Utah Real Estate #2: Hiring a Real Estate Agent – Part 2

Posted by Patrick Wiscombe on June 12, 2012 under Utah Real Estate Podcast | Be the First to Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

In this edition of the Utah Real Estate Podcast, we talked about:

How exposed is your piece of property?
The numbers game
The real value of the multiple listings service
Is my real estate agent working for me?
The marketing plan for your house

Press the ‘PLAY’ button to listen to Utah Real Estate #2: Hiring a Real Estate Agent – Part 2

—————————————————————————————————————
YOUR CALL TO ACTION
If you’re looking to buy or sell a house in Utah, please call or text me (Patrick Wiscombe) at (801) 874-7717.
—————————————————————————————————————

Cool Voice Guy: Information you need, the podcasts you love, this is the Patrick Wiscombe.com podcast network.

Cool Voice Guy: It’s real estate news you can use, this is the Utah Real Estate podcast. Giving you free expert advice and tips if you’re looking to buy or sell a house. And now, here are your hosts, Roger Zundel and Patrick Wiscombe

Patrick Wiscombe (sponsorship billboard): The Utah Real Estate podcast is brought to you by Weichert Realtors at the Rockies. If you are looking to buy or sell a house in Utah, please call Patrick Wiscombe at area code 801-602-5850. That number again is area code 801-602-5850.

Patrick Wiscombe: It’s the Utah Real Estate podcast, episode two, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you as always for tuning us in and taking us along wherever and however you’re accessing the podcast today. Coming up on today’s episode of the Utah Real Estate podcast, we’re going to be talking about why you should really consider using a real estate agent when you buy or list a house. Joining me for the podcast this morning is a gentleman by the name of Roger Zundel who is the president and owner, can I call you the CEO?

Roger Zundel: ok, yes.

Patrick Wiscombe: ok, president and owner and CEO of Weichert Realtors at the Rockies in American Fork, Utah. They specialize in buying and selling real estate throughout the state of Utah. Roger, it’s good to have you here this morning.

Roger Zundel: Thank Patrick, it’s nice to be here again.

Patrick Wiscombe: Yesterday, we talk about why you should consider using a real estate agent when buying and listing a piece of property. This is part two of the conversation. Why do people need to have a real estate agent?

—————————————————————————————————————
YOUR CALL TO ACTION
If you’re looking to buy or sell a house in Utah, please call or text me (Patrick Wiscombe) at (801) 602-5850.
—————————————————————————————————————

Roger Zundel: Well, yesterday we talked about the negotiation and how that might go. Another reason is for exposure. If you put a sign on your lawn and maybe an ad in a newspaper or on the internet, or someplace, you’re going to get some people looking at your house, but how many buyers do you need? You need just one buyer. What you’re looking for is one person who values your house the same way you do and is willing to give you what you’re asking. So really, it’s kind of a numbers game. The chances for you to to find the one person you need, you know, are they greater showing it to five people or are they greater if you’re showing it to 50 people?

Patrick Wiscombe: So, that’s the real benefit, you can get your house in front of a lot more people using an agent because they’ll probably know of some potential buyers.

Roger Zundel: Well, yeah. Agents do have buyers because they have other properties out there they buyers have called on and that wasn’t the right property for them and so if they know of your property then they can take that buyer and bring them to you. The other reason is the multiple listing service which is a database all real estate agents use. Basically when you hire a real estate agent, that real estate agent can put it on the MLS and offers a portion of his commission to any real estate agent that wants to bring a buyer. So, basically when you hire a real estate agent, you’ve hired hundreds, or depending on your market, thousands of realtors to look for a buyer of your home. That’s the main reason why realtors are more effective than if it’s just you looking for a buyer for you house.

Patrick Wiscombe: You know, I never really thought about it that way. I didn’t even think about the MLS angle. All of a sudden you have dozens or even hundreds of real estate agents that can find your house.

Roger Zundel: Oh yeah. In Utah County it’s nearly a thousand. In Salt Lake it’s over a couple of thousand. It just depends what market you’re in. One thing you need to know about. There are some companies out there who for $500, they offer you access to the MLS, or put your house on the MLS. The thing they don’t tell you is that you have to pay a reasonable amount to the agents who might bring you a buyer. I mean, if you were a real estate agent, and you had one buyer, maybe a $150,000 buyer, you’re going to go to the MLS and you’re going to put his criteria in and up may come five or six houses. If one of those house is offering to pay you 1% and another one of those houses is offering to pay you 3.5%, which one are you going to make sure you’re going to show your people?

Patrick Wiscombe: The one that going to make him the most commission.

Roger Zundel: Right, and so when you choose a real estate agent, you need to be clear how he is sharing the commission with potential agents who may bring a buyer because it’s really a critical piece and how effective it is to get your house sold.

Patrick Wiscombe: Earlier in the conversation, you mentioned there are some real estate agents, maybe agents is the wrong word, there are some real estate brokers out there that will list your house or put it on the MLS for $500. How do I make sure I’m going to have someone working for me to get my house sold?

Roger Zundel: When you choose a real estate agent, what you’re going is you’re choosing somebody to represent you and your interests. He should be looking after your interests as though they are his own. Now, your agent has a responsibility to you, a fiduciary responsibility, which is a legal term, for full disclosure. That means whatever he knows, he has an obligation to tell you. When you’re developing a marketing plan for your house you want to know what it is he’s going to do. A legitimate portion of that is to find out what he is planning to pay other real estate agents if the bring a buyer. Some agents will list a house for 6 or 7% and will only offer 2 or 2.5% across the board. Sometimes agents will offer a bonus across the board to incent agents to bring them a buyer. That’s part of the marketing plan that you should talk to your realtor about when you decide to do that.

Patrick Wiscombe: Last question before we start wrapping up episode number two. Do most consumers think about how to market and sell their house or do they expect the agent to take care of it for them?

Roger Zundel: It really depends on the person and the personality type. There are some people out there who are very analytical and want to know every single detail of what an agent is going to do. But most people, the reason they’re hiring you, is because they don’t want to have to think about it.

Patrick Wiscombe: But they have to get involved a little bit because they’re making decision on their house. Agreed?

Roger Zundel: The real esate agent need to give them accurate information. The main decision that the seller needs to decide is what price he’s going to be comfortable with and that’s based on information, historic information from the market and the market trend analysis which we can provide for them and give them an idea which way the market is going. Most agents have got a standard plan for how they will market you house and you should ask them what that plan is. It should include open houses, it should include a web presence, it should include MLS access, things like that.

Patrick Wiscombe: Alright, that will do it for episode number two. Be sure to tell everyone you know that looking to buy or sell a house in Utah to contact Weichert Realtors. You can contact me directly. My phone number is area code (801) 602-5850. Let me give that number again. The number is area code (801) 602-5850. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on AtTheRockies.com. You can also pick it up on my website PatrickWiscombe.com. So, for Roger Zundel, the president and owner of Weichert Realtors at the Rockies in American Fork, Utah, my name is Patrick Wiscombe, thank you for listening, we’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Cool Voice Guy: Helping you by or sell a house. This has been the Utah Real Estate podcast with your hosts Roger Zundel and Patrick Wiscombe, sponsored by Weichert Realtors and heard exclusively on AtTheRockies.com.