One argument that doesn’t hold water against Congress Realty is that our listings don’t sell. One thing I love about Real Estate is the statistical data reports than can be generated. These sorts of reports help brokerages like Congress Realty squash any myths about our service model. It is impossible for any individual to make any claim that our listings don’t sell. Why? Simple, the MLS reports sold data and many publications publish this information to the public. Thus, consumers many times have access to this hard data. (they can also get it upon request) To summarize, there is statistical data published by the MLS that proves my statements to be accurate.

2 great examples below:

In AZ, Donald Plunkett has sold more listings over the past 3 years than any other agent or broker. (and in each individual year has finished no worse than 2nd) It’s a fact. It can’t be disputed. The Phoenix Business Journal every year ranks these agents by dollars sold and total properties sold. In that time, we have sold somewhere in the ballpark of 250-300 million dollars worth of Arizona Real Estate. To put this in perspective, if you combine all of the dollars sold for agents 3-10, it still won’t surpass Mr. Plunkett’s numbers.

In the state of TX, between the months of Feb 1st to April 1st, approximately 40% of every listed property through Congress Realty has either already sold or is currently under contract. (well below the typical dom)

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

Congress Realty will be acquiring membership in multiple Texas MLS’s within the next week. Currently, we cover the NTREIS, HAR, SABOR, ABOR, and Harlingen systems within the state of Texas. Over the next few weeks, we will have coverage in every major MLS in the state of Texas, as well as coverage in most of the smaller systems throughout the state. We are very pleased about this expansion upcoming in Texas and look forward to broadening our exposure in the state of Texas.

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

The # of foreclosures in this county would be much lower if we demanded accountability. Too many times I see properties go back to the lender where the seller could have made the payments to maintain the asset. However, the seller simply didn’t want to do this. The idea from the seller is why keep making payments on a depreciating asset? If I am already upside down, why not just walk away? (assuming I do not see any reason to believe this trend to cease) Certainly, many sellers have no other choice but to lose their homes, however, the situation below should be illegal in my opinion. The seller simply doesn’t want to keep paying on the property. Something tells me Mr. Canseco isn’t incredibly concerned with the negative impact on his credit forthcoming. (and he is right, in this instance, he shouldn’t be) (simple measure of pros versus cons – drop in credit for 7 years – save 3 million in cash over this time by walking away now) There is something terribly wrong with this scenario/system.

http://blownmortgage.com/2008/05/07/canseco-heads-to-foreclosure/

Over the next few weeks, I want to try and touch on a few myths that are created by the Realtor® community. Many of which I believe are created to help sustain the relevance of the Full Service Listing Agent.

If an online surfer spends 10 minutes sorting through various Real Estate Blogs on any given day, they will surely come across some sort of debate/discussion involving the FSBO selling process. Previously, I used to enjoy reading the various comments and blogs on this topic because I think both viewpoints can be presented in legitimate manners. However, as listing agents continue to lose business to alternative models, they have turned to using fear tactics to scare sellers away from these “other” models. Listing agents need to understand that today’s sellers are more informed than those of previous years. Attempting to scare a seller into using a Realtor® is simply absurd. However, I continue to see agents try and do exactly that.

Most recently I read a piece discussing the relationship b/w high Realtor® commissions and the potential turnaround concerning the health of the overall market. The author was arguing that high commissions are prohibiting buyers and sellers from coming together to strike a deal. (the article was pro fsbo, arguing the same usual points – online exposure, better informed buyers - etc) Now, in response to this article, I found nearly 100 different responses/comments from Realtors®. All of which were easily predictable, however, I want to point out one of my favorites and how fear tactics can be/are used by Realtors®.

Expert negotiators: In the instance above, I found that many Realtors® commenting were very adamant that sellers can not successfully negotiate their own deal and that by going the FSBO route; the seller is leaving thousands of dollars on the table. So the question becomes, why is the Realtor® an expert in negotiations? Bottom line, most times, they are not. Sellers are just as qualified to negotiate their own deals and their attorneys are most likely more qualified. Moving along, I took it upon myself to run a quick license check on one Realtor® who was very insistent of her expert negotiating skills b/c of her experience in Real Estate as a Realtor®. Not surprising, a quick check on her license showed that she had been a licensee all of about 18 months. Bottom line, she’s lying. She has no more qualifications or experience than that of your typical seller. So you might ask, how are Realtors® more experienced in negotiations? Unfortunately, there is absolutely no reason to believe they are. They are certainly not attorney’s, many do not have college degrees, let along specialization in business/finance/communication skills, etc. There are many positive reasons concerning why certain sellers can benefit from the use of a Full Service Realtor®, however, expert negotiation skills just isn’t one of them. Attempting to scare a FSBO into believing they are not qualified to negotiate their own deal is not going to be a successful tactic for the Realtor(R) community.

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

It’s a question that has always fascinated me. The truth of course is that it differs greatly from property to property. Let’s also not forget, that it is not the fault of the listing agent if a property sells quickly at top dollar. However, that being said, my general guess is that most agents spend much more time trying to acquire listings than actually trying to sell a listing. It’s an interesting concept to consider when you take into account most agents do not get paid unless the listing sells. Thus, common sense would tell us that the agent will spend most of their time trying to get paid. Here is the problem, traditional real estate is based upon the reliance on the MLS and cooperation amongst agents. Essentially, agents depend upon other agents to sell their own listings. As a result, many agents take the approach of spending all of their time trying to acquire new listings, at the same time hoping another agent sells one of their existing listings. Full Service Real Estate is one of the only professions that I know of where you can make a commission w/out actually having anything to do with the sale. (other than placing the property in the MLS)

Certainly some agents try and sell their own properties, however, the truth be told, this is rare. If I was going to go with a Full Service Brokerage as a seller, I would want to know that the agent I have employed is out there in the field trying to sell my property. If not, what is the point in hiring a full service firm if they are not going to provide full service?

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

In Texas, most full service brokerages set up all showings through a company called CSS. (Centralized Showing Service)  Congress Realty offers this same feature for our TX sellers. When a buyer agent wishes to show a property, they contact CSS and give them the time they wish to show the property. CSS then makes the appt, confirms the appt, and calls the buyer agent back. The advantage to CSS is that they always answer the phone, 24 hours a day. An agent will always have a point of contact. This is why the service is so popular amongst full service brokerages. Another advantage of the service is that it helps the flat fee listing look just like the competing property down the street listed by the full service brokerage. Buyer agents calling CSS have no idea the listing is of the flat fee nature.

Overall, CSS is a great service for TX sellers to take advantage of.

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

Our ER agreement is drafted with the intent of catering to our flat fee MLS clients. The agreement gives the right to the seller to cancel the agreement, offer any compensation to the broker bringing the buyer, (the seller solely determines this amount) and it clearly spells out that Congress Realty is not receiving any additional compensation/commission. However, per state law, a seller still must sign the listing agreement before a property can be listed by the brokerage. Basically, the state is trying to protect the seller. To summarize, a listing agreement is an agreement where the seller gives the brokerage permission to list the home.

As a result, this is why our FSBO sellers must sign the listing agreement before placing the property on the MLS. In no way shape or form does this mean we are trying to collect any additional compensation. We simply can’t list the property without it. Every brokerage must have a listing agreement from the owner prior to marketing the property. (regardless of service level)

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

If you have picked up a paper or even attempted to find information on Real Estate Markets that are bucking the national trend, then certainly you have heard about Austin, TX and its stable Real Estate Market. It has become a bit of a fad in my opinion for the press to include Austin in its list of best seller markets. If you look at the actual current statistics, the market is quite healthy, but far from a red hot seller’s market. Below is the data I collected comparing last week 2008 versus the same week 2007.

New listings were up 21.5%.
Pendings were down 61.75%.
Solds decreased by 22.75%.

In 2007 on this date, 9,221 properties were active on the market. Today, you will find 11,865 active properties or sale. While this # may seem like a small increase, nearly 30% in one year is quite a large increase.

The reality is that the Austin Real Estate Market is extremely healthy for sellers. However, we should continue to watch the continuing growth of supply over the next 12 months. If supply continues to increase at this rate, prices will eventually fall.

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker

Active Properties in Las Vegas/Henderson – 21,701

Pending Properties in Las Vegas Henderson – 5,888

Active Under 300k asking price – 13,260

Pending under 300k asking price – 4,363

Fairly predictable numbers/data for those who follow the Vegas market closely. A couple of observations below:

The number of properties currently listed under 300k has increased dramatically over the last 12 months. While over all supply is no longer increasing at an alarming rate, the supply of properties under 300k has tripled within the last 18 months. This is a direct result of the former glut of properties between 350-450k dropping below the 300k mark. (many of which are now lender owned and back on the MLS at substantially lower prices)

The 21% pending/active ratio is slightly higher than I would have anticipated and supports my previous post that properties are selling in Las Vegas since the start of the year.

J. Andrew English – Real Estate Broker