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Jim Klinge
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Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home? Contact Jim the Realtor!

Carlsbad
(760) 434-5000

Carmel Valley
(858) 560-7700
jim@jimklinge.com


Category Archive: ‘Tips, Advice & Links’

Evaluating Realtors Using the Internet

Are you accustomed to using the internet for all your shopping needs?  Those who prefer to research and buy products and services on-line will find it natural to do the same for agents.

Here are four ways to use the internet when selecting a realtor:

1.  Google their name.  Any realtor worth considering should have a decent web presence, and hopefully some evidence of their past performance.  Check the dates of their latest blog posts or featured listings.

2.  Check their license number.  Every piece of advertising has the realtor’s license number on it, including websites and business cards.

There are some new agents who are really good, and there are older agents that should be put out to pasture, so it’s not a perfect guide.  But at least you can easily tell how long an agent has been in the business with a simple glance at their license number.

The real estate licenses are issued with sequential numbers.  I just use my company’s broker number as a guide.  If they have a lower number than Klinge Realty, they’ve been around for more than ten years, and if they are a new or newer agent, then I need to check how many sales they have closed on the MLS.  Here are the months that these licenses were issued:

License Number Month Issued
01900000 June, 2011
01800000 April, 2007
01700000 June, 2005
01400000 Nov, 2003
01388871 (Klinge Realty) June, 2003

3.  Check their profile on Zillow.  The industry’s leader now includes both reviews of agents, and how many sales they have closed in the last twelve months.

An agent who has something to offer should have double-digit reviews and sales (good agents should sell at least one home per month on average).  Any agent who has more than 75-100 sales has a big team of agents who are all reporting under the leader’s name, which is somewhat deceiving.

4.  Look for videos.  Every agent worth considering should be using video in some fashion – at least a video of themselves on Zillow or their website, and/or real video tours of their listings with commentary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yelp used to be a reliable source, but they have been under fire lately.  They have deleted positive reviews from my actual clients, and here a Carlsbad dentist gets on TV with his experience:

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Yelp-Under-Fire-for-Alleged-Pandering-to-Advertisers-232472381.html

Yelp hides additional reviews – check at the bottom of each Yelp page where you see this link: other reviews that are not currently recommended

Get good help!

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in Listing Agent Practices, Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should Hire Jim as your Buyer's Agent, Why You Should List With Jim | 2 comments

Get Your Home Sold

The political circus got kicked down the road a couple of months, and weather will be great for another week – it’s a perfect time to sell your house!

But you’ve already been on the market for a few months, and no luck.  You experienced a big rush in the beginning, but now it’s down to a trickle.  You think – if someone would just make an offer…..

What can sellers do to get their home sold in the next 30 days?

Start with putting yourself in the buyers’ shoes, and examine your online presence – is it compelling?  Are there quality photos and video?  Does the listing make you want to go see the house?

Then look at how your price compares with others for sale in the neighborhood. If there are two or more competing homes for sale, and nobody is selling, then a breakout is needed.  Lower your price to be the cheapest of the bunch, or the cheapest $/sf – and make the gap big enough that it is obvious to buyers that you are the best deal.

Nothing works as well as lowering your price.  But there are other things you can do to help the cause - complete as many of these items as possible:

Jim’s A La Carte List:

  1. Lower the price by at least 5%
  2. Add/improve photos.
  3. Produce a new video tour.
  4. Pay Buyer’s closing costs – specify the amount.
  5. Offer to Buydown  the mortgage rate (1% or 1.5% sounds good).
  6. Rent back your home after closing for a premium rate.
  7. Offer a quick or flexible close date.
  8. Vacate home to make it look better and increase showings.
  9. Re-examine the usefulness of range pricing (drop it).
  10. Install lockbox and make it obvious on listing.
  11. No restrictions on showings – show anytime.
  12. Paint and carpet – and spend some real money!
  13. Clean the carpet.
  14. Improve the curb appeal.
  15. Get neighbor’s dog to stop barking.
  16. Get rid of the smell.
  17. Include recent sales in your listing to prove your price.
  18. Mention the specific schools.
  19. Pay a Full Commission to Buyer’s Agent (3% or more)
  20. Pay a Bonus to the Agents.
  21. Hire a professional salesperson.

Whatever you can do to provide more ease and transparency will help.  Buyers are moving quickly, and your first impression needs to grab them!

Posted by on Oct 18, 2013 in Thinking of Selling?, Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should List With Jim | 4 comments

Why Pendings Are Down

Realtor Conference Lawrence Yun 007Headlines everywhere are touting how rising rates are slowing down the real estate market.  The experts jump to conclusions, and the media loves bad news.  One of our favorites is front and center today – Lawrence Yun.  From cnbc.com:

“The modest decline in sales is not yet concerning, and contract activity remains elevated, with the South and Midwest showing no measurable slowdown,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “However, higher mortgage interest rates and rising home prices are impacting monthly contract activity in the high-cost regions of the Northeast and the West.”

Mortgage rates are the same everywhere, and your location isn’t what determines whether sellers and buyers are coming together.

Experts postulate about who or what to blame, and not on how to fix it.

You can blame any reason on the list for fewer sales:

  • Rising rates (they have stalled)
  • Low inventory
  • Tight credit
  • Investors/Wall Street
  • Syria
  • Government
  • Builders
  • Realtors
  • Chargers
  • Padres
  • Jim the Realtor

If Lawrence Yun was actually a realtor and looked a little deeper – or the media would ask more questions - then eventually the reason that pendings are down anywhere would be discovered:

Sellers aren’t adjusting their price enough to satisfy the buyers.

Lawrence Yun and others are always quick to blame external events, but as our spokesman, he should offer the solution - price will fix everything!

Yunnie, can you give us a hand here!

Posted by on Aug 28, 2013 in Interest Rates/Loan Limits, Tips, Advice & Links | 13 comments

Interview A Realtor

Here’s the annual diatribe questioning the existence of realtors:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/22/why-do-real-estate-agents-still-exist/

If you ask most realtors why they exist, you’ll hear about the “maze of paperwork” and “litigation and liability” – big words meant to intimidate.

But consumers don’t buy and sell houses enough to be naturally comfortable with the process.  Once they meet a few random realtors at open houses, they become more convinced that they should get somebody on their side.

realtor_logoIt’s how they select a realtor that needs examination.

The industry leaves it up to the individual agents to promote themselves as they see fit, which leads to hype and propaganda – and not a lot of factual evidence.

The trend towards “reviews” by past clients on Zillow or Yelp is a good idea, but that can always be gamed.  Checking the agent’s website and googling their name will supply more data, but rarely do you find specific evidence of their expertise.

It’s one of the biggest moves of your life – you should invest an hour over a cup of coffee to make sure the agents are what they seem.  Ask them to provide evidence of how many homes they have sold recently, and what is their specific involvement in the process (specifically, once you sign on, do they pass you down the conveyor belt of assistants?).

I’m available anytime – and I’ll buy the cup!

Posted by on Aug 23, 2013 in Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should Hire Jim as your Buyer's Agent, Why You Should List With Jim | 0 comments

Zillow and the Future

Spencer was in town today discussing the Zillow features. www.zillow.com

These are mostly things that NAR, CAR, the MLS systems, and major brokerages have ignored or tip-toed around, but Zillow doesn’t seem to care any more – they are going for it. They are throwing millions of dollars at creating their own full assortment of products and services to benefit realtors and consumers directly.

Here is a snippet:

Zillow is reaching the consumers first, which means that the agents who are willing to pay the big money to be featured prominently will get the spoils. It could be seen as friendly extortion, but if it runs the cheap/lousy agents out of the business it will be a good thing.

Posted by on Jul 29, 2013 in Listing Agent Practices, The Future, Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should List With Jim | 1 comment

“Lots of Showings”

lots of showingsBoth sellers and listing agents get over-zealous when they witness mobs of buyers flocking to see their new listing - it boosts their confidence that a retail (or retail-plus) sale is imminent. 

Question their price, and you’ll hear, “Well, we’ve had lots of showings!”, as if that means something in an environment of low inventory – of course you have had lots of showings, there isn’t anything else to see.

My old rule-of-thumb was that lots of showings but no offers meant that you were 5% to 10% wrong on price. 

But today’s buyers are looking at anything and everything that might be close - which means if you are selling and having plenty of showings but no offers, then you are probably closer to being 10% wrong on price.  (Or your local market is fading).

What else could it mean?

  • You have a significant defect that isn’t that obvious by looking at the listing.  If it is something you can fix (carpet & paint, etc.), you should fix, because buyers don’t mind paying retail for a retail product.
  • Agents are using your house to sell the house down the street.

How do you know which is which?

If you are getting repeat visits from the same buyers, then the price is close – hang in there until the better buys nearby are cleared out. 

If you are only getting the one-time hit-and-runs, then you have bigger problems.  But lowering your price will fix any and all of them!

Posted by on Jun 20, 2013 in Thinking of Selling?, Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should List With Jim | 0 comments

Homebuyer Anxiety 3

overloadWhen homebuying, the usual recommendations are to get pre-approved for financing, receive auto-notifications of new listings, see a lot of homes in person, and work with a good agent.

But once you get in the game, the frustration mounts.  You’ve been looking at houses for months…or years…and don’t feel any closer to buying today than when you started.

What can you do?

Ways to Relieve Homebuyer Anxiety

Evaluate Your Willingness - You should consider all the facts, and decide if buying a home is for you.  It is time-consuming, unpredictable, and sometimes sleazy.  Because of the competition, buying a quality home today means you will most likely pay more than you are comfortable with  – you will have to want it real bad.

Expand the Target Zone – Not only will you instantly have more homes to consider, but it also helps you evaluate how committed you are about staying in the old area.

Raise Your Price Target – Nobody wants you to drown in debt.  But if you borrowed another $100,000 at 4% interest, your P&I payment would be $477/mo. higher. For those who are already at their max, dis-regard.  But for those who can push higher, it is an option.

Buy a Fixer – The best way to better your chances.  The ulgy old dogs may bark at traffic, but they are also chasing off most of the competition too.  Don’t expect that the purchase price will reflect an adequate discount for the work though, just hope that it is close.

Don’t Expect Much From the Sellers - Expect to spend $25,000 to $50,000 on any house you buy.  Most houses have defects, and you are going to have to live with a punch list of repair items with any house you buy.  Their agent is telling them that the market is hot, and they don’t have to cater to your demands.

Influences - Gain the support of family and friends – if you have ‘experts’ around you who are constantly telling you that you are paying too much, or that prices will come down, it will undermine your confidence in crunch time.

Door-to-Door – The old needle-in-a-haystack search method, with a very low rate of success – but great exercise!  One of the bidding-war losers at Manzanita canvassed the whole neighborhood with color flyers of them and their dog.  Since then, two other sellers have listed in their price range.

Change Agents – This applies if you keep losing bidding wars – your agent doesn’t have the market awareness or strategies to win.

Add Mustard – If you want to get this over with, then go to the craziest-high price that you would ever pay for that house, and add $10,000.

Be patient – you are making a decision that might last you a lifetime.

Posted by on May 29, 2013 in Thinking of Buying?, Tips, Advice & Links, Why You Should Hire Jim as your Buyer's Agent | 3 comments

Home-Selling Tips

From the mercurynews.com:

housesellSelling your home? You can get the best possible price if you know how to negotiate.

From truly understanding the market to figuring out what moves prospective buyers, it pays to be part detective, part psychologist and completely realistic.

Here are a series of tips to help you negotiate the best price when you sell your home:

1. Understand your market. Your home is worth the most someone is willing to pay for it. Or the least.

The best indicators of the price your home could fetch are actual sale prices (not listing prices) of similar homes in the immediate area during the past few months, says Ron Phipps, principal broker with Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., and past president of the National Association of Realtors. Nearby sale prices are called comparables, or comps for short.

Comparable homes are roughly the same age and square footage with the same number of bedrooms.

Read More

Posted by on May 12, 2013 in Thinking of Selling?, Tips, Advice & Links | 0 comments