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The Power of an agent referral

Quite regularly I get a call from someone I know that goes something like this…”I am looking at buying a house in _______ (name your state) and I meet this agent at an open house. We looked a few houses and we wrote an offer. Now they are asking me to do this and I don’t understand”. or … “they are not doing a good job, what do I do?’ or ??? You get the point. Something is not going right in a real estate transaction. Since I am not a party to the transaction and bound by the Realtor Code of Ethics to not interfere in other agents business, I usually can only console them and tell them it will all work out. I can ask a few questions, give a recommendation or two for them to take back to the agent.

But what I really want to ask them is why did they not call me and have me make a referral? Using both Coldwell Bankers internal Agent Referral platform and my numerous contacts, I could have found an agent with a good track record that fit the level of service they were looking for. I always call the agent and ‘interview’ them, see if it’s a good fit because hey, my reputation is on the line. But more importantly, when something comes up, I now have a right (actually an obligation) to pick up the phone and get some answers. I am a party to the transaction, I can ask to see a contract on their behalf. I can make a suggestion.

So, for those still reading, the main take-away here is even when you are buying somewhere else, call me and I can point you in the correct direction and / or make a direct referral. It will cost you nothing and give me the power to help you if needed.

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The Power of Negotiation

As a Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE), I often get asked exactly what that means and how much do agents really negotiate in a typical deal. It simply means that I have had extensive training in negotiation techniques and earned the CNE designation. It also includes many years of transactions, both for my own real estate and on behalf of others, where each time I put different strategies into play. And each time I learned something. I learned that negotiations start before I even list a house, in how I write my agent remarks and public description. I learned when representing a buyer, the negotiation starts before I write the offer and start when I call the agent asking questions. And, I learned (the hard way!) how to check each line, blank and box on an offer.

As an agent representing both buyers and sellers, I negotiate every step of the way, but truthfully, many agents do not. I get very upset and feel bad for clients on the other side when their agent drops the ball or fails to even try to negotiate.

For those of you still reading, a few examples: #1 – earlier this year I represented the buyer in a newer home purchase and knew that homes of that age in that county usually have an extra sewer assessment, paid over many years. So I checked the box that has seller pay it at closing, expecting it to be a negotiation point. My buyer would have accepted paying it, its only about $25 a month extra, but the agent did not know it existed till closing and they signed the offer as is. $5,000 + on my buyers side of the table. He also did not even try to counter my buyers offer of $565,000 on a house originally listed at $615,000, even though we’d have gone to $580,000 – another $15,000 still in buyers pocket ( and not in sellers pocket!)

Example #2 – My most recent closing (See previous Just Sold by Kurt post on this page) is another great example. As I mentioned in that post, we had multiple buyers. One needed to sell a house, my seller did not want to wait, so we used the two offers to move them both from the $650’s to $671,000. we accepted the offer that was closing sooner and agreed to pay some closing costs. Then Buyer 1’s earnest money bounced and the agent did not take it seriously (she said ‘it happens all the time!’). Not on my watch! She knew we had another offer, did not return my calls, so I negotiated a full price ($676,247) from Buyer 2, with no closing costs, & a few inspection items. A $13,000 swing into my buyers pocket, because I recognized the opportunity her fumble created. I later found out from Buyer #1’s new agent, that they actually were more qualified than I thought and would have paid full price once they realized the were in jeopardy. But the first agents lack of representation, inability to present her clients as strong and refusal to negotiate cost her clients a very nice, almost irreplaceable home. Sad!

If you’d like someone who negotiates every step of they way to negotiate your buying or selling, shoot me an email ( kurt@kurtkreager.com ) and we’ll schedule a Virtual meeting.

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The Power of Numbers

The Power of Numbers

I read a white paper several years back that described the fact that there was a measurable difference in the sale prices of homes that had fewer zeros in the list price: as in $699,999 as opposed to $700,000. The basis was that the mind plays subtle tricks and the mind would think that the $699,999 was a more accurate number and not receive as large a counter offer as $700,000 would. That statistically, the final selling price of the $699,999 list price would be larger than the final selling price of the $700,00 list price. It was a small %, but still measurable and money in the bank.

Since then I have employed it in both buying and selling, setting list and offer prices with no zero’s. My faith based clients have used bible verses for ending numbers such as $XXX,316. One buyer, faced with multiple offers, used the date of the offer. In all cases, it seems to have worked, rarely have we lost a bid or not sold near asking when clients accepted my theory. My current listing (1321 117th Pl SE Kent) is listed at $676, 247 because it has 2 kitchens, 4 bathrooms & 7 bedrooms. We’ll see how that goes, but over a dozen shows in 2 days is a good sign!. Update -It is now Pending at Full Price.!!

What are your lucky number’s??