Many years ago, we purchased a home in Carlsbad, using a realtor that was recommended to us - Jim Klinge. Fast forward to 2025, we recently had the privilege of selling 2 homes in Carlsbad, CA and didn't hesitate to reach out to Jim and Donna Klinge of Klinge Realty Group to guide us through the sales. The transactions were very different, each with its own unique situation, opportunities and challenges. From start to finish, Donna and Jim helped navigate the pre-sale preparation, the listing, showing of the house, buyer negotiations, the final close and all of the paperwork and decisions in between. What stands out with both transactions is the professionalism of Jim and Donna (and their team), wonderful communication (timely, relevant, concise), their deep understanding of market dynamics (setting realistic expectations), their access to top-notch contractors, and last, their ability to guide us across the finish line successfully. We wouldn't hesitate to use Jim and Donna in the future and highly recommend them for anyone looking to buy or sell a property in North San Diego County.
When I’m the listing agent, I always counter every buyer – how will you ever know what they might pay unless you give them a chance???
Criminal that the listing agent just took whatever looked nice + moved on.
Crazy, if the listing agent had put in the effort + pressed for highest and best they probably could have funded their 3%.
We live in an environment where getting more than you expected is good enough.
It never occurs to agents that their laziness is preventing max money/top dollar sales.
There are class-action lawsuits pending against the industry over dumb stuff. The one that could stick is how seller representation is so lame and inefficient that sellers leave money on the table in virtually every sale (every non-JtR sale). But nobody has thought of that one yet.
When I’ve sold, I asked to see every offer.
Do you think this seller didn’t care enough to ask?
Good question – like all the questions by bubbleinfo readers!
Imagine the moment of impact, which is remarkably different depending if the sellers live in the house.
If they live there, they have been inconvenienced 100x by all the showings and they know it’s hot.
Sellers of vacant houses typically aren’t driving by every hour and, as a result, are relying on the listing agent’s report of activity. The lazy agents aren’t tracking it closely, though the lockboxes report every showing – they just want to hurry up and take an offer so they can go back to sleep.
In this case, the agent might have told the sellers that there were 30 offers, but must have shrugged off the majority and recommended that they only counter the “serious” buyers. He told me they countered the top 3-4 offers.
If you are a seller, doesn’t it sound like good advice?
When a listing agent does counter-offers, they do it to “clean up” an offer, which means to dictate the title and escrow companies to be used, and inflict stricter timelines for all contingency removals. This is what agents call, “expert negotiating”.
It NEVER occurs to them to pit the buyers against one another. I have never experienced any agent trying to run up the score like I do.