So, an odd thing happened today….
I know that I have been really behind the times on social media, so these last few weeks I have been working on ways to improve that. One very nice past client had already put some nice comments on Yelp back in 2009 (thanks Victoria!), so I decided to start with Yelp.
Today, I took a look at my Yelp page and noticed that someone had given me a one star negative review. It has since been removed, but luckily I did a screen capture first. Here’s the review:
Click to enlarge
“Joe’s a really nice guy, but I was disappointed in his services when I temporarily worked with him before hiring someone else. The condos he showed me were the bottom of the barrel. One of the units was a garden unit with large, exposed pipes on the ceiling throughout the unit. As I walked through the unit I literally had to duck my head several times to avoid hitting the pipes on the ceiling.”
I couldn’t believe it and could barely remember the client as I worked with her briefly over 5 years ago. So, I sent her a private message via Yelp to see what happened.
Jen, I just noticed that you wrote what I consider a rather unfair review about me on yelp. I remember going out on appointments once with you and we saw the units in the area that you wanted in your price range at the time. I think this must have been 5 or 6 or 7 years ago, correct? I also remember them being terrible and discussing that at the time that there was nothing in your price range worth buying.
I am not sure why you would judge my services based on the places that we viewed based on your pricing and location criteria. I am confident that I told you that those units were not places that you should consider, but I do think that it is important to see a lot of places in one’s price range to get a good idea as to what is out there. At that time, in your price range in the neighborhood that you wanted to be, those were the places available. You never contacted me after the first outing and based on our conversation as to the places available, I assumed that you decided to not purchase at that time.
I apologize if you thought my service was lacking, although it comes as a complete shock to me. I believed at the time that there was a certain price that you were trying to stick with in a certain area and made the appointments to show you want was available.
Can you please reconsider your review as I Again think that it does not reflect my services, but those of what was on the market at the time.
On another note, I notice that you did end up purchasing a place. I hope you are enjoying it!
Best,
Joe
In the meantime, I did a little searching through her Yelp reviews and noticed that two days after my review that she recently reviewed another Buyer’s Broker, The Home Buyer Agents and wrote a very positive review. I also noticed that this was the first review for this broker under the current name, but that she had reviewed his company years ago when it was under another name. Odd that this new one was only a few days apart from when she reviewed me, but not a problem I thought at the time.
Still wondering what I had done to make her upset, I went through my past e-mails to and from her and still couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong. She was looking for a 2 bedroom condo in the $150,000 to $200,000 range in nice neighborhoods – a low price point for the Chicago area, especially in 2006. I searched the MLS and sent her over all of the listings on the market meeting her criteria and she picked the ones she wanted to see. I made the appointments with the listing broker, picked her up, accompanied her to the showings, and gave her my advice about the properties. From my e-mail records, it appears that we actually went out two or three times to see places. I printed and scanned all of the communications I have and uploaded them here: pdf of emails
Here’s the body of the first e-mail I sent her with the initial MLS search:
I wrote on January 24, 2006:
Jennifer, here are all of the properties on the market in the areas you are interested in from $150 to $200,000 that are not in highrise buildings.
As you will see, there are not a lot of decent choices out there at this time. The price point is a hard one to find nice places in these days.
When looking at the listing sheets, please note the floor that the unit is on. A good number of these units are garden units, which is usually noted by a G in the unit number.
After sending the search results, she picked the ones she wanted to see and we set out in the rain on a Saturday afternoon. Based on what we saw, I then revised the search and sent over more listings and she again picked out the ones she wanted to see and I scheduled the appointments. Well, you can read the rest if you are interested, but at no time do I remember it going poorly, other than the places available in her price range were dismal. After our last outing, I remember that she decided that she was going to continue to rent for the time being.
Ok, still not understanding what the problem was, I went back and searched the public records to see what she ended up buying. It turns out she bought a condo some eight months later for over $230,000 in a completely different neighborhood! Ok, it happens – people change their neighborhoods and price level all the time. Still, when I go into the MLS and look at the old listing sheet, something catches my eye on the selling broker. His name is Jeffrey Kropp, the broker for The Home Buyer Agents, the place that she had previously written a glowing review about. That’s fine, but the name sticks out to me for another reason.
So, here’s the meat of the story. Going back through the public records I noticed that a woman with my former client’s name was recently added to the deed of a condo with Jeffrey Kropp. Since this is often something that is done after a marriage when one spouse is added to the deed of a property owned by the other party prior to marriage, I went to my friend Google. From my research, it appears that my former client married her real estate broker, Mr. Jeffry Kropp, Broker of The Home Buyer Agents and is now giving his competitor (me!) bad reviews.
I’m floored! This sounds like something that only happens on a soap opera or to the Kardashians. I mean, who marries their real estate broker! What makes it stranger is that my previous client works for the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, advising clients on how to successfully use social media. What would her clients say if they knew that this is how she personally uses social media to trash her husband’s competitor?
I sent her a follow-up e-mail asking her for an explanation of her review and to confirm or deny that the two are married, and have yet to receive a response. She did however take down the review, for which I am grateful.
Well, that is how I wasted most of my day today. It makes a great story though!
Anyways, if you are a past client and want to leave a “real” review for my, you can leave it here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/buyers-advantage-chicago
Client pays less than 54% of 2007 sale price in Winnetka
During the first week of February, I closed a transaction where my clients purchased a beautiful home on about 1.7 acres of land in Winnetka. The incredible thing about this transaction was that my clients paid less than 54% of the seller’s 2007 purchase price. My clients paid $1,775,000 for the house that just a little over 3 years ago sold for $3,300,000! You can read about the sale in the Crain’s Chicago Business story below.
Even more incredible, this house was not a short sale nor was it bank owned. It didn’t have any cosmetic or structural issues, and was not neglected. In fact, even though he did not live there, the seller had made improvements to the house, kept up and improved the mechanicals, had a weekly cleaning crew clean it, and left it in such incredible shape that I only wish that all sellers where as thorough when turning over their house to the new owners.
I have been told by numerous real estate agents that when the house was first put on the market in 2007 that there were three offers within the first couple of days, all offering substantially higher than the $2.99m offering price. This seller paid $3.3m for the property, beating out the other two offers. I’ll bet the two “losing” bidders in 2007 are thanking their lucky stars today!
read moreMultiple Offers
Three of my last real estate transactions in the Chicago area and suburbs have been in multiple offer situations. While this has been prevalent for a while now with Bank Owned (REO) and Short Sale properties, none of these offers were on REO or short sale properties. I honestly can say that I have not seen so many multiple offer deals since the early to mid 2000′s.
In looking at the properties, it is clear to me that the multiple offers were a result of well priced properties with owners ready to sell. I had a pretty good idea when we toured the places that there would be multiple offers and was able to help my clients structure their offers to reflect that reality. Unlike the mid 2000′s, none of these places went for or above asking price. In one case, the owner took an offer that was 15% lower than the list price. We were able to work with the seller and meet their terms on a number of other items, while the other offer was unwilling to be flexible on non-pricing terms.
However, in most instances of a multiple offer situation, price is going to be the largest factor for a seller. With a well priced home, it is important to realize that the discount on list price is irrelevant if the house is already priced below its value. In that case, you will want to offer the strongest price possible based on your Realtor’s research of the home prices in your area.
Hiring a good Realtor with excellent research skills and a full knowledge of the market is as important as ever. In this real estate environment it often takes some help from an experienced agent to walk a seller through the multiple offer situation and come out on top.
read moreOpen House Thoughts
This past Sunday, I attended an open house with some clients in Chicago’s northern suburb of Glenview. The house had just come on the market earlier in the week and I thought it was priced pretty well. The weather on Sunday was pretty nasty, with the temperature in the mid 30′s and a steady rain. I figured it would be a pretty slow day at an open house.
Boy, was I wrong! In the hour that I spent in the house with my clients, there must have been 20 groups come through. It is a pretty large house, but since many groups had brought their children you can imagine how much of a circus the house looked like. I have since been told that there were over 30 groups through the house in the two hours it was open.
A couple thoughts about the experience – first, it shows me that if you price a house well, there is a pretty decent pool of buyers out there. Everyone is looking for a bargain, so if your price it as such, they will come looking.
Secondly, there is a lot of pent-up demand in this housing market. I think everyone that has fallen out of the market these past several years is starting to see rising interest rates and doesn’t want to miss out on the bottom of the real estate market. I heard another real estate agent comment that she had not seen an open house this busy since 2005.
I am not sure that this is a sign of an upcoming return of a normal market, but I do know that it shows that a well priced home will get a good amount of traffic. Hopefully sellers will take advantage of the opportunity and price their house correctly.