Austin Apartment Guy asked:


Let’s talk about apartment locators versus apartment magazine publications. Are Apartment Locators really Free? The Answer is Yes Apartment locators in Texas are a Free Service. Apartment Locators get paid by by aparmtent communities out of their advertising budgets. It is much easier and more efficient for an apartment community to pay a Real Estate agent to bring them people than it is for them to use other advertising mediums etc.

Many apartment communties use paid advertisers such as the Apartment Guide, Apartments.com, etc as well. However the problem with these types of publications are plenty. For one these types of magazines are paid per subscription. Therefore will NOT speak with you about your Apartment search, cannot advise you professionally as to what you may want to look out for or what questions to ask the leasing agent when inquiring about their property. They simply want you to pick up their magazine and look at their out of date pricing info and go to as many apartment communities as possible and tell them that their magazine is what brought you in. Then the apartment guide or whoever’s sales people go into the office when it is time for them to renew and ask what percentage of their monthly traffic was there because of their magazine. Then at that point the publication’s sales people get the apartment communities to resubscribe with ease based on the percentage number of traffic created by their book.

The problem for the consumer with these types of publications is that A. The pricing info is usually months behind and inaccurate. B. They have no mention of any types of specials and in some cases void out more valuable specials that the apartment community may be offering hence why they offer typically a $300 rebate to their users. C. There is no advantage to a consumer to use one of these books to search for an apartment then just going out to look at them and driving around stopping at apartment communities without one. To find the right apartment you need detailed info on pricing and availability. These two factors in leasing change frequently.

Typically I will try and contact properties for a client as close to their move in date as possible in order to maintain the integrity of the info I get. As pricing and avaiability are subject to change at any time. But don’t get me wrong using an apartment locator can be the best experience of your life or the worst experience of your life. The biggest problems that clients have mentioned to me lately about their previous apartment locator experiences are as follows; I have had several; clients tell me lately that they have gone out with apartment locators who have tried to push $1200 apartments on them when they ask for $1000 options..?? This boggles my mind. I have no idea why anyone would do that other than trying to boost their own commisions. If someone starts showing you units outside your pricrange it should be clear at that point that there is a problem. Another problem that runs rampid with apartment locators in this city is the fact that there are so incredibly many of them and the fact that a large percentage of them are just people who were failing at life and decided to get their Real Estate Licenses. Many of these people have no intentions of doing this as a career and absolutely no idea what they are doing but are rather supplementing their time between classes as they go to school. Then effectivley the consumer ends up with a complete moron and usually ends up picking an apartment that is far from what their best option may have been.

When soliciting an apartment locator ask them how long they have been in the business or better yet ask them to estimate how many people they have leased in their time doing this. Anyone with less than 2 yrs experience simply is not going to be as efficient as one of us old timers. I have been in the business for a little over 8 years and have leased thousands of people. Another thing to look out for when choosing an apartment locator is the fact that 90% of the local firms are small mom and pop shops do not even have a searchable database in order to review your options. My company plugs your criteria into a database containing the most accurate pricing info in the city, and all of your options come up. Then I narrow those down to the most fitting and begin to contact them. Just because they are in your area, pricerange and you like them does not mean they have an apartment available for your timeframe. You have to call them.

Another problem with these small apartment locating companies is that many of them have a numbered amount of places that they can work with. This business is a contract based business. If you do not retain a Broker’s agreement with these properties in order to ensure payment then you have no reason to work with them. If that happens then for the consumer their options are limited to only places that pay their crappy apartment locating firm. Effectively they will only show you options out of the 40% of places that pay them and that may cut out alot of other places that would have been your options, immediatley. I know it’s not fair. But that’s the real deal. Our company works with 90% of the available properties for rent in the Austin Metro plex area. The other percentage would cover complete crap and/or private owner listings, rooms for rent etc. Apartment locators are not miracle workers although I have performed a few for some tough clients, and we do not set the market. We have nothing to do with pricing availability etc. We simply have the tools to analyze the market and hopefully the knowledge to find you the best place possible. If you would like more info on apartment options in the Austin Texas area or just more info in general regarding the leasing process or how apartment locators work then let us know we’d love to help you out. You can contact me (Austin Apartment Guy) @ http://www.austinapartmentguy.com/ anytime. Take care and good luck!!

Real Estate Pros asked:


Real Estate business has seen tremendous growth and so has been the need of Real Estate agent. Today more and more people are getting interested to become home owner and as the demand for real estate need increases the role of Real Estate Agent becomes more important. In the past one agent use to provide services to both seller and buyer but as the real estate market changed people started to realize that specialized service is more logical and beneficial. In Real Estate industry now buyer/seller are looking for specialized agents who can provide specialized related expertise, information and services required to complete the process. When a real estate agent represents both buyer and seller it really restricts agents to provide impartial service to either party.

Let’s look at the both (Seller/Buyer) scenario separately. A real estate agents who is a listing agent of seller has a fiduciary, ethically and moral duty to represent seller only.

By getting Exclusive Right to Sell Listing, the real estate agent is promising seller that he will live no stone unturned to market the home and find the best buyer at maximum possible market value for the home.

As a Buyer’s real estate agent he need to find the right home for buyer along with should all information of the community. When a buyer is exploring to buy a real estate property in new community, he is very much interested to find out several information related to that particular community such as population, crime, climate, schools, traffic, living standards etc. Buyer’s real estate agent should be well informed with all these information so that he can provide that information to buyer. It will be easier for buyer to make the decision based on these information. Once the buyer is ready to buy real estate property in the community then other part of the real estate agent’s duty starts. As buyer’s agent it is his responsibility to find a real estate property, as per buyers requirement. It is also buyer’s real estate agents duty to negotiate the best market price with seller.

So if seller and buyer are represented by their own specialized agent then both agents can play a partial and specialized role for their client..

So it is quite clear that one real estate agent representing both seller and buyer can not justify providing specialized service to both party. Both buyer and seller are in different need of services. That’s why specialized real estate service has become more in demand where buyer/seller can get impartiality specialized service during the process.

Never before has the role of specialists in the world of real estate been more important. With buyers and sellers requiring more services, the industry has seen an explosion of agents who specialize in either the representation of sellers or buyers. These specialist agents can provide a wealth of services and maintain a complete impartiality during the sales process as there is only one client to concern them.

Historically the sales transaction and the concerns of the buyer were the purview of a single realtor. However, as the industry has progressed so have the needs of each party and so the specialist arose. Buyers have some very particular needs, and specifically the need to feel that their best interests are seen to. Listing agents are representatives of the home’s owner and in that role they have a primary responsibility to that owner. How could they properly look after the needs of an interested buyer as well?

So what is it that a buyer’s agent does? Primarily the buyer’s agent will begin with the location of suitable properties for their clients. This is usually based upon a list of requirements and desires that the client has communicated to the agent. They will then arrange viewings and recap their findings with their clients and assist in deciding upon a good candidate for an offer. This will be based on the wealth of community information that a buyer’s agent commands. As specialists, they are experts on their given area which is critical in the education of clients on the areas that they are considering. Once a property is decided upon, the buyer’s agent changes significantly, evolving into an overseer-negotiator role. They will typically coordinate the inspections and conduct the negotiations with the listing agent. This includes the execution of the buyers subjects and the closing of the actual contract.

There is an art to representing a buyer. It is a role that has become ever more crucial in an industry where customer service is the single most important thing that an agent can offer. If you are in the market for a home then the buyer’s agent is the friend that you need to make sure that you are given the service that you deserve.