John Carle

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting with a lady who wants to sell her house in Edmonton. It’s a fairly average home for the area, in good condition and clean. It will be a good listing, a real feather in my hat. It should sell quickly and for a good price.

But I’m not sure if I want to list it. Here’s the background story on the situation… (with her permission of course!)

The homeowner is not comfortable with debt. She really doesn’t like owing money to anyone, even as a mortgage on a house. So her plan is to sell the house and rent instead; ideally she’d like to rent the house that she currently owns. This will allow her to get out from under the debt that is her mortgage. That’s her plan.

She isn’t selling because she needs the money, or feels that prices will fall again. She’s not selling her Edmonton home because she’s moving away or upgrading to something else. She can handle the maintenance and upkeep of the home (obvious by the good condition of the home), and the current payments and cost aren’t her issue. She just doesn’t like having a mortgage.

Here’s my moral dilema. I don’t think selling the home is in her best interests, not at all. If she sells and rents a home in Edmonton, her monthly payments will be as high as they are now, if not higher. They’ll certainly increase over time and she’ll face more and more expense as time goes on. It’s a bad move. Eventually she’ll be stuck in some rotten old basement suite in a bad neighborhood because she has no savings and that’s all she can afford. Sure it won’t happen today, but once she goes down that path… she’ll get there eventually.

I’ve always prided myself on looking out for my clients’ best interests. That’s how I’ve become successful as a Realtor; my clients know that I’m there for them and will never sell them out.

But if I don’t list the home, I’m sure someone else will. I do believe that she’ll sell the home; with or without me. So while I don’t agree with her decision or motivation, should I take her on as a client anyways? Afterall, someone will list her home and it will sell.

This is a tough one for me. Anyone have any comments or input for me?

- John Carle

ReMax Real Estate Edmonton

www.Knock-Knock.ca

(780) 231-7534

John;

My insurance company is looking for the “legal address” of the home? I don’t get it. I gave them the address in North Edmonton but they didn’t want that. Can you help me out here? Did I buy the wrong house?

- Sandra

Hey There Sandra;

What they’re referring to is the LEGAL DESCRIPTION of the property, which was given to it when it was just an empty lot. This description is a LOT/BLOCK/PLAN description, or in the case of a condo it’s a PLAN/UNIT description.

This more obscure address is a definite address, meaning it will never change. In the past, the city has changed the addresses of homes. They’ve changed Calgary Trail North to Gateway Boulevard. They added NW to the entire city. About 40 years ago they added 100 to all the street numbers. But the legal address, or legal description, never ever changes.

I hope this helps.

- John Carle
ReMax Real Estate Edmonton
www.knock-knock.ca

Hey John,

We’re giving up the keys on the house in a couple of days, and I want to know how clean the house needs to be. It’ll be vacuumed and wiped down. But how far do we take it?

- Do we need to steam the carpets?

- Should I be filling and painting the walls where we had pictures hanging?

- What about the marks at the top of the stairs from the baby gate?

Thanks for your input here.

- Ryan G.

Hi Ryan!

You’re a perfectionist, so the buyers will likely be happy with most anything that YOU do for them. I have no doubt that you’ll be leaving a spotless home for them.

As a general rule, leave the house in the condition that you’d want to receive it in.

Remember that this is likely their very first home, so it’s going to be an exciting experience for them. You have the opportunity here to reinforce that happiness for them, or ruin the experience completely. I’ve sold homes that were spotless on possession and homes that were disgusting on possession. Trust me when I say that the condition of the home on possession day leaves a lasting impression for years to come.

Make them happy.

- John Carle

I’ve been noticing more and more lately how Edmonton real estate agents are forming teams to “Serve you better”. But I have to ask, does it really benefit the customers? Sometimes it does. Sometimes it’s just a marketing strategy.

I’ve spent some time on this subject over the past year, as I’ve been rebuilding my own real estate business. Through this, I’ve categorized real estate teams into 3 groups:

1. More Agents, Not More Clients

This is a fairly rare model in the Edmonton real estate landscape, but one that I think should be noted all the same. I’ve only seen it successfully dome once, and that’s by a couple of guys in my own ReMax office. They go together on all of their appointments, so that the clients know both of them.

This would be a highly effective model for the client, as they get 2 agents present for all discussions. They also benefit from never being “handed off” when their agent goes on holiday; as these 2 guys never holiday together.

The weakness is in the cash-flow. You have 2 agents who have to make a living from a single set of clients. That means 2 office bills, 2 mortgages, 2 car payments, etc. But they make the same as a single agent, so there’s less margin available. That means less advertising when the market gets tight.

2. Several agents, several clients.

This real estate model is what we see most in Edmonton. It’s the flavor of the decade, as it were. Basically, a bunch of agents get together and become a team. They service their individual clients, pool their production to get more awards, and share some marketing costs to reduce expenses or increase their reach.

The advantage here is that you tend to get a professional group of agents. They usually group around a single experienced real estate agent (the rainmaker) who leads the team and gives everyone direction. Their expenses are lower than single agents, so they can do more marketing to bring in new business.

The disadvantage is that this doesn’t really ever benefit the client. Why not? Well… you only ever deal with 1 agent at a time. So 1, 2, or 10 agents doesn’t matter; only 1 of them can show you homes or negotiate your offer at a time.

I spent 7 years in this business model, and I have to admit that it is effective. The biggest advantage in my opinion was that I could take a day off, recharge my batteries, and know that my clients were being taken care of.

3. 1-2 Agents and a Group of Specialties

In Edmonton we don’t see this a lot. In fact, I can only think of 3 or 4 instances of it existing. But it is, from a customer standpoint, the most powerful and effective team possible.

Typically there’s only 1 agent on this team (sometimes 2) rather than a group of realtors. He/she can often be identified by massive production and very little free time. What makes this model so ridiculously effective is that the additional team members aren’t Realtors… they’re unlicensed support personnel, and industry professionals.

I first came across this model in Souther California. A single Relator was selling about 350 homes per year, with no “buyers agents”. Instead he had more than a dozen administrators who were incredibly effective at their own job; they were the best at what they do.

He also had industry professionals who were on his team. But they didn’t just have him as a referral source, like most inspectors/lawyers/lenders interact with most Realtors, but instead were available “as part of the team” to contribute wherever they could. So he had a lawyer on speed dial to answer litigation questions for him. He had a termite inspector to assess the situation over the phone (am I ever glad I live in Edmonton, where termites aren’t an issue!).

The effectiveness of this model is amazing to behold. With a single Realtor, there’s only 1 direction. This means the team moves forward quickly, and can adjust to changing market conditions very quickly.

Because each team member of specialized, the client gets a higher level of service from the team as a whole. Costs are reduced for the client because much of this advice and “on call” service is free; it’s just part of the package.

So why don’t we see it more often? Well, there’s 2 big reasons. First, it requires a ridiculous amount of personal time and commitment from the Realtor. Every single phone call, all the showings, every listing and seller… it’s all 1 person. Can you spell b-u-r-n-o-u-t ?? Second, building such a team is hard to do. Finding the right professionals, the right personalities, and trusting them to do their part the right way… that’s not easy to do!

So there you have it; 3 “team models” that exist in the Edmonton real estate market. Which would you want representing you?

I’m sitting at a building inspection today, working on my Edmonton real estate blog while the inspector works on the house. The client (Megan) and I had a great discussion about leaving business cards behind when showing a home.

I recently sold her condo for her, and she expressed an interesting perspective.

“It just gives me the peace of mind of knowing that they’ve been there. When a card wasn’t left, I wasn’t sure if they’d been there or not. When that happened, it was disconcerting.”

That’s interesting. I’ve heard a few agents complain about leaving their cards, claiming it to be a waste of resources. “What a waste of money!”

But to hear that this client liked having cards, I have to say that I’m prone to keep leaving my card at showings.

What are your thoughts? Do you prefer to have an agent leave a card? Or do you think they’re just junk and need to go into the garbage?

This original post is located at http://www.knock-knock.ca