Month: July 2006 (page 6 of 6)

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

In The Fountainhead,the best novel ever written about the real estate industry, Ayn Rand said:

The shortest distance between two points is not a straight line — it’s a middleman.

Here’s Seth Godin on the same point:

Salespeople who sell properly sell stuff people wish they would have bought in the first place. It’s a huge service… I’m pretty sure we need more good salespeople, not less.

I actually don’t care too much for the kind of selling Godin’s talking about. It’s a thin line between helping people do something they should do and nudging them into doing something they should not do.

The salesmanship Rand is talking about is elemental in real estate, to be the source of and liaison with the many vendors involved in the sale of a home.

But the most important function for me, and the job I like the best, is addressed by neither: A good real estate salesperson helps people realize their dreams — and avoid potential nightmares. The first part is fairly easy. The second part requires real skill, especially with sellers. I don’t think these jobs can be done without.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We looked at a house yesterday in Las Vegas. We’re loosely motivated buyers, so we didn’t waste an agent’s time. But we have this idea that we might buy a distinctive home in a choice location, trick it out in every possible way, then own it as a getaway vacation rental that we will rent ourselves from time to time, when we’re in town. We were looking yesterday in the allegedly ‘historic’ neighborhood of Downtown Las Vegas, which makes the historic neighborhoods of Phoenix look positively ancient.

Anyway, here’s what’s important in the present context: The lister of the home happened to be there as we drove by, and she offered to show it to us. She was eager and energetic, well-informed and enthusiastic, everything you might want in a Realtor, either as a broker or a seller. Except that in the course of about ten minutes, she committed at least two Federal Fair Housing law violations – religion and family status.

We can give the lady a break, I suppose. We weren’t offended, and I can’t image that even members of the two protected classes would have been offended. She was trying to be inclusive, even if unlawfully, not exclusive. All she really wanted to do was get the house sold, so she gave us information she thought we would want, even though doing so was in violation of the law, even though we had disclosed to her our status as Realtors from out of state, even though she should have known we would hear every violation of the law.

As it happens, we are very, very careful about this stuff. Not because we believe all people are individuals, equal in every metaphysical respect. Not because we find prejudice and exclusion abhorrent, repulsive, nauseating. Not because we want to spread the social, emotional and financial benefits of homeownership as far and as wide as possible. We uphold every one of those noble ideals. But here is the reason we are so serious about Fair Housing laws: Because the fines at the Federal level are $11,000 – per violation. Add to that state, county Read more

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Before we hopped our Southwest flight to Sin City, I had time to read but not comment upon this bit by Catherine Reagor of the Arizona Republic. The truth is, it gets hard to care after a while. Whether the Republic‘s real estate reporting is completely tendentious, completely uninformed or completely random, it is almost always completely wrong. Ms. Reagor, in particular, never once saw a cliff that she didn’t immediately jump off of, whether it’s the wonder and beauty of ‘affordable’ housing expropriated at gunpoint or the dream of a desert paradise master-planned in every particular by Locutus of Borg. If the Republic is singing the praises of an on-line real estate start-up, it might be wise to park your wealth anywhere else.

Even so, and harkening back to the idea of lawsuits against RealtyBots, I seized upon the opportunity to play my favorite game as a real estate broker: Name that violation. I summarized the article to Cathy, emphasizing this:

Some real estate Web sites make money on advertising.

Others, such as myfuturenet, try to make money on the back end by getting buyers and seller to close deals online using their mortgage and title firms.

In possession of that little bit of information, a mere 36 words, the challenge for you is to name that violation.

Cathy got it instantly, of course, as every skilled practitioner would. The law this business model is most likely to violate is RESPA, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Every vendor used in a real estate transaction should be chosen by the buyer. If a real estate licensee refers a vendor, he must disclose any ‘referral fees’ or other kickbacks received from that vendor. Our policy, of course, is no kickbacks of any kind, ever, since there should never be a doubt in our clients’ minds about our absolute fidelity to their interests. But a business model that binds buyers to certain third-party vendors seems to have a RESPA suit, an agency suit – or both – baked in the cake.