  I actually started in real estate sales and became an associate broker in Fairbanks, Alaska first back in the 1970s.  It was then that I knew I loved real estate, and I wanted to know more about the details of a transaction, including contracts, negotiating, and so much more that brokers and other agents could not explain.  I decided to go to law school at Gonzaga in Spokane and specialize in real estate.  I did that and practiced law for 20 years.  My Sequim law practice focused on real estate law and real estate transactions.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Adviser

My law practice became very successful, because I was the only attorney who specialized in real estate in Sequim and Port Angeles and had real estate experience as a broker.  I became an adviser to many Sequim real estate agents and brokers (every time I say Sequim you can include Port Angeles too).  I became the attorney many top producing Sequim real estate agents turned to when their transactions were in trouble.  I was good at saving transactions, working through what often appeared to be a total impasse between buyers and sellers.  My personality is well suited for negotiating.  I’m an easy going and soft spoken person, but I’m very assertive and persistent, and on a personal level I am told by many over the years that I’m a persuasive an effective negotiator.

While my Sequim real estate law practice was one of the busiest in the county, and while I loved working with my clients (all wonderful people), I tired of a broken justice system that no longer cared about a simple concept called, “truth.”  I had many court appearances and trials in 20 years, and I found it more than disconcerting that attorneys regularly lied in the courtroom.  (I know, you’re surprised!  Imagine attorneys lying!)  And with all due respect to my friends who still sit on the bench, I tired of watching judges go along with games that attorneys play to the detriment of good people who often lost in the “injustice system.”  You might guess that I never was part of the “good ol’ boys” network.  But my love for real estate kept me in the game for 20 years, until it became obvious to me that I would probably enjoy my work and life more if I focused on real estate transactions as a Sequim real estate agent.  I realized that I could still use all the knowledge and experience I had gained as a real estate attorney for the benefit of my clients, but I could work in a much more positive environment in win-win situations.

Sequim Real Estate Agent Again

So I came full circle back to where I started . . . in real estate sales and transactions.  While it would be an unusual transition for a typical attorney to move into real estate sales, for me it was a natural transition coming back to my first love–real estate transactions.  I’ve spent 30 years now in real estate, so I’m quite at home with the details and nuances of  real estate transactions, but I also love writing and technology.  And I love marketing and sales.  I enjoy using the Internet, and I appreciate how the Internet has given consumers more power than ever.  It’s such a great tool for buyers who want to search for property and do their due diligence online on virtually any subject.

I love working with my clients, who frankly are all incredible people.  It certainly helps that I’ve handled thousands of real estate issues and hundreds of transactions.  Buyers from all around the country are hiring me as their Sequim real estate agent, their Sequim buyer’s agent, and I am as busy as I have ever been, even in this market.  I’m enjoying my work every single day, and I’m thriving.

Now you know how it is that a real estate attorney became a Sequim real estate agent.

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Buyers expect that their agent will have all the skills they need to get the best price and the best terms, but it does not always happen.

There are three absolutely essential skills your Realtor must have if you expect to negotiate a good price and terms on your next home or land.   I guarantee that if your agent is missing one of these skills, your transaction might never make it to the closing table, or you mayget stuck with a price or terms you did not intend.  What are these three skills?

First, your real estate agent must have good oral skills.  You cannot buy a home without a lot of oral conversations between you and your agent, and between your agent and the other agent as well as the other agent and her client.  If your agent cannot articulate the reasons behind some tough negotiating terms on your behalf, the other agent and his client may misinterpret motivations, and personal animosity has killed many transactions.  A lack of good communications is the reason many relationships end, and negotiating to buy your home is most definitely a relationship.  I have seen many transactions terminated or turn into a battle of wills with a great deal of frustration and anger simply because one of the agents did not practice good oral skills.  But having good oral skills is not enough.

(more…)

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