ExiledInIllinois Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 This has been bugging me for sometime. Why do real estate agents use their picture/portrait? WTF is up with that? Any of you guys out there that can help me out? This is OTW right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Info Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 My .02: Most anyone who puts their pic on an ad is hoping their image promotes some kind of comfort with the consumer. Also, someone may wish to tout your experience in a particular market and a picture can demonstrate that. There is a lot of data (I am not going to link) that a pleasant look is preferable to nasty-looking and the consumer will choose accordingly. I am somewhat amazed at the pictures people are willing to post. I guess they have a mistaken impression that they are good-looking. After all, most people post on dating sites/ads that they are nice looking. Sometimes, there may be confusion over gender with a unisex name (i.e., 'Chris', 'Ryan', etc.). Hopefully, a picture clears that up. This has been bugging me for sometime. Why do real estate agents use their picture/portrait? WTF is up with that? Any of you guys out there that can help me out? This is OTW right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JinVA Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Self promotion would be my guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACor58 Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 When are real estate agents going to go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the information available to both buyer and seller they are borderline useless.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 When are real estate agents going to go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the information available to both buyer and seller they are borderline useless.. It's still an enormous amount of work to sell a house. But what I'd like to know is why the residential real estate industry has been allow to engage in collusion and price fixing pretty much forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Ya I don't get it either. They even put their picture on their business cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JinVA Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 When are real estate agents going to go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the information available to both buyer and seller they are borderline useless.. I once thought that as well. However after spending every weekend waiting on potential buyers to look at my home I said screw it and listed it with an agent. Too much time involved if you ask me, plus people who house hunt FSBO's are usually bottom feeders and make ridiculously low offers. For sale by owner is for the birds IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Bills fan Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I believe Real Estate agents are just better dressed used-car salesmen. They're just as sleazy. When I sold our house in Washington, when we moved to New Zealand, our a-hole agent actually let the prospective buyers MOVE into our house before any papers where filled out. He knew we were out of the country so he figured out we would never find out. When I DID find out I contacted a lawyer who basically sat on the case and did nothing. (But charged me a couple grand.) The whole business stinks. When I sold my first home, in Colorado, I sold it myself and it was easy peasy. You can get all the forms online and just need a lawyer to sign 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBob2232 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 When are real estate agents going to go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the information available to both buyer and seller they are borderline useless.. While i am by NO MEANS a fan of real estate agents (I have fired at least 10 of them in my day), in order to use them correctly, you need to know the games they play, know when they can help you, and when you need them to step aside and you take the role. As is outlined here, it is an enourmous effort to sell a house by FSBO. Especially in today market. To do it correctly yourself, you need to spend lots of time (and money) marketing your property, showing your property, and (if you are less knowledegble), negotiating and filing out forms. Buying a house is even more time consuming. There are TENS of THOUSANDS of houses on the market in may municipalities. Of those, many may meet your criteria. You have to spend ALOT of time (and gas money) bouncing back and forth looking at these THOUSANDS of houses. So..how do you use a realtor correctly? 1) Find one who is well established in the industry. One who works for a large firm in your area, and one who is a great networker. Every agent SHOULD know what their clients are selling and what is in their "inventory", but do they also know what other clients of other realtors are looking to buy? When I list a property with an agent, I want them to already be thinking "Gee..Susan has a buyer who is looking for a house just like this one...better let her know". The new agents dont *typically* have this ability, but the good ones do. 2) Make THEM use THEIR gas. Good Agents view LOTS of properties. Good Agents drive buy a new sign and say, "let me check it out". Good agents will bring you new listings before they hit the MLS because they see signs first (or they hear about them through the office..see #1). Make them use their gas to scout out your future home. When you see a property on the MLS you might like, ask them to go check it out, take some pictures and send it over to you. They SHOULD be happy to do this. Afterall, its one more house they have now seen...and if its not right for you, it might be right for another one of their clients. And besides, they would be thrilled to show it to you if you were there...whats really the difference? 3) Understand that although you have selected a good realtor, there are MANY bad realtors out there. If you are selling a house, give a BONUS to a buying agent. Bad realtors (and even some good ones) will go through properties they are presenting to a client and look at at the commission split. 3%/3% is pretty common in my area, so if you are flipping through and see a 4%/2% or 3%/2% you MAY throw it in the trash. I suggest, before dropping the sales price more than 1%, try giving an extra 1% bonus to the BUYING agent. 3%/4%. Now that same bad agent (who is often VERY capable of finding you a buyer), sees the dollar signs, and will start brining every tom dick and sally through your home. They may not buy it either, but the more people who know what you have out there, the better you will be. 4)Offer Bonuses. Similar to #3. A Bonus to the listing agent for selling the property in <60 days will increase the marketing and promotion of the property. Likewise, a bonus to the buying agent will cause your property to be shown more often and help BOTH agents get their bonus. 5) Do not use the Agents recommendations for home inspectors/ mortgage brokers or settlement agencies unless you KNOW what you are doing. And if you do KNOW what you are doing, you probably have your own guys in mind anyway. The reason for this is simple, but most agents will disagree with me. Say you are a home inspector, John Doe the realtor, gives you 50 homes to inspect a year. He is a good networker as well and tells everyone in his office about you and many of them use you as well. You have a legal obligation to do your job, but you know if you start failing too many properties, or present borderline issues with great concern to the buyer, causing them to back out of the deal, John Doe isnt going to be too eager to keep bringing you business (and he is your largest client). Its a fine ethical line...but its a tough one to walk. Similar things go with Mortgage brokers and settlement agencies. Now, dont get me wrong, there times and situations where using the realtors team is a good idea (especially when you KNOW things are going to have to be done a little under the radar) Unfortunately the last 5 years have created a BOOM of real estate agents. It has created ALOT of LAZY real estate agents. This downturn in the housing market is actually good...as they are now being weeded out. Just watch out for #1...but a good real estate agent is worth his or her weight in gold (or Gas). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetbaboo Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I'm told that apparently hot young real estate agents do very well with young single men looking to buy condos. They don't make quite as much money since these young single men generally don't have that much. Male or more homely looking female real estate agents do better with families as the wives don't get jealous of a hot young babe prancing around an open house in a tight ass skirt and motorboat friendly shirt and thus make more money since they're often selling larger homes...or so my male real estate agent friend tells me. Note: I realize this post is completely worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 When are real estate agents going to go the way of the dinosaur? With all of the information available to both buyer and seller they are borderline useless.. Never going to happen, a real estate transaction is more complicated than most people realize, or they can be anyways, many many many forms and types of real estate transactions and most people need a professional to guide them thru the waters. Not to mention the most basic need for a real estate transaction is to have a neutral party negotiate the crap out of the sellers price. You want someone who is very aggressive when it comes to negotiating the best deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Never going to happen, a real estate transaction is more complicated than most people realize, or they can be anyways, many many many forms and types of real estate transactions and most people need a professional to guide them thru the waters. Not to mention the most basic need for a real estate transaction is to have a neutral party negotiate the crap out of the sellers price. You want someone who is very aggressive when it comes to negotiating the best deal. I agree with most of what you said. However, the real estate agent is really working for the seller - which is something that many people do not understand. The seller "pays" their commission - albeit the buyer is the one who forks over the moolah. You can hire an agent to be exclusively a buyer's agent. That's not very common though - as you end up paying their commission and the broker's/agent's commission too. A buyer's agent is more aggressive in negotiating price than a regular agent - who is often just eager to make a deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I agree with most of what you said. However, the real estate agent is really working for the seller - which is something that many people do not understand. The seller "pays" their commission - albeit the buyer is the one who forks over the moolah. You can hire an agent to be exclusively a buyer's agent. That's not very common though - as you end up paying their commission and the broker's/agent's commission too. A buyer's agent is more aggressive in negotiating price than a regular agent - who is often just eager to make a deal. Correct, the seller knows they are paying the 3% to someone's buying agent and should not care who it is really. Thus a buyers agent can be aggressive as all hell with no regard for the seller. Any buyer's agent who cares about the seller in any shape or form is a crappy agent. The buyers agent represents the buyer only. I use one broker exclusively when buying or selling real estate and that broker is an aggressive shark on my behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Correct, the seller knows they are paying the 3% to someone's buying agent and should not care who it is really. Thus a buyers agent can be aggressive as all hell with no regard for the seller. Any buyer's agent who cares about the seller in any shape or form is a crappy agent. The buyers agent represents the buyer only. I use one broker exclusively when buying or selling real estate and that broker is an aggressive shark on my behalf. Way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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