The Home Seller's Second Opinion First
What every seller, buyer, and owner should know, but doesn't know, before talking to any Broker or Real Estate Agent.
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Obviously I use the term ‘horseshit’ freely—in life as well as in the first couple of chapters of this book—but what do I mean when I use the term and why does it piss me off to the point that I would write a book so that you can avoid said horseshit? For me ‘horseshit’ is composed of all of the untruths, big and small, that are used to obfuscate the facts. In this case ‘facts’ are also things that, if we knew the truth, we might begin to behave very, very differently with regard to those facts. The road of public relations is paved with horseshit. It isn’t lying, but it is intensely misleading. ‘Horseshit’ is missing the point on purpose. ‘Horseshit’ is half-truths. Half information. ‘Horseshit’ is plausible deniability and willful ignorance. Coming out of the mouths of Realtors® it will sound like “I know that my fees are high, but it is worth it”, or “Most Realtors® just plant a sign and pray, but I sell faster, because I do more to market your home!” Well, I say ‘Horseshit!’ The original untruth and subtle pile of horseshit is buried in the heart of the agreement between any seller and their Realtor® and it is the explicit fiduciary responsibility of the Realtor® to the client. The Agency Agreement, as it is usually called, is a very real, legal, contractual trust. On it’s surface this contract would appear to guarantee that the Broker must act in a way that is to the financial benefit of the client—sounds good, right? The problem is with the timing or the triggering of that fiduciary responsibility by the Broker to the Client. The fiduciary responsibility occurs after the contract is signed. Given that the fees paid to the Brokers are by far the largest portion of the closing costs, the greatest advantage that homeowners have in any negotiations occurs before the signing of the Agency agreement--during the negotiation with the Realtor®. The key negotiation, other than the offering price of the home itself (and if the home is priced accurately, then there will be little room for negotiation), is in the negotiation with the Realtor® about their fees and during this negotiation the Realtor® or Broker is working very vigorously toward their own interests and in the interest of their parent company and the National Association of Realtors®. In simple terms, the Realtor® is working against you long before they are working for you. Given that the market will really determine the price of your home, such that a properly priced home will sell very close to the asking price, your negotiation with the Realtor® is the greatest opportunity for you, as seller, to save significant portions of your equity. On the surface the reality of a Broker that is negotiating for their benefit sounds like any business—right? Isn’t any business charged with making a product or selling a service? The difference with real estate is that there is a negotiation between the seller and the Realtor® that is conducted without the seller, generally, knowing that the price of the work proposed by the Realtor® is completely negotiable in the first place. Also, at the point of sale, the average person doesn’t really know what is involved with the process. Sure, Realtors® will walk you through their ‘listing system’ and they will talk about ‘marketing’ and they will universally thump their own chests as they try to justify what is referred to as a ‘full priced listing’. The Realtor® presentation of their listing system isn’t about teaching you about what they are doing on your behalf, but rather it is created in such a way as to make it sound like the Broker is working hard and doing so many things on your behalf. In reality there is no such thing as a ‘full priced listing’ and even though the Realtor® or Broker is supposed to be your fiduciary, the most profound impact that they can have on your bottom line is to reduce themselves as the greatest chunk of overhead or to remove themselves entirely. Prospective clients are led to believe that the Realtor® or Broker can ‘get them more’ or ‘sell it faster’, but the price and duration of the listing period will largely be determined by the price of the home when compared to it’s competition at that price and the state of the market in which the home is being sold.
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About the Book
Have you ever questioned the ridiculously expensive full-priced listing fee charged by Realtors® and Brokers? Have you ever thought that very little work was being done for this huge sum? Or, have you ever thought that the entire process, whether buying, selling, or borrowing was something very like a racket? If so, then you are not alone. The Home Seller’s Second Opinion First is an insider’s look at, and a consumer’s way through, all of the horses**t that surrounds the buying, selling, and owning of a home. At one level the book is a simple how-to; the book teaches you how to negotiate a better contract with your Realtor®; the book teaches you how to analyze your loan; and the book teaches you how to analyze your local real estate market. At another level The Home Seller’s Second Opinion First is a rigorous analysis of the conflicts of interest that permeate the marketplace and hinder the American Dream. Here are the responses of a few of the people that have been taught the contents of the book. “It was easy! I fired my Realtors® and hired another one in less than an hour. You saved me $4000!” Pam. Colorado Springs, CO “First I wanted to punch you, then I wanted to hug you.” Susan. Los Angeles, CA “I think you saved our marriage.” Jennifer. Denver, CO In many aspects of our society, choice is merely illusory, and the consumer is only given fake options: The blue store or the orange store? This book gives the homeowner real choice by providing real information and real options available to the buying, selling, and owning public.
About the Author
Justin Chipman has been a licensed real estate broker in the state of Colorado since 2006 and for five of those years he was a dues paying Realtor®, member of the National Association of Realtors®, the Colorado Association of Realtors®, and the Boulder Area Realtors® Association. During his first three years as a Realtor®--the only three years that he was a full time Realtor®--he was an award winning broker at Keller Williams, Front Range Properties in Boulder, Colorado. Additionally, since the late 80’s Justin has almost continually worked as a carpenter, construction generalist, and general contractor with a focus on remodeling and reconstruction of existing housing. The largest portion of this construction experience was devoted to buying and rebuilding homes to keep as rentals, or for the eventual resale of those homes. In other words, almost every dollar that Justin has earned in his adult life (and almost every dollar lost as a working professional) has been the result of work conducted in the housing markets. Notably, Justin’s first three years as a Realtor® were also the first three years of the collapse of the national real estate markets and the economy in the lead up to, and immersion in, the ‘great recession’. Having both a front row seat and a back stage pass to what was occurring in the real estate markets, Justin started to seriously question what he had been trained to do as a Realtor®. Specifically, the Realtor® has an explicit fiduciary responsibility to the client. Justin came to believe that this duty is easily lost in the conflicts of interest that permeate the working realities of the professional middlemen of the transaction—the Realtors® and the National Association of Realtors®. This book is Justin’s effort to serve the buying, selling, and owning public in a manner that is consistent with what he believes is the duty of all Brokers—to work to the exclusive financial benefit of the client. Justin now lives in Lakewood, Colorado. He is the father of two children. He is a writer, entrepreneur, and he continues to rebuild homes. He also maintains his real estate brokers license in Colorado, but he does not work with people in the capacity of real estate broker as to avoid creating the kinds of conflicts that he attacks in this book. This book exists to assist every buyer, seller, and owner of a home. It does not exist to generate leads and potential real estate clients for the author.