listings Archives - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Sellers – Ask to see an MLS Portfolio

September 12, 2012 By Chris Butterworth

So you’re thinking about selling your house, and you need to find a highly qualified Realtor to help.

On one hand, you want to work with somebody who’s going to give your house as much attention as you do. After all, this is your home – the place you’ve shared thousands of memories with your family and personalized with your own style. Your Realtor should love your home, show off its highlights, talk it up, and make everyone else love it as much as you do, right?

On the other hand, aren’t all Realtors mostly the same? Yeah, yeah – they put the house in the MLS, wait for an offer to come in, and show you where to sign the paperwork. It doesn’t matter whether you call the girl who used to work in your office, the guy you saw in a magazine, you sister-in-law’s best friend, or the guy who sold the house down the street, right?

Uh, wrong.

If you interview more than one Realtor, you’re doing better than most people out there. Even then, though, most Realtors sound very similar. They’ll all tell you they provide excellent customer service, post your home all over the internet, know how to get you the highest price, and have a buyer already in mind.

Ask to see a MLS Portfolio

Anyone can TELL you all the great things they do, but their actual MLS listings may say otherwise.

Photos

The single most important part of your listing. Potential buyers are out there, sitting at their computer (or smart phone), devouring pictures of homes. They’ll decide they like a house, or dismiss it out of hand, within seconds of seeing a couple pictures. And yet, a large percentage of MLS listings have less than stellar pictures.

dirty or cluttered kitchens
messy bedrooms
terrible lighting – too dark, too bright, or a flash bouncing off a mirror or window
multiple pictures of a small closet or narrow hallway
people or pets in the pictures
and worse!

Why would you trust your home to someone who has publicized bad pictures in the past?

Description

If a potential buyer gets through your pictures and hasn’t dismissed your home out of hand, then next thing they’ll do is read your description. You want your home’s description to be compelling and honest, and to highlight the great things a buyer will love about your house. You don’t want:

misspellings and typos
ALL CAPITALS
boring copy
over-the-top exaggerations

Maybe the Realtor isn’t a very good speller; maybe the Realtor just doesn’t pay attention to details. Either way, if their past listings have descriptions that turn you off, what makes you think yours will be any different?

Details

OK – the photos were great, and the description copy was compelling. Now the buyer is looking at the details – the final cut. This is where accuracy and attention to detail can make the difference between “we really want to see that one” and “it’s not right for us because of xyz”:

number and state of bathroom so you might want to consider some bathroom renovations with bathroomexperts.ie
square footage (of home and of lot)
school district, and local school
HOA information

Bottom Line

Statistically, it’s impossible for everyone to be better than average – half of all the Realtors out there fall below the median! Every Realtor you talk with is going to tell you all the great things they’ll do to sell your home. But take a few minutes to look at their prior work and you’ll see that actions speak louder than words.

It’s your home; it’s your choice. Ask to see an MLS portfolio.

Why your listing is on my website

March 3, 2012 By Jay Thompson

I get emails like this all the time from agents who wonder why their listing is on my web site…

Hello Phoenix Real Estate Guy. Can you tell me why you have my listing on your web site? This is my listing and you aren’t authorized to have MY listing on your web site. Please remove it immediately.

The short answer is because YOU authorized it when you entered the listing.

Apparently though, there are a number of real estate agents and even Designated Brokers that do not understand IDX (Internet Data eXchange).

How it is possible in this day and age for agents to not understand the fundamentals of IDX is mind-boggling. That Designated Brokers don’t understand it is… well, it’s incomprehensible. Yet many don’t seem to get it.

Given that, here is the long answer…

What is IDX?

IDX is the system and technology that allows agents and brokers to share real estate listings on IDX enabled websites. There are, according to ARMLS (Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service), “thousands of Broker/Agent Websites that display ARMLS IDX listings on the Internet”. If you need SEO services from seo companies for auto repair shops, you can check it out here!

So you see, not only is your listing displayed on my site, it is also displayed on thousands of sites in the Phoenix metro area (as well as national listing aggregation sites).

And that’s a good thing, right? I mean you are trying to get your listing sold aren’t you? You found your listing on my site — and so can potential home buyers. In marketing-speak that is called “exposure”.

But what if I don’t want my listing shown on other websites?

Easy-peasy, just opt out of IDX. You have two options:

In ARMLS, agreeing to display your listings via IDX is the default. If you don’t want your listings displayed on other IDX enabled real estate sites then you need to opt out of the program.

Option 1

For individual listings you can opt out of IDX by UNchecking a box when you enter the listing in the MLS. Here is a screen shot of the ARMLS listing entry “Export” tab: Feel free to check or uncheck any of the boxes you so choose.

See where it says, “Listing Export Options”? And under that is a checked box labeled “IDX”? Just uncheck that box, click save and that particular listing will not be sent out in the IDX data feed to thousands of web sites. I’d be sure to disclose to your seller however that your marketing plan includes removing their listing from those thousands of websites. They’ll probably want to know that. But, you’ll no longer be bothered with the fact that your listing is on my web site…

Option 2

If you are a Designated Broker, you can complete an opt out form and submit it to ARMLS to have ALL of your current and future listings removed from the IDX feed. Of note, opting out of IDX completely also means that you cannot display other brokerages listings on your IDX enabled real estate site. Please contact ARMLS for any necessary forms.

There you have it

*I* can’t remove your listing from my site. You authorized it to be displayed on my site, so only you can have it removed from the data feed that puts it here. If you don’t want your listing exposed to potentially thousands of prospective home buyers, go into the MLS listing and uncheck the box, or opt-out of IDX altogether. Just remember, you owe it to your sellers to explain what you are doing, and why you are doing it.

Of Note: The IDX providers that we utilize on our websites are authorized and approved by ARMLS and are fully compliant with all ARMLS IDX rules and regulations. If you have heartburn over how listings are displayed here, you need to take that up with ARMLS. We don’t change or manipulate the authorized IDX displays in any way, form or fashion.

Further Reading:
I strongly recommend reading the following web page and document. They explain IDX in detail. You owe it to yourself and your clients to fully understand how IDX works — it’s a HUGE part of Internet marketing in real estate.

ARMLS Web Page on IDX: Contains a ton of info on IDX. Please contact ARMLS to learn more about IDX if you’d like to know about their IDX Policy, IDX Data sets, and how to sign up for a free IDX product. You can call them, instead of us, at 480-921-7777. You can read this document about the ARMLS IDX policy, as well.

If you are an agent outside Arizona, your MLS and / or Association should have similar documentation available.

Hi, I’m calling about your listing at”¦ (insert random address here)

December 7, 2010 By Jay Thompson

Every day, every single day, we get calls that go like this:

Hi, I’m calling about your listing at 123 Main Street”

OK, that’s not our listing, but I’d be happy to give you some info on it”

It’s your listing, it’s on your web site. I’m looking at it right now.

Our site shows EVERY home listed for sale in the Phoenix area. Let me look it up for your real quick.

From here, the conversation can take several different directions.

The Disbelievers

Sometimes the caller argues with me, insisting that I am wrong, that we are the listing agents because they are looking at our site.

Trust me, I know what homes our brokerage has listed. There is a boatload of paperwork tied to each and every one of them that the State Department of Real Estate requires me to review and sign. Yet some callers will still all but call me clueless.

Here’s the first hint not every home shown for sale on our site is listed by our brokerage. Below is a screen shot of our Phoenix home search. See the “39,743 properties found” note? I can assure you that Thompson’s Realty does not have almost 40,000 homes listed for sale.

Here’s the deal:

Our site, like many other real estate agent / brokerage sites has what is called an IDX feed. IDX = Internet Data eXchange (why they didn’t call it IDE is beyond me. Trying too hard to be cool I guess). IDX pulls home listings from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and displays it on agent sites. Virtually every real estate brokerage sends and allows their listing data to be shared via IDX. Those that do not are, to be blunt, not very bright. You WANT your listings to be seen on web sites. As many web sites as possible. After all, the point in taking a listing is to sell it. Don’t believe me? Just ask your clients. I’ll bet you a ridiculous amount of money that any home seller asked will tell you that yes, they listed their home with you in the hopes of getting it sold, and they want the maximum exposure possible for said home. The internet is really good at getting exposure for your home.

The Angry Brokers

Calls I find the most interesting: Interesting in a “you’ve got to be freaking kidding me” kind of way, are the ones from angry real estate brokers:

Why is my listing showing up on your site!?!

Because you checked the box in the MLS to send it to the Internet.

I get that, but when I Google the address, your site comes up first. And I can’t even find my site at all!

Well, that’s your problem, not mine. It’s called Search Engine Optimization. Check it out some time.

This isn’t fair. My site should be number one for my listing. You must be cheating. I may file a complaint if you don’t take it down.

Knock yourself out.

Or even worse:

Why is my listing showing up on your site!?!

Because you checked the box in the MLS to send it to the internet.

What box?

The box where YOU authorize the listing to go out on IDX.

ID what?

Seriously. If you’re a broker and you don’t understand what IDX is and does, well, you may want to revisit your choice of careers.

The Misguided

These are the calls that can be very frustrating, or very rewarding – personally and professionally. The “misguided” are those that insist that “as buyers” they will only work with the listing agent. Their general thinking is they can “get a better deal” working directly with the listing agent.

Not. So. Much.

Trying to convince people that they need their own representation is most often an exercise in futility. While it seems stunningly obvious that the last person you want to work with as a home buyer is the agent that represents the home seller, making this point to most callers usually leaves me banging my head against the desk in frustration. Listing agents represent the seller, and the seller’s interests – not you the buyers interest. The listing agents job is to get the seller the most money they can. A buyer’s agent is supposed to get you the buyer the home for as little as possible. Why oh why a buyer insists on working with the seller’s agent is beyond me, but insist they do. I could ramble on for 10,000 words about why using the seller’s agent is a bad idea. Yes, it’s true that SOME (but certainly not all) listing agents will cut their commission if they “represent” the buyer. But that’s going to be maybe 1%, (2% if you are exceedingly lucky) of the sales price. A good buyer’s agent can easily save you that much, and quite possibly significantly more.

I’ll spare you the 10,000 additional words on using the seller’s agent. If you’re interested, here are two previous articles I wrote on representation / dual agency. I just re-read them, and if I may be so self-serving and biased, they are pretty good (with great insight in the comments as well):

Real Estate 101: Representation

On Dual Agency

In Summary

We show every (well almost every) home listed for sale in Phoenix on this web site. The only homes that aren’t shown are those where the broker, for whatever inexplicable reason, elects not to distribute their listings via IDX.

Our brokerage is not the listing broker for every home for sale in Phoenix. We’re planning Phoenix market domination, but we’re not quite there yet.

If you are a broker, learn what IDX is and does. (There’s a LOT of information available from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. Their site has good information about IDX in general.)

Any agent can show you any home, and represent YOUR interests and needs as a buyer. Choose your agent carefully, but chose YOUR agent, not the seller’s agent.

I added this last sentence because it gets this article to 1,000 words, exactly.