Husband and I actually found an open house in the area I want. Someone bought it a few years ago for an investment and did a horrible remodel for a flip. Of course the price reflects the so called remodel. What a shame! The setting of the house is real pretty with lots of mature trees and tropical foliage. I think the house was built in 58'. The bedrooms are small but ok, it has a fireplace and pool, patio, two car garage and a nice layout. The agent is one of the popular ones in that area. I gave him my scoop about our future listing and what we were looking to buy as well as our emails ect. The guy was very honest with me when I asked for the new listings to my email before they hit mls online. He said he had a lot of investors that he deals with. I said I would like a crack at the listings they get (thanks Lukk for arming me). He made some sort of comment to the affect that they are priority. I said, you mean I come after them? He said, well lets see, I have five to seven regulars that I get repeat cash sales so what do you think? Me,...here we go again! I'm going to have to do some serious aggression to get a house in that area and get one that was not destroyed with eekkk remodel. That's ok though because I have no shame when it comes to muscling in. I know a little about HUD. My son just bought his townhome through HUD. It took him six months to close. It took the whole family working daily to keep it on track and deal with all the paper work. I think part of the nightmare was due to the 203k (?) loan with the repairs wrapped up in his mortgage and one of the few mortgage companies that did that sort of loan. What a mess, son went through three different people in charge of his case and two managers. They all kept leaving for Wells Fargo. We helped him look and it took over 6 months just to get a crack at something in his price range. Like I said above the only reason he got it is because of the stipulation in the neighborhood where you have to live there a year before renting it out and the fact that it was HUD. Investors didn't have a chance at that one but there were close to 200 people interested. We got the listing fresh off the press by mistake when a realtor we were dealing with sent it to his investors lol. My son put in a bid $5,500 over list and got it. Don't get me wrong, there are deals to be had everywhere down here. Just not in the very best areas unless you have a connection and cash. Or, you want to pay top dollar. Although places are appraising rather low now so that part could come out in the wash. A connection is key though. About the other house husband loved the look of in a near by to my fav neighborhood. Well, it was about a hundred thousand more than he waned to spend. I then made him drive around in neighborhoods in "his" price range. No way he would live there. I'm making progress. Really though, I too want to find a deal so I'm not looking to go crazy. I do want something I can make nice in a decent area though. Ollie, I'm with you on established neighborhood with trees!!! Some of the roads I'm hoping to find a little house on in my preferred neighborhood are not necessarily the nicest roads. However, the reason I like some of those roads is because they have an abundance of natural tropical foliage and trees with older homes. I love the old Florida feel. There is not much of that left around here and I pine for it.

sylviatexas: "Representation & procuring cause aren't the same thing. Procuring cause is getting a buyer for a property or a property for a buyer. Representation is representing the client's best interests. HaHaHaHaHa. OF COURSE it isn't the same thing! That's the point that I was making, lol! It was you who was implying that the builder wouldn't let the buyer have representation when all along the issue was the builder wasn't going to pay the agent because the agent wasn't the procuring cause for the transaction. Nice spin. And speaking of spin..... sylviatexas: "If I started negotiating with a builder on my own & felt that I was in over my head & the builder told me I couldn't bring my Realtor, I'd look for another property." Let's change your example ever so slightly without altering the basic concept. Let's say instead of looking at a new house you're looking at a resale. Same circumstance except instead of dealing with a builder's sales office, you're dealing with the seller's listing agent. Okay, now let's get back to your example. You're negotiating with the listing agent on your own and feel that you're in over your head and want to bring in your own real estate agent to negotiate for you. Are you seriously suggesting that the listing agent should now allow the buyer to use his own agent and pay that agent half the commission? Hmmmmmm?? I didn't think so. And the reason why? Let's all say it again: Because the buyer's agent would not have been the procuring cause for the transaction. It is really not that difficult a concept.

YOU should contact the FSBO, not your agent. You are perfectly capable of setting up an appt on your own and bringing an agent might cause you to pay 3% higher in price for this property. Go look, and ask the seller whether they pay a commission to realtors if you want to bring your realtor into the deal. Take it from there. If your agent was that good, you would not even be having this open question. A good agent would have clearly explained to you how that agent would handle FSBOs for you. Instead, many agents hide their head in the sand and act like FSBOs don't exist. In this case, if I was the buyer, I would not use the agent for the FSBO because the agent conveniently acted liked FSBOs were not part of your market and didn't exlain how you would look at any of them. Please note that I sold FSBO on more than one occasion. One of my FSBO sales, there was a couple that was very, very interested in my home. They looked twice and came without their agent. After they explained to their agent that they wanted to make an offer, the agent reminded them that they signed a buyer's agreement and in this they promised 3% commission to the buyer's agent. Of course, when they signed, the agent explained not to worry because the seller pays the commission. However, we were FSBO and only would pay 1.5% commission (approx $5000). These particilar buyers could not stomach paying the other 1.5% commission so the agent could get the total 3%. So the deal did not happen. We sold to someone else shortly after that and gave the buyer the $5000 "commission" directly (off purchase price) because buyer did't have an agent.

Jo, I've been thinking about you this afternoon. Here's a few suggestions (use them if they seem worthwhile & toss them if they don't!): 1.) Start building relationships with every lender in town. Stop by & ask to meet with the head of lending. Residential lending is so automated today that processors & closers (unfortunately) don't have the cloute they did ten years ago. Since they are not the decision makers they used to be spending your valuable time building relationship with them is not productive. Rather, meet with that head of lending. Tell them you are new. Ask for their business & tell them why YOU will work harder to move their REO inventory. It's a good place & opportunity to learn to ask for "The Close"...something every salesperson has to learn. Also, REO business is easier, IMO. Then, follow-up on your visit with a written note & a dozen of your cards. If you haven't heard from them in 3 months...call again & this time invite him/her out to lunch. Ask the lender who they prefer as a title company, law office, inspector, appriser, etc. After speaking with half a dozen lenders, you'll start to get a snapshot of who's who in town. Then, spend your energy building relationships with those firms & leave the others for later. 2.) Builders...residential builders are really fun people. They were my favorite part of the real estate industry. They, however, are notoriously disorganized & rather poor at anything other than building. Get to know all of your SMALL, local builders (not the big guys...that's a waste of time, IMO, for you in the beginning). Go in with knowledge of their products & a plan to help them market. Keep your name in front of their face even if they currently have nothing to sell. Your building relationships at this point not trying to actually get a listing or make a sale. Builders love, love, love to bu##sh#t so allow a full half-day to meet with one of them! lol You'll learn more about your town's real estate industry in 3 hours from a local builder than six months in your office! 3.) Immediately begin attending the monthly Homebuilders's Association meetings in your area. This was absolutely THE best networking I ever did. 4.) Personally, I did not enjoy the monthly Realtor's Association dinners nearly as much as the builder's. But, you'll need to attend every month & force yourself to meet 3-4 new realtors at every dinner. More relationship building... 5.) Title companies can be tougher. But, I'd still recommend stopping by every one in town & dropping off your cards (probably won't get past the receptionist so leave them with him/her). 6.) My DH is an attorney as well as head of lending at a major financial institution. He works in NY. In NY, attorneys play a fairly large role in real estate. So, find out who specializes & go meet them with a dozen more cards. ASK for his business! He's got lots of clients who'll someday need to sell/buy a home. Also, then when you meet again across a closing table from each other it's easier to negotiate. 7.) Pick a FSBO (or two) & attend their Open Houses. Offer to prepare a CMA. Assure them there's no strings attached. Hope if they don't sell...they'll remember you. Leave 2 cards with them. 8.) A couple things I did over the years when I had a subdivision with a lot of homes I needed to sell in a single community... a.) I made arrangements to reserve the local community center for an evening. I prepared a speech on "Getting Ready To Purchase Your First Home". I advertised the heck out of my little speech (sponsored by my bank but you could ask your broker for sponsorship?). I had lots of hand-outs, coffee, soda, & cookies. I used the overhead with big color glossy pictures of smiling young couples holding little kids in front of their new home. I greeted everybody at the door & gave out business cards. Mostly, what I did was try to get those first-time homebuyers motivated to buy a home feeling that I'd land a few of them at my subidivison I needed to sell & it got my card in hundreds of hands! b.) I realized that I had to learn how to speak up at church, at the "Y" when I was swimming, at the grocery store as I stood in the check-out line, etc. & ASK for people's business. That's tough...the asking part. It a set-up for rejection & as humans we're resistant to it. You've got to lose any fear of rejection you may harbor down way deep inside. It's easier to start with people you don't know too well (like at the grocery store?). Seriously, learning to ask for the close is going to be a make or break skill for you so practice whenever & whereever you get an opportunity. I had many people call me at the bank asking if we had any REO inventory for sale. I'd make an appointment with them & ask about what they were looking for. Then, I'd show them one home I knew they couldn't afford, one I was pretty sure they'd hate, & one I wanted to sell them. Most of the time...it worked. But, I had to ASK for the close! Practice on your family with mock-up situations...unless this is something that just comes naturally to you it's going to be where you need the most work. If you're a natural saleperson...then you'll know when to ask for the close. Good luck...you've made me giggle tonight remembering all of the properties I've sold...like the one near a "babbling brook" with the mushrooms growing on the basement walls! Sold it to a realtor who thought I was a luney-tune for selling it so cheap...thought she could wring the place out & flip it for a nice profit...guess who had the last laugh? hahahahahah Or, the one I sold to an "80 Something" single gent who rode around the neighborhood on his motorcycle wearing nothing but a loin cloth...made his neighbors very upset. I received many threatening phone calls at the bank. Wow, who knew? He seemed so nice at the closing! hahahahahaha It's a fun industry. You'll have a good time. Well, you'll have a good time IF you're a people person. If you don't love people then you'll be miserable. It's not about the houses...it's all about the people. Remember that & you'll do great. Tricia