Start With A Win - Who Needs A Real Estate Agent Anyway?

Episode Date: June 5, 2019

With the advent of new companies that say they can handle the entire buying or selling process for you without a real estate agent, many people have come to believe that they don’t need a real estate agent to be able to buy or sell their home. On this episode of the Start with a Win podcast, Adam and Mark outline the specific advantages of using a real estate agent – specifically one from RE/MAX – and what you are missing out on if you decide to go it alone. So much of the benefit derived from a real estate agent is the relationship they build with you and their desire to understand your needs.Think first about the benefits of a real estate agent’s knowledge of the industry, your specific market, their ability to decipher and translate appraisal and inspection reports, and their expertise in the area of negotiation. That human touch of someone who is familiar with your geographic area, the status of the market as a whole, and simply guiding you through the process that might be foreign to you is unmatched by online services because a computer can only work so hard for you. The algorithms and predictive analytics they base their services on are one-dimensional and not created for the benefit of the consumer. When it comes to selling your home, a full-time real estate agent is able to consider the many variables of your situation to recommend a price that will maximize your home’s value in the marketplace. They will take this recommended price and build the strongest listing they can for you before officially listing your home on the MLS. They can provide suggestions for small changes in the interior appearance and curb appeal of your home that can make a big difference during showings.In terms of buying a home, your real estate agent anticipates your needs and shows you what to look at in a home. Do you have kids? Do you have a pet? How close do you want to be to the neighborhood pool? Is this home in a flight path? How close do you want to be to a specific grocery or other stores?Essentially, when you are buying a home, you are buying happiness. You want an expert real estate agent who is experienced, like a RE/MAX agent who – an average – completes twice as many transactions per year as agents at other companies. You want an agent who will go through the sales contract line by line to help you understand the fees and costs involved as well as dispel any unnecessary costs or inclusions that are not in your best interest. In short, an expert fulltime real estate agent is the best option for you because of their:Education and experiencePrice guidanceNegotiation skillsCommitment to youLinks: Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContoshttps://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ 

At top of the 12th floor of the Remax World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With A Win with CEO Adam Kantos. And top of the 12th floor at Remax World Headquarters, Adam Kantos here with Start With A Win. I'm here in the studio with producer Mark. How are you? I have never been better. Dang. Dang. Yeah. Is it because of the presence? I mean, Kayla's in here. She's filming the Facebook Live that we're doing right now.

Yeah. No, I mean, it's a beautiful, gloomy day. It's like a soup weather kind of day. It is. You can see, those of you watching the video, you can see out the back behind us here. It's clouds. It's some clouds. It's some clouds. Yeah, we're getting close to Mother's Day, and we get our final snowstorm about now. So the usual super sunny, clear Denver weather is not with us today.

That's right. It's okay, but we're getting some stuff done. We are getting stuff done. And, you know, I think you could do a lot more if you had an agent. Oh, yeah. But I heard that the trend is that you don't need a real estate agent. You don't need a real estate agent. Yeah, yeah.

I bet the technology has solved that problem. Just instantly, right? Right. Yeah. But I think that's false. I think you're right. In fact, I'm completely positive that you're right because I'll tell you, the real estate industry right now, and that's kind of the space we play in here, Remax World Headquarters. The real estate transaction is more complicated than it ever has been.

And there are so many people that don't know what is happening in the transaction now. So both buyers and sellers. So that's what today's show is about. That's awesome. So let's go ahead and just talk through a few of those reasons why someone would want an agent, whether to buy or sell. I've bought a couple of homes. And I've been in the real estate industry for over 10 years, almost 10 years. And I know a lot about it, but it's still super stressful and scary. And there's always that time where I want to call somebody and be like, hey, is this normal?

Or, you know, just have someone there to kind of appease me, you know? Well, and it's not just about finding a house, you know, or putting the house on the market, putting a price tag on the house. That's not what this is about. You know, granted, pricing a house right really is a major factor in whether or not you are going to successfully sell that house. But there's also a lot more to it. You just don't throw it in the MLS. You just don't say, okay, here's a sign, put it in your front yard, things like that. This is a complicated process. And it really can cost you a lot of money if you do this wrong.

Yeah. Yeah. Like a lot of money. A lot of money. And I mean, we're in a pretty litigious society. So, you know, legally, there are a lot of things you need to be aware of. Your disclosures, how do you deal with inspections? You know, do you have your financing lined up? Is there good communication amongst your, you know, if you're a buyer amongst your agent and in your mortgage person? Or even if you're on the selling side, that's important as well, because a good loan originator, a good mortgage person will be in contact not only with the buying agent, but also with the selling agent to make sure that this transaction gets done. We see so many transactions not get to the closing

table because there's a mistake made or the funding doesn't come through. And really what it boils down to is the agent is a guide to get these things done. And they're also a voice of reason. They help the buyer or the seller with a number of things that we're going to talk about today. I'm excited. I think it's important for us to point out, you know, REMAX agents do twice the average that agents in the real estate industry do. So in the RealTrends 500 recently, it was shown that we do over 16 transaction sides a year amongst our offices that are in the Real Trans 500. That's more than twice the industry average. Which is crazy to think about.

But it's crazy, but it's not crazy because if you think about it, let's say you need surgery. Would you go to a surgeon who hasn't done anything since like a year ago? He's like, oh yeah, I needed something now. Thanks for coming to me. I mean, you want to go to a surgeon who hasn't done anything since like a year ago? He's like, oh, yeah, I needed something now. Thanks for coming to me. I mean, you want to go to a surgeon who did this last week, right? Yeah. It's the same with the real estate industry. This is the biggest transaction of your life.

And if you don't have an amazing agent, and by the way, it's more than just the agent. It's the broker in the office. So, I mean, we have, you know, over 8,000 real estate offices worldwide. And those offices are run by brokers who provide this guidance and oversight, keep our agents, you know, doing what the agents need to do, which is out there working with the buyers and sellers. But it's also having an amazing broker who can double check those things because the broker's responsible for the documents that come through in the real estate transaction, for making sure that there's appropriate training and education in the office so that the agent stays up to date with the latest ways that those transactions need to occur,

the documents, the contracts, legal matters, what is happening to make the transaction the best possible for the consumer. It's about consumer protection. So we have multiple layers of protection in our offices. This is not a click the button to buy thing. It's too complicated in this day and age in order to accomplish that. So I think really it's important for everybody to understand that education, that experience, that broker oversight, supervision, training, and ongoing assistance that is provided by the office. And that also helps with marketing a sale. Sorry, Adam, why don't you go ahead and just break it down for us? Let me break it down for you, Mark. We need like a beatbox going with this. I know a guy who can beatbox. I don't know if we're going to get that personal on this episode.

I don't think so. All right. So, Mark, why do we need a real estate agent? Well, since you're the CEO of one of the largest real estate brands in the world, I'll let you go ahead and answer those questions for me. Gotcha. All right. Taking the ball here and running down the field. So there are two sides to a real estate transaction. There's the seller side,

which is the listing. Your house needs to be put up for sale and you need somebody to guide you through that process. So it all starts with kind of, you know, what's it worth? What are houses selling for? Time on market? Some, you know, Some guidance as to what can that particular model in that particular condition with that particular configuration go for in this marketplace and how long is that expected to be on the market? None of those things can be pulled out from an algorithm. They come from a full-time agent who has to put their eyes on it and say, okay, here's where we're at. The agent walks through the house. Many times they'll measure different rooms to verify the size. And frankly, they're looking for a lot of things. Everything from the smell to the appearance to the curb appeal, which is basically what does it look

like from outside, all the way up to, okay, do you have a pet? Having a pet in a house during showings when you're selling the house, that makes a difference in the value of the home based upon how people see it. So a full-time professional agent can give you some of the little secrets here and there as to how do you maximize the value of your house based on how it sits. But at the same time, there's a big question here. What is that house going to appraise for? And the agent is thinking, I'm going to price this in a range that will allow somebody who comes in with a mortgage, because they're not going to be able to get a mortgage for a significant amount above that appraisal amount, especially with certain types of loans. And the agent can help you understand that. But what is that going to appraise for? And that has

a lot to do with what are you going to sell it for? So the first thing is before you even list it, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and the agents can say, okay, before I can list this, I need you to do these things to maximize the value of your home. And keep in mind that above all is the agent's goal is to maximize the value of your home in the marketplace that it is in so that you can create the maximum amount of return for your investment that you've created there. Which a robot really can't do. Exactly. I mean, it's every home is different. Every single home is different. Homes are like people. To me, it seems that if you had a relationship to, right, with your agent and they knew you really well, that they'd be able to, you know, really work on your behalf and really have

investment in you, right? Not just selling your home. Totally. And that's, that's a cool part is you need to build a relationship with your agent because you're going to have some frank conversations. Everybody thinks their home is worth a certain amount. And you need to be willing to listen to a reality statement from your agent saying, okay, here's what I'm going to try and get for it. And here's where I think we're going to land. And it may be close to that, but a lot of times it's, that's a little bit different or vastly different than what the seller actually, or the homeowner actually thinks that they're able to get for their house. So it may be more, maybe less, but you need a professional to tell you that. And you're not going to get somebody who decides to

sell a house once or twice a year is going to come in and be able to price your house appropriately. That's just a reality, just like an algorithm on the computer is not going to be able to come in and go, okay, here's what your home's worth. It takes a human being, an expert in the space, to do that and know, okay, here's what it's going to appraise for. So pricing, what's it worth? That's an incredible place to start for a seller. Okay, what about for a buyer? A buyer? Well, I mean, the first thing there is, what are you trying to accomplish?

You know, both, you know, can I and how much can I spend? And then here are the lifestyle choices that I want to make. So all of those things take a conversation. Everybody has a different way of expressing what they're trying to look for in a home. And it's not just about flipping through photos and looking at the interior of a room. Because frankly, the interior of a room can be adjusted. You can go in you can put some paint in you can change the woodwork you can change um you know window coverings uh and you can shoot it with a very wide angle lens to make it look way larger than it actually is oh totally i in fact i had um i interviewed biz

stone one of the founders of twitter and he was was laughing around stage. He goes, I couldn't believe it. I went looking at houses, and it was shot in a certain way where I walked in. I thought the ceiling was really high, and you could, like, touch the ceiling right above your head. And it was hilarious because he was right. He was demonstrating. This is a major technology guy in Silicon Valley demonstrating the value of using an agent because you don't know what you're going to get until you have an agent actually guide you through and tell you

what to look at. Wow. You're also looking at, agents know what to look for in neighborhoods. They're neighborhood experts. They ask you questions, you know, if you have kids or if you have dogs or pets or whatever it might be, what are you trying to accomplish? I mean, I remember buying a house going, all right, now I'm in this house. I wonder if the neighborhood swimming pool is close. Maybe it's something I should have thought about before. Or are you in a flight path somewhere of an airport where if the wind's blowing an odd way

and maybe it only happens once or twice a week, you get all the airplanes over your house? A lot of stuff to think about. Yeah. Or what about the power station that, you know, the power lines the airplanes over your house. A lot of stuff to think about. Yeah. Or what about the power station that, you know, the power lines go right over your house. You know what happens to power lines when it snows and rains on them? They go... And things like that. In Colorado, an agent will tell somebody, do you want a house that faces north or not? Yeah. Who wants to

shovel their driveway? Exactly. Exactly. All this stuff makes a big difference. So that stuff is not online. I got news for you. Yeah. So you got to talk to a neighborhood expert, because I'll tell you, if I bought a house that faced north and I didn't know that I shouldn't have, I'd be looking at my computer going,

why did you put me in this house? Where that's why you have an agent that helps you understand the ins and outs of, of the neighborhood and the dynamics of the environment you're buying the house in. That's good. So, so what are some other things? What are, what are some other top, top reasons why you'd want to use an agent? Let's get into the transaction itself. So, you know, we talked about, you know, listing the house. And by the way, it's not just putting it on the MLS. There's a marketing process. In fact, a lot of agents go through like a hundred step process.

You know, most of them spend countless hours ensuring that the photos, that things are uploaded right. You know, they work with their photographers and they have a specialized photographer that they use to put the houses online, make sure it's syndicated to the appropriate websites, make sure that the information is broadcast throughout other agents because other agents have buyers that they're helping bring to the table here. But, you know, more than anything, it's about, okay, how do we handle this litigious environment of this huge giant contract where you're putting initials and signatures all over the place and you're, you know, you're making this massive investment and it's super scary for some people. You need an agent who's going to go through this contract line by line and read it and make sure that it is

in your best interest buyer or seller. Because I can tell you the person on the other side of the table is doing the same thing. And you want to make sure that it has what you need in it. It has the legal aspects of it. And you're not signing for things that you don't know you're signing for. I mean, I have literally seen people throw in like foursomes of golf. I have heard about contracts where, you know, people put, change different things in the contract and the other side misses it. And they come back and they go, whoa, I'm sorry, I didn't see this. Well, your client signed it. So you're under contract for something you might not know if you don't have a really good agent who understands how these

contracts work. Same thing with new home sellers. If you have a home builder, they have a different contract that they use. So you need an agent who's going to go through that. And a lot of those are different. You have to have an agent with a new through that. And a lot of those are different. You have to have an agent with a new home builder. And a lot of the new home builders are like, ah, no, it's a new home. You don't need an inspection. You don't need an appraisal. A good agent's going to say, go get an inspection, go get an appraisal. Crazy, huh? Yeah, it is. I mean, it's just a lot of things that you don't think about. You know, there's all this hype online right now about, um, different companies, you know, that can do everything digitally,

you know, or through the internet. Right. Or, or most people ask for this and I mean, I'm sorry, but I'm not most people. And I want somebody to tell me, Hey, uh, the inspector found this crack in the basement or the inspector said said you might want to go check outside because you have a lot of water flow here during certain rainstorms. Or, you know, the inspector pointed out something on the roof or there's woodpeckers in the area or who knows what it is. But those are things that, you know, you you need to have somebody who's an expert look at with that fine touch. Because the last thing you want is to move into this house and call your agent and go, hey, you didn't mention this. And the agent goes, oh, you didn't ask. I mean, you want an agent who's willing to step it up and tell you what's going on.

And that is an expert agent. That's a REMAX agent that knows what they're looking for and is willing to have those conversations with you. Yeah. It seems to me too that once again, having an agent is going to help you navigate so many different things that you may not even know the yes or no question to, right? Yeah. I mean, you've already heard a lot of the, I don't know what I don't know. Yeah. I mean, that is probably the worst part of the real estate transaction. You don't know what you don't know. But that's also the best part because you actually get somebody to tell you where to look to find those things when you use a REMAX agent. The thing we didn't talk about was this whole negotiation process.

Which could really mean thousands of dollars. You're talking about thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands, yeah. I mean, it's, you literally, you have people who go, I'm going to sell my house for, you know, somebody said they can sell it for like 2,500 bucks. And then I don't necessarily need an agent to do much more than file a contract. You potentially could be leaving money on the table because you don't have a professional negotiator working for you in your best interest, where a professional negotiator, otherwise known

as a REMAX agent, they will come in and they will say, okay, here's what they want. You've got all sorts of different fees and costs going on here. You have closing costs. You have prepaids. You have obviously the price of the home. You've got the down payment. You've got inspection objections. Oh, man. And that can really get crazy.

Yeah. Somebody come in. You know what people always ask for? I want a new water heater. I want a new air conditioner. I want a new furnace, whatever. You need an agent who can negotiate in or out of those particular pieces and say, yes, no. Okay. I can, you know, we can put a home warranty on this, or we can do a certification on that. You know, what do you do with a gas

fireplace? Things like that. And, you know, I always come back to buying a home or selling a home is just a very emotional experience. You know, I love the term negotiation because you think about like, what does a negotiator do? Right. They navigate a very emotional situation. Right. And so if you have a professional negotiator on your behalf that are going to help you navigate this and potentially help you get what you want from the other person. It's just, it's going to benefit you tremendously. You said a couple of key things there, Mark, because people want to live in a house that

they fall in love with. What are they buying? They're buying happiness. When you buy a home that you want to be in, you're buying happiness. What's the price of happiness? Well, that's hard to put a price tag on, but that's why you have an agent who can take and look at that home and say, okay, here's what I would pay for this, or here's what we can offer in this range. Here's probably what will happen, things like that. And they help you get to the closing table because when we're talking about happiness, we are talking about emotion, and you need that agent to come in and put some logic into the situation. That agent can come in with their expertise and they can help you accomplish your goals, your emotional goals in a logical manner. And that's not going to happen with a machine. That only happens with a human being that can come in and balance those things. So if you wanted to go ahead and just wrap this up,

if you can give us the top reasons why you think someone would need a real estate agent, what would those things be? I think the first thing is the education and experience. Those things will keep the deal on track. Their ability to help you understand and navigate where and how you should operate in this transaction world that we're in right now. But there's so much emotion. They can keep you on track that way. They give great price guidance. Their negotiation skills are impeccable and they're there for you. They're there to help you accomplish what your goals are. And that, not only that, but they got backup. They got a broker who's really good and can help make sure

that they are getting everything that they need in order to help you get everything that you need. That's, that's why you need a full-time producing agent. If you're a buyer or seller. Thank you so much for listening to start with a win. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to go onto iTunes and subscribe, write a review or rate the show. It helps us get the word out and reach more people. You can follow Adam on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, start with a win.