Seek out great Agents
The other day, a young agent contacted me about a deal down in Cartersville. It was a great deal, and since the agent brought it to my attention, I made my offer through him.
As I was going through the paperwork, I noticed something called an “Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement.” Be careful of these. As this particular document stated, “the buyer hereby agrees to hire Broker to act as Buyer’s exclusive real estate broker to assist Buyer in locating and negotiation the purchase of a property.”
I say to be careful because this language obligates you, as a buyer, to one particular agent.
That situation won’t work for me because I work with multiple agents in multiple areas. At that time, I had three different houses listed with three different agents.
I explained to the young agent that I couldn’t grant exclusivity to any one agent, not just because I work with multiple agents, but also because I’m willing to make my offer through the agent who brings me a deal – just like I was doing with him. Therefore, I told him, I couldn’t sign this particular document. He understood.
Because of this philosophy, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some fantastic agents. Lately, two of them have blown me away with their customer service, their systems and, most importantly, their willingness to do what it takes to get the deal closed. It’s no wonder they’re the top agents in their areas. The first one is Bonnie Mullinax of Team Mullinax in Cartersville; the second is Mandy Blankenship of Real Living Elite in Dalton.
Take Mandy for instance:
We listed a flip with her in Dalton. She kept me up to date via text on when the house was being shown, as well as when the appraiser and inspector were going out to the property.
As a rule, you want to be present when the latter two show up. Both of them have the power to ruin a sale. You can often defuse many of their objections just by being present. It’s also a good idea to have a ready made list of comps to hand to the appraiser.
I neglected to do this on the house we had with Mandy. Consequently, we got an appraisal for $11,500 less than we were under contract for. OUCH!!
But Mandy went to bat for us. She contacted the appraiser to show them better comps while pointing out errors in the original appraisal – all without us asking.
Now that’s the kind of agent you want.
Now let’s look at how Bonnie does things – she has a cool system. She uses Supra boxes, which send me emails when someone has seen the house. Her system then sends the showing agent an email asking for feedback, their response is then forwarded to me. This info is invaluable.
These systems are only part of why Bonnie is so awesome. She’ll do what it takes to get a deal closed.
Take the house we did on Morgan Avenue for instance.
It was two hours before closing, and our buyers were doing their final walkthrough, during which, they found something they didn’t like. I kid you not – the A/C condenser was a quarter of a bubble out of level, and there were three pieces of insulation missing under the crawlspace in the middle of the house.
The buyers obstinately said they wouldn’t close until these issues were fixed.
Bonnie and I jumped into action. I borrowed a shovel from the next-door neighbor to level the A/C while Bonnie ran to get some insulation, which she fit in the back of her tiny BMW. We were sweaty, somewhat dirty and had to close after hours, but because of Bonnie’s shear awesomeness, we got the deal done. That’s my kind of agent!
Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.