Monday, January 10, 2011

Changes coming to the blog

Now that I have bought I'll actually have more time for the blog. The bad news is some of the data I post comes from the MLS and I won't be continuing my membership as it is expensive and I have no real need to have MLS access anymore. This means the weekly inventory reports (which have been on hold since early December) and first of the month sales reports wont be published. I will attempt to find a replacement data source to create new data sets or continue the old ones.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you get your RE license / MLS access for only doing your own deal? I applaud this.

Most people simply complain about agents year after year after year.

The truth is that getting the RE license is easy and relatively cheap and gives you access to 'The Great Game' here in CA.

THanks for the blog all this time.

Effective Demand said...

I've never mentioned it publicly before for various reasons but I got my Brokers license while waiting out the bust. That way I didn't have to worry about joining a brokerage or anything like that (with a 4 yr degree you can take the test and get licensed with no experience, a loophole that was attempted to be closed by the C.A.R.).

Most of the agents I met during the boom I wouldn't let sell me a hamburger much less sell me a house. To be fair since the bust the general quality of agents left has gone up but that isn't saying a lot. I truely feel for the buyers out there, it's tough to find quality agent who is more worried about finding the right house as opposed to close the deal.

Anonymous said...

Yeah real estate agents are completely crap. Totally useless. The arrogance and audacity of some of them.

We were recently working with one agent in Pasadena. This guy turned out to be a complete asshole. Subtly arrogant...overly confident. He initially acted like he would stick around and help us.

It's been less than a month since we started working with him (after he pursued us consistently for a few months beforehand). We gave him the benefit of the doubt and started working with him.

Very predictably, after we hadn't bought anything in the period of the month we'd worked with him (keep in mind 2 of the 4 weeks were during Christmas break when no one is even around), he wrote to us saying he wants to part ways because "we're not on the same page."

I didn't know I was supposed to be on the same page as my agent...I always thought they were supposed to work for us. Hell..what do I know.

I'm so fed up with the process that I want to say F YOU to the entire housing industry and home buying process. It's a scam from the getgo...the fees, the costs, the cheap salesman feel the entire industry has. It's an over glorified used car dealership but only for homes.

At this point, I honestly couldn't give rat's ass anymore if I get a home or not...that is truly how fed up I am with the agents, the banks, the people selling their homes, the buyers cutting each others throats to buy a home.

I had my RE license...not broker's license. I have a master's degree...I should also get my license...but even then, I wonder why bother. I'm still going to get shafted somewhere along the line.

Effective Demand said...

Anon,

If you are still licensed there are several "robo" broker offices which you can hang your license just to get MLS access and a supra key. It really makes the home buying process much more enjoyable to remove agents from the shopping experience.

Zeb said...

Hi ED,

Did you represent yourself in your RE transaction, or did you have another RE professional represent you? I'm curious because someone else I know took the RE Salesperson exam, but decided not to represent herself for liability reasons.

In any case, how did you go about completing the educational requirements to be eligible to take the CA DRE Broker exam? Would an outfit like www_dot_californialicense_com be OK to do this, or does one have to attend a live course at community college or elsewhere?

And once you get a Broker's license, is that enough to be able to directly subscribe to an MLS, or do you still have to have an Agency affiation?

Thanks for the info!
Zeb

Zeb said...

I meant to type "affiliation" at the end!

Effective Demand said...

Zeb,

I represented myself, as a buyer the liability is pretty much zip. What am I gonna sue myself? I'd have to do something pretty amazing to having any potential liability as a broker from the sellers POV.

Dont use california license, use Allied (link at bottom). That just gets your course work done, to pass the test I highly recommend the "Broker Super Prep Exam Questions" CD-ROM (or online). It's pretty much exactly the test within I'd say 5-10% of the questions. I mean E X A C T L Y. Made passing the test a breeze, if you can pass the CD tests you can pass the real thing without a problem.

Once you get your license you can directly subscribe to any MLS. Usually there is a initial setup fee from $100-$500 and then the MLS fee. The other fee you'll get hit with is the cost of the Supra box subscription. In the end after fees I still came out way ahead monetarily by representing myself.

Link:
http://www.brokerlicense.com/broker-exam-preparation.asp

Zeb said...

Thanks for all the info ED!

The person I know did not represent herself because she did not have an agency desk when the house that she wanted came up, and fearing that there was something she might not be able to cover, she punted.

And thanks for the redirection on the coursework & exam-study CD.

I'll post again when done!