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5 Ways Real Estate Agents Deceive Their Seller Clients:-1. Dual AgencyDual agency is probably one of the worst things a Realtor can do for a client who wants to sell his or her home. With dual agency, the Real Estate agent attempts to represent you, the seller, and the buyer, all at the same time which is technically impossible. You cannot serve the best interests of both a buyer and a seller involved in the same transaction.The seller wants to sell for as much as possible, while the buyer wants to buy for as little as possible. Yet some agents will attempt to offer such a deal to clients because they can get a double commission from the sale.No seller would ever go for dual agency if they knew the real facts. But any Real Estate agent willing to try and play dual agent is probably going to be willing to paint it as a prettier picture than it is.These types of Realtors may use the same salesmanship skills to convince you otherwise, implying that the agent can serve the needs of both the seller and the buyer. Be warned – THEY CAN’T.In fact, in many states, there are laws requiring that a Realtor serving as a dual agent do nothing to jeopardize the interests of his or her client – which means the agent can say nothing on behalf of either party. So you end up paying commission for an agent that does nothing essentially.Imagine for a moment that you are selling your home. The real estate agent gets a phone call from the pretty internet advertisement they are running. Mr. & Mrs. Jones want to see your home. If you allow dual agency, the agent YOU hired will no longer be representing your best interests.What does this mean in the real world? Try the following:When the buyer makes an offer, and you ask the agent you hired what you should counter offer at they cannot answer. Remember they don’t represent you anymore. They can’t by law give you any advice.When the home inspection happens and the buyer wants you to fix X, Y, and Z your agent also will no longer be able to help you with guidance.Throughout the whole transaction, the agent cannot offer you any real estate advice.Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? You are paying a real estate agent thousands of dollars if not tens of thousands. Didn’t you hire the agent for their real estate expertise?Keep this in mind – your agent does not have to become a dual agent. They can work with the buyer and remain as a seller’s agent. What this means is they represent you and only you.Additionally, if the buyer wants their own agent, they can be referred to another agent who can help them.Trust me there are a lot of agents that would never consider doing a referral. Why? Simple – it would be taking money out of their pocket. You don’t need this kind of agent.Understanding agency law in your state is critical. Don’t make the same mistake so many people have made before you. A significant amount of real estate agents get sued every year because of dual agency.Dual agency is akin to an attorney trying to represent both the plaintiff and defendant in a lawsuit. Sounds silly, doesn’t it! There is a reason why some states have been smart enough to ban dual agency!2. Open HousesOpen Houses Are Not Necessary.Some real estate agents just love to express to their clients how fantastic open houses are as a marketing activity. This is, in fact, the #1-way real estate agents fool their seller clients.What they fail to tell sellers is the benefit is for the agent. Some unscrupulous agents will go so far as suggesting to their client’s open houses are necessary to sell a home.Folks serious buyers always schedule showings. This is fact, not fiction.With an open house, you invite many strangers into your home with no idea if they really want to buy or not. Nosy neighbors, others selling homes that want to compare, window shoppers and the unqualified.Worse yet, sometimes even potential burglars are scoping out your home – these are the types of people who come to open houses.Tons of real estate agents never mention the potential downsides of holding your home open to a bunch of deadbeats.Open houses can be a magnet for crime!So why do Realtors push open houses so much? Open houses can potentially be great for prospecting new buyers and sellers.Those other sellers looking to compare may need a Realtor to represent them. Agents can get business from open houses. Unfortunately, that business rarely includes actual buyers for YOUR home.Statistically speaking around 2 percent of all sales come from an open house. Yes, you read that correctly a lousy 2 percent.You don’t need an open house to sell your home. More importantly, you don’t need an agent who makes an open house the focus of their marketing efforts.3. Misleading on PriceSleezy Real Estate Agent.This is the oldest trick in the book. Every seller wants to think that his or her home is worth more than it is – it’s just human nature.While a good agent will give you an honest price, and be willing to explain why the price is less than you hoped it would be, a shady real estate agent will happily tell you your home is worth more than any other on the block.Unfortunately, once it comes time to sell the home, no one will buy it at that unreasonable price. But now the agent has your listing and knows it is only a matter of time before you are willing to drop the price.The most significant problem in such a situation is that you will probably get less for your home by overpricing it than you would have by pricing it competitively in the first place. An overpriced home sits on the market, gaining a stigma and leading buyers to assume there is something wrong with it.When you finally do drop the price to what it first should have been, no one bites. They only come in after you reduce it again – when it looks like too good a deal to pass up.History shows us over and over again that homes priced correctly from day one sell for the most money. In fact, in a strong seller’s market, you may wind up getting multiple offers that end up over asking price. If you overprice your home, you probably won’t see any bids.Do yourself a favor and look at the comparable sales presented by multiple agents carefully. The comps never lie people do! If one real estate agent is giving you pie in the sky figures, you can bet your bottom dollar they are lying to you.4. Saying Attendance at a Home Inspection Isn’t NecessaryExceptional real estate agents go out of their way to do their best for a client. A good agent needs to be ready and willing to represent you at all the right times, including during the home inspection.YOUR listing agent should be at the home inspection representing YOU! Unfortunately, it is a common practice for listing agents to skip out on the buyer’s home inspection.Some areas of the country this is prevalent. Here in Massachusetts, I see the listing agent at the home inspection about 60-70 percent of the time. That is 30-40 percent of the time; the seller is not getting proper representation.Your Realtor is not there to argue with the home inspector or to tell the inspector how to do his or her job. Instead, your agent should sit quietly and listen to all aspects of the inspection to gain accurate information on the state of your home.Buyers will often over-inflate problems with the home. Sometimes home inspectors will, too. But because your agent was there, he or she can give you the real-world perspective on the state of your home.Over the years, I have seen far too many times where small problems were made into much more significant issues by buyers. In fact, I have seen buyers exaggerate enough where you would call it a lie.Not long ago while I was selling a home in Bellingham Massachusetts, the home inspector told the buyer there were 3-5 years left in the life of the roof. I was there to hear this from the horse’s mouth.After the inspection, the buyer asked for a concession of a new roof. If I was not there to hear the inspector say the roof had years of life left, the seller might have been out of pocket thousands of dollars.This is just one example. I see home inspection problems being blown out of proportion all the time. The buyer’s agent is almost always at the home inspection. You should insist on your agent being there too.Be prepared to hear an excuse from a real estate agent who doesn’t attend like “there is too much liability for me to be present.” An attorney advised me not to go. Liability is never created by real estate agents who are there to listen. Liability is established when a real estate agent tries to be a second home inspector.5. Over Promising and Under DeliveringReal Estate Agent Who Over promises And Undelivers. Even the worst agents can still be useful salespeople – capable of spinning a yarn about what they will do for you, the results they will get and how smart it is to hire them. But a bad agent will tend to fall short on those promises.Failures on the part of a bad real estate agent often include things like:Poor communication. Your agent should be busy selling your home, which means he or she may not be available every time you call. However, a bad agent may rarely return your calls in a timely fashion, fail to tell you about important issues with your sale, and just be bad at communication.Promising marketing but failing to produce it. It takes more than a for sale sign and a listing to sell a home. A bad Realtor may promise comprehensive real estate marketing – including a website, social media, video tours, professional photography, brochures, etc. – but then only pursue a few of those channels.Terrible photos and videos. Today’s buyers expect clear, flattering images and often professional quality video tours. The agent may say he or she is going to deliver these things, but then you find that the listing includes shoddy pictures and poor quality video.Unfamiliar with your market. You want an agent who knows how to sell homes in your area.These are the things a good Realtor will do for their sellers. If you are selling your home make sure you look for an agent that has all of these qualities. Put them on your checklist and insist the agent is on board.Above all else don’t be deceived by a sneaky real estate agent that cares more about what comes in and out of their wallet. The best real estate agents always put the client first!Source:-5 Ways Real Estate Agents Deceive Their Seller ClientsThanks.

Find someone willing to sell their house.Buy it.Okay okay, that’s intentionally a little glib. Sure, that’s the bare minimum of what has to happen, but there are common ways to break down each piece into smaller pieces.“Find someone willing to sell their house.”One typically works with a real estate agent. This is especially recommended if you’ve never bought a house before — a good agent makes a world of difference.Just to drive that point home, I’m a relatively experienced real estate guy: I bought my own home, and over the years I bought four rental properties and sold one. Moreover, in Massachusetts (where I am) an attorney can automatically become a real estate broker, meaning if I represented myself I can technically share the broker commission. Practically, that means a 3% coupon off the price of any home. (And when homes run ~$500K+, we’re talking $15,000 coupons). Nevertheless, I still use a realtor for transactions — I forego that $15K+ coupon.Whether with the help of a realtor or not, you figure out where you want to live (on a neighborhood basis) and what you can afford. Then, you look at listings for homes that come on the market in those areas.How? Realtors have access to the “Multiple Listing Service,” or MLS. The overwhelming majority of house for sale find their way onto the MLS. You can think of it, almost, as the “house store.” If you’re the realtor’s client, you also get full access to the MLS.If not, you can go directly on websites like Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Redfin.com, or others. They only have access to a fraction (albeit a large fraction) of MLS listings, and I think they’re a little delayed to come on those websites. But it’s a practical alternative to working with a realtor.On the “figuring out what you can afford” front, you often work with a mortgage broker. This is someone who will look at your debts, assets, and income, and will also look at the mortgage rates offered by various banks. They are also familiar with mortgage regulations, which can sometimes catch you by surprise and make financing a particular home challenging.Early in the process, a mortgage broker can issue you a “pre-approval letter,” which is something that very simply states that, subject to representations you’ve made to the broker, you’re likely to be approved for a mortgage of whatever dollar amount. I’ll explain the significance of this in a bit.“Buy it”You found a house you like and you can afford. You write up an offer and send it to the seller (or most commonly, the seller’s agent). That offer certainly includes a purchase price, but it may also include “contingencies.”A contingency is something that gives you the right to cancel a deal. For example, two common contingencies are (1) a “mortgage contingency,” meaning you can cancel the deal if, despite trying, you are not approved for a mortgage, or (2) an “inspection contingency,” meaning you’re allowed to hire a professional and take a close look at the house. If the professional identifies any serious maintenance issues, you can revoke or revise your offer.With respect to a mortgage contingency, now perhaps you see the significance of a pre-approval letter. It takes a little bit of the risk out of an offer with a mortgage contingency. Without it, the seller doesn’t know if you’re just completely nuts, hoping to buy a home you have no way of affording. The pre-approval letter at least tells the seller that someone in the mortgage business has taken a quick look at this deal and gave preliminary blessing.Your offer is usually accompanied with a small amount of money — like $1000 — called “earnest money.” If your offer is accepted, that money is held in escrow by someone (usually seller’s attorney or seller’s agent).Let’s say your offer is accepted. The next step is to create a Purchase and Sale Agreement that spells out in detail how the transaction will proceed — especially the schedule. Most P&S Agreements also require the buyer to put down a substantial deposit, like 5% of the property value, upon execution. The significance is that if you pull out of the deal for a reason not covered by a contingency, you often forfeit your deposit.A typical closing date is approximately 45 days after the offer is accepted, but depending on everyone’s desires it might be shorter or longer. There might be other conditions, like the seller wanting to rent the property for a couple months after closing, which might be convenient for them and what’s going on in their lives.During this time, your contingencies (if any) resolve. You have your inspection, you work on getting your full mortgage application together, etc. A mortgage application is sometimes a giant pain in the ass, because you have to submit a lot of documents — bank statements, tax returns, etc.Finally, the closing day comes. You sit in a room and sign more papers than you ever thought possible.Then you get your keys. Congratulations, you’re a home owner!

Do you want some of the best advice on how to sell a home? Who wouldn’t?Selling your home will take some work, but just because it will take effort does not mean it needs to be any harder than necessary.By being smart about how you use your time and energy, you can smooth the way for a sale that satisfies your goals and lets you realize the full potential of your property.Below you will learn some of the best advice for selling a home. These home selling tips include pre-sale preparation for both the interior and exterior of your home.The following tips are tried and true – ways to make selling a bit easier and maybe even more profitable. Try a few out, or if you are a real go-getter, all of them! You are sure to see some benefits if you do.Be sure also to check out the link above that will also give you some great home selling advice surrounding the process, including picking a top Real Estate agent, pricing the home correctly, addressing needed repairs, and avoiding getting hung up on the small stuff.Let’s take an in-depth look at what to do before selling your house. Enjoy these best tips for selling a home!Selling Your Home – 15 Tips You Can Definitely Use1. Take care of your landscape.One of the first things you should add to your getting your house ready checklist is the exterior. Some of the first things buyers are going to notice as they pull up to your house are the landscape – lawn, plants, flowerbeds, etc. Now you don’t have to be extravagant, install a fountain or even hire a professional. You just need to tidy up and make sure things look neat and preferably alive if possible.Mow the lawn, trim your bushes and buy a few bags of mulch to pour in the flower beds to tie things together. In real estate sales, first impressions count. This is one of the simple improvements that will increase home value. Make it count!2. Remove clutter.One of the most cost-effective home selling tips is to make your home clutter-free! You want to maximize the perceived space in the home. The more clutter, the more uncomfortable things will feel. Go through everything and clear out all the non-essentials.One of the better ways of getting your home ready to list is having a donation pick up. Numerous charities will come to your house and take the stuff away you no longer want for FREE!Even if you don’t feel like going through all of your stuff and sorting them, you should at least put things away in places where buyers won’t be looking – so no cramming stuff into closets or the garage. Rent a storage space if you need to.You can search online for storage facilities near you to see where it will be most convenient to store your things.A cluttered home can make your home feel a lot smaller than it is. This is not a good thing when trying to get the most you can out of your sale. Today’s buyers like bright open spaces unfettered by an abundance of someone’s personal property.Keep in mind there is a significant percentage of the population who do not have vision. Make things easier on the buyer by giving them something they can visualize. Take a look at some of the top tips for clearing the clutter when selling your home.One of the things that will help sell a house fast is an uncrowded, clean space. It is all about a buyer seeing themselves in your home.3. Paint your interior if it needs it.Dark, dreary colors can shrink the perception of space. Old, stained paint makes rooms look decrepit. By painting with contemporary colors and ideally with a little insight from a knowledgeable Real Estate agent or interior designer, you can change the whole feel of your home.There is not another home improvement that will give you more bang for your buck than a fresh coat of paint. From a selling standpoint, it is important to stick with neutral colors.Remember selling your home is not about personal preferences but appealing to the masses. Stick with off-white and light creamy colors for maximum benefit. Sherwin-Williams offers some excellent interior home painting tips that are worth a look.4. Hire a great Real Estate agent.If you are noticing a trend here, that’s because there is one. Working with a professional to sell your home has many benefits and takes a lot of the heavy lifting off of your shoulders.An experienced Realtor can often sell your home faster and for a better price than you can on your own. This, in fact, is one of the most valuable tips for selling a home. Just make sure you hire the right agent!Before a real estate agent even begins their work of selling a home, they can be a great source of knowledge in pricing your home correctly. Without the right price, everything else you do will be meaningless! Don’t be like so many other sellers who put a pie in the sky price tag on their home. This is a sure recipe for failure.An exceptional local real estate agent who knows the market like the back of their hand is worth having in your corner.Here are some great tips on how to pick a real estate agent worth checking out. The article addresses what you should be thinking about when hiring a Real Estate agent, including important interview questions.Keep in mind that pricing a home properly is vital to your success, and some agents will intentionally mislead you just to get your business.Avoid this kind of agent at all costs! Nothing will prevent you from getting top dollar faster than hiring a real estate agent who overprices your home!5. Put up a sign in the yard.With all the emphasis on online marketing – which is critical, of course – it can be easy to forget about the basics.Putting a “For Sale” sign in the yard will let everyone know what’s going on and makes it easier for people to find the house. Some folks want to “keep their home a secret” for a multitude of reasons. This, frankly, is a mistake. Home sellers should never underestimate the power of real estate signage. Many homes have been sold over the years due to a sign.More often than not, this can happen with a person who was not thinking of buying but has always said to themselves if that certain home comes on the market, they would be interested. That home could be yours!One of the creative ideas I came up with years ago was incorporating Google this real estate address as a sign rider. Many buyers forget that they can Google the address of a home when they are in a neighborhood. A quick search on their phone will point them to the exact places I want them to go, including my website, video tour, and other enhanced marketing channels.6. Make sure your photos are exceptional.The pictures you post on your listing can make or break your sale. They are the first thing anyone sees. If you are not skilled at photography, and your Real Estate agent isn’t either, then hire a professional. It is worth the expense.Many sellers hire a real estate agent but don’t bother to check on one of the most important parts of the selling process – how does the home being marketed look online? This is such a vital consideration, yet so many sellers underestimate the importance.Your home’s photography is a gateway to a buyer’s perception of the property – good or bad! Want to see a quick example of really bad real estate photos posted online? Please take a look and keep in mind when buyers and other real estate agents see this, they cringe. It is Real Estate agents that market like this who give our industry a lousy reputation!7. Consider a video tour.The best Real Estate agents today are utilizing some form of video or slideshows, in addition to photos. Buyers like to take a tour before they decide to visit, which a video allows.Again, working with a professional here is important – either a Real Estate agent skilled in video tours or a professional who makes real estate videos. Do you want to see an example of what a professional real estate video tour looks like? Take a look at this video tour of 45 Camp Street in Milford, Massachusetts. Would you not agree that this is an exceptional way to market a property?Homebuyers will probably look at the photos first, but once they take a look at the video, it will seal the deal, and they will be scheduling a showing.8. Make sure you are marketing using all channels – particularly online.Old-school Real Estate agents can sometimes be slow to adopt new marketing channels, which is why you should hire someone who has a demonstrated ability to utilize the web.A Realtor with a website is great, but you also want to use someone who has a complete understanding of how to make your home shine online.Real Estate agents who have command of their online presence understand the importance of making your home “stand out” from the competition. Again it all starts with your photography.Without good photos, you can be all over the internet, and it won’t matter because your presentation will be lousy.Real Estate agents who really have a solid command of their advertising are also using social media to enhance their Real Estate marketing efforts further. Nearly everyone owns a smartphone today.An exponential number of these people use one of the major social media channels, including Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, and Twitter.If they are looking for a home and you have an agent marketing in these channels, you could see an increase in showing activity.9. Take advantage of good lighting.A bright, cheery home is more inviting to buyers. Let the sunlight in if you can, and add some better lighting if your home is dim.Even buying brighter light bulbs can help. One of the things I always mention to my clients is to make sure all of their curtains are drawn, and lights remain on when there is a scheduled showing.Again the presentation of your home is critical. Small things like lighting can make a big difference with no money coming out of your pocket!10. Consider a professional cleaning.A clean home is inviting to buyers, whereas a dirty home can turn them away faster than just about anything. The easiest way to know your home is spotless and looking its best is to hire a professional cleaning company.Make sure your kitchen and baths are spotless. Buyers will pay closer attention to these areas. Also, make sure your carpets are as clean as possible. If need be, consider having your carpets professionally cleaned. This is one of those things where spending a few hundred dollars can save you thousands by preventing the buyer from thinking they need to replace the carpets immediately.In fact, just last week, I had a client in Grafton, Massachusetts, who wanted me to list their home. After viewing the property, it was clear that it needed a professional cleaning before anyone set foot inside. A tenant had just moved out, and the owner did not realize it was not up to snuff.11. Make sure you repair the things that your Real Estate agent advises.Many renovations are arguably a bad investment for sellers, as it is hard to get your money back in the sale. But if your real estate agent advises that you fix some things, like faulty wiring, a hole in the fence, a leaking toilet, or a visible stain in the ceiling, you should do it. These are things that the buyer may balk at or demand a lower price because they feel immediate attention is needed.Secondarily when the buyer does their home inspection, more than likely, they will be trying to renegotiate the sale price or, worse asking to back out of the deal.One of the things I constantly stress to my clients is being well prepared for the buyer’s home inspection. This is the number one place where home sales fall apart. It only makes sense to address the problems beforehand. If you know about a problem, a good home inspector will more than likely find it.12. Address all odors. The smell is powerful and can easily drive someone away from buying your home. However, you may not even realize the smells are there.Ask an outsider you trust, like your Realtor, to let you know if there are any unpleasant odors – like pet or cooking odors – and address them before you show.Believe it or not, pet odors can kill a home sale. This happens because some buyers fear they won’t get rid of the odor once they purchase the house. Don’t take any kind of chance with home odors – remove them!13. Make your kitchen appealing.Many buyers are very focused on kitchens, which is why you want to make sure yours is reasonably appealing.Formica counter-tops from the 70s may need to be updated, and you might want to install a new appliance or two if the existing ones are in horrible shape. Most Real Estate agents will tell you that the kitchen is the most important room in the home.It makes sense as it is typically the place where we spend most of our time. Do what you can to make your kitchen as appealing as possible.14. Get organized.The people that are looking at your home are going to open every door, including closets and the garage.You may help your sale by making sure these areas are relatively organized. The better they look, the easier it is for buyers to imagine that they can fit all their things in the home.This again goes back to one of my previous home selling tips of DE-cluttering. Organizing your closets and garage should be done as part of the process. Anita Clark, a Georgia Real Estate agent, offers some fantastic tips on how to organize your closets when selling a home.You may want to also gather some boxes for moving and put excess “things” in them to make your home feel more spacious.15. Take your pets somewhere for showings.It is hard for pet owners to imagine sometimes, but some people really don’t like pets. As a dog or cat owner, you may not want to hang out with such people, but they might make a great offer on your home.Take the pets somewhere safe and comfortable, like friends. Having evidence of your pet, including their odors, can be a real turn-off to some people. Have a look at some of the best tips for selling your home with pets for some sound guidance.There you have it – these are some of the best home selling tips to get you on your way to a successful home sale! You now know how to sell your house.Additional Helpful Home Selling ArticlesWhy open houses aren’t needed to sell a home – learn why open houses are never necessary to sell a home. An open house is one of the least effective marketing activities.Don’t let neighbors sabotage your home sale – see what you can do to ensure the neighbors do not become a problem when selling a house.The ultimate spring home selling guide – get some solid home selling advice when you are putting your home on the spring market.Use these additional top home selling tips to make the right decisions when selling. Mistakes can happen very easily when you don’t follow sound advice.