Cleveland Home Buyers - Ensure Your Agent isn't Cheap!

If what is happening in the marketplace isn't enough for Cleveland Ohio home buyers to content with, with the proliferation of foreclosures, short sales, glut of inventory, sluggish sales, federal 8K tax credit soon expiring and the like, there is a lot for a home buyer to contend with these days.

One would not think that a Cleveland Ohio home buyer should have to ensure that his/her buyer's agent is not cheap. No, I'm not talking about buying lunch for a client, or any hogwash like that.

You should ask your buyer's agent a direct question:

Do you subscribe to the GE Supra eKey system?

There are more and more agents who answer this question with a resounding: NO -- and an attitude to boot.

This service only costs an agent about $180 per year.

If a buyer's agent is to CHEAP to spend $180 to invest in their career to ensure they have the eKey to open an electronic iBox on a seller's home, then what does this mean to you as a Cleveland Ohio home buyer?

One possible answer is you may not even know that you didn't get into see the home. What would you think if you requested to see a certain property that had one of these iBox/eKey electronic boxes on a home and your buyer's agent responded with that you can't see that property as the seller's agent is being difficult and doesn't provide easy access to the home? A buyer may think: I don't want to see that home then as there are plenty of homes to choose from and why would I want to work with a potential seller whose agent makes it hard to show?

This GE/iBox/eKey electronic lockbox system is the most secure system out there today, listing agents get an automatic e-mail when a property has been entered, it shuts down automatically during off hours, only an agent in good standing in their MLS can subscribe (if they pay) to the system and many other benefits.

On the east side of Greater Cleveland Ohio, iBoxes are the norm and just about all agents have them. On the west side of Greater Cleveland, not using the iBox system is the norm, which I will never understand other than agents don't want to pay this extra semi-annual fee.

So...I was off today to go swap out an iBox for yet another agent who can't pony up $180 per year to ensure they can easily represent their clients well.

If you were a buyer: what would you think of an agent who ran their business this way? Makes one wonder what other corners they may cut.

For the record, I am not a fan of the pricing of this system and I think with the number of agents out there, and a dominant market share, I'm not happy either, but I will always ensure I provide the best and safest options for my sellers and also allow my buyers the widest opportunity to view any and all homes they may choose to want to see.

While I am all about reducing costs in these tough economic times, the two real questions are:

1) What is the safest and most secure for the seller?

2) Why is it exactly than agent purposely chooses to not pay $180 per year to ensure they can show their buyers ALL homes on the market.