In my fantasy, whenever someone first considers buying or selling their house, they will call ME . I can walk them through the whole process, the thinking about, the pros and cons, the searching, and eventually the decision making. The value a real estate agent can offer to every step of the process is priceless, in my humble opinion. We also can save you a TON of time and a bunch of headaches…so why do you wait soooooo long to make that first call? Here is THE FIRST question I get asked every single time I finally do get that call….usually whether it is your first or fifth house your’re buying.
ACTIVE listings that really aren’t active anymore. What the heck is up with all the killer houses showing on Zillow and Trulia, but when you call me, or (please never) the listing agent…you are told that house is under contract? You want to know why this is? I will NOT tell you Zillow and Trulia are the places to get the most up to date information about anything, but this isn’t really Zillow and Trulia’s fault. It is the listing agent’s fault. Yes, I am calling out my people, because it needs to be called out. When the market was in full fledge tumble, and trying to recover…we in real estate became experts in short sales. When an offer is submitted to the bank for approval in a short sale situation…this can take months…and no one knows what the bank will agree to…so the house wasn’t really under contract….it was in limbo. So a special status was created, called ACTIVE with Contingencies, or UCB (under contract accepting back ups). These properties still showed active because really they were until bank approval was given, but it was also clear the sellers had accepted an offer. Agents decided they liked this status because….YOU CALLED. And they had the opportunity to pick you up and represent you in your purchase. So now, this status is used almost all the time instead of “pending” which is the correct status to use if the sale is not a short sale. Also, if a status is CCBS it will show active on outside sites…just like UCB. CCBS means Contract Contingent on Buyer’s Sale…meaning their house is also for sale, and this purchase could fall out if their sale falls out. This is a fairly new status, but creates the same problem the UCB status does.
What is best solution to this? How do you know which homes are actually available and which are just hooks for the listing agent? You get yourself together with a buyer’s agent up front. You have them set you up on a search with a portal directly through the MLS. That way you will only be sent ACTIVE listings that are truly available, and you can keep track of listings in your portal…so if they sell before you go look at it, you can see that right away. It is a great way to watch the market while you are deciding if you want to jump in. It gives you great information about how quickly homes in your price range and area you want to buy are selling. You can also see how close to list price the sale price is once it actually closes. Then you will know, when you’re ready, if you see a house that makes your heart beat just a little faster…if you need to meet your agent on your lunch break…or if it can wait until the weekend.
If you are out driving around, my favorite app is HomeSnap. It allows you to take a photo of homes that aren’t even on the market and it gives you tax information about them…like the size of the home and size of the lot, previous sale price…and estimated value…which can be decent or way off depending on neighborhood sales. It will also show you the information on a house that is on the market, but it will say it is ACTIVE even if it is UCB or CCBS…just like all the other apps out there. Which is why the only perfect solution is to rely on what listings you are getting directly from me, your real estate agent.
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