Forum: Brokers
November 17, 2009
Need a Broker to Buy?
My husband and I are buying our first home and are looking for a brownstone in either Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens or Brooklyn Heights. We've lived in various parts of Brooklyn over the last ~7 years but have always rented.
So, we're just wondering whether we really need a broker. With all of the internet resources nowadays, it seems like we can find listings/open houses on our own and save the expense of a brokers fee (even if the seller covers it, we figure not having to pay it increases the opp to negotiate).
We would appreciate some feedback on the pros/cons. Thanks!
November 9, 2009
Seller wants out of Contract
We signed on a home last week. Some mistakes were made by sellers agent. We corrected those mistakes, and 1)being the option fee money coming back to us after 10 days, 2)Correcting a typo on my name, adding a 'T' to my last name. He got an attorney to write a termination letter after we found out he had a better offer over the weekend. The offer was 11K more than what he signed for us. The contract was executed. The brokers of both sides along with a compliance officer met after the seller turned away the inspection man one morning. Its a mess. I am speaking with an attorney this week. We had a closing date of November 18th. The termination letter stated the reasons for termination were-1)name change, and 2)the option fee box was not initialed by seller. BUT our agent and the sellers agent verbally agreed on that. It was his mistake for not having the box checked right, before sending it our way. We adjusted the 100 fee to the correct box, and now that is the sellers way out. Does anyone have an opinion about this? We are honest and just people... we want to do what is RIGHT. thank you!
November 3, 2009
Landlord Paying Broker?
Hi. I am trying to rent out my apartment. It's a great apartment, but I haven't had much luck with Craigslist.
I have asked two brokers to show it. They both said that the way it works now is that the landlord pays the broker the equivalent of 1 months rent instead of the prospective tenant. I guess things have gotten so bad that it has come to this.
Has anyone else had this? To me it opens a whole new can of worms. Who are these brokers really working for if they are being paid by the landlord?
November 2, 2009
Fee for Lawyer Acting as Broker
My husband and I are both attorneys, and I've heard through the grapevine that if we represent ourselves when buying an apartment (no buyer's broker) we are entitled to part of the broker's fee. If anyone has details on how this works, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!!
October 28, 2009
Broker Contract?
A friend who is about to list a very high-end townhouse for sale (5M+) asked me some questions this morning and I was unable to give her good answers. Perhaps some of you can...
What specifically should be required of a broker who is given an exclusive listing? For instance, stating that the broker will do "advertising" for the listing seems way too vague. On a multi-million dollar townhome, where should the broker be expected to advertise today (both print and online)? Are there any media outlets in Europe that are considered essential to attract foreign buyers? How much advertising is considered appropriate?
What about mailings? To whom and how big of a mailing list?
Commission. What percentage is customary on an exclusive listing for a townhouse?
What length of time?
Anything I haven't thought of? Many thanks...
October 23, 2009
Using a Buyers Agent?
Do you think using a buyers agent is a bad idea? Are sellers agents less willing to split commissions? Will it reduce the chances of getting a bid accepted? We're new to all this.
October 2, 2009
Broker Rented Us an Illegal Unit
We rented an apt through Corcoran's rental division. They charged us $5000 for their "services". After living in the apartment for less than a month we found out that it was an illegal unit with no Certificate of Occupancy. It wouldn't have been that bad if there was a working oven and working heat... but there wasn't. My question is this, does anyone know if Corcoran needs to uphold to any laws to protect renters from this kind of fraud? They do not want to give us our money back and could not find us a new apartment so we were forced to leave Brooklyn. We don't think they deserve a cent because they should of at least done their due diligence to find us a legal unit. What else are you paying them so much money for. Any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
September 24, 2009
Choosing a Selling Broker
Hi --
I am going to put my one bedroom apt in brooklyn hieghts on the market. last time I did this I used craigs list and it went fine. But in this market I may benefit from a broker. Can anyone advise me as to what is it I am looking for when I choose one, both broker and firm. I really have no sense of this. Any advice would be of great value.
Thanks
September 22, 2009
Worst Broker Experience Ever
Wondering if I have any recourse for dealing with what happened in a recent home purchase. We were dealing with the owner of RE company who was helping us - the buyers I'll call him Agent A. One of his associates was the listing agent on this property - I'll call him Agent B.
We scheduled an appointment to see the property with Agent A, he showed up 30 minutes late. We scheduled a second viewing of the property with A and he was 25 minutes late. We told him at the end of the walk-thru that we wanted to make an offer and what we were offering. He told us he thought there was maybe another offer coming in but he would ask Agent B and call or text us back within the hour and he would also send over the offer form late that evening. He did neither. I called Agent A the following day asking when he was going to send over the offering paperwork so we could our offer in and he said he would send it by noon. He still did not send it. I called him again at 2:00 pm and left him a rather terse message. We finally got the offering paperwork by about 9:00 pm - almost 24 hours after we were expecting it. We filled it out, sent it back and he did not present our offer to the sellers for 3 days. Ironically, the same day as Agent B brought another offer to the sellers for more than what we offered but they ended up not having the financing. We asked Agent A to send over the signed counter and we would sign and send it back - that took 2 days and about 5 phone calls on our part to actually receive the paperwork. We spoke with the agent over the phone about the timing of the paperwork and he said that there was no one else interested in the property and that they would change the status on their website to pending sale. We had an appointment to sign the paperwork with the broker this morning and he called us last night to say that out of the blue, another offer came in for over the asking price and the owners would go with this offer unless we offered more money. Agent A said that this new interested party emailed Agent B on Thursday evening with the offer without speaking with Agent B before doing so. Who, in this market, offers over the asking price? Obviously, Agent A, dragged his feet and did not inform us of the other offer coming because he wanted more money for the property. Since he owns the company, he's going to get a kick back from the sale anyway.
Sorry for the long description but am I able to file a complaint anywhere about this so he doesn't do this to someone else? If so, where?
September 9, 2009
Rental Comps for a 203k?
We're doing a 203k in Crown Heights North, and are having trouble finding reasonable rental comps. It seems there's not a lot of reported listings for rented units, and the ones used by the appraiser put us underwater for the 203k.
The property is at Sterling and Franklin, each unit is a 1000 square foot 3 bedroom, and the ground floor has a large private garden.
The appraiser put us down for $1650 per unit. We'd like to be someplace north of $1800 per unit, but are having trouble finding comps to counter the appraisal.
Our broker has turned out to be not terribly useful in this case. Anyone have any suggestions?