[Music]
Hello everyone and Welcome to another
episode of Selling Greenville your
favorite real estate podcast here in
lovely Greenville South Carolina I am
your host like I always am Stan McCune I am
a realtor here in Greenville South
Carolina mhm that's why I know about
real estate and you can find all my
contact information in the show not
I would love to be able to help you with
your real estate needs buying selling
whatever those needs may be I can help
you I can even connect you with
people that potentially might be
looking to rent there's a lot of things
that I do because I have my my foot in
the door and a lot of aspects of real
estate so feel free to hit me up look
up my contact information I'm really
easy to reach I try to answer my phone
whenever it rings and if I don't then I
will call you back I promise but you
can text me or email me as well and just
a reminder please give this show a
rating or a review I'm trying to get as
many of those as possible subscribe
to it if you're not subscribed you
don't want to miss episodes you might be
on my email list but I would still
rather you subscribe to it so that you
don't miss it and and I would
appreciate that I notice when people do
that I notice when people leave their
the ratings or the reviews so thank you
very much to those of you that have let
let's keep that going and feel free to
let me know if this show isn't on the
podcast platform that you use someone
asked me recently if it was on Spotify
yes it is on Spotify you just search
selling Greenville and and you'll
find it on there it's on AUD boom I
believe I'm on Stitcher radio Google
play a lot of different options we're on
there today we are going to talk about
the values of a good realtor the Val the
values that a good realtor I should say
provides and this might not be the
most exciting topic to a lot of you and
this might seem like a little bit of me
patting my s on the back I'm not
trying to do that you guys know that
that's not the type of person I am or or
I I try not to Pat myself on the back
too hard let me say it that way but I
hear a lot of times people will tell me
why they chose a
realtor and oftentimes it's not for very
good reasons might just be you know that
they like their personality and granted
personality is is a big factor but it
shouldn't be the only Factor it might
just be that Realtor had a listing on
a property that that they wanted to buy
and so they called that Realtor up and
without giving thought towards being
represented they they just went ahead
and went with that Realtor it's kind of
like a a car salesman calling up a car
salesman that that has a car at his
shop
and saying hey I I want to buy that
car except that in cars sales you don't
get represented by parties and there's
no fiduciary relationships car salesmen
only represent themselves in real estate
you actually have an opportunity to be
represented by someone and you should
take advantage of that because it's for
a lot of people their biggest investment
they need to make sure they've got
someone on their side to actually help
them out and make sure that they don't
make a mistake
or get into a legal issue or whatever
the case may be and and so there are
a lot of different reasons that people
will select a realtor and and I respect
that and by the way I just want to say
if if you've used a realtor before and
you had a great experience with them
then stay with them I'm not I don't ever
ask someone to leave a realtor that they
loved and come to me just because
I want more business there's a lot of
great Realtors out there and I always
encourage anyone to be loyal if if your
realtor did them did a good job for you
reward them for that and I want my
clients to do that and I want the
clients of of the other good Realtors
out there to do that as well but we have
more Realtors more active realtors in
the Greenville Market in the upstate
then we have homes for sale so that
means that there are a lot of Fly by
Night realtor out there the average
realtor in their entire career in in
this market sells dramat hardly sells
any homes I can't remember what the
exact stat is but I think the average
realtor sells in their entire career in
this market less than 10 homes something
crazy like that and that's because they
there we have a lot of people that will
get the realtor license and and never
sell a home or they will just do it
part-time for a little bit and then
they'll realize oh actually cost
thousands of dollars a year
potentially to be a realtor this doesn't
make sense unless I'm closing have
several closings a year and so there
there's all all sorts of things that
factor into this where we have a lot of
people getting the real estate license
and then not actually making any
money doing it and or they might get
some clients but perhaps they they
shouldn't maybe they don't have a lot
of qualifications for being a realtor so
I I respect anyone that gets a real
estate license but there are some things
that a good realtor provides that the
the bad ones don't just quite frankly
and and I know because I have to deal
with realtors that aren't very good I I
I was amazed just recently I had a
situation where I asked a realtor who
hasn't been especially good to work with
in my opinion I asked this realtor
who is representing the buyers for a
listing that I have I asked this
realtor to just send me the name of
the
appraiser and the amount of square
footage that the appraisal listed my
listing as having and and there's a very
specific reason why I need that
information because when we get to
closing I have to enter that into the
MLS and that data is actually very
valuable down the road that data is what
other appraisers other realtor Realtors
will end up using it's been multiple
episodes now that I've had a hard time
with the word
realtor but in any event that data is
actually used by by Realtors and more
importantly future appraisers to assess
home values because then they they base
the value of a home based on the price
per square foot and so the square
foot has to be accurate if the
Appraiser's name is in there then an
apprais one appraiser might call that
appraiser to ask hey how you know why
did you come up with this value etc etc
so that information is really valuable
the long story short the reason where
I'm going with that is that this realtor
just sent me the entire appraisal which
is a a major ethical violation like
that Realtor could get in in massive
trouble for doing that you have to
get special permission that that
appraisal is considered the property of
the buyer and to just send that to
the listing agent is is a big big
deal and I can assure you based on the
amount of time that that appraisal
was sent in from the time I I
requested that information till the time
that it came in that that this realtor
did not get permission to do that so my
point is there are
realtors that are doing a good job there
are realtors that aren't doing a good
job and here here's a few ways that you
can assess a good realtor and and the
value that they provide all right we
talked about this a lot I like to use
the term Rolodex it's just a great word
even though now it's used metaphorically
versus literally we don't have literal
rolodexes on our desk where we go
through people's phone numbers but the
maybe I should say this the Network the
network that a realtor has that is
one of the the most underrated but one
of the most powerful values that a
realtor can provide his or her network
who does he or her know I have clients
all the time being like hey can you give
me a good surveyor can you give me give
me a good structural engineer can do you
know a good inspector for this do you
know someone that can do this do you
know do you know a contractor an
electrician a plumber I get people
all the time time that are are
constantly needing these types of things
and not only do I know people that I've
worked with in the past but I know some
of the people that I would not recommend
working with and I also know people that
are more likely to take for instance
smaller jobs than and and those that
are going to be more interested in
bigger jobs and so this is something
you you can't understate this a realtor
that you know just graduated from
college and there were some that that
I went to real estate school that were
straight out of college had never owned
a house themselves they probably did
not have the right Network in order
to be able to get that stuff done they
were are going to be relying on other
people you know they're probably going
to be the ones going on Facebook and
saying hey do you guys know a structural
engineer I don't need to do that I I
know people I know Structural
Engineers and I can assist with that
and help to get that set up if one of
those is needed so their Network their
Rolodex secondly understanding of
current trends and and this is a very
broad stroke I I recognize
understanding current trends Trends
related to what exactly that that's my
point understanding I guess I should
say particularly when it comes to real
estate but just knowing what's happening
what's happening in the world what's
happening in the economy what's
happening in the mortgage industry
what's happening in the local real
estate market what's happening in
politics local politics National
politics those are things that are
really important a realtor that is
disconnected from the current trends
might be just stuck in their own little
bubble and the more aware that they are
of all of those different things the
more helpful they can be for helping you
to strategize for helping you to to know
what you're doing because most people
when they buy a house it's a big part of
their Five-Year Plan their 10year plan
whatever the case may be even if they
don't in you know have an actual five or
10e plan spelled out in their mind
they're thinking we're going to live in
this home for this many years or we're
going to have this as a rental property
for this many years there are those
plans that people have in their mind and
you you need to have a realtor that
understands what is happening right now
and where things are going in the next 5
or 10 years in order to best serve you
as you're trying to prepare for the next
5 or 10
years number three and we've talked
about this before but the ability to
accurately
project real estate a lot of real estate
involves projecting particularly when
you're investing we talked about this
before
but when you're buying an investment
property there is going to be something
wrong almost certainly if if it's if
it's a an investment property that is
where you're getting equity in it or an
investment property you know like a A
quadruplex or something like that that's
on the market and that is actually a a
good deal there's something wrong with
it because good investment properties in
a seller's market do not come on the
Market unless there is something wrong
with it either it needs work or the
tenants are are being a drag or you
know it's it's having issues with
flooding or or whatever the case may be
it's going to need work and so a good
realtor can project can project a lot of
different things can project what
what some of the rehab costs will be can
project what the after repair value what
some people call the arv what that will
be
can project what should Market rents be
a lot of the best investment properties
that come on the market oftentimes
are are just properties that are rented
for less than what they should the
landlord doesn't realize that and the
landler is like he gets to a point or
she gets to a point where they're like
we're just done with this we just
want to sell and just get our money out
of it they don't realize that they're
they're renting it out for 400 a month
per door and they should be getting 700
a month per door me as a
realtor that's one of the main things
that I take pride in is that I can
accurately project project those
things and I can figure out okay here's
what the situation is now here's what it
would take to improve it and here's what
the result is going to be once it has
been improved that's that's a really
important part of what a realtor is able
to do
fourthly all right we're going down the
list here I'm trying to go through this
quickly because I know that you guys
all have your own opinions of Realtors
I'm not trying to drag it out knowledge
of the major companies real and by
companies I mean real estate companies
real estate firms Real Estate Investors
real estate wholesalers and just the
other big players in the market that's
that's a big part of it and when someone
comes to me and they ask me a question I
I get questions from time to time about
like large multif family type of deals
which are more in commercial space or
sometimes people will ask me about other
forms of commercial real estate and I'll
just be honest Hey listen I'm not a
commercial realtor that's not the world
that I live in I do know some things
about that there are some similarities
and some overlap between the small
multif family and and midsize multif
family deals that I do and some of the
large multif family like apartment
complexes I've been on the HOA board and
I currently am for apartment complexes
so I I I am knowledgeable but there are
limitations to that and when it comes to
the commercial real estate world I'm
just going to be upfront about that
but when it comes to residential I try
to be as knowledgeable as possible I'm
trying to Network all the time with
lenders with Real Estate Investors with
real estate
wholesalers with inspectors and and
and just all of the people that are
involved in this industry I try
to become knowledgeable about them so
that somewhere down the road I can use
that knowledge maybe I know that a
certain appraiser is known for giving
low appraisals and doesn't really do his
or her homework and so when I see
that that they are scheduled to be the
the appraiser I push back and I go to
the to the lender and say hey we
don't want this appraiser you can you
can do that it might it's can be
sometimes a headache but you you can do
that
you know when it comes to the
firms in the area the real estate firms
the
brokerages there are some brokerages
that when their name comes across for
instance when I'm listing a home I see
their name and I just kind of kind of
cringe and of course I'm very careful
with what I do or what I
say I I'm not going to discriminate
from any offer or from any realtor or
tell or withhold an offer from my
clients or anything like
that but I might have some some
information on the side of like okay
here is the offer now I did have a bad
experience with this realtor one time
but that may have just been an anomaly
but here's the offer and then let my
clients if they have specific questions
they can ask me those questions well
tell me more about this
experience for my for my buyer
clients as well same thing there are
some realtors that just get it that are
that if if I see their listing I know
okay this realtor this is going to be a
almost certainly a smooth
transaction I'm I'm going to highly
recommend this realtor to my clients and
then others that might be like I'm I'm
not going to say anything good or bad
about this realtor my clients ask me
I'll be honest with them but it it's you
know my last experience with them wasn't
necessarily good so I'm going to to to
maybe add some extra language to the
offer that we put in there because that
Realtor didn't seem to understand some
aspect of the last transaction that I
did with them so I'm going to clarify
some things I'm going to give them a
call and ask them a few extra questions
things like that that is part of what
goes into this job is knowing all these
different players ERS in the market and
using that knowledge to to
benefit my clients in my case or or
for another realtor their
clients fifthly having a team to
support and assist is the fifth value
that a good realtor to provides now I
don't necessarily mean a realtor that
has their team named after them I
am on a team but it's not my team
there's a variety of reasons for that
I work currently I'm with the Morgan
Group which is a team with Berkshire
hathway Home Services cedan jiner
Realtors being on a team gives me
access to a lot of different things that
we have a team assistant she does a lot
of the the paperwork and house drawings
and and different things for me to free
me up so that I don't have to be the one
that is constantly busy with all
sorts of things that don't really help
my clients she handles a lot of stuff
like that for me other Realtors on my
team they can show houses when I'm not
available so I've got clients that need
to look at a house well another realtor
on my team they we have an agreement
already set up they can go show them
houses and we help each other out in
that way additionally if something
come if a question comes up that I've
not dealt with I have people that I can
go to that I where I don't just have to
be posting a question on Facebook and
getting you know what who knows what
type of responses from different people
out there I can actually go to to people
who have been in the market for 20 30 40
years with a question of something that
that I haven't run into before or that I
just want to to make sure that I'm
accurate on and get that help and
of of course being on a bigger brokerage
I've got a broker who is extremely
experienced who can really assist
in a lot of ways again this is me
talking as of first quarter of 2020
if you're listening or sorry first
quarter of 2021 oh no I did that this
is in the first quarter of 2021 if
you're listening to this years later I
can't promise that I'm with this the
same broker but I will always make
sure that I have a team to support and
assist to make sure that I even though I
am kind of the spoke of the wheel that's
how I see myself as a realtor the one
through home through whom a real estate
transaction goes through and I take that
seriously I also have people to support
me so that if for some reason I am not
able to 100% complete a task for
instance the other a couple years
ago for my 10th anniversary I went to
with my wife to pakana for 10 days
well guess what I didn't leave my
clients high and dry that was one of my
best months I've ever had in real estate
and that was because I had people on my
team that could step in and do the
things that I couldn't do and in
person and then the things that could be
done remotely I just got up a little bit
earlier you know while my wife was still
in bed and and just knock those things
out no big deal I like I like what I do
I don't mind working and punana it's
just a little bit better view so having
a team
people that that can step in but also
that don't interfere there are some
teams that will actually interfere I I
had a a friend of mine that was a
realtor that was telling me the team
that he was on during the time he
attempted to be a realtor they just
were keeping him busy and he wasn't able
to to be going out there trying to get
business and and doing his job because
he was just constantly meetings
constantly being being given
assignments and being told do this and
do that and the team actually interfered
so I'm on a team and this is really
important to me I'm on a team that
that doesn't do that they don't
interfere they allow me to run my
business the way I want to but then I
have Team resources people that can
assist and and help me be able to to get
my transactions to the finish line and
to support my clients when they need it
and so that's that's a big part of it
and and number six and this is my
last one a a good realtor provides an
organizational system and at the end of
the day you
are probably going to lose your
closing documents or documents that
were important you might not even
realize at the time that you're buying
or selling a home what documents are
important having a realtor that's
organized and that can hold on to that
stuff for you for a really long time for
years later is extremely valuable I
can't tell you how many times I've had
clients come to me and be like hey Stan
do you have that elevation
certificate from however many years ago
why yes as a matter of fact I do and
here it is in your folder I can pull
that out and email that to you in 10
seconds that's something that
again you don't realize until you need
it how important that is and the good
Realtors they're all very organized they
have a CRM they use you know DocuSign
transaction rooms or whatever the case
may be to keep all their contracts for
years and years there's all sorts of
things that they do for organization
and and I think that that is is a
really important part of it as well just
to make sure that communication doesn't
get dropped along the way it's very easy
you know as a realtor I'm getting calls
texts emails dozens of times a day how
do I ensure that I can keep up with all
that well I have a very rigid
organizational system that
for the most part I don't want to
jinx myself but for the most part it
keeps me from from failing to follow
up with someone or from failing to do
something that needs to be done
because I have systems in place to to
remind me and to make sure that I reach
back out to this person or that person
or whatever the case may be and it's
easy to to ignore that to be to not
realize how important it is for a
realtor to be organized but let me tell
you when you're busy if you don't have
those organizational systems in place
and you're in this business you're going
to get overwhelmed very very quickly and
and I hear stories of Realtors all the
time like oh man I forgot to I forgot to
schedule that inspection or I forgot to
do this someone someone told me
recently that I'm one of the few people
that like schedules a certain type of
inspection like several weeks before
it's really necessary and I was like
they were they were just telling me that
that people TP Realtors they deal with
typically do it at the very last second
and then are like stressing them out
saying hey I need you to get out there
today and that stresses me out just
thinking about that and part of why I
don't do that is because I'm already
I'm I'm not waiting until the last
second I already have in my CRM a
system to to tell me when to to do
things in case I somehow forget it
and so when we're when we're there at
the last second I'm not having to all of
a sudden scramble to get it done again
I'm not trying to to just Pat myself on
the back too hard here but these are
examples from from my own career from my
own experience that I can share with you
guys to well quite frankly because I
don't have a whole lot of other
experience to share right I can't share
a ton of experience from other people I
don't want to share a bunch of negative
examples from other Realtors I I feel
like I've done enough of that that's not
really my purpose of this of this
episode but hopefully now you
understand that a good realtor does a
whole lot more a lot of people think
that Realtors just show houses and then
go to closings and collect their check
but really that's not the way it
is for good realtors that there there
are some realtors that that do that I
I hope and I I strive to not be one of
of them if you have any questions
about any of that please let me know my
contact information is in the show notes
as always leave us a rating review
subscribe to the show all those good
things I hope you guys have a great rest
of the week stay safe let's buy and sell
some houses together
[Music]