Greg Nino Houston Texas

"Death By Chocolate My Friends.." Compliments Of Chilis Restaurant...

I can think of 4 occasions over the last few years where I had a listing and a potential buyer contacted me to view the house who was married to an attorney.

That in itself isn't anything special or unusual. What needs to be discussed is the attitude by some lawyers who think that "representing themselves is a brilliant idea."

Many Attorneys think that because they can represent themselves that it must be done, or somehow they aren't taking advantage of their law degree. You can jump out of a perfectly good airplane for fun, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. It's critical that as an lawyer/attorney you understand:

• You have no financial gain in representing yourself.
• You cannot ask for a reduction in lieu of commission because you are an attorney. Asking for compensation requires a Realtor or Brokers license in the state of Texas.
• A Real Estate transaction is not a YOU versus THE SELLER arena, it's NOT A COURT ROOM. Buyers and sellers WANT to come together in a peaceful, productive and financially beneficial way. Going for each others jugular isn't the approach or expectation in a transaction.
• No intelligent listing agent will comfortably introduce your contract if isn't paperwork they've used before. Just because you are allowed to write up your own contract doesn't mean it will be used, trust me. If we don't understand your stuff, our clients won't sign it.
• Realtors use the same paperwork over and over again. We can practically recite it word for word. We have access to ALL documents and know which ones to use. You often ASSUME which ones we should use. Please don't do this. We know an awful lot about our little amount of paperwork that LAWYERS & BROKERS created. No sense in reinventing the wheel.
• Realtors work like mules. We do our best to treat each other with respect. Every once in awhile attorneys assume we unlock doors for a living and everything else is a rudimentary & "it's so easy a cave man could do it type process." It is not. You might learn the hard way if you think otherwise.
• At the end of the day, YOU & THE SELLER THROUGH a REALTOR will agree to terms, price and conditions. You representing yourself will not get you a better price, guaranteed, not on my listings.
• You have MUCH more to gain by hiring a BUYERS AGENT. Just don't hire a "yes man" that is scared of you because you're an attorney; they'll be worthless in many ways. Instead, be the intelligent person you are and allow a professional to perform their job. When in Rome, remember?
• Don't assume that our commission is a piece of pie, and that you were given a fork upon graduating from college. We dont' like to share. Good Realtors NEVER share, we don't have to.

Imagine if I assumed how "you guys did your job." I've been in a very major lawsuit before and witnessed many things that I never even knew took place when suing the pants off a company. I was FLOORED & IMPRESSED by the way our lawsuit was handled. Before, I assumed a lot about attorneys.

At the end of our suit my attitude changed. Our attorneys earned every dime they charged!

Somebody, somewhere once said..."a man who acts for himself has a fool for a client." - meaning that their lack of objectivity prevents them from acting sensibly.

So do Realtors use themselves when purchasing? Yes! Why? Because we're not lawyers & that quote wasn't designed for us.

Remember the house from Ferris Buelller's Day Off? It's currently on he market for $2.3 million. The 5,300 square foot home is listed by with Sudler Sotheby's International Realtor, Meladee Hughes. The cool pad has 4 bedrooms, 4 baths and was built in 1953.

The home reportedly contains a wall of memorabilia dedicated to the movie which includes photo’s of the the actor at the time the movie was made. The owners are said to be huge collectors of many types of cars and apparently still use “that space” for special car events, including a Ferrari Club Meeting!

In case you were wondering Sudler Sotherby’s has 189 listing ranging from 44,900 to 25 million.

Wouldn't it be cool to list a celebrities home?

In No Particular Order:

1. Sellers are at home during Inspection, Showing & Appraisal. This is probably the largest error any homeowner can make. When buyers are looking at your home they want you GONE. They need to talk about your house, talk to the inspector and be able to think out loud. You being there prevents this and ultimately costs YOU MONEY.

2. A seller gets an offer within 2 weeks of being listed & gets too cocky. Too often when an offer comes quickly a seller becomes Contract Proud. They feel "many more will come" and they do not want to consider negotiations as well as they should.

3. Television, friends in Alaska and the news reporter in Syracuse know nothing about Houston Real Estate. - ZERO. They can give you advice, but that's all it should be. When you attempt to use outside influence as an ingredient in your decision making then you run the risk of costing yourself money. Laws vary from state to state. So do market conditions, advertising methods and the expectations of what is considered usual & customary. What works in Utah, may not work in Cypress Texas.

4. A seller hires a friend or relative to list their home. Personally I don't care and am sometimes/often relieved when a friend or relative does not use me to list their house. You need to be able to FIRE, YELL AT or REPRIMAND you Realtor when you are unhappy about something. BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. Feelings won't get hurt with me if I don't know or love you!

5. A seller who stands outside during a showing, but attempts to chit chat with exiting buyers is a HUGE MISTAKE. Don't be coy and try to talk about closing costs, the new exterior paint job or how wonderful the neighbors are. You look desperate, needy and sometimes to controlling. Remember YOU ARE PAYING FOR REPRESENTATION.

6. A seller receives a repair requests, then fixes them without telling the listing agent! Don't try to be slick and perform a lot of repairs yourself in an attempt to save money!!!! The CONTRACT clearly states that a LICENSED PROFESSIONAL must perform the work that requires a license to do so. Not only that, but you need to remember that when YOU fix something, YOU are standing behind the work that was done. Buyers usually if not always want MONEY in lieu of or they want somebody they know & trust to do the work.

7. A seller sees multiple real estate signs in their neighborhood and assumes that agent is selling everything in the area. NOPE. You need to look at the SELLING AGENT & not the LISTING AGENT. Over 80% of all listings that sell come from a buyers agent and not the Listing Agent.

8. Sellers Not READING THE LISTING AGREEMENT. I love a client who trusts me, but you not reading the paperwork means you may miss something or assume something down the road that might frustrate you.

9. Sellers leaving the a/c off, leaving the dogs in the house, not cleaning their home, stinky cats, dirty dishes in sink, weapons or prescription drugs left out during showings, turning down showings, yelling at buyers agents for being late, smoking in the house, & sooo much more.

10. The BIGGEST mistake a seller can make is not calling a LICENSED REALTOR to list their home! You get what you pay for. That's if it's a part time agent, discount firm or FSBO. Do it right the first time folks!

Having kids with working parents is one thing. Kids rooms are kids rooms, buyers are understanding about "keeping things perfect."

But what about those people who have NO KIDS? Perhaps their listing agent forgot to explain to them just what exactly staging is.

Here are some actual photo's I took from actual listings this past week:

YUMMY!

As God is my witness this SAME pan was sitting in the SAME spot when we came back for a SECOND showing 2 DAYS LATER! Lucky for these sellers my buyers were open minded enough to look past the days old breakfast pan! Who the hell cooks eggs in a cast iron skillet anyways?

For the record, we had a 1 hour notice to show this property!

God forbid the seller remember to turn off their (rabbit eared) 13 inch television for a scheduled showing! Note: TV strategically placed on top of refrigerator angled for the chef of the house to prepare his Cast Iron Scrambled Eggs!

Who doesn't appreciate turning Julies Ceaser on and off?

This switch plate was in the female teenagers bedroom.

Way to go dad!

In case you were wondering.. I wasn't showing in the ghetto. These homes were in HIGHER END communities!

That delicious beverage is in a DAYS old plastic cup filled with some soda. Those are dog clippers and an empty can of peanut butter too.

Talk about adding flavor to the experience.

No matter how many times some sellers are told they still believe that their dog is loved by all buyers. In this case this little dude was fine. But imagine if my buyers were allergic to dogs? No warning besides the sticky on the door that read... (friendly dog)..

If you're serious about selling your home take the time to clean it, stage it and heed advice from your listing agent. Or you could just use some good old fashion common sense. My buyers liked this home but it missed the "top of the list." Gee, I'm not surprised!

Houston has over 50,000 homes on the market. Where do you think this home ranks?