Competency Provision For Realtors/brokers

[kiritf]

I think one of my largest pet peeves is when a residential real estate agent runs into a deal that he has no idea how to do. It can be a very simple commercial property, but they just have zero experience. They are the worst to work with IMO. I don't do much outside of bank work, some estate work, and some miscellaneous. I'd say significantly bank work though. I normally "refer" them to somebody else, but this one was a referral from a supposed friend of mine and I felt stuck. They don't understand fees, so they expect you to be their slave because they're paying you a lot more and they're doing you a favor. Then I guess the regular residential appraiser does stuff in a day or two, so they expect that too. I set it straight or just tell them to check around to a couple other places that can handle it. This jack*ss went as far as to start questioning me about how familiar I was with this particular area that is 10 minutes from my office. I then got blunt and just said, the property is probably one of the easiest to handle. He has no clue.

My real estate license is inactive right now, but it got me thinking about competency. Is there anything in the rules and regulation regarding competency with real estate agents? If not, their should be. They seem to luck out because a buyer normally knows what they want and what they'll pay. Then they have people like me figure out what to list it for. I doubt the paperwork is right, but a commercial contract can be 3-4 pages. Honestly, it just bugs me that this guy is going to make $25,000 on this deal and I'll make $2,500 (it's a simple live/work unit and there's sales and did one down the street about 3 months ago....). Regardless, I feel like these people should have the competency to take a listing a certain property type. I do plan on asking him some basic questions that will make him sound stupid. That's reeaaaal easy to do and fun.

 

[leasedfee]

slave because they're paying you a lot more and they're doing you a favor.

Once money is involved, never do favors. Yeah, you have to be really firm with the residential brokers -- their inexperience gives them anxiety (which they then project and compensate as narcissism or bulling), so no need to be ever intimidated or bullied by them. I've done stuff like a little research or chat on the phone or pull comps for friends or acquaintances, for free or lunch, and that way I get to define the vagueness of the scope of work. A buddy of mine is selling his residence and he didn't want to use a broker, understandably, but I had to hint that I wasn't going to hold his hand through the whole process.

 

[Gobears81]

It is interesting that you mention him questioning your competency. The residential brokers and homeowners seem to be much more up front about questioning competency than on the commercial side. When I did more residential work, I was questioned on how long I've been appraising roughly 60% of the time, but if I do even a senior living facility or a hotel, which people might have a right to inquire why someone under the age of 40 is appraising, my competency is rarely questioned. I guess it is a different ballgame on the residential side, but the broker you are dealing with has to understand that he can't use the same parameters as on houses, so I would blow him off wherever possible.

 

[Ken B]

I was appraising a fractured residential condo deal and called a "new" residential guy about end unit pricing and activity in a residential condo he was marketing. He proceeded to tell me his standard "consulting fee." After a short pause, I asked him if he was serious, to which he replied in the affirmative.

Since the pompous *** could have learned more from me than me from him, I told him what goes around comes around and hung up.

He was out of the business in less than a year.

 

[kiritf]

leasedfee, I really try to follow the same set of guidelines and you so right in regard to how the residential realtor acts to their non-competency. Being an appraiser, and if you want to be successful, mastery of saying "no" is way up on that list. Probably right there with product and bidding correctly. When I stopped doing residential, I found that I still needed to do some because I get estates in that have commercial properties and maybe a house or two. No biggie. I keep WinTotal on my home office pc.

Part of this one that got me was that it was a referral from somebody that I didn't think would send me an a**hole for a referral. I NEVER would do that to any of friends/colleagues. I just send them to the AI website or appraiserusa.

Gobears, you're right about that as well. I do seem to get at least some questioning on special use properties, but I think sometimes it's because my fee is lower on certain things like churches, senior living, rv parks, because I do a ton of them. I still bid a good fee, but I'd like to get the assignment. A low fee might suggest to somebody that the appraiser doesn't know what he's getting into and doesn't have the competency.

Ken B, that's just comical!

 

[Michael S]

I was appraising a fractured residential condo deal and called a "new" residential guy about end unit pricing and activity in a residential condo he was marketing. He proceeded to tell me his standard "consulting fee." After a short pause, I asked him if he was serious, to which he replied in the affirmative.

Since the pompous *** could have learned more from me than me from him, I told him what goes around comes around and hung up.

He was out of the business in less than a year.

I tried calling a broker who works in a smaller resort city a while back. I wanted to ask him about one of his listings or recent sales and pick his brain for a few minutes about the market. He basically said I would need to pay him by the hour for him to do the research to answer my basic questions about the market. The guy came across as a really pompous @ss. I think he also does some development stuff and I'm pretty sure a decent sized office building he owns was taken back by the bank. Can't say I feel too sorry for him.

 

[Ken B]

My guy is in jail for multimillion dollar fraud. Seems he liked to use escrow money to support a sweet thing on the side. Apparently, he gave her almost a million bucks. She must have had one hell of a coke habit...

His wife only got a few hundred thousand...

What goes around, comes around...

 

[NachoPerito]

There has only been one person that has really questioned my competency (that I remember at the moment). This was at the start of a job. It was for a Mobile Home Park. When I called to set up the inspection he said he didn't know who I was and didn't think I could do the appraisal. The deal was later cancelled and the owner never got a loan.

 

[kiritf]

My guy is in jail for multimillion dollar fraud. Seems he liked to use escrow money to support a sweet thing on the side. Apparently, he gave her almost a million bucks. She must have had one hell of a coke habit...

His wife only got a few hundred thousand...

What goes around, comes around...

that's one serious epic bender. In real estate (the only industry I'm in I guess), it really does seem to catch up to people eventually.