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Anyone Want to Sell a House, Part Two

Jonathan Dalton, Phoenix Real Estate Agent My folks decided on a Pulte build in Canyon Trails yesterday. The sales person was unable to come in on her day off (I might have to write a contract, but I also don’t have set days off on the resale side) but said she would be at the models at around 11 this morning after Pulte’s weekly sales meeting.

11:30 came and went. Placed a call to the agent and learned the meeting ran long and she’d be there by 12, the advertised opening time. Noon came and went. Finally, at 12:15, she came to the models. “Our sales meetings sometimes run long,” she said by way of explanation. “I skipped mine to be here for my clients,” I replied. (Actually was a Buffini training class and not a sales meeting but the point remains.

If you really want to sell a house, make the time to sell a house. I committed to training I’m now skipping because I have appointments all five days it’s scheduled. (If you’re seeing this, Paige, I’ll catch up later!) At the end of the day, this job is about the clients and the offers that are written, not the bagels and coffee at the weekly sales meeting.

Surely even a builder with its corporate mentality can understand that. Or maybe not.

Despite Pulte’s best efforts, my folks bought one of their spec homes. They’re happy, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

Oh, and P.S. … don’t visit the builders without your own agent. (I’ll stop saying it when I stop seeing people pull up the models and walk into the lions’ den on their own.)

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All Those Business Cards on the Kitchen Counter

Jonathan Dalton, Phoenix Real Estate Agent … could be a trick, as one reader suggested via e-mail. Or, more likely if the home’s priced aggressively, could also mean the house has been shown a lot.

The overarching question - does it really matter? Is your decision about a house going to be influenced by the number of business cards you see or by your own personal circumstances and the particulars of the house?

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Negotiating With Builders

Jonathan Dalton, Phoenix Real Estate Agent Two recent examples …

1) Pulte Mortgage has not been able to match the interest rate one of my buyers can receive from their own bank without charging points. There are incentives in the contract tied to the use of Pulte Mortgage so it’s not as simple as switching lenders. Theoretically the builders’ lender is supposed to have competitive rates. I’m in talks with the sales folks and we’ll see where this goes.

2) For the same client, I negotiated a $12,000 reduction a couple of months earlier when costs at the design center rose from earlier estimates. So we’re coming close to $20,000 in negotiated reductions.

3) A different client was looking at specs, one with with a gas range and another with an electric range. She doesn’t like gas but liked the home surrounding the oven. So I asked the builder if they can switch ovens out between the specs. Answer pending.

Like most aspects of home buying, these negotiations can be handled without the use of an agent. But taking the emotions out of the equation by negotiating through a third party, as is taking place in these examples, gives a buyer considerably greater leverage.

And these are just a couple of examples. For more reasons why you ought to have an agent with you when you visit a new build (and we have to be there on the first visit), click the link.

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