Tag: Real Estate Agents

Most Agents Are in Sales, Primarily of Themselves

Some real estate professionals may take offense at that statement, but I don’t say it to demean them in any way. I myself once had a “real estate coach” and I’ve been to a couple “superstar summits,” and the focus was always on prospecting and marketing and getting clients to hire you, not someone else.

In fact, I owe my facial appearance to one such coach, Tom Ferry, who said at his Palm Springs superstar event in 2003 that “people don’t trust agents with facial hair.”  I didn’t believe him, but the next week I asked a seller why he chose another agent to list his home, and he said, “Frankly, I didn’t trust you.” My mustache was gone that evening!

It makes absolute sense that agents, especially new ones, need to be coached on how to sell themselves as the “right” agent for buyers and sellers. I don’t disagree. But for most agents, that’s 90% of their selling effort. Once hired, they really don’t “sell” real estate, they advise, consult and coach buyers on the relative merits of the homes they choose to see.

The buyer counts on us to share our expertise, to identify features or defects that they might not notice, and to construct a winning offer, coach them on inspection issues, and guide them through to a successful closing.

The agents at Golden Real Estate don’t expend their time or money on prospecting. Yes, we network when we’re at the gym or elsewhere, but we don’t do mailings, cold calling and such because most of our clients have been reading this column for a decade or longer and are pre-sold on hiring us.

It’s a luxury we relish — spending most of our time on developing expertise instead of on selling ourselves to people who haven’t heard of us.

In Colorado, Real Estate Brokers Are Granted the Limited Practice of Law

Colorado is a great state to buy and sell real estate — and to be a real estate broker. In other states, as many as four lawyers must be retained in the typical real estate transaction — one by each party to the contract, and one by the broker for each side. This can make the cost of buying and selling real estate in such states unduly expensive.

Although I have only been a licensed real estate broker in Colorado, I have bought and sold real estate in New York, Virginia and Hawaii.  Colorado is definitely the best.

In Colorado, the only costs of selling real estate are the 1) title insurance, 2) real estate commissions, and 3) the fee charged by the title company for closing the transaction, although there may be additional costs charged by your HOA or its management company, when applicable. There are no state transfer fees or taxes. Since the above fees are typically paid by the seller, a buyer who does not require a mortgage to purchase real estate pays only his share of the title company’s closing fee ($100 to $400 typically), plus the cost of recording the transaction with the county, which is 1/10th of 1% of the sales price. Buyers who take out a mortgage loan to finance their purchase are the only ones with significant additional costs when purchasing real estate in Colorado.

In 1957, the Colorado Bar Association sued to require lawyers’ involvement in real estate transactions, but the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in the Conway Bogue decision that real estate licensees could provide the limited legal service of interpreting and completing state-approved forms for buyers and sellers.

Among the arguments in support of that decision, the court cited the lack or shortage of lawyers in many Colorado counties and the fact that real estate licensees had been performing that function for 50 or more years with no evidence that the public — or lawyers — had been harmed.

The court did require that this service only be performed by licensees who were retained to represent one or both parties in the transaction and that no separate fee be charged for completing the forms beyond the compensation already being earned by the licensee for the transaction.

Sixty-three years later, the Conway Bogue decision is still the law in Colorado, allowing the limited practice of law by real estate brokers, and we can all be glad for it. Imagine if you had to pay $100 or more per hour to a lawyer to counsel you through every step of a real estate sale or purchase!

As I said, we licensees only have the ability to interpret and complete state-approved forms, such as listing agreements, buyer agency agreements, purchase contracts, counterproposals, amendments, disclosures, inspection objections, post-closing occupancy agreements, and the numerous other forms approved by the Colorado Real Estate Commission.

Any seller is allowed to replace those state-approved forms with ones created by an attorney, and home builders routinely use their own contracts. While we can and do represent buyers of new homes, we may not counsel our buyers regarding those documents, since that would constitute practicing law without a license. Instead, we must recommend that buyers hire a real estate lawyer to review them,  Of course, we only recommend legal advice (just as we recommend getting tax advice), but the buyer is free to ignore that recommendation, which many of them do, opting instead to study the documents by themselves and ask questions of the builder’s sales personnel.

Real Estate Agents Have a Responsibility to Report Wrongdoing

As with many professions, we real estate professionals are largely, though not completely, self-policing. Indeed, in a recent continuing education class, we were taught that we have an “affirmative responsibility” to report wrongdoing by our colleagues, whether the offense is illegal, contrary to real estate commission or MLS rules, or, in the case of Realtors, is unethical.

(Many real estate agents belong to brokerages where membership in the Realtor association is not required, and only Realtors are bound by the Realtor Code of Ethics and can be disciplined for violating it. Ask if your broker is a Realtor.)

Of course, the public can also file complaints against licensees. You can do it online here or you can mail a complaint to the Division at 1560 Broadway, Suite 925, Denver CO 80202. You can ask to remain anonymous, but an investigator will call to interview you.

Unless a broker is independent, you can also complain to his brokerage. Ask to speak with the managing broker. If he’s a Realtor, you can file an ethics complaint with his Realtor association. Here’s a link for doing so online.

I have filed complaints about illegal behavior with the Division. I have also sent numerous emails to our MLS about violations of MLS rules and regulations — including last week when a listing agent listed himself instead of one of our broker associates as the selling agent for his listing. (Email compliance@REcolorado.com.) I have also filed ethics complaints against a fellow Realtor through my Realtor association.

By accepting that “affirmative responsibility” to report wrongdoing of any kind by fellow licensees and fellow Realtors, we protect and advance the reputation of our industry and of the Realtor brand. As managing broker at Golden Real Estate, I promote this responsibility, as I did at our weekly office meeting earlier this month.

Although some people like to demean real estate licensees and even Realtors, I have found that the vast majority of us are true professionals who put our clients’ interests above our own, as required by both law and ethics, and I am proud to be a member of this profession.

When Is Your Real Estate Agent a ‘Transaction Broker’ and Not an ‘Agent’?

Although it’s common (including by me) to talk about real estate professionals as “agents,” the proper term is “brokers,” because the term “agent,” at least here in Colorado, has a specific legal meaning which is important to understand.

One reason most of us call each other “agents” instead of “brokers” is that here in Colorado the term “broker” is commonly used when referring to the employing broker or managing broker in a real estate company.  For example, I’m the “broker” at Golden Real Estate, and my agents are “broker associates.” It’s just simpler (and more common) to call them “agents.”

So what is an “agent” in the legal sense? An agent is an advocate for his or her client, serving with “the utmost good faith, loyalty and fidelity.” An agent will share with his client anything that helps in negotiating the best deal in a transaction. For example, if a broker were to reveal that his buyer is desperate to buy a home or that his seller is desperate to sell his home, an “agent” on the other side of the transaction could (and should) use that information to his client’s advantage. A good “agent” would never let that kind of information slip!

A “transaction broker,” on the other hand, has no such responsibility to his or her client and functions only to facilitate a transaction. Indeed, he is barred from disclosing to one party anything about the other party that would favor that party in negotiating a transaction.

At Golden Real Estate, as at most brokerages, it is our office policy to always function as “agents” for our buyers and sellers. The only exception is when we find ourselves on both sides of a transaction because one of our pre-existing buyer clients (for whom we’re an agent) wants to buy a property from one of our sellers (for whom we’re also an agent). Then we’re obligated to serve as a transaction broker and advise each party that we’re now a neutral facilitator of the transaction and can no longer coach either party regarding price or any other transaction issue.

So what happens when an unrepresented buyer approaches a listing agent about buying his or her listing for which he is functioning as an “agent”? The agent could choose to have the buyer sign an agency agreement, but that would require him to sacrifice his “agent” relationship with the seller and become a transaction broker.  It is Golden Real Estate’s policy always to treat an unrepresented buyer of our listings as a “customer,” thereby retaining our “agent” relationship with the seller.

Did I confuse you more? I hope not! Hopefully the broker you employ knows the rules of agency relationship, as we certainly do.