Modern Traditions Realty Group, RE/MAX Center
https://www.moderntraditionsrealty.com/blog/is-your-agent-is-motivated-just-like-you-should-sellers-get-an-inspection-prior-to-listing


Is your agent is motivated just like you?, Should sellers get an inspection prior to listing?

Posted By: Cleve Gaddis In: Gaddis Real Estate Radio
Date: Fri, Apr 28th 2023 4:35 pm

-This is a transcript from Go Gaddis Radio to listen to the episode click here-> https://on.soundcloud.com/pjrAB 

Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM nine 20. The answer in this segment, how do you as a seller, make sure that the motivation, the sense of urgency of your agent matches your personal motivation or sense of urgency? And should sellers have. A home inspection on their home before they list.

We're gonna talk about those topics during this segment. Don't forget, if you want to connect with us, it is easy. Go to go gaddi radio.com. G O G A D D I S radio.com. You can ask questions, you can make comments, you can make, ask questions. By the way, we answer off air or on answer. Mm-hmm. Or on air. You can make comments, you can push back, you can share your ideas with us.

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Hemi, the next topic is something that is really, really near and dear to you. It is, and when you talk about this topic, you, you, the, the passion you have for it is really visible. Yeah. And, and I don't think it's because you think every single person should list with a full service, full fee broker.

Correct. I think that sometimes people who are really motivated and have a high sense of urgency, Uh, wind up listing their home with someone who shares none. Right. Of that motivation with them. So Seller wants to list his or her home. Mm-hmm. Seller is, has demonstrated that they are really, really eager, uh, they've demonstrated because they've got a short timeline for moving.

They've demonstrated because they fixed up the house a lot. Mm-hmm. Getting it ready for sale. There's a lot of pressure. How does a seller going go about choosing an agent or a broker that has the same level of motivation They do. So I advise sellers to look at what the agent, um, or broker is going to put into the marketing of it.

That's just one area to determine that the broker's motivation. So if a seller's putting in money to get their home updated and get it ready for market, and they hire a brokerage office that is not putting in money for. Staging or not putting in money for professional photography, not putting up money for Matterport, then you are likely hiring someone who doesn't feel the strain of the pocketbook of making that investment back.

A seller makes a hefty investment. To get their home on the market, they wanna see that money, make it back into the rank account very quickly. So one way to identify an equally motivated representation, either by a broker or an agent, is by determining what was also their investment. Mm-hmm. And you know, as someone who invests that, Level into our listings.

I am very aware that when I invest that level, I'm very confident I'm gonna get that back. I'm not spending money. Well, if, if you don't get it back, you're not gonna stay in business. Right. For long. So, so you really have to, so you're saying there should be balance in the risk Yes. That each party has, the seller has some risk in choosing.

Mm-hmm. A particular agent or a broker. And I think we can always acknowledge that. But you want to put the broker or the agent and, and it's, we're using those interchangeably. Agents, work for brokers, but sometimes brokers can represent you and you need to make sure that they have some skin in the game.

Yes. You need to make sure that they have pressure to get their money back. Now, you mentioned something called a matter port. Mm-hmm. And some of the listeners might not know what that is. Would you tell 'em real quickly what that is? A matterport is a 3D model imaging of a property. It allows. Someone, um, who may not be able to visit the home and walk the home.

It allows that individual, maybe you have an out-of-state buyer, but allows them to actually walk the property and view the home, um, at a greater detail and the flow of the property, and get the feel for how the rooms work and flow among each other. Without having to actually walk the home. So it's almost like being there without being there.

It's almost like being there. And so those are expensive and that's the real, I would assume that's the reason that you, you mentioned that. Yes. So any other advice to sellers? Um, and to make sure that the agent's motivation matches theirs. And I've got one I want to give after. Okay. After you're finished.

Might not be the most popular one in the world, but I think it's a great way to make sure. That your agent has the right motivation. So I'm gonna flip it a bit. Okay. Cause you gotta, so we've been talking about, um, sellers invest money and have high motivation. Yes. And trying to identify a high motivation agent.

But there's also the flip side of a seller with low motivation and a high motivation agent. So if a low motivation seller wants to just. See, I want to just see how much I'm, I'm just gonna throw it out there. I'm just gonna throw it out there. Yep. And they see what the world says and they hire a high motivated agent who's going to invest a lot of money into selling that home.

There's gonna be conflict. That agent's gonna wear 'em out. Totally. That agent's gonna be like, open your home. Why aren't you accepting shows? I never thought about that. So the, and it's more just in it, it's. It's being on this same, when I talk about balance, we're in harmony. Yeah. Of the same desire. So when you mentioned the topic in the first place, I really thought it was, hey.

You need a full fee full service agent to work with you. But what you're saying is whatever your level of motivation is, you need to choose someone. Now, it doesn't mean if you're just testing the market that you couldn't hire a very highly motivated trained agent, but you need to be very upfront with them and tell them, yes, hey, I'm just looking to test this.

If I can get seven 50 for it, I'm good. If it's less than seven 50, I'll wait until the next year. Yeah. What a great, great point. Doesn't have to be high motivation. It could be low motivation as well. Yeah. But you wanna, you wanna be in harmony with the same desire. Yeah. Any other thoughts or can I, you want me to share that?

Yeah. I wanna hear what you have. So, in Georgia, a listing agreement is non-cancelable. Mm-hmm. By either party. The broker's not supposed to be able to cancel it. Now these are the standard forms in the state of Georgia. Okay. And when I use Standard, they're not Georgia State Forms, they're the Board of Realtors Forms Georgia.

Yeah. Association of Realtors. And there is no way for the seller to terminate the listing during the listing period. And I think that is, Crazy. Yeah. And so I say, if you are super motivated to sell your house, find an agent who's gonna market that. You know what outta that house. And as you have demonstrated earlier, you know you have to get that agent or broker to sort of show you Yes.

Give you the list of the things they're going to do. And you're saying that that list needs to be a big list and that agent needs to have some money invested in that list in order for things to be balanced. Correct. But in the state of Georgia, once you get a seller on the hook for a listing, you could keep 'em for 180 days or however long as you want.

They don't have the right to terminate it. So I say find somebody who's motivated and then find somebody who will agree to let you. If you are unsatisfied for any reason prior to going under contract on your home, would allow you to terminate the agreement. Oh, I love that. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

Absolutely. That's what you would do anyway. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. If somebody was not happy, you'd say, great. Hey, I wish you the best. Right. And that's the way it needs to be. I can't even imagine a seller being tied up with a listing agent that they do not like, do not wanna work with for six months. I'm gonna be honest with you, I would not sign a listing agreement.

Mm-hmm. That did not allow me to get out of it for, you know, any reason I wanted to, I wouldn't do it. Period. Well, you know how I feel about being at the mercy of things, so being Do I remember that? You love being at the mercy of things. Wait a minute. Oh no, don't back. Miss Tammy into a corner. Hey, Tammy, real quickly.

Yeah. This segment of the show is brought to the audience by the law firm of o Kelly and Sohan. There are full service law firm, a 26 offices throughout Metro Atlanta. They specialize in residential real estate closings, including home purchases and refinance closings, corporate relocation. They also review real estate contracts and title insurance matters.

They can be reached by calling 7 7 0 4 9 7 1 8 8 0 a pre-listing home inspection. Mm-hmm. Yes. What is it and does it even make sense? You asking me? You go, yes, ma'am. Yes, it may. It's so funny because you don't know, because sometimes at the end of segments I ask questions and you think I want you to answer the questions, but I'm trying to make sure everybody shows back up for the next segment.

I love it. You're enthusiasm. Lean right up to the microphone. Now. Let me tell you this. I'm ready to answer. Yes, it makes. Complete sense to do a seller home. Now we have differing, you know, disclosure laws from Texas to Georgia. That's, it's what's very interesting, and I have to say, there's a lot more disclosure laws in the state of Texas.

Absolutely. Which to me is just because I, I mean, you know, in Texas, if an employee doesn't work out, you can shoot 'em and put 'em on the side. No, I'm just kidding. But you know, Texas is all about personal freedom and everybody's big hats and big this and big that, but they got a lot more rules about everything than Georgia does.

Yeah. Yeah. We do like to protect our homeowners. Yep. And and that means protect and your buyers. Well, that's the homeowner. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's who will be the homeowner. That is, that's who's gonna be the homeowner. Yep. Um, so a home ins a, a prelisting home inspection. Yep. Um, multiple reasons to do them.

One is just to be aware. Like be for you're, be be forewarned or be or be warned or beware. Mm-hmm. Is, is kind of how it goes. So if you know in advance something, look, if something bad is wrong, something bad is wrong, meaning, yeah. It's gonna come up. I mean, unless the inspector's blind for the one for the buyer.

So knowing in advance certainly keeps you from being surprised. Yes. And when people get surprised on inspection issues, they tend to make kind of dumb decisions. Well, they do. And, and you know, the process of going through negotiating repairs. Yep. And, and when you get to that point, so it's a seller's market, right?

Yeah. Who's got the driver's seat, the seller, all the way until when? Go the inspection till the inspection, and then they're at, who's Mercy? Then they look up and they say, oops, I'm in the backseat of the buyer's car. That's right. And they become at the mercy of the buyer, so why not? Keep yourself in that driver's seat.

Exactly. You and I decided a few weeks ago that it would make sense to inspect my home before putting it on the market. And I had a full inspection, radon test, sewer scoping, termite inspection, everything. And, you know, uh, the list was actually shorter than I thought it would be. Uh, doesn't mean that I wasn't like, oh, dang, there's a lot of little big things.

You know, the house is, is 30 years old. Mm-hmm. And so it's got a lot of little things, but. I have a buyer who is looking to possibly purchase the home before I put it on the market. And when the buyer says, Hey, do you have information on your homes age of everything? And then I sent that full inspection report.

I can only imagine that that was a very comforting thing to the buyer. Wouldn't you agree? I would. So I think if you want to make sure that your buyers are properly motivated to buy your house, sell 'em a good. Product. Absolutely sell 'em a home that they don't want to go away for any reason. Yes. Hey, Tammy, we've gotta take a quick break in our next segment.

How on earth can it make sense to pay over two times the price of a home with your interest over 30 years? And how important is it to understand market conditions as you're buying and selling? Stick with us. We'll be back.