Someday, I’ll stop selling real estate/blogging, and it would be a shame if nobody took it over.
Our eldest child survived freshman year of college, and is back home for the summer. She doesn’t want to be a realtor (so far), but just in case her future college degree doesn’t land her the dream job, maybe she’ll have a little something to fall back on.
Over the next three months I’m going to give her a crash course in being a realtor.
At the end of summer either she’ll love the thought of being a realtor, and quit college to get started, or she’ll hate it and be motivated to excel throughout the rest of her college days.
Not sure if you folks will get much out of it, but feel free to tag along:
*Chuckle* But…but…Jim, you didn’t tell your daughter about ice cream trucks! That has to be somewhere in Lesson #1, eh?
Seriously, JtR, this is a must-see video for not just wanna-be realtors, but ANY agent–especially for the ones who never get past the “here’s the great room, here’s the kitchen…”) and think that’s what buyers actually want to hear.
*Sigh* If only you had your out-of-state real estate license…
Good luck to your daughter whatever she decides.
Even in this RE market she’d be hard-pressed to make the kind of money she’d make working with you.
If it doesn’t work out, you looking to adopt? 😉
Good luck to you, Kayla! 🙂
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This is a great way to give your daughter some work experience and show her the ropes in the RE industry, Jim. Even if she decides to pursue something different, this experience will benefit her for the rest of her life. Well done.
I told my kids to become plumbers. Beside all the tuition money I would get to keep, there is the piont that people rarely call a real estate agent at 2 in the morning. And if they did, JTR probably wouldn`t get triple time and travel time. But then again you`d drive a van at work and not a M-B.
M-B makes vans…
What rules of thumb would you tell Kayla about renting versus owning?
I’ve been an owner all my adult life, but if I were entering the market today I think I might consider renting.
Is there a price to rent ratio that you think is a good rule of thumb? Or other criteria?
P.S. Thanks for your wonderful site!
Great room and backyard #1, and #2 sound right to me. A sub-par master suite (more so the bath and closet) would probably also be a dealbreaker for wifey and me.
Jim, just want to say that you nailed the buyer’s perspective, at least from our point of view. The kit/FR area is the key to house for us. If that area doesn’t work then we’re pretty much done. The backyard is indeed the next thing. My wife and I call a backyard like in that second house “house canyon.” When it’s as bad as that second house that’s a no-buy too. Price can’t fix that for us.
We very much start doing estimates in our heads of what the fix-up costs will be. We roll that into the price so that we can compare different houses. Also, as a buyer if I have to hassle with it I’m going to estimate high. I don’t work for free.
We sort a lot on-line. It’s relatively easy to get a sense of whether or not the price is whacked with about ten minutes on Redfin. If you focus on certain neighborhood you get to know the comps by heart and you don’t even need to look. You can get a pretty good sense of the house canyon effect from the on-line arial shots. The interior is a little harder to determine from the photos.
We only bother going to see the ones that pass all of the on-line tests.
My wife & I also value the combined great room / kitchen, bigger backyard, large master suite & bath. Of course, that’s because there’s only two of us and that’s where we spend all our time.
Unfortunately, the houses that have all those things just right also come with way too many other rooms, thereby pushing the price into the stratosphere.
I like this video series….training Kayla.
Your second place…the most relevant thing you said was at the end….it is ocean close. Good location. If you led with that, the opinion on the carpet and lack of upgrades completely changes.
SCARED STRAIGHT!
Great post, Jim. I have no intention of going into Realty, but as someone who is going to sell my place and upgrade/downsize in the next two years this is great information. Please keep the series coming.