John Dunn

Trulia.com, one of the most prolific online real estate search engines, has decided to open offices in Centennial, a close suburb of Denver, next month.

The Denver Post quotes Dallas-based real estate consultant Jeff Pappas as pointing to the well-educated workforce and ease of doing business here as principle reasons for the choice. “They met with Arapahoe Community College, University of Colorado at Denver and workforce-center representatives. They've had a really nice introduction to the overall community.” he said.

Trulia.com is focused on giving buyers, renters, and sellers online search tools to help them find or sell a home. In addition, they help professionals like Dunn & Company get the best homes in front of potential buyers. The site provides property listings and market analytics.

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I believe that the general public does not always understand how real estate agent get paid. I am not trying to be offensive or talk down to anyone, just stating what I see in my business form time to time.

It is not uncommon for a Denver real estate agent to begin working with someone to help them find a home, only to have the rug pulled out from under them during the process.

I answered the phone last week. On the other end of the line was a gentleman's voice inquiring about one of my home listings over in Aurora CO. As our dialog went on for several minutes, I eventually asked him if he was working with another real estate agent. “Oh yeah, I’ve got an agent” he replied. I politely ended the conversation soon after that.

Why would this guy not go through his agent to get questions answered? I am not sure if everyone understands completely, but it is in YOUR best interest to enlist the help of ONE agent that works for you, when your are home shopping for home in the Denver area.

3 Reasons That Make My Case

1- By building relationship your needs and desires are known.

Flying through the ranks of agents is not the best way to fully have your needs and desires understood. Anyone who has worked with a single agent for more than a week knows this. If your agent is worth their muster, they will have a much better understanding of what you are after on day 3 of home showings than on day 1.

2- The commissions are the same.

Many think that by calling the listing agent directly they are saving money on commissions. Not true. The commissions on a home are paid out by the seller, not the buyer. So by approaching the listing agent you have no right to affect this commission split. It’s not your say. I can tell you by virtue of experience, it’s twice the amount of work to be negotiating and working in between both buyer and seller. For the added stress, agents want to be paid twice as much!

3- By having a Denver Area Realtor work on your behalf you have an advocate in the process.

By choosing an agent in the Denver area that you can work well with, you will have a professional to help you in every step of the home buying process. It’s not just about working through price and signing on the dotted line. It’s negotiating, understanding offers, purchase contracts, inspection issues, addendums and disclosures. It’s having the research savvy to quickly and with certainty find out about taxes, land information, utility issues, county records, liens, parcel history, sales history and survey information. It’s having the experience to know about HOA issues, special assessments, CIC documents and utility services.

It pays to have a loyal agent on your side. Find someone who you can work well with , and stick with it. You will be glad you did!

Everybody wants a deal right? Do the words Craigslist, Ebay or Amazon ring a bell? It stands to reason that real estate services should follow the same line of reasoning in a competitive market like Denver.

Discount real estate brokerages have built their business model around lowering the commissions owed them on a successful sale in the attempt to attract a larger volume of listings. Many times they will ask for a small up-front charge of let’s say $500 in order to process the listing of your home in exchange for lowering the commission to 1% or 2%. Sounds pretty good for the Denver home seller. It could save them thousands on the sale of their home!

For example: If your are listing your $350,000 home in Highlands Ranch with a normal brokerage you may find that they would like to work with you for a listing percentage of 6%. Upon successfully closing on your property that would mean 3% to the listing side and 3% to the buying side, or a total commission of $21,000 paid out by you, the seller. The same scenario with a discount brokerage may look like $500 of front and 2% upon successful closing for a much reduced $7,500. That’s a difference of $13,500 in your pocket!

Let me ask you a question. If the Denver area discount real estate brokerage is able to cut their income by $13,500, what services are they cutting out to you in order to do this. They are still running a business, and a business takes money to operate right?

Dangers of working with “Cut-Rate-Real-Estate Companies”

If you are thinking that working with a discount service may be in your best interests, think about a few of these things before saddling up with one.

● Advertising budget slashed

More than likely you will find that you will not get nearly the exposure of advertising through a discount real estate broker in the Denver area. They will do the bare minimum of putting it in the MLS, and sticking a sign in the dirt.

Questions to ask- What kind of on-line advertising will you give me? How about quality and number of photos? Broker home tour? Social media advertising?

● Negotiating skills lacking

I’m just going to come out and say it. If a brokerage needs to lower their prices to try and compete with the rest of us, maybe they are not that good at their job. The quality of skills will be lacking with a Denver area discount real estate brokerage company.

● Time spent on YOU greatly diminished

If I asked you how many things you had to juggle at work this week, then I took the number you gave me and multiplied it by 5, would you be able to handle it? It is no different in the real estate world. In order for this discount business model to work for the real estate company, it has to have volume applied. More balls in the air (without adequate compensation), more balls dropped.

If you are in the position of needing to sell your home in the Denver area, think really hard about using a reduced rate company. You will be sure to get a reduced level of service from them. In today’s market, that simply will not work to sell your home successfully.

The phrase Short Sale, I find, is a very popular string of words with a whole lot of mis-conceptions. You can find a pretty impressive slew of so called “Short Sale Gurus” on the Internet. Most of them claim the simplicity of Short Sales as an easy option to move your home.

A Short Sale in Aurora Colorado is by no means a slam dunk. The conditions of a successful Short Sale are varied and complex. There are no guarantees that it will happen. The most unpredictable factor of this equation is how the bank will act and react.

So should you stop making your payment during a short sale process. That question leads to another question. Do you want to see your home go into foreclosure?

If you are able to at all, making your home payment during your attempt to Short Sale is advantageous for a few reasons.

1. If your Short Sale does not go through then you can opt out without penalties.

If the correct offer is not made on your home in Aurora, or the bank does not accept it for some reason, you will be in a much better position than if you had just quit making your mortgage payments.

2. Making payments will help protect your credit score

For most, if they are seriously considering a Short Sale in Aurora, credit rating is the last thing on their mind. Trying to keep this animal alive is a battle. However if it is at all possible to keep making these payments, it will give you way more options to move on with life once this storm is over.

3. You could purchase another home directly after a short sale

Believe it or not, there is “home purchase” life after a Short Sale. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have specific allowances for buyers to purchase a home directly after a Short Sale if they are current on their payments.

If you are a home owner in Aurora CO and you are in financial hardship with your home, don’t give up! We are Aurora Co Foreclosure Prevention specialists. Give us a call and let us help you walk through this rough patch in you road of life.