For those of you that have used a realtor recently?

[TLH1977]

I was wondering if anyone has recently used a realtor to purchase property? My sister just sold her condo and is now looking for a larger one to purchase. The same realtor is helping her but it seems that she never calls when something comes on the market. We were thinking since alot of realtors use those sites that you can search the mls listings from your own home that its our responsablity to call her when something comes up that she's interested. We were kinda under the impression that she would find out what my sister is really looking for, her price range and her must haves and call us when something fits the bill? Are we asking for too much?

 

[jenks0718]

I am a realtor and you most certainly are not expecting too much from the realtor. I am currently working with three buyers and twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening) I check the new listings in the areas they want and email them any new listings that come up. I keep in contact with my buyers at least every other day even if there isnt a new listing that is on the MLS and if I see a for sale by owner when I am driving around I make sure to call the homeowner to inquire for my clients. Thats my job.

 

[binny]

I was wondering if anyone has recently used a realtor to purchase property? My sister just sold her condo and is now looking for a larger one to purchase. The same realtor is helping her but it seems that she never calls when something comes on the market. We were thinking since alot of realtors use those sites that you can search the mls listings from your own home that its our responsablity to call her when something comes up that she's interested. We were kinda under the impression that she would find out what my sister is really looking for, her price range and her must haves and call us when something fits the bill? Are we asking for too much?

no youre not asking too much that is what a good realtor should be doing.

They should "profile" you and figure out what youre looking for. My realtor takes extensive notes on everything I like or dont like about a given house and then make a profile from that.

Anything from carpet colour to placementof bedrooms, he is writing it down.

 

[ceiligh1]

We love our realtor and would recomend him to anyone. We call him a bull dog because when you call him you better be ready to move because you will find a house right away. We have used him three times so far and many of our friends use him as well. Why? Because when you frist start looking for a house with him he emails you a bunch of MLS listings and asks that you email him back about them. When you look at homes he tells you about the neighborhood, the traffic even the hospitals and schools. When you ask about MLS listings that you find and he didnt send he tells you why. He found our first home for us, and then helped us sell it when our family grew. He is almost a member of the family. He brought us a baby gift, a housewarming gift and a candle every xmas. Also our realtor was able to send us listings 3 days before they hit the general search on your own website. So when we would call and say this house looks ideal he would tell us "traffic is awful you dont want that house. THat is why I didnt send it to you."
It sounds like your sister is doing all the work and her realtor just wants to be paid for it. I would look for a new one.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

There are realtors that specialize...right folks? Buyers agents & seller agents, right? The last person that sold our house ONLY was a selling agent.

Perhaps she needs to seek out a buyer agent's?

 

[golfgal]

Our realtor sent us an automated email everyday of the new listings that matched our criteria for a house. If we saw something we liked we called him. We are moving 150 miles away so when we went house hunting he would have as many houses as we could fit in scheduled. You should not be the one initiating the calls, not that you can't call them about a property but they should be the one doing most of the calling.

 

[ceiligh1]

I dont know about buyer agents vs. seller agents. Ours has helped us buy two homes and sell one. I think it depends on the agent and the market but I cant see why someone would only do one and not the other. I know our agent would not represent both sides of the deal. So he would not be an agent for the person selling the house at the same time representing the person buying the house.