Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 5, 2004 Problem: I'm unable to find a realtor who will promptly and consistently give me comparable sales for potential CAs. They'll do one or two and then they fade away. I can't operate my business when I have to constantly be recruiting new agents every few days. It doesn't seem to make any difference what I offer them, money, leads, listings. They inevitably screw things up so that I'm left wondering whether I should set up an appointment with a seller without having much idea what their house is worth. Solution: Besides becoming an agent myself. There's only two things I can think of... (1) I can just go ahead and sign the houses up and hope the seller's price isn't too far out of line. or (2) I can push the seller to justify their asking price by getting comps of their own or an appraisel. What are your thoughts? When doing CAs just how necessary are good comps? I'm not buying the place myself, so on the one hand I don't really care, but I do care if the price scares buyers away, as I KNOW some asking prices would. It's so silly, because comps are so easy for an agent to do, and that's the only thing I need from the "outside". I feel like an idiot for even having to ask about this problem! Anyway, I hope you have some ideas, because I'm supposed to call that seller back to day to set up an appointment and I still don't have any comps Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelC 160 Report post Posted October 5, 2004 Strange that the local Realtors are uncooperative in this matter. Especially in light of the fact that you say you are offering them something in exchange for their assistance. Surely, there must be one good one in your area, Doug, who you can cultivate a friendship/business relationship with. I would target a newer Realtor. Someone who is young and hungry, and who also has an interest in investing themselves. In lieu of using a Realtor, what about the various online services that provide comps? Do any of them cover your area? My personal favorite is Data Quick, but I don't think they cover the Great White Way up in the Yukon. You may want to verify with them, though.The bottom line is that you will definitely need a quick and reliable source of sales data to accurately determine FMV. Guessing, or taking a homeowner's word is not the way to go about it. Even with good Rent to Own terms, such as low down and 50% rent credit, price the property well above market and you'll end up with no takers, and a very disillusioned homeowner who will blame you for not filling his property as promised. And be sure to ask the homeowner where he/she came up with their asking price. They may have had a Realtor do a CMA, or they may have a valid appraisal you can use. Also, what about a connection with an appraiser or a mortgage broker. They, too, should have access to home sales data. Just some ideas...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BEV! 0 Report post Posted October 5, 2004 (2) I can push the seller to justify their asking price by getting comps of their own or an appraisel.Doug,Actually on all my deals, I DO make it a requirement for the owner of the house to have a professional pull comps on their property before we even meet... and since they're all FRBO's the realtors are more than happy to provide such info. As a matter of fact I just got a call from one of my prospects and told me he's got the comps already for me to view so we can meet today, so I'm on my way to meeting with him as I type this Bev! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 5, 2004 Michael, yeah I've tried getting newer agents to do it, but their brokers scare them off. So far I haven't found an online source that covers my area. I have developed fairly good relationships with several agents and brokers but they don't stick with it, or they take way too long. Bev, excellent idea to simply make it a requirement of you meeting with them! I'll give that a try. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adam King (MI) 1 Report post Posted October 5, 2004 Doug,I make cash offers on other deals with my Realtors to keep them busy and taken care of, BUT the most important thing you can do is learn your market. I very rarely have to ask the Realtors to do comps anymore. And if you find a Realtor that only works with you on a few deals and then bails, that too isn't uncommon as MC said. Just keep moving with what you've got until you don't need them as much.Hope that helps,Adam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Adam, there are certain types of houses which I know the value of like the back of my hand, but most of the houses I'm looking at doing CAs on I never would have even considered buying as investments, so I'm not familiar with their values. Of course you are right that in time I will know what just about everything is worth, but that time hasn't yet arrived. The nice thing about my market is that I don't have the huge range of values that many of you do from one street to the next. There are 3 cities that I'm mainly focused on and if you take House A in one city and compare it to identical House B in another city, they're worth about the same, maybe with a range of 5% or so. Anyway, for the time being I'll try what Bev suggested, as well as attempt to get comps from new agents. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.B 0 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 The nice thing about my market is that I don't have the huge range of values that many of you do from one street to the next. There are 3 cities that I'm mainly focused on and if you take House A in one city and compare it to identical House B in another city, they're worth about the same, maybe with a range of 5% or so. Yea you're lucky. There is an area in Jacksonville where on one street a two story 4 bd 2.5 bath sells for around 100k and less than a half mile away that same size house is worth around 1 million. ~Mr.B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sold ! 0 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Doug, This method will take some effort on your part, but it might eliminate the problem in the long run. Take the Sunday paper, go through the real estate section and write down EVERY house for sale in there along withasking price, # of BR and BA, location and square footage if possible......something to compare apples to apples with. The best idea would be to input the data directly into Excel or another spreadsheet program. Once you have the data for several HUNDRED homes in your market area, a quick tap of the "Sort Data" function will give you a broad overview of your real estate market in the area you are working. This won't be as good as comps, but it'll be a close approximation of what RE agents and homeowners think they can get for their homes. You'll need to skew it towards reality a little bit through experience, but this would seem like a good place to start getting a feel for different values in different areas of town. It may help you until you find a good and reliable agent willing to stick with the program for you and pull comps as necessary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Rich, that's not a bad idea either. I'm already doing that for all of the FSBOs.- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adam King (MI) 1 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Doug,Sometimes I have just added 3% to the closest FMV (within reason) if I have had no other way of getting comps. Don't forget, if you're doing a CA it can be for the benefit of the buyer as well as the seller. I wouldn't stress too much over the numbers if you know your market like you say you do. As for properties that are from a wide range of prices within a limited amount of area, this is the most important place to get the numbers right. And here's a free one from experience. If you're in an area that has $25K houses on one block and $200K houses three streets away, move on. Sure, the houses are beautiful, but moving them can be a #$%*. If you are going to try to move them, you need to have property comparables based on the farthest locations you can, but within the constraints of a fair appraisal. Over valued property estimates can be a big problem.Regards,Adam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Adam, what do you mean by:Sometimes I have just added 3% to the closest FMV (within reason) if I have had no other way of getting comps.I thought FMV is what I'm trying to determine? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Damn! Just when my realtor came through with the comps, the seller backed out! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
<Steve> 82 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Doug- I use listingbook.com which is a MLS listing service. I had a realtor I work with, set it up so that every new listing is e-mailed to me. I open the email and am linked to this web site to find comps etc... Realtors use this site, and surely others, to market themselves. I would try to find a realtor who can give you web site MLS access instead of having them get you the comps. Also, have you tried a title company? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Steve, unfortunately the local board will revoke their license if they give an "outsider" access to the MLS, I've asked several agents and got the same answer everytime. I also tried to get affiliate membership into the MLS, but you have to be a realtor or appraiser. So I looked into becoming an appraiser and it's just as involved and expensive as becoming a realtor. As far as I know title companies in Canada only issue title insurance. Lawyers do all the closing work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelC 160 Report post Posted October 6, 2004 Sounds like you need a Realtor girlfriend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
