We are in a crazy, volatile market. It’s hard to know who to trust, and in my posts here, I’ve talked about some of the good agents that I known.

The reason for this post is that Real Estate agents are different from Real Estate sales. Agents want you to be happy, and make good decisions. They have the luxury to work with you rather than make a sale to make a car payment.

What I always suggest is that you take the time to shop for a Real Estate agent. The number one tip I can give you is to get away from the computer, and go out into the neighborhoods that interest you. Look at the for sale signs, go to Sunday open houses, and network. Real Estate is a relationship business and you should cultivate relationships.

Get to know the players before you enter the game.

The problem is this attracts Real Estate agents. Most agents argue this is a good thing. The more people involved, the more buyers will look at a property, the more exposure means you will net more dollars. That is just not true.

Unfortunately lines have been drawn in the past six years that make Real Estate transactions more hostile than ever. The Real Estate commission is advertized, and discussed more than property. Who has the best Brokerage is a focus, rather than customer service. In this process buyers pay more, but they also ask for more. We play these games of who gets the most in concessions from an inspection, or financing terms.

I’d say Real Estate isn’t fun any more. Every transaction is like a battle of who can the most rebate, or concessions, or who did the most work to get the transaction together. We’re going to talk about how much sellers, or buyers are being paid to do that “leg work” which is a common catch phrase today.

She admits she is low key, but diligent, as well as honest. People refer to her, other agents refer clients to her. She has a wealth of experience for multi million dollar homes to helping to sell a town home for a professional couple who has been transferred to another state.

Offering that range gives agents an advantage. I first met Cathy when she partnered with another agent to sell a view property that had some quirks. She took the lead in all of the preparation, and marketing, because she had a feel for the clientèle who would be making an offer. The property got offers that Cathy fielded beautifully.

It’s grace under pressure that can get some properties the best price, or get a buyer a better price than a less skilled agent can.

The Real Estate commission is always negotiable, but most Brokerages hold the line at full commission pricing. There are desk fee Brokerages that allow agents to have more latitude in what they charge. The fact, however is that Brokerages bring stability to the Real Estate industry, and it is a multi billion dollar industry.

Let me start by saying that the Real Estate commission is the cost of doing business. No matter how much time you spend on the internet doing “research” it will never compare to the time an agent spends building a viable commission based Real Estate business model.

You need some one who has been in business, just on a commission basis, for three years. That person should have at least twenty to thirty successful Real Estate closings. Because you pay the same, in most cases, for full commission brokerage, you should probably ask people with more experience to help you.  

This is where it gets tricky. Most high performance agents are picky about the clients they work with. If you go in with an attitude that these people should be nice to you because you pay them, and they work for you, you probably won’t get far. Most Top Producers also invest, and have an income stream. They are there to help you. They are in business for an extended period so they want you to be happy.

It’s good for you to be informed, but at some point it’s also good to trust another person to help you make the decisions.

When an appraiser comes out there are things they look at that add, or subtract from the value of Comparable Properties. Comparable Properties is kind of a meaningless term. I use town homes as my best example. Comparable Town Homes can be just as worthless as the one that is being appraised. Adding value for a view doesn’t translate into a property value. The view has a value, but the property is questionable. I’m told I may need to adjust my prejudice against town homes as time goes on.

The same is true in a property with obsolescence. The interior may be gorgeous, but the systems may need updating. One classic example is when the appraiser, or home inspector notes there is low water pressure in a newly remodeled kitchen, or bathroom. It could be caused by a lot of things, but there is a good chance it’s the pipes. So the remodel is actually a liability to getting at those pipes.

A buyer’s agent should know property value. They should know the market place, but they should also know what has value, and what to avoid. You learn that by looking at houses, closing transactions, and getting feed back. It helps to have taken apart a few places.

People in the Real Estate business, lifers, are worth the time to find. All agents charge the same, but a few have value.

Seattle was called The Jet City, and we had the Seattle Super Sonics basketball team. The city rallied around Boeing, and supported their continued growth.

Jet City Real Estate was a small Brokerage that was abandoned. In 1986 I wanted to open a Brokerage on Phinney Ridge with that same name. In 2003 the domain name was still available so I bought it, and built a web site around the name. It included links to history about Seattle, and the Boeing company. The internet was changing rapidly, and I was losing links faster than I could add them. Images were also bought by Getty, of Boeing planes, and cityscapes of Seattle so they were no longer available for free.

I’ve included some of those links here, and a page about the Jet City. The Jet City name ties in to some of my more recent articles about Internet Brokerages. I would like to promote an old school approach to Real Estate. Back in the day when you hired an agent you could trust to show you properties of high quality that had value.  

The focus of this site is to bring back some credibility to the Real Estate profession by promoting those agents, and Brokerages you can trust.

She told the story with a matter of fact point that the value of the house was solid, it is what it is, and some one should buy it for the price it was listed for.

That makes it sound like Mary’s a big talker when she is actually too busy for chit chat, or preoccupied. Constantly moving forward with great attention to detail she engages her day with the tasks she has to do for her clients. Mary is absolutely brilliant.

This is the agent you want on your side. When working for you she keeps track of what your goals are. As she moves through her day of working with properties, being in the field, keeping track of her geographic area, she’ll call you when she has results.

The agent’s point is that people need help today more than they did in the past. There is a lot of information on line, but I’m also finding people call me to ask for an opinion about the property they own.

If you have a portfolio set up for price appreciation, or rental income, great, hold on to it. This is also a good time to position yourself for rental income. 

What I’m addressing are the number of people who got the idea Real Estate was a good investment ten years ago and today they need some guidance. There is also a growing group of people who have planned for retirement that want help navigating the changing Real Estate landscape.

Some agents are equipped to handle the market place today, others are stuck in a distant past. Brokerages can have both kinds of agents. I’m finding that some Brokerages are dominated by two or three agents who have put together teams.

It’s important for you today to find the agent that will bring you the highest level of personal service. Just because you hear the name of the brokerage, it is better for you to interview the agent.

Jim is an easy going guy who was not at all apologetic about the price of the property. He held his Open Houses, and the property eventually sold, for about asking price. 

For me as a new agent Jim became a topic of conversation. I was told that he was that guy who was OK, but not universally accepted in the Real Estate community. Jim Stacey was a Buyer’s Agent before any one knew what that was, so if it’s not normal it must be bad.

He plowed ahead and started giving classes in Real Estate at the North Seattle Community College. He must have published his book by then because my fiancee at that time had a copy of it. She took his class so she could relate to me better about Real Estate.

He took them on a field trip to show them what was a bad Real Estate purchase. It was a marblecrete exterior house on the corner of 92nd, and Wallingford. It still has the white picket fence, but is still ugly. It’s extremely functional, but ugly.

After what is now 25 years, the over priced listing I met Jim at, and the ugly marblecrete house, still look the same. Jim’s over priced listing is still a sought after property, while the marblecrete is still ugly. For me it’s an indication of the value of a good eye for property.  

We need more savvy Buyer’s Agents in todays quirky Real Estate market place.

The idea Jim Stacey was promoting is that people needed to know they could rely on him to work in their best interest when buying a property. At the time the sellers were the only one’s who had a contract to pay a Real Estate commission.

Chuck Cady, who was new to the business about the same time, was also smart enough to agree that as a listing agent it was hard to turn around, and represent buyers. Ann Babb-Nordling was working with Chuck, and they agreed she should work with the buyers while he concentrated on listing properties.

Ann, ultimately, inspired this site. She was the first person I asked when I converted this site to Word Press. Since the mid 1980s she has consistently represented buyers in a wide variety of transactions.

Other business models have come, and gone over the past twenty years, and this idea of Buyer Representation continues to be a controversy. Through all of the debate Ann Babb-Nordling has become the very best of that skill set.