Real Estate

I know there is a substantial out of pocket start up fees and evenings and weekend work. What other pluses and minuses are there? I am very interested in becoming a realtor.

The pay is commission which can vary each month like crazy. One month you make $6000 and the next lucky to make $2500. Getting clients to sign with you is the first hurdle, second is actually selling their property (or finding one for them). How creative you are, how much time and effort you can donate to each client will determine your numbers and success. One problem for many realtors is they fail to talk to their selling clients about making the house saleable. This means getting rid of junk, cleaning, fixing problems, painting and then staging (even if using their furniture) for the open houses and all showings. It is a lot of work and at times you’ll wonder why you bother (some clients can be frustrating).
Have fun and enjoy.

I’ve across ‘Boards’ and ‘Associations’ of Realtors, and directories that list both, but I can’t figure out what the difference is between a Board and an Association—is there other than in simply a naming preference or convention?
Wait, so what is the difference though, between a Board and an Association? I’ve come across some Realtor organizations that have ‘association’ in their title, and others that have ‘board.’

By far the largest Real Estate group in the US is the National Association of Realtors. Each State has a state association of Realtors. The local group in my area that is a member of both of those is called the Arlington Board of Realtors. Realtor and Realtors is a copy righted term that the National Association of Realtors owns.

Most of the foreclosed (bank-owned) homes in Metro Detroit are listed with major chain realty companies (Century 21, Remax, Remerica, etc.). But some are listed with fly-by-night outfits that no one has ever heard of, and people at these offices can be extremely difficult to get a hold of (don’t answer calls, don’t return messages, etc), and have incompetent agents who couldn’t care less.

How can these outfits stay in business if they don’t seem to know the first thing about running one?

I have the same complaint! I will not even bother offering, there is no way that agent will close on the deal.

I am guessing the bank does not want to sell at this point in time and listing this way makes it appear like they are and they need that appearance for their insurance claim.

Ok- in the March 2011 i gave a total of $2000 to a woman from a realty group to get a home for my husband (who at the time was in Basic Training with the Army) myself and two children. she said $200 of it was for a lawyers fee and she needed most of the money in cash. Its a long complicated situation but basically she knew i had to be out of my current house by June 1st due to forclosure. In may before i went to my husband BCT graduation, she showed me my new home . a 2bd 2bth house, very cute, and in a nice neighborhood. A week after i came back from his graduation and 5 days til June 1st, she told me that i dont have the house and that there was a termite problem. ( i already gave my husband the address and had letters going there) Alot of the confusion during this time was due to her saying i had a place and then renigging, giving me one excuse after another. When i asked for my money back, thats when she told me i had the 2bd house. Today is June 1st. I have no house and my children and i had to sleep in my car last night. ( I had no money for a hotel because i have been buying furniture for our "new home" because my husband and i are starting completely over fresh) Today they are at my aunts house and i will be going to put a deposit on a house that is very small and not in the best area. I feel as though i have to settle in order for my children and I to have a roof, which is fine – but all of this has made me very stressed out and depressed beacuse i feel as though i failed my kids and my husband for trusting this woman with our money. I had to put most of our things in storage and also lost some things that i could not get out of the "old house" in time. And I also DO NOT have my $2000 back yet. She has plenty of excuses as to why i wont get my money back for "a while"… what can i do?

Yeah, this whole situation screams of a scam. My husband and I also bought a house recently, so I can tell you from experience that the realtor is NOT supposed to accept money from you. They get paid AFTER selling you the home.
You should go to the "realtor’s" office and confront her in person. Unless she has a real, legitimate reason, supported by tangible evidence, why she cannot give you your money back, my advice is to call the police. They should investigate whether or not the realtor is legit. You’ll need to tell them exactly what laws you think she might be breaking and where to find her .
If all goes well – that’s is to say, they find out she’s a fraud – the police should tell you what your next steps should be. Like whether or not you’ll need to file a suit to get your money back.
If she IS a legitimate realtor and she took money from you like this (She’s not supposed to.) THEN you should contact the state’s Real Estate Commission and the Better Business Bureau and get her license taken.
Good luck. I hope everything turns out well for you and your kids…

okay so i like this guy….hes a junior and im a sophomore and his prom is coming up but he wont ask me. Every time i talk to my guy friends and i pass him he gets realty jealous and after school today i was talking to his brother he got so mad and also in the halls he gives me a flirty smile but we neverr talkkkk

does he like me?

You need to start talking to him. Unless he is really outgoing, he isn’t goin to approach you if he hardly knows you. Start making conversation with said individual and if all else fails, ask him yourself. It is possible he already has a date or just simply isn’t going as well.

Also, what is the difference between a real estate agent, realtor, buyers agent, and listing agent?? Cant a real estate agent and realtor be a listing agent and buyers agent? I am SOOO confused?

A real estate agent is a person who list and sells houses
and a realtor is basically the same thing, But when contact a realtor, its an office and you usually ask a question about real estate, You ask I am calling about a house I am interested in looking at and I need to speak to an agent. The receptionist will pass you to an agent which is a realtor, Now it mostly one in the same. Now this agent works for a Real estate Broker. Which has a different kind of license than an
a real estate agent. In other words when you walk into a real estate office and you see several desk with
a person behind each one you just walked into room of realtors.

I live in So. Calif and am planning to be a real estate agent. I understand through the National Association of Realtors (NAR), you can get health insurance through them as an agent. I have Kaiser HMO right now and I’d like to continue with them. Is it possible to get Kaiser HMO through REALTORS Core Health Insurance?

"Core Health Insurance" is a specific brand of insurance just as "Kaiser HMO" is a different brand name. The two are different and mutually exclusive. In other words, the way your question is asked would be similar to saying "Can I get a Honda Civic through a Ford Mustang?" So obviously this wording doesn’t make sense.

You might have meant to ask whether the REALTORS association has a selling agreement with Kaiser. The answer is no; and there would likely be no business reason for either the association, Kaiser or the members for doing so. The REALTOR association, like most other professional associations, focuses on member benefits that provide revenue to the association while making an attractive offering to the individual members.

I stumbled onto this question because I am writing a “Core Health Insurance Revisited” article for the Freedom Benefits health insurance exchange following changes introduced during this period of health insurance reform. These other resources are available on the www.FreedomBenefits.net Web site.

Why realtors always push to go with their mortgage brokers . Do they receive any refferal fees if deal is closed ?

I refer clients to specific mortgage brokers because they are no BS sort of people. They tell it like it is, do not say they can do something they cannot and take care of the people I send to them.

I do not have time for "creative" mortgage people who think they can do something and then tank the deal toward the end.

I have not received a referral fee from any mortgage lender. And I have been doing this for awhile. I have received a nice pastry and an occasional lunch.

I helped my daughter purchace her first home. After one year she was unable to continue making her mortgage payments. We tried to get a loan modification but was denied. I reviewed the contract and noticed that the lender did not sign any of the documents.

The contract of sale would be signed by buyer and seller- not by mortgage company. Even if some of the contract paperwork is not binding for some reason- the fact that your daughter signed the closing documents shows that she was OK with what had been agreed.

If you are talking about loan documents that she got at closing- she may have gotten copies that were not yet signed by mortgage company at closing. She could have gotten copies later that had signatures- or the signed ones may have been sent directly to county. It is possible someone made a bad mistake- but not very likely. You would have to hire a good local real estate lawyer to get a good idea.

Sorry this may be a little long, but I’m at my wit’s end at this point.
Four years ago I rented an old farmhouse through a realty company. The lease stated that I had to have the carpets cleaned when I moved. When I signed the original lease, the company gave us the keys a couple days early because I ASKED if we could get in early and clean the carpets. The house was old and needed cleaning badly, but I figured I could do it. They gave us permission and never said "don’t worry, they were just cleaned." So I cleaned them and the water from the carpeting was filthy and smelled like urine. Four years later, I am moving out. We’ve been going back and forth about this issue and today they called to tell me that I have to get them done AND that the carpeting was new when I moved in. That carpeting is 20 years old if it’s a day, and had stains.
The lease was also very ambiguous as to the notice I had to give. I gave 30 days as I read that I was supposed to, then they came back and told me that I had to give 60, and that if they didn’t rent it for June I would still have to pay June’s rent. However, they want the keys back May 31, the date I gave in the letter. They’re telling me I have to have a professional come in over Memorial Day weekend? So my second question is, if I’m on the hook for June’s rent, do I have to hand the keys over or can I just say I’m keeping possession until June 30 since I’m paying anyway? I’m really very tempted to NOT pay June’s rent and tell them to keep the security since it’s looking like they’re going to nickel and dime me to death on that.
What’s my best course of action?
Let me be clear; I have been in constant contact with them for the past month. The subject of the carpet was brought up two weeks ago; I told the agent that they had not been cleaned before I moved in and she kept putting me off saying she’d check with the other agent and get back to me. I got my final answer as to whether I had to do this this morning. That’s why I’m in a time pinch, because I moved last weekend and would have had time to get them done sometime this week if I’d known. They were NOT professionally shampooed before I moved in, and if they can show me an invoice that they were, then I’ll do the same.
I understand that a deposit is not rent, I do. But if I pay for this month when I don’t even have access to the house and then they piddle my security deposit away when I’ve done nothing but improve this property, that’s not fair and leaves me with the short end of the stick.
I’ve tried to work with these people and now I’m just afraid this is going to wind up in cour
This is what it says, which obviously I didn’t understand correctly: "This lease will automatically renew for a term of two full calendar months at the ending date unless" etc. Any other lease I’ve had reverted to a month-to-month lease after the end of a year, and I didn’t think this was any different, since there was also a clause specifically mentioning month to month leases.
I suppose my biggest mistake was trusting that they’d be above-board, decent people, especially since I’ve been a model tenant, never called them for anything and only made the place nicer…new stove, new shower, stripped and sealed linoleum floors and landscaping. Go figure.

They cannot both charge you another month’s rent and keep the keys; it’s one or the other, not both.

What does your lease say about notice? If your lease does state that 60 days notice was required, then it doesn’t matter what you "read somewhere," you were obligated to give 60 days notice. If your lease states 30 days, however, then you did what you were supposed to and they cannot charge you an extra month of rent. As you already know, you can’t use the security deposit in lieu of rent.

It doesn’t matter if the carpets were shampooed before you moved in; you agreed to have them professionally cleaned in your lease. After 4 years, this is definitely to be expected. The condition of the carpet before you moved in is irrelevant, unless they are replacing it and attempting to charge you for the full cost.

You need to read your lease and see what notice was required. If 60 days notice was required, then simply pay the extra month of rent, and schedule a professional carpet cleaning for sometime that month. If only 30 days was required, then you do need to have someone come out this weekend, or ask the landlord if he is ok with you hiring a RugDoctor and doing it yourself. Sorry, but you should have had this done when you moved out last week. Your issue here is not the carpet cleaning, but the extra month of rent.