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Transcript

🎙️ How Firm is the Seller on Their Price? Real Estate Ethics & Negotiation Tactics 🎙️ · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is one for your knowledge.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a real estate agent or maybe a buyer or a seller, one thing that you want to understand more clear than the rest is the conversations that are allowed and that are not allowed between real estate agents.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: You might know this as an agent, but a very common strategy before somebody wants to write an offer on a property that is listed for sale that happens between the buyer's agent or the lender, or if the lender happens to also be the buyer's agent, and the agent that has the listing, the seller's agent, is one of trying to see where, I guess ethically, the agent representing the seller happens to be.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Case in point.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Have a listing.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Had somebody call that had clients that came and viewed the listing.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: When they call, they talk about is there anything I should know when I'm formulating an offer?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that response would be if you've already had this discussion with your seller, what the types of services the seller is selecting.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now they have the right.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: If the buyer chooses not to give that right to the seller, then they'll counter back.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: These are things like who the seller would like to use for escrow, what company would the seller like to use for title insurance, those sorts of things.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So while it doesn't seem like a big deal, there it kind of is because the seller has their trusted vendors, and typically they get to select those services because they are selling their house.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: However, those are points that can be countered.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The other part of the conversation maybe is about what the sellers are looking to do.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Are they moving out right away?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thereby trying to establish some kind of urgency.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: If the house hasn't sold in a particular time frame, another question might be: have you had any offers on the property to this point?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something that is causing buyers to currently hold off on making offers?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: These sorts of things.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then maybe a follow-up question would be how's that price looking for you?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are you confident?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So on.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the one that really stands out the most, and the point of this entire video, is the one where an agent asks the following question.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: How firm are the sellers on the current price?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you sellers might think that agents can say whatever they want in this regard, and I suppose they can, but they really don't know who's calling on the other side of the phone.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if they know the other agent, know it's them for sure.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know who's listening, see.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this is back in the police days when I was LAPD.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: You never know when you're on camera.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And case in point, Rodney King, right?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that that incident that occurred, it was filmed, and it created a massive disruption in the entire world between police and society and those sorts of things.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: When you're on the phone with somebody, you don't know who's going to call.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if ethics aren't enough to hold you back from answering this question, then maybe that other little part, well, you don't know who's listening, you don't know if you're on speaker, you don't know any of those things.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And are there any legal rules against recording and having you on speaker?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But bottom line, if somebody's corrupt, even if the corruption is caught via means of the poisonous tree or something that won't be allowed as evidence, the world is very quick to judge.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that little component can be thrown out for everybody to see whether it was obtained illegally, whether they're going to have some kind of a libel suit, or whatever it may be, its damage has already been caused.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So the response to that question should be the following, unless the seller's agent has had a conversation with the seller establishing a different answer.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if I have my seller saying, listen, Connor, if somebody calls and wants to know about the property, and if the agent says they're going to write an offer and they want to know if there's any wiggle room in the price, then you're more than okay to respond at$899 or$850 or whatever that number may be, if that in fact differs from the listing price.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, with that, I would always want my seller to provide that to me in writing, just so there are no misunderstandings in the future if I happen to go down that road.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: How would they know I had the conversation?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Again, by means of the things that I've spoken about previously.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is it being recorded?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is it on speakerphone?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Who's listening on the other end of the phone?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is it truly the agent that I maybe think I know, or is it somebody else?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there are a lot of people that call.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: The most recent example was somebody I've never met from Adam, but asking this very question.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So because I don't have anything in writing from my seller, I can only answer back, the seller will accept the listing price.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have no other leeway, or I have no understanding of anything different than that listing price, I hope you understand.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: My seller is committed to that price.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you as a buyer's agent can write whatever you want and whatever you write, as long as it's not frivolous, which means basically I have had a discussion with my seller that at particular offer levels, because we see this a lot in the current market, because the market slowed down, you have investors hovering over everything.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: The people that are going to be able to sell your house for cash type real estate companies and people out there.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we buy houses, we do this, we do that.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Very convenient.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can sell your host's house while you're at a wedding, you can sell your host's house while you're in space hosts.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can sell it, you know, by basically not even have to worry about it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's because they're going to be selling your house at a discount, and they don't have to worry about it because they're going to be making bang or buck off your residence.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back just a little bit.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: If I have authorization from my seller to answer in a particular way in writing, no problem.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: But if not, I am obligated to tell the party calling that they are it it will sell for the listing price, and that's it.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, having said what I said just a moment ago, where's that frivolous number come in?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to depend.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, because the way the market is, there are a lot of companies that are generating offers via emails, and it's kind of, it kind of lacks the pizzazz or the class, if you will, of an actual offer.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: They'll send an email to me and they'll say, uh, Connor, I'm such and such, working for such and such investment company.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that you have this particular listing, and we would like you to be our representative, and so you'll be able to double in the deal, which again, that's dual agency.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So another mistake is thinking that all agents really like and believe in the dual agency process.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means to everybody watching is dual agency is a concept of which, or an actual action, between the agent representing the seller also representing the buyer.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Singular agent, uh, one property, two sides.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So the agent representing the seller also represents the buyer.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's known as dual agency.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that a bad thing?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: It might not be, but the issue being is the agent representing the seller knows the seller intimately.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're going to know the buyer intimately.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now they have to play middlemen to two different entities.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in some cases, that's very difficult to do.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine yourself going into a car dealership.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you dealing with at the car dealership?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: All of those people in there are representatives of the dealer, the person that owns the car.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing with residential real estate.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you go in to buy a house, everybody involved on that side works for the seller.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The seller's agent, the seller's escrow company, the seller, yes, they're supposed to be neutral third parties, blah, blah, blah.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But there's still a little bit of allegiance and a little bit of loyalty, up to a point of, of course, when laws are broken, then there's problems.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: But up to that point, you know, there's still a little bit of room in each segment of that particular process.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So having said that, all of these people are on the seller's side.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: What if, at a car dealership, and this makes it very simple for my brain to understand, what if you had somebody on your side?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody that was going to go sit next to you that knows the intricacies of purchasing vehicles, understands how the entire process is structured, understands how the dealer's position is, understands exactly what monies are being made, what exactly did the dealer invest into the vehicle?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: What would the dealer be willing to take?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, knowing all the intimate details of the vehicle.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a day of the month that's better to buy a car than other days?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a time that's better to purchase?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is it better to wait till a particular time of year?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: That also coincides with real estate.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So in a car deal, usually you don't have your own person on your own side.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of us have family and friends that are great at going in and really getting the bottom line on the vehicle.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are probably services out there, I would imagine, that do this very thing.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if they charge a fee, but ultimately, if you're paying$5,000 less for a vehicle than you intended, maybe$1,000 or$2,000 isn't a bad fee to be able to have that process happen for you, if in fact that person's legit.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's move over into the real estate world.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have somebody on your side that is very much poised and ready to take on the seller, and they know exactly where those particular values happen to be in the real estate, and they can write and submit an offer that's going to not only protect you but get you the best possible deal on that residence.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to work with the seller's agent if you have your own agent?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then what would that be worth for you?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: How much would you be willing to pay?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's the buyer's agent position.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And luckily, in most scenarios, at least now, as we're brand new into March 2025, today's March 2nd, 2025.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We do see that people that are selling residential real estate are still very willing to pay a buyer's agent that represents the buyer sole and separately 100%.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're still very willing to pay the fee.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: How much?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Up to the seller.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if they don't pay, then it comes back to the buyer.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: What are you willing to pay?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know all of these things.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're worked out prior to.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So at the end, when everything's been decided, if for whatever reason you're not comfortable moving forward, you still have that choice.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So once you sign, it's not done.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Once the seller receives it and signs, it's not done.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So buying real estate isn't an end-all circumstance where you're going to end up in such a pickle that you really can't recover from it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, everything's able to be canceled up until a certain point.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: So your panic, if you have that built in, or if somebody's telling you that you can't cancel what you get into it, they're not being completely upfront and honest.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And those things I would establish beforehand if I were a buyer in this market.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about those offerings.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: If it's frivolous, if you have a property listed for sale and the agents had a discussion with the seller, the seller's agent, and they say, well, if somebody submits an offer at less than this amount, I don't want to see it, I don't care about it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Again, if that's established in writing, you're good to go.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: The ex parte stuff, what what will your seller take between you and me?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, Connor, you can be honest.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just let me know.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Will he take 900 instead of 920?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Will he take 9850 instead of 900?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: What is it, Connor?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say I'll come, I'll be completely up front with you.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have not had that discussion with my seller.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have any validation from my seller giving me authorization to speak on their behalf with regard to anything besides the sales price.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if the seller said, you know what, I'll be happy to repaint, then that's something that can be discussed as long as I have that in writing.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be happy to leave the washer and dryer if it's not typically included in whichever market.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great, that's that's fine.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be happy to relieve the refrigerator, these other things that sometimes aren't included with property and not necessarily to be included, but you know, maybe I'll go ahead and leave this particular item behind.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Great part of a conversation.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: But for agents to call and to find out where the seller's bottom line is, unless that discussion has been had between the seller and the seller's agent, and unless that's been put into writing, to be able to offer that is not only an ethical violation, but there's legal ramifications as well, if it were able to be proven.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And in today's world, with all the devices around us listening, it's probably not too hard.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Please, when you're looking for somebody to represent you as a real estate seller, find that person that's going to fight for you, that's going to be on your side.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to give up the ghost on your behalf because they've been confronted and the rooster has crowed.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you have somebody on your side.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: As a real estate buyer, you owe yourself that same thing.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Talking about a car.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Having mentioned what is it worth?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, price point of a car at$30,000,$40,050,$60,000,$70,000 is a lot different than$700,000,$800,000,$900,000 or a million dollars for a residence.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: So probably the worth of a buyer's agent in a real estate transaction probably be more than you would pay a buyer's agent if that world actually existed when it comes to a vehicle.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: However, you have to look at the value.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: If I have somebody standing with me that's brand new, just trying to cut their teeth on the next deal, trying to get their next car payment or next house payment or whatever it may be, probably going to be a problem.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: But if I have to find a person that I can verify online, I see that they're actually talking about what they believe in.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually integrated with real estate at many different levels, and they are appearing in different places.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're on the YouTube platform, they're on the different social media networks, they're actually blogging and writing about what's happening in real estate on a daily, bi-weekly, you know, bi-monthly basis, whatever it may be, I would feel much more confident.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: What I wouldn't feel super confident in is the review sites out there because most of them are owned by major real estate syndication companies.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And their purpose is to get your information so they can sell your information as a lead to the agents that they have built on their system with all these reviews.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, something to think about.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be more important as we get past where we are in March 2025 to start verifying everything we're seeing online.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Am I real?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Am I an artificial in uh artificial intelligence created clone of Connor McIver?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Am I the real thing?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why pinching would mean anything, but yes, I'm the real thing.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't artificial intelligence.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've looked at those things and they're interesting, but I believe that my clients, my real estate clients, both buyers and sellers, people that trust me, Connor with honor, would rather see me for real in the flesh than me putting in a script, having something that knows my voice, my mannerisms, and is able to clone me speaking on my behalf.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I still believe that.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe in the next year or two it'll be different, but right now I still want to be face to face, ear to ear, and in some cases, cheek to cheek.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: When you're ready, please let me know.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to help you.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am Santa ClaritaOpenhouses.com.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit of a rant.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: We will see you in the next one.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.