Club Chaos Agents - All Things Hollish, Wacked, and Jacked

Inspired by Monica Hubert on her blog: Most Memorable Sale, I decided to share mine (It's my best for at least now: Since I started in May 2003 - January 2007).

It was Summer 2005 and my past client recommended her college friend to me. This couple was a first time buyers and had great questions to ask! As usual, I interviewed them for their criterias. Three weeks into showing, it looks like Mr. and Mrs. finally found the area that they like. We came down to 2 houses. Mr. liked House A (a little better and he could go either way) while Mrs. liked House B.... They were undecided and brought family for second and third opinions. The family were undecided.

My real estate evaluation: I wouldnt buy House B myself. Yard is rather small, didnt quite like house the upstairs was laid out. Most of all, I didnt like that the area outside the backyard was sloping "into" the house - No, no for me. Also, the community didnt seem quite as "appealing" - they both are, but one was nicer than the other. House A was open and inviting. It had alot of upgrades including a spiral staircase. Immediately as you enter the house, you have a grandeur feeling. Perhaps Mrs. didnt quite feel it.

As usual, I share my views and evaluation. Guess what??? After what I thought was my honest perspective about both houses (as if I were to make a purchase that sunny day, House A - warm and inviting one is what I'd buy), the deal fell to the ground with a loud thump. I could see that Mrs. B really liked House B - the house with the sloppy yard. It would have been an easy sell if I too agreed with House B.  After 2 whole weeks and no word from Mrs., I finally got a call from her. She wanted to see House A again (she's been back to both houses several times).... I gladly obliged. Her composure was different and excited about House A this time. Mr. and Mrs. ended up purchasing that very same day after spending 4 hours with the salesperson!

Why would this be my most memorable sale??? I was about to find out...

When I got into the salesperson's car and Mr. and Mrs. in theirs, the salesperson told me that this was a 6% commission. Wow. My jaw dropped. I remembered being so excited and I told him, "Mister, do you know what you just did? You just sent my husband and I on our first ever mission trip to Kenya!!!"

How wonderful that was. It's my most memorable sale because I learnt to share my real estate evaluation to the best of my availability given all the resources I can get my hands on (even when it's against what the Buyers/ Sellers want to hear). I surprised myself (I dont mean to hoot my own horn!). From then on, I give my honest opinions and the Buyers/ Sellers can decide for themselves. If I make a sale, that's great. If I didnt, I'd make a friend too.

I have learnt so much from each of my sale. Every one has a beautiful story. More for next time.

Thanks Monica for the inspiration. I came home with even more life turning points since Kenya.

I'm a huge advocate of encouraging friends and family to make our homes a true blessing. Hence, my thoughts and my blogs will reflect that. More than anything, my family do our best to live by it.

There are some very simple guidelines to follow when purchasing a house to call HOME. However, be prepared that these are not easy to achieve because we live in a society that feeds on "I want it NOW" attitude.

1. Be debt-free.
This plan includes becoming debt-free of all store accounts, credit card debts, school loans, car loans, medical bills and any kinds of consumer debts. Only when we become debt-free, it relieves us from the vicious cycle of "minimum payments" and continuous fear of never-ending "emergencies". Credit cards are not our source of "emergency savior" - get out of that rutt, please! I'm sad to say, for some people, lunch may be an emergency.

2. 3-6 months of living expenses saved.
Having a good stash of savings prepare us for the "RAINy days". To start, have a minimum amount of cash stocked away for "emergency preparedness". That "special" number may differ person to person. For those of us who are more "emergency" prone, maybe begin with $2000. For those of us whose jobs are "more secure", life has less risks, then perhaps $1000 may be sufficient to tide small emergencies. Beyond that, attack the consumer debts with a vengence. Be willing to change our lifestyles. Most of all, be prepared to make alot of UNHAPPY sacrifices. A quote that I continuously remind myself when I wonder why I do what I do:

Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else (Dave Ramsey).

After having all the consumer debts paid off, continue to save 3-6 months worth of living expenses ie the expenses that is needed for survival. Since we are getting ready to purchase a house, be sure to save a sizeable down payment on top of that. Remember, a house should be a blessing. The difference between a blessing and a curse (after Murphy moves in) is the savings.

3. 15-year, fixed mortgage.
Get 15-year, fixed mortgage. Be sure that the payment is no more than 1/4 of our take-home pay. Would other numbers work? Sure it would (or maybe).... Remember that we are discussing Down To Earth Home Buying strategy for the blessed home? We can work all our lives to buy more or "house" more, but do we really want to live in the Merry-Go-Around Chase the House Payment rutt?

4. Furnish room by room.
Dont go out to furnish the ENTIRE house all in one go. When we have a house, HomeDepot and Lowes are our second home. It's not a matter of "if" it would happen, it's more about "how bad" it will be. Dont begin the whole cycle (Step 1) that we have worked so hard to get out only to fall back in. Shop cheaper alternatives: estate sales, goodwill (blog).

5. Not in the 1st Year.
For first time buyers, please dont shop for a house until the 1st Year has pass. Why? The first year of marriage is one of the most crucial years of a couple's life. Get to know each other first. Learn to live on one-income (even if both husband and wife works). Learn to live less than we make. Learn to live below our means. It's already stressful, dont add house-shopping to the list.

Will other steps work? Most definitely. But I could almost assure you that a person who hadnt had a car payment will tell you the wonderful feeling of not having one. A family who wished they had waited to save enough will tell you that they wished their home is a blessing. I know I may be stepping on a few toes about this. But these are just my humble opinions on How to Make our House a blessing. There's no big secrets to home buying.

Blessed are those who lives in their house filled with happy days.

A consumer said this: (result of my poll) I was really disgusted at the obvious consumer mentality behind the cars both of the realtors I worked with drove - one a Lincoln, own a BMW. I thought it was disgusting, and I wasn't sure what they were trying to prove, except to go BuyOwner when we sell, because obviously they make too much commission.              

The general public do think that real estate agents do make alot of money. Again, we (the real estate people) understand the perceived image of success. Hence, our fancy car, nice suits and definitely big hair-do.

There are more into "real work" to become a resourceful agent. It's definitely more than opening a few doors on a Saturday afternoon and sticking a For Sale sign on a Sunday afternoon. While there are a few who puts in minimal effort, most are hardworking - even much more than a regular 8am-5pm position. Sometimes working over 60-80 hours may not seen uncommon. We eat, sleep and think real estate. We constantly think of better ways to serve our clients whether it's through education, parties or reading on the internet. Sometimes in the middle of our sleep when a great idea strike, we jump out of bed to write it down. In some extreme cases, this field have cost the high price of our families.

We "invest" in a website, we purchase leads and we pay our real estate dues. We purchase health and disability insurance. Most of the time, these are purchased at a much higher premium than a regular employee - where majority of the insurance costs are beared by the company itself. Like any good planner, we invest in retirement accounts too. We save for our kids' college education. 

In this Internet age, consumers expects us to deliver information immediately. We purchase office supplies and equip our business with high-tech electronics and machines - not just to be cool, but to "wire" ourselves so that we can responsively serve our clients in this instantaneous society.

Advertising and marketing costs are enormous to say the least - even before receiving the wonderful opportunity of serving our clients. Print media can be expensive and internet pay-per-clicks are not cheap either. An agent can spend well over $500/month and yet still may not be as productive.

We attend parties and we go to networking meetings. We visit other real estate offices to sell our listings. We certainly dont just put our houses on the Multiple Listing Service for sale and they magically sell (yes, some do but majority of them dont). We sit through countless production meetings even when we rather watch TV or spend an extra hour at home. Some of us work with mentors, or join high-quality real estate training. Such classes often cost thousands of dollars and help us get ready to work with clients serving with top-notch knowledge and enthusiasm. 

We study our markets, we preview houses after houses even when we dont have a client to work with in the specific market. We read through email alerts of houses that comes on the market. We get up early in the morning, we go down late at night.

We continuously put ourselves through education. Some are used to meet the minimum state requirements for holding our licenses, but most agents carefully select courses (some take additional classes) so that they can acquire knowledge to assist their clients better. Most consumers are not aware of the designations that real estate agents hold. Most don't care. Yet, I'm taking this opportunity to bring an awareness to this issue: there are alot of effort that goes into getting such accreditation. Some courses like ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative) and ASR (Accredited Seller Representative) have specific educational and experiential criteria guidelines to meet. A new designtation called Quality Service Certification (QSP) is consumer-oriented program where past clients rate their agent's quality service in a survey. These accreditations are additional costs that service-conscious real estate professional choose to engage in. Then, there are yearly dues to pay for maintaining such accreditations.

We hire office assistants to handle the volume we serve. We understand that clients expect high-quality, responsive service. These assistants work behind the scenes. They help us keep our transactions rolling smooth, they help us get answers for our clients. Their awesome help relieve us from day-to-day operations so that we have time to return our clients' phone calls ourselves.

I do hope that this post will let consumers peek into the world of a resourceful real estate professional. There are more examples to think of. I know I am barely scratching the surface. Just like any good ie high-quality gem, we get what we pay for. We perform all these activities and more. Yet we only get paid when a house successfully sells. So, are we worth the 3% we charge?

Why purchase a Lexus, Acura and Tahoe when we can purchase a Sportege, Elantra and Cobalt since all of them takes us to the same place? Why would a consumer choose to eat at a steak restaurant when a fast food chain serve the same purpose of feeding that hungry stomach? Why would a consumer want to work with an ordinary agent when the best of the best in the market is available? Would the best of the best charge not deserve the commission we make?