Written by Steve Martin Smith
What do burnt scalps and miscellaneous engine parts have in common?
If you can hang with me for a few paragraphs, I will explain…
but 1st - a message from our sponsor ( HINT: CLICK PLAY )
I didn’t know, what I didn’t know...
By the end of my first week of Real Estate school in 2014, I flashed back to high school and was astounded to realize that I was learning to bake cakes in High School 'Home Economics' class instead of learning the basics of purchasing and OWNING A HOME. Much of what I learned in Real Estate school brought me to the point of embarrassment. After all, I had counted 22 purchase, sale or rental contracts that I had signed since 1986 and I thought I knew what I was doing. It was humbling to learn that I still had so much to learn.
That hurt…
On my third buyer’s deal as a Licensed REALTOR, the veteran listing agent on the other side of the purchase was obviously frustrated with me when she said “isn’t your broker teaching you anything?” Now that I have almost 200 contracts under my belt and have poured my heart and soul into being the best of the best, I feel her pain on a regular basis.
Caution to rookies and homeowners…
As hard as it is to have a rookie on the other side of the sale, it is dramatically worse when you’re dealing directly with the homeowner. Even if the homeowner “used to be in real estate”, they are not up on the current laws and the process as it happens today.
Ignorance of the law is expensive…
Just this week a new regulation was enacted that will be an automatic $2,500 fine to any REALTOR who does not get a specific form turned in within 48 hours. No pressure here folks – #SMH.
The laws and rules are constantly changing, and licensed REALTORS are constantly being educated on those changes. Many of these laws are for homeowners as well as REALTORS. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking them. An owner handling their own deal is not what any of us REALTORS want to deal with. It’s hard enough to get a buyer and seller from contract to closing with two trained professionals guiding the process.
The wrap-up…
Since most buyers have an agent, and most agents do not want to go near an unrepresented listing, the buyer pool for those listings is much smaller than it is for fully represented listings. Also, truly good listing agents understand the best way to prepare, market and negotiate a listing in their current market. That not only generates maximum profit for the seller, but gets the job done smoother, faster and with much less stress on all parties. As an example, the average days on the market in our tri-county area is 77.66 days. Our group’s average is 38. Why, because we pour our heart in soul into knowing our market and helping our customers with every tool in our box. Find that agent or team in your area before you sign with anyone. If you can’t find them, call us and we will try to find them for you. There’s no charge to you for this service and our network spans the country.
Now to answer the initial question…
I know how to use YOUTUBE so I can teach myself pretty much everything about anything. However, It’s that level of misplaced self-confidence that causes burnt scalps from do-it-yourself hair stylists, leftover engine parts from backyard mechanics and the devastating results of a real estate transaction gone bad by rookie agents and for sale by owners.