Real estate broker I can trust?

January 25, 2006 8:32 AM

RealEstateFilter: Short version: I need to sell a house in another city that I will never see. I know nothing about the process of finding a broker or selling a house.

Longer version: I'm in the San Francisco Bay area, and inherited a house in the Antelope Valey (Palmdale). I would like to sell the house outright (without travelling to Palmdale) as quickly as possible (in other words not hold the title myself anb take payments). How do I go about finding a (reliable/trustworthy) broker? What should I expect them to charge me?

There is still furniture in the house, so some property management will most likely be needed (clearing the house, mowing the lawn, etc.). How do I negotiate this and with whom? The broker? Another party? What rates are expected/appropriate?

Basically, I'd like this to go as smoothly as possible and have to deal with as few parties as possible. I'd rather go with a fast sale at a reasonable price than wait a year or more for top dollar. Make sense?

posted by al_fresco to home & garden (6 comments total)

I'd suggest calling all the local (probably national chain) realtor offices in Palmdale, stating your case, and see who sounds the most competent and won't charge too much.
posted by mathowie at 8:46 AM on January 25, 2006

First off, read the chapter in Freakonomics regarding real estate agents.

Second, your desire to sell "as quickly as possible" without going out to see the property is a virtual guarantee that you'll get less than "a reasonable price" as opposed to if you were willing to take some time and effort to inspec the property and meet with your agent.

Third, the best way to find a real estate agent is to get referrals from trusted folks who have recently sold a house in the area. Coldcalling, as Matt suggested, will get you a list of names but given your inexperience with the field you probably won't be able to effectively sort the wheat from the chaff. Make sure you check with the State of California to see if there are any complaintis against the agent with the licensing board.

Fourth, a good borker will assist you in doing anything you need to get the property ready for sale.

Typical broker commissions nationwide are 6%, which the buyer's and seller's agents usually split evenly. There are many companies that specialize in lower commissions, which you could probably find if you did some googling.
posted by mikewas at 8:55 AM on January 25, 2006

This
Dummies Guide might come in handy. I used the License Exam one, and aced the test.
posted by lobstah at 8:59 AM on January 25, 2006

You inherited this property? Get the name and number of the estate executor's attorney, call and ask for a referral to a good real estate broker. The attorney may even handle the legal aspect of the sale for you. You could give him/her a power of attorney limited to this transaction and the lawyer could handle all of the paperwork for you.

I can't think of any way for you to inherit this property and sell it without holding title to it. The estate could sell it for you and distribute the cash to you, but doing things for beneficiaries (as opposed to doing things for the estate) is not a proper thing for an executor to do. The executor could get in a lot of trouble from the other beneficiaries and/or the IRS if he/she sold it for you.
posted by MrZero at 11:08 AM on January 25, 2006

Thanks, MrZero, but that stuff has all been worked out (those details are in the Full version, which was much too long to post here [and unnecessary for what I wanted to know]).
posted by al_fresco at 3:05 PM on January 25, 2006

Fourth, a good broker will assist you in doing anything you need to get the property ready for sale.

Correct - in fact, this should be one of the criteria for finding a good broker - tell them what you need done (mowing the lawn, identifying any minor fixups that are easy to do and will make the house sell more quickly, etc.). Ask them if they know someone who can do these things, what such a person would charge per hour, and if they are willing to make all necessary arrangements and send you the bills. (Ask them what their previous experience has been with the recommended service persons as well.)

As for the furniture in the house, it does NOT need to be cleared out before the house is offered for sale. The real estate agent you hire (or interview for hiring) should (be willing to) look at what is in the house, identify what should be removed to help sell the house - for example, junky furniture, or excessive items, and should provide you with a recommended approach and a cost estimate for either selling/disposing of what needs to be removed, or putting it in storage.

You'll certainly need to dispose of the contents of the house at some point, but normally you have a bit of time - some weeks, normally - between when an offer is accepted and the closing date of a sale (and this is negotiable; your agent can help here). I believe there was a Metafilter Q&A in the past few weeks on how to sell the contents of a house from a distance (search on "estate sale").

Some real estate agents think that empty houses are more difficult to sell, so if you still want to get rid of the house contents before the house is sold, talk to the agent/broker about "staging" the house (bringing in temporary furniture to make it look really appealing; this costs, of course).

A real estate agent typically gets 3 percent commission for selling a house (and personally keeps about half that, normally; the rest goes to the agent's company); the agent representing the buyer also gets 3 percent commission. The commisions come out of the proceeds of the sale (that is, you, the seller, pay them.) While there are discount brokers around who charge less, they also do less, which can work well if you're around to do things like show the house - but you're not, so stick with a full-commission broker. Ask the broker at the beginning what he/she charges as a commission; there isn't really any reason to pay more than 3+3 percent, unless the house is really inexpensive (aka in bad condition).

Good luck!
posted by WestCoaster at 10:57 PM on January 25, 2006