6 Reasons Real Estate Agents Aren’t Extinct

By Craig Donofrio, 5:00 pm ET, May 20, 2016, Realtor

It’s 2016, and it seems our need for real live people is ever-diminishing. There’s self-checkout instead of cashiers, selfie sticks instead of photographers, self-driving cars, self-watering plants, self-administered colonoscopies … well, you get the idea. Given that technology has become so important to buying and selling homes, you’d also think real estate agents would be a dying breed—yet they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down, with approximately 2 million active real estate agents throughout the country.

So why did real estate agents make the technology transition fully intact as opposed to, say, travel agents? We asked some experts to weigh in.

Reason No. 1: Selling is complicated

For many people, “a real estate transaction is financially momentous and complex—the most complex transaction people do in their life,” explains David Reiss, a law professor and academic program director for the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School.

Comparatively, personal travel agents—the kind where you’d walk in their office and have them book you a hotel and a flight—have gone the way of the dodo, because now that’s all simple DIY stuff (to be fair, not all travel agents are out of a job—there’s still a healthy travel agency sector that thrives on corporate and luxury bookings).

“People like having an expert when dealing with large, complicated transactions,” says Jeff Tomasul, founder of Vespula Capital LLC, an investment management company based in Greenwich, CT. “Why do people still have financial advisers? They want someone who does it full-time to make sure they are not doing anything wrong.” Same with real estate agents.

And real estate transactions are often anything but straightforward. Some deals, likeshort sales, can be “much more intricate than a regular transaction,” Reiss says, with lenders who have requirements that “a regular person would have no idea about.”

Reason No. 2: Buying ain’t easy, either

Buying a home, even if you come in with all cash, is not a cookie-cutter task, and you can find yourself drowning in paperwork and stressed out juggling things like meeting buyers, and dealing with the seller’s agent, lender, and title companies. Agents ease the whole transaction, and it’s something that has kept their profession alive.

“They can hold your hand through the process,” Reiss explains. “They might say, ‘This lender takes a long time, so put in your contract immediately and sign this and that paper and get all this stuff ready before you’re walking over hot coals with the lender for money.”

Reason No. 3: It’s their top priority

Your own interests and priorities will very likely always be split—because of those pesky little things like, say, job and family—but a Realtor® can be laser-focused on getting the deal done. “A Realtor has a singular aim: to sell houses,” Reiss says.

Simply put, having a real estate agent can make your life easier. Tomasul found himself in a frustrating position when he tried to sell his apartment in Manhattan without an agent. “Showing it was so tough with my schedule, and it was hard having a full-time job and keeping up in a timely matter with potential buyers,” he recalls.

That means the less you make time for buyers, the longer your place will stay on the market—and that’s not good for your bottom line.

Reason No. 4: They know the market, and the players, better than you

“The agent knows the market intimately, even more than a pretty informed resident,” Reiss says. And all that knowledge saves time. “Tracking sales, knowing listings, spending a lot of shoe leather on houses already for sale—right off the bat, they know more than the ordinary Joe and Jane. They understand condo boards and title companies. As a player in the game, they know what the other players are looking for and how to deliver.”

Reason No. 5: They’re objective

Without an agent showing your house for you, you have no shield from criticisms that can—and will—be made about your house from prospective buyers. Your favorite room in the home might be described as “tacky,” “needing a renovation,” or much worse. Sometimes such comments are negotiating tactics. Sometimes they are heartfelt, off-the-cuff opinions. But either way, they can lead to problems.

“It impacts objectivity for a seller to hear negative things about their own place,” Reiss explains. “Realtors aren’t emotionally invested. They don’t take comments personally. It’s not ‘Oh, you don’t like my chandelier? Then get out of my house.’”

Reason No. 6: The cost is worth it

We’re not saying a 6% commission is chump change. It can be a good amount of money when you’re selling your house. But using an agent saves a ton of time. Even with a 6% commission, time is money—for many people, time saved negates the cost. Plus, given that home buying and selling is a negotiation where you can save big if you bargain right, skilled real estate agents can step in to fight on your behalf, saving you major money. In other words, typically the money you pay an agent will come right backatcha.

Feeling a bit more confident than ever that you should have a real estate agent watching your back? Then Find a Realtor now and get moving.


Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.

Why real estate agent rankings are not going away

by Peter Thomas Ricci May 19, 2016, Chicago Agent Magazine

America is a land of ratings. Whether it be primetime television, public schools or restaurants, American culture is uniquely suited to ratings systems, and our culture is awash in rankings, assessments and judgments.

So it should be no surprise, really, that ratings systems have elbowed their way into real estate, although the initial efforts were fraught with controversy and tension – and no example is more indicative than AgentMatch, the ratings system that realtor.com developed to compete with the systems of Redfin, Zillow and Trulia. Never officially launched, AgentMatch was bombarded by criticisms during its testing phase, and the comment sections of articles on the platform became breeding grounds of discontent, with Realtors attacking the very concept of comparing dues-paying real estate professionals.

Rating Systems in Real Estate

Despite all the controversy that ultimately grounded AgentMatch, agent ranking systems continued to permeate real estate, and now in 2016, there are numerous avenues for consumers to pursue before signing on with an agent. Examples include:

RatedAgent.com – For a fee (as low as $85 for the first year and $65 for following years), agents can join the RatedAgent network, which allows verified clients to rate the agents based on their experiences. Along with written reviews, agents are also ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 on availability, area knowledge, responsiveness and other factors, and potential clients can even view pie charts that break down an agent’s rating for each factor.

Yelp – The ratings behemoth for restaurants and other local businesses, Yelp also allows ratings for real estate agents and specific offices. Considering that this is Yelp, however, the ratings come with the same potential pitfalls of any free service – rash judgments, ad hominem attacks and spitting matches.

Angie’s List – Just as Angie’s List includes ratings for doctors, mechanics and contractors, it also rates real estate agents. With verified reviews and a network of three million users, Angie’s List is among the most respected review sites out there, in part because it is not free. Only paying members are allowed to rate and access reviews on the site.

Here to Stay

In the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the National Association of Realtors reported that for 23 percent of buyers, reputation was the most important factor they considered when choosing an agent. Similarly, 10 percent chose their agent based simply on Internet searches, and with no referrals of any kind.

Admittedly, referrals from family and friends are still the most popular device for choosing agents, with 41 percent of buyers opting for that strategy (by comparison, the second most prominent reason was the 12 percent of buyers who chose an agent they previously worked with). Still, nearly 90 percent of consumers used the Internet during their home search process, and as agent ratings systems become more and more engrained in the real estate culture, it stands to reason that more consumers will consult them.

https://chicagoagentmagazine.com/2016/05/19/real-estate-agent-rankings-not-going-away/

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.

“All indicators point to this spring being the busiest since 2006.”

A few weeks ago, Jonathan Smoke, the Chief Economist at realtor.com, exclaimed: “All indicators point to this spring being the busiest since 2006.”

Now, Freddie Mac has doubled down on that claim and is saying that 2016 will be the best year that the real estate industry has seen in a decade. In their March Housing Outlook Report, Freddie Mac explained:

“Despite the challenges facing the housing market, we expect this to be the best year for housing in a decade. Home sales, housing starts, and house prices will reach their highest level since 2006 according to our latest forecast…Challenges remain, with low housing supply and declining affordability being a key concern in many markets, but on balance, the housing markets in the U.S. are poised for the best year since 2006.”

The key indicators that have given Freddie Mac such a positive outlook are:

• Low interest rates
• A resilient labor market
• An increase in household formations
• A projected increase in newly constructed homes

Bottom Line

2016 looks to be shaping up as a great year for residential real estate. Whether you are thinking of buying or selling, now may be the time to sit down with a real estate professional to discuss the new opportunities that are arising.

Alert: Recent Break-Ins Reported at Listed Homes in Franklin Area

REALTORS® in Franklin, Michigan have found that some of their vacant listings have been broken into over the last week.  Police reported that three forced entry break ins have occurred in Franklin off 14 Mile Road that have lock boxes on the front doors. 

Franklin Police are issuing advisories for REALTORS® to keep their clients homes safe.  They are asking that the lock box be hung on the side or back doors when ever possible.  They also advise that porch lights be timed to come on at dusk to make them less attractive to thieves.  Additionally, have a landscaper keep the drive and walks clear to make it appear someone is living there on a day to day basis.  If not able to have a landscaping company keep the snow cleared, at least dive in and out of the drive numerous times.

It is also good policy for the REALTORS® to make contact with neighbors and ask them to call 911 and the REALTOR® if anything suspicious happens.

It is important to know the value of your home

Many people when asked if they would like to know the current value of their home shrug.  They don’t see any reason why they should at least get an estimate of the market value of their home on an annual basis.

Truth is, there are many reason homeowners should get a real estate professional to provide an estimate on the market value of their home.  This is true, even if you aren't planning on moving in the near future. One example comes to mind of a man that left his house to one son and his investments to another.  When he made the will, things were about even.  But, when he died, the estate was split like his will required, but the house was worth so much more than the investments that it was a very uneven split.  If the man had monitored the value of his house throughout the years, he would have been able to make adjustments to his will to keep it up to date.

Think about it, it is considered smart for people to meet with their financial adviser annually to review their investments.  It is also smart to meet with your real estate agent to review the value of what is for most of us, the biggest investment we make.

Here are some reasons to review the value of your home annually but certainly not an all-inclusive list:  

• Make judgements about your own home by comparing it to the value of your neighbor’s home.  

• Make judgements about your community by comparing the value of your home to county, state and national home values.

• Knowing the equity in the home helps you plan for repairs that are needed.

• Your net worth can be more precisely known.

• You may want to make adjusts to your insurance policy to keep up with your home value.

• Some communities have rebuilding requirements that may affect your ability to rebuild if you are under insured.  

• Don’t pay property taxes beyond the value of your home.

• Better plan for retirement by keeping track of the equity in the home.

• If you are considering a reverse mortgage, knowing the value will help you make a better decision.

• Let’s hope you never need emergency cash, but knowing the value will help you plan for emergencies better and save money on insurance.

• Know if an improvement will be right for the house by not over investing in your home.  

• Be aware of the value of your estate.

• If you pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) when an equity level is reached, you may not have to continue to pay.

• If the equity in your home reaches a certain level you may not need to make monthly escrow payments for property taxes, allowing you to invest the money instead of letting someone else hold it.

• Pay off bills by taking some of the equity out of the home.

• If you plan on refinancing the mortgage you will need to know when you reach the equity level you may need.

A real estate agent that is looking out for your best interest will not charge you for a CMA (Comparable Market Analysis) for your home.  To get the best idea of the value of the home, the agent will need to visit to home, research recent history on comparable homes that have sold in the market and make adjustments in the value based on your home.

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.

13 new (and strange) rules for surviving the real estate market

After combing through a massive amount of data, Zillow has put together a compendium of housing market wisdom. Here are the most useful, or just plain entertaining, lessons.

1 Buy a house close to Starbucks

Bloomberg Bloomberg via Getty Images

While it's true that homes close to a Starbucks cost more than the national average, it's also true that they appreciate faster than the average home. Rascoff and Humphries hypothesize that this might be the result of the great work of Starbucks' 20-person location analytics team, which pores over data on traffic patterns and business density to pick the best places for their stores. If Starbucks' comes to a neighborhood, it's got a good chance of being the next up-and-coming spot.

2 Don't buy the worst house in the best neighborhood

Beth J Harpaz AP

The old saying goes, "real estate is about location, location, location." And if neighborhoods are what drive real estate prices, then following the oft-repeated advice of buying the worst house in the best neighborhood makes sense. After all, you can always fix up a house, but you can't move your house to a new neighborhood.

In fact, the folks at Zillow found that "the more affluent a neighborhood is . . . the worse that homes in its bottom 10 percent tend to perform." They hypothesize that this is because people who look for houses in expensive neighborhoods tend not to be cheap, and will overlook your house when they are shopping for a new home.

3 It's not impossible to find an affordable house in a good school district

Photograph by UIG via Getty Images

School quality can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood, a dynamic that is reinforced by the fact that schools are largely funded by local property taxes.

That's why home values can vary so much between neighborhoods that are otherwise very similar. But by doing a bit of homework, you can find good schools at a great value. Rascoff and Humphries give the examples of Dublin, Ohio and Greer, South Carolina as towns where you can buy affordable housing in great school districts.

4 Foreclosed homes don't offer good value

Photograph by Joe Raedle — Getty Images

Following the housing bust, the media was awash with stories of homes that could be had at rock-bottom prices. But looking at the data, Zillow found that there were good reasons why these homes were inexpensive. First of all, foreclosed homes tend to be smaller than other homes nearby, and banks often require purchasers to buy without a home inspection.

5 When selling your home, don't describe it as "unique"

Newspix Newspix via Getty Images

Analysis of online real estate listings show that the language used to describe a home for sale is incredibly important. Homes that are described thoroughly and honestly sell for higher prices than comparable homes that aren't, and Zillow was actually able to zero in on a few words that usually drive demand way down.

If you are selling, stay away from "unique." Homes that are described as such, "can sell for as much as 30 to 50 percent less than expected," Rascoff and Humphries write.

6 If you want to increase your homes value, remodel your bathroom

Photoby ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Investing in your home through maintenance or remodeling almost always increases its value, but some projects pay off a lot more than others. For instance, "a $3,000 mid-range bathroom model ... replacing the toilet and light fixtures, adding a double sink, and adding some wallpaper--would result in a $1.71 increase in home value for every $1.00 you spent on the renovation," Rascoff and Humphries write.

In comparison, a pricier bathroom remodeling will likely return less in home value than you spend, while basement renovations tend to do the least in terms of increasing a homes resale value.

7 When listing your home, "The Price is Right"

Photoby David Ryder — Bloomberg via Getty Images

Many people tend to shoot for the moon when selling a home. After all, if selling a home is a negotiation process, why not start high and come down from there, right? But the reality is that homes listed for close to their market value actually end up selling for 4% higher than homes that are initially overpriced.

That's because pricing a home at its fair value will attract more demand, and sometimes even start a bidding war.

8 The best time to list your home? Late March

Brian Kersey Getty Images

Most homebuyers begin contacting agents in May and June, so it's good to get your home listed in late March on average. That's enough time to make realtors aware of your listing, but not too much time that the home appears to have been langusihing by the time peak buying season begins.

However, this rule is a national average, and in colder locales like Boston, the best time to list is in early April, while places farther South call for listings a bit earlier. On average, homes listed in late March sell faster and for 2% more than comparable homes that are listed at other times.

9 Homebuyers can be really superstitious

MAURICIO DUENAS AFP/Getty Images

It's no secret that people can be really superstitious, but it might be surprising to hear that this can affect the real estate market in a big way. One example? Homes with the number 666 (the number of the beast, according to the Book of Revelations) somewhere in the listing sell for 3.2% less than expected.

10 Cool street names will cost you

UniversalImagesGroup UIG via Getty Images

If you want to live on Penny Lane or Thunder Road, it's going to cost you. Houses on streets with these names sell for 53% and 46% higher than the median home, respectively.

11 Manhattan isn't being overrun by emerging-market emigrants

George Rose — Getty Images

Many think that foreign buyers of Manhattan real estate are mostly Russian and Chinese nouveau-riche looking for a place to stash their exorbitant wealth. But Zillow's data show that "Canadians and Brits are actually the foreigners flocking in greatest numbers to New York City."

12 Homeowners don't see as much action as renters

Justin Sullivan Getty Images

Using Zillow data in conjunction with the General Social Survey, Rascoff and Humphries found that there are significant differences between the behavior of renters and owners. One fun fact: "In every age group, the percentage of renters engaging in sexual activity at least once a week is greater or equal to the percentage of owners knocking boots."

13 Homeownership isn't always the best way to climb out of the lower class

David McNew Getty Images

Homeownership has a storied history in this country, and promoting it is a bipartisan cause. But as the real estate bubble showed us, owning a home can just as easily be a financial burden as it can help build wealth.

This is especially true for lower-class people, who typically cannot afford significant down payments and tend to live in neighborhoods where home values are most volatile. Homeownership should be the result of increased wealth rather than the thing that propels a person up the socioeconomic ladder.

Published online by Fortune on January 28, 2015 and written by Chris Matthews

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.

Photographers await FAA ruling before publishing drone shots of homes

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – From a small patch of grass, Taylor Blom smoothly launches his video camera drone over Rosa Parks Circle. Looking like a large white spider, the drone whirs silently overhead, unnoticed by most in the park.

Using a handheld remote control, Blom collects dramatic images of the downtown skyline on an app he has installed on his iPhone. He switches to live video and scans the horizon and the Grand River beyond as the drone hovers 45 meters over the park.

Before landing, Blom deftly lowers the “quadcopter” to take a “dronie,” the term for a “selfie” shot from a drone.  Blom, the owner of Front Door Photos, says he would love to use the drone in his business, which specializes in taking photographs of homes for West Michigan real estate agents.

“It produces great vantage points,” said Blom, a Holland resident who started his business one year ago. “It adds a really cool visual element to that service.”

The drone is especially good at producing dramatic photos and videos of lakefront homes, said Blom, who bought his DJI Phantom 2 Vision for about $1,500 this spring – about half of what he spent on his last camera lens.

But Blom and dozens of other real estate photographers dare not publish their work. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has outlawed all commercial use of “unmanned aerial vehicles” or UAVs until it issues new rules and regulations regarding their use.

Drones fit the “model aircraft” category in FAA regulations and are allowed for recreational purposes. But Clifford Maine, a Grand Rapids lawyer with Barnes and Thornburg, said he has advised his clients to avoid any commercial exploitation of the drone technology until the new rules come out sometime before Sept. 30, 2015.

Meanwhile, the FAA has made it clear it does not want Realtors -- or wedding photographers or news photographers – to use UAVs for commercial purposes.

“There are no shades of gray in FAA regulations. Anyone who wants to fly an aircraft—manned or unmanned—in U.S. airspace needs some level of FAA approval,” according to “Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft,” a bulletin published on the FAA’s web site.

While a few real estate photographers have tested the regulations, none have been formally charged with violating the FAA rules, which specifically forbid Realtors from using drone-produced photography or videos.

News agencies including MLive and The Grand Rapids Press also have been advised not to post commercial video or photos shot from drones. Hence, the photographs with this article show Blom operating his drone, but do not show his drone’s photography.

For Blom, the wait for regulations is a time to learn about his drone, which he carries around in a small plastic case.

Equipped with a flight system that automatically adjusts for wind conditions, Blom said he learned how to operate the drone after a few hours of practice on the golf course near his home.

The drone is outfitted with a high-resolution digital camera that sends live shots or video to Blom’s iPhone, which can store the images or videos or send them to a small storage card. The rechargeable batteries allow for 20-minute flights that can range up to a third of a mile from the controller.

Kevin Cole, the owner of Image Michigan, owns a similar drone. He said it has the potential to revolutionize the aerial photography business he started in 2007.

Cole, of Grand Rapids, specializes in high resolution aerial and elevated photographs and videos he shoots from towers he sets up or airplanes he rents from local pilots. It’s an expensive business that will be dramatically changed once drone photography becomes legal, Cole said.

“The drone is the absolute perfect platform for us; we can do it for half the price,” said Cole, who counts real estate developers and construction companies among his clients.

Like Blom, Cole says he is playing with his drone now so he can be ready to swing into action once the FAA rules are published. “We’re trying to be the first in the business,” he said.

Maine, along with Blom and Cole, expect the FAA to exercise some regulatory control over who can fly the drones commercially.

Whether it requires training, certification or a special license, they all agree the drones will need to be regulated to avoid congestion and irresponsible use in public venues or athletic events where every soccer dad is trying to create video footage of their child.

“As it gets more and more popular and the cost goes down, I would be in favor of regulating it,” said Blom, who believes real estate photographers like himself will be required to carry a license.

But despite any regulations, Blom said he expects drones will be the next big thing in photography.

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.