We expect to list our house for sale in the near future. The valuation based on Zillow is over $1.5 million as a guide to approximate valuation.

Am looking for a realtor with whom to list the house. Can anyone recommend a realtor based on personal knowledge or experience who we should consider as the listing agent? We are looking for professionalism and proven effectiveness.

Gimme house. I gib u 5000000000 nigerian zimbaws cash (3 us dollers)
Gud deal ok?

You really need to focus on realtors who specialize in your geographic area - especially your specific neighborhood. Take note of whose names you see on properties listed for sale in your area.

Zillow has it's place, but you cannot trust it for an accurate valuation of your home, especially in your price range. If there are few comparables in your area, the estimates can be way off.

You need to do some research to find the right realtor. Someone who works Ashburn probably knows nothing about property in Falls Church. Some areas in NOVA are red hot right now, and others are dead. Your realtor needs to have a really good handle on your local market. And you have to have at least some degree of rapport with your realtor.

So you can afford a 1.5 million dollar house but come on here asking for a Realtor recommendation. I call bs on this entire thread. People who buy and sell in the upper price bracket 800k+ do not come on a site like this at 11:00 at night seeking a referral. My guess is you are an agent and thought I will start a question let people comment then throw my name out there anonymously. Guess what this site hates Realtors. You are barking up the wrong tree. Pay your money to trulia and zillow and capture their leads and see where that takes you. Stay off of here. People will just mess with you for the fun of it.

Fair points made by the responders ...... thanks.

Why did I post on this forum? Simple reason: I posted a few weeks ago about needing to get rid off a 60" non-working projection TV and got a fair number of responses including a few that were helpful. I got rid of the TV in the process. So when I posted about realtor recs. it was in the hope that there might be a few responses that might be productive.

I know only one realtor well - the one who sold us the house some years ago. I would have liked to interview a few others. I see the names of other agents on sign boards around the area where we live but would have liked something more than just a sales pitch.

I have no agenda other than what I have outlined above. Am not offering the names of potential agents either for or against.

We live in Great Falls. The valuation on Zillow is obviously just a guide. It will need to be firmed up through a market analysis.

One other point: I understand that with the "big name" agents they are there to make the sales pitch and get the listing and thereafter one just has to deal with their minions.

Don't know if this is true but I have read this on other forums.

Any name you get from here will get flamed, but I did sell my house using Casey Margenau and it went well. He knows Great Falls well. He has a lot of ego and rubs some people the wrong way, but he gets the job done.

Yes, I have seen Margeneau's name around and he has mixed reviews for whatever reason.

One common complaint appears to be that he is somewhat inaccessible after getting the listing and one has to deal with his staff - who are of varying levels of competence - because he has so many listings.

Did you find this to be an issue?

The best realtor in my hood' is Debbie Dogrul. She is all over the place. Forgive her foreign name and look into it.

potential seller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One other point: I understand that with the "big
> name" agents they are there to make the sales
> pitch and get the listing and thereafter one just
> has to deal with their minions.
>
> Don't know if this is true but I have read this on
> other forums.

this is true for most realtors that have a team. everyone on the team pretty much has a defined role. the name you're hiring will probably not see you after the listing appointment.

We are currently using Casey Margenau to sell our house and we think he's great. We interviewed six agents, but felt that his marketing plan was the best around. We've sold many houses, and have never had a better experience.

His staff is great to work with, constantly keeping in touch and any time we've needed Casey himself he answered his phone. He's got an aggressive personality which may be offputting to some - but is exactly what you want in a realtor. We are in Great Falls, but he seems to be well versed in the entire NOVA RE market.

Casey is very prentious and will treat you like a child. If you're selling he'll spend time presnet his pitch to list your place and won't speak with you again - he has his people doing that. If you're buying and it's under $1.5M you'll get one of his stooges.

Interviewed six agent - really? Not buying it.

Be sure to look up DPOR to see who's been reprimanded and who may not be so ethical.

Details of license number 0225035363
Name: MARGENAU, NATHANIEL CASEY
License Number: 0225035363
License Status: Active
License Description: Associate Broker
Trading Name RE/MAX DISTINCTIVE
Business Name DISTINCTIVE REAL ESTATE INC
Firm License Number: 0226013608
Address: MC LEAN VA, 22102
Initial Certification Date: October 5, 1994
Expiration Date: October 31, 2014


Closed Complaints File Number Disposition Date Case Closed Old License Number
2010-04807 No Disciplinary Action August 2, 2010
2012-02277 No Disciplinary Action August 30, 2012
2009-00072 Violation February 3, 2009

Got a Great Realtor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We interviewed six > agents, but felt that his marketing plan was the
> best around. We've sold many houses, and have
> never had a better experience.

Are you comfortable sharing the names of any of the other agents you interviewed?

We've used June La Marca with ReMax multiple times over the years and she truly goes above and beyond to help sell the home, help stage the property, and follows up with EVERYONE that the home is shown to as well as gave me full reports over email. She's fantastic and each time, has sold my property in less than 30 days for the asking price.

You should look her up and talk to her. Since the price is high on the home, she may potentially sell it for a discount rather than the typical 3% to save you some money.

Rob Carney is your man:

http://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/associate/180-a-764-4009972/rob-carney

http://rob-carney.com/

I used Casey and did not like it much- only saw him once,then after that I think it was his brother in law or something, it is all about ego for him, he likes doing the you tube tour, cause he likes to be on camera, would not recommend him, no service

Want a quick turnaround call thre Ron Rush Team at Long & foster in Fairfax !

BestRealtor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The best realtor in my hood' is Debbie Dogrul.
> She is all over the place. Forgive her foreign
> name and look into it.


Get ready for high pressure sales tactics with this one. Not to help sell your house, just to get your listing. Never even talked to her just got some little fast talking salesman giving me a pitch and then telling me I'm going to get ripped off when I didn't list with him, hahahaha, sorry for your luck dick.

[Yes, I have seen Margeneau's name around and he has mixed reviews for whatever reason.

One common complaint appears to be that he is somewhat inaccessible after getting the listing and one has to deal with his staff - who are of varying levels of competence - because he has so many listings.

Did you find this to be an issue?]

I did not find it to be an issue. When I called with a question, yes, I did always get shunted to an assistant, but on the occasions when I said that I wanted to talk to Margenau personally, he called me back within a hour or two.

OP - If you believe that they are worth about $90,000.00 in fees, go right ahead and give them your money. If not, FSBO it!

http://fsbo.com/home.aspx

Potential Seller - we intervied Dan Laytham, Diane Von Valkenberg, Bob Nelson, Joan Peters and Penny Yerks. Most of them were fine. One of them my husband said he'd refuse to work with. We chose Casey not because we want him to be our best friend, but because he was the best qualified.

As for "actions" - try running your own business for 25 years and not having at least one complaint filed againt you.

That said, Lives In Burke. I hope your real estate business is going well.

We have no personal ties to Casey. Ours was purely a business decision. His team has been fantastic and quick to response. The team member we deal with, Lita, is a 10 plus. Having our property at the top of lists like Trulia and Realtor have been really helpful - Casey pays to upgrade the service so his properties get priority. We have never had a problem having him call us back, but Lita is in constant communication with us and answers 99% of our questions anyway.

My only advice would be don't hire the agent you'd like to have over for Thanksgiving dinner. Hire the one you think will get the job done.

MARGENAU ","NATHANIEL ","C","045"," 7302","PETER ","PL","MCLEAN ","VA","09/21/2004","DOMESTIC ASSAULT "
"MARGENAU ","NATHANIEL ","C","048"," 7302","PETER ","PL","MCLEAN ","VA","06/05/2007","55-59MPH/35MPH ZONE "
"MARGENAU ","NATHANIEL ","C","050"," 7302","PETER ","PL","MCLEAN ","VA","01/09/2009","50-54MPH/35MPH ZONE "
"MARGENAU ","NATHANIEL ","C","050"," 7302","PETER ","PL","MCLEAN ","VA","04/21/2009","IMPROPER LANE CHANGE "

Scott Shawkey handles homes in your area and price range.

I believe Lillian Jorgenson is the top realtor in the Fairfax area for upscale homes.

JD Callandar is the top overall salesperson in the area. She has properties in the 1+ million side of things as well as the 500k-1 million range.

"Got a Great Realtor", thanks for all the information.

I am familiar with three of the names you mentioned as having interviewed. I think I have enough to work with at this point. All other things being equal,we'd likely go with the agent who helped us buy the house if for no other reason than just loyalty. But it helps to have some sense of other agents who are well regarded.

You are of course correct that the goal is to find an agent who gets the job done though some personal chemistry is also necessary.

A couple of the agents mentioned by others may be good but their profiles do not suggest that they are familiar with the Great Falls area and the price range.

Mike Manzs, I'd love to save $90K in commission but FSBO has risks and downsides that I am not comfortable taking. For a start, I don't want to show the house to anyone who is not financially capable of buying the house ... something that a buyer's agent would screen. Also, there are basic security issues involved in having someone off the street coming to our house .... so the savings are inviting but unfortunately I don't see a way of getting around paying the commission. Just a cost of doing business, I guess ........

$90k is a lot of money. How much to you make in a year -NET? If you are still living in the house, how much screening do you think a buyer agent actually does? They are still coming in your house anyways. Be real. They are not looking at W-2, credit scores or criminal background checks.

Go the FSBO way. It is work, but you save the money. I did, but up to you.

^ Dumb idea, for many reasons, not the least is that other realtors won't show the house of a cheap PITA FSBO.

Just a note about a few previously mentioned agents and some other thoughts. (side note: i previously worked in real estate at three different brokerages)

JD Callender does not have a team doing her work, she's out there hitting the pavement. She has an assistant mainly to make sure the paperwork is all handled and to help cover client needs when two things come up at once, but she is not in the business to build a team. She knows Mclean and Falls Church really well.

Debbie Dogrul does not actively participate in any transactions, her face and name are basically the name of the company. She does not do listing appointments, open houses, etc. She certainly put in a lot of time when she started, but as things grew and more agents were needed she had to become more of a manager. Other teams that do as much business as hers operate the same way out of necessity.

When you deal with high volume agents and teams you don't get as much personal attention, but your house will be marketed much more effectively than if you work with a solo agent who has to pay all of the marketing expenses out of pocket. Someone like JD or the Dogrul team will give you a staging consultation, send over a professional photographer, make color flyers, send out postcards, etc. A solo agent won't want to pay for all of that up front they'll wait until your house sits for a while and then say you should pay for new paint, etc to help it sell.

Zillow and the like are not accurate in our area at all. Please ignore them. Homesdatabase.com is a great place to look up comparable properties as it is linked directly to MRIS. Also, check out rbintel.com for the latest real estate stats, it's the source agents go to for stats to use on listing appointments and in marketing materials.

Selling on your own is very tricky and deceptively time consuming. If you don't work and can respond to inquiries quickly, your home is in fantastic condition in a desirable neighborhood then you can certainly handle it (just pay a small fee to get it listed in MRIS so it shows up to realtors and shows up on the automatic emails realtors set their buying clients up on). Otherwise you will just waste a lot of time trying to do it on your own. Sometimes you need to admit when you should just let someone who specializes in something take care of it for you.

....... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When you deal with high volume agents and teams
> you don't get as much personal attention, but your
> house will be marketed much more effectively than
> if you work with a solo agent who has to pay all
> of the marketing expenses out of pocket.

I guess this is the part that I am not familiar with since my only exposure to agents in this area was when we bought our house. The agent was a solo business though since then she has teamed up with a couple of other agents.

Given that my ultimate goal is to sell the house in a reasonable time-frame at the best price possible, what should matter is who can best accomplish that goal irrespective of the organization structure of their business.


> Zillow and the like are not accurate in our area
> at all. Please ignore them. Homesdatabase.com is
> a great place to look up comparable properties as
> it is linked directly to MRIS. Also, check out
> rbintel.com for the latest real estate stats, it's
> the source agents go to for stats to use on
> listing appointments and in marketing materials

I am familiar with Homesdatabase but not with rbintel so thanks for that information. Unless I am mistaken the former is rather like realtor.com but with an emphasis on this area of the country. Do either provide the type of information that would enable one to perform market analysis independently?
>
> Selling on your own is very tricky and deceptively
> time consuming..................
Sometimes you need to admit when you should
> just let someone who specializes in something take
> care of it for you.

I have rarely seen a home that is priced well over a million dollars, even listed as a FSBO. I am not contemplating doing this but even if I did, to improve its chances of selling, I'd want to make sure that an agent who introduced a buyer would get something for his/her efforts so at most, I'd save the 3% commission on the listing side. The savings would still be significant but I'd have all of the burden of dealing with inquiries etc.

My house is in a somewhat established sub-division and so the comps are guided to some extent by the pricing and actual sales of other houses in our sub-division and similar ones. I know the house next to ours sold for $1.3 million over two years ago when the market was quite depressed ........ and it was a house that needed a lot of updating. So while, I'd not hang my hat on the Zillow valuation, I suspect when a price analysis is done prior to listing the house, it will come out not too far off from what Zillow shows.

Thanks for your detailed and helpful response. I must say that the useful feedback I have received on this forum exceeded my expectations!

Get a market analysis from at least three agents. You would be amazed at the shoddiness of the work performed by many agents. There will likely be large discrepancies in the different market analysis that each agent offers. You will then have to do your own homework to determine the valuation using what the agents have done as a starting point.

Keep in mind that agent's primary goal is to get the listing and move the house so that large commission can be collected. If you can be persuaded to sell a house for $10,000 less than it is really worth, the agent loses $200 or so and you lose $9800.

If it were me, I would make sure to stipulate that the agent must have a professional photographer take pics of the place. I have seen way too many really bad MLS pictures. Also, proof the MLS text. Some agents have problems with spelling.

I would also insist on a home staging consultation (which you may have to pay for, but it won't be more than $250-$500 dollars), and I would listen closely to what the stager says. I am constantly surprised at how many homeowners think that their home is just lovely - when it's really a dump. Money well spent.

More thoughts re your comments:

We are in full blown mode of getting the house ready to list ... the usual interior painting, decluttering. The exterior will be painted, the deck powerwashed, carpets shampooed. We are doing a screen and recoat of the hardwood floors since they look a bit dull at the moment even though there are no scratches or other damage.

We have given a ton of stuff to charities as part of the decluttering process and also given a ton of stuff through advertising on Craigslist. Re CL, it is amazing how much stuff that one would think would need to be trashed can be gotten rid off on CL.

If we use the agent who helped us buy the house, she does arrange for a stager's services. The initial consultation is free and thereafter one has to pay for additional services. Not really sure what one gets for the initial consult.

There is a fine line between spending money to get the house to show at its best and not going overboard incurring expenditures that one will never recover upon the sale. I guess much of this sort of prep work is to make the house inviting enough to a prospective buyer.

I'd love to see an instance on the MLS of what you would deem a well photographed presentation. Just to use as a benchmark ...... to be honest, I have typically not noticed any marked difference in images on a MLS listing. But I am sure that is a factor since I know that some of the successful agents do use a professional photographer.

"Thanks for your detailed and helpful response."

I'm glad that I could be of some help!

Homesdatabase is not the same as realtor.com. Realtor.com has a little more lag time for updates and since it's for the whole country it's really just kind of a mess sometimes. There also are tons of ads for realtors on there which I think is distracting. Homesdatabase is exclusively linked to the MRIS which covers dc, md, and northern va in addition to west va, parts of pa, etc.

Homesdatabase does not include information about sold homes individually, only real estate agents have access to that information through MRIS. You can also pull sold prices through the tax record, but the problem is that the sold prices listed there do not include any rebates the seller might offer the buyer, MRIS has a breakdown of the contracted sale price and any seller subsidies that were a part of the final contract.

Here is an example of a well photographed townhouse: http://www.homesdatabase.com/homes-for-sale/VA/FAIRFAX/22030/10599-MASON-PARK-CT-85505546

A well photographed luxury listing: http://www.homesdatabase.com/homes-for-sale/VA/MCLEAN/22101/6035-RAMSHORN-PL-71264621 (Washington Fine Properties is an excellent brokerage by the way for high end properties)

Here is a a not so great listing: http://www.homesdatabase.com/homes-for-sale/VA/ANNANDALE/22003/7700-KILLEBREW-DR-86827232

Poor listings aren't always the realtor's fault. Sometimes there is no one living in the property so there's no furniture, or the homeowner doesn't have any funds to help pay for cosmetic updates , etc.


You could also contract the photos yourself through mouseonhouse.com they also mock up a floor plan of your home that you can link to. It's a pretty neat service. I'm not sure how much they charge non realtors.

I also agree with interviewing multiple agents. Even if you don't use them you can ask lots of questions and get free info. At the very least ask all of them for an MRIS print out of recent sales in your neighborhood so that you have the hard sales info in your hands. That's what buyers will base their offers off of.

As I mentioned before I worked in real estate for a while in a variety of capacities and while there are some really great agents out there, the process for getting a real estate license is too easy and there are just way too many agents out there. If you work with a great one it will make the process so much smoother. It also helps a lot when the agent representing your buyer is great too. A good buyer's agent keeps their clients calm and doesn't let them freak out over things at the last minute like a outlet cover that's mismatched or a window that sticks a little, etc.

....... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...

> Homesdatabase does not include information about
> sold homes individually, only real estate agents
> have access to that information through MRIS. You
> can also pull sold prices through the tax record,
> but the problem is that the sold prices listed
> there do not include any rebates the seller might
> offer the buyer, MRIS has a breakdown of the
> contracted sale price and any seller subsidies
> that were a part of the final contract.
>

How are such "rebates" to buyers even legal? We had agents pushing but seemed sketchy to me if not outright fraudulent.

And why would you do it versus just reducing the price by the same amount? I can understand why agents would like them since they drive the price and, as you note, comparables higher, but I don't see the benefit to seller/buyer otherwise.

Those are beautiful listing photographs. The "not so great listing" is actually much better than a lot that I see. Some of the advantages of professional photography: the photographer will have a wide angle camera that will capture much more of a room. It's hard to stress how important this is without photos, but try taking pictures of your bathroom for some idea; a professional photographer will use lighting techniques that are far better than a lay person could accomplish; a professional photographer will highlight the special areas of your home in the most favorable light, not just - for example - a dark empty bedroom. Given their value, professional real estate photographers are worth every penny of the relatively little amount that they charge.

In terms of staging, you will be told during the initial consultation: what to get rid of before listing, which will probably be a lot more than you thought (general crap, your flowered 80s sofa, dated swag window treatments, ...), what to clean better than you've ever cleaned before (it's really easy to miss things you see everyday), what to 'neutralize' (e.g., your kid's bright pink bedroom, dated brass fixtures, ...), and what features to highlight in your home and how to do so. You have to keep in mind that it's not personal; the stager is telling you what you need to do to maximize the value of your home. The stager's role might end there - or you may need more help to get your home in shape.

Hope that helps.

Lots of helpful information and I thank you for it. We went out today and checked a couple of open houses - the agent was one of those named earlier. Admittedly, these were listing prices but I must confess I was surprised at the variance between the ask on these homes given the similarities between the two homes. Of course, it could be that the listing price may have been at the seller's insistence.

....... Wrote:
> As I mentioned before I worked in real estate for
> a while in a variety of capacities and while there
> are some really great agents out there, the
> process for getting a real estate license is too
> easy and there are just way too many agents out
> there. If you work with a great one it will make
> the process so much smoother. It also helps a lot
> when the agent representing your buyer is great
> too. A good buyer's agent keeps their clients
> calm and doesn't let them freak out over things at
> the last minute like a outlet cover that's
> mismatched or a window that sticks a little, etc.

I have purchased five houses over the years and I can attest that having a great agent makes all the difference in the world. Only one of the agents was IMO sub-standard so I have been generally fortunate with the agents I have had to date. In fairness, I must add that in three of the cases the houses I sold before buying the next home, were through relocations and essentially the relo company bought the house and paid me my equity in the home.

BTW, awesome pictures though the luxury home did look almost like a museum!

More Thoughts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In terms of staging, you will be told during the
> initial consultation: what to get rid of before
> listing, which will probably be a lot more than
> you thought and what...........................
> features to highlight in your home and how to do
> so. You have to keep in mind that it's not
> personal; the stager is telling you what you need
> to do to maximize the value of your home. The
> stager's role might end there - or you may need
> more help to get your home in shape.

We have been visiting open houses in the price range of our house to get a sense of how these homes have been "staged". It has been a helpful process in assessing what we need to do to get our house ready. We have been pretty merciless in getting rid of stuff partly from a standpoint of staging the house and partly because we would like to be selective about what we take with us down the line after we sell the house. You are certainly correct in terms of the amount of useless or redundant stuff that we have accumulated over the years.

One other question: I lean against more than one or two open houses after we list the house. My rationale is primarily based on all that I have read that open houses are really more in the way of a marketing tool for agents and rarely does a house sell directly as a result of an open house. I know that I have never bought a house through such and event and I am not aware of anyone I know who has done so after attending an open house. Am I right ... or do open houses really enhance the likelihood of a house selling?

Working in a real estate agency makes it easier to find clients. The agency has an office, there is advertising, there is an image. The client comes in from the street and finds himself in the zone of increased attention of a single realtor.

Hello, it's an axiom of the real estate business that luck is a follow-up, especially when it comes to buying something as significant as a house or building. Lead agents develop strong relationships with buyers and sellers by following up after the transaction and staying in touch. Long-term relationships are built on trust, and trusted agents will see clients return when they need the services of a real estate professional. Many realtors make the mistake of losing contact with a client after a deal has been made. By the way, https://www.fastexpert.com/blog/why-real-estate-agents-fail/ has a very useful article about the main mistakes that realtors fail.

Leandro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello, it's an axiom of the real estate business
> that luck is a follow-up, especially when it comes
> to buying something as significant as a house or
> building. Lead agents develop strong relationships
> with buyers and sellers by following up after the
> transaction and staying in touch. Long-term
> relationships are built on trust, and trusted
> agents will see clients return when they need the
> services of a real estate professional. Many
> realtors make the mistake of losing contact with a
> client after a deal has been made. By the way,
> https://www.fastexpert.com/blog/why-real-estate-ag
> ents-fail/ has a very useful article about the
> main mistakes that realtors fail.


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