Why you shouldn’t
hire your brother-in-law to be your Realtor…
I love family as much as the next
guy, so I’m not knocking family. The reason I am writing this post is because I
have had a few recent transactions that have caused me to ponder the use of a
family member in a real estate transaction.
While this will apply to most
“brother-in-law” scenarios I would like to apologize in advance to the well
qualified, knowledgeable, full-time Realtor BIL’s.
Take a moment to develop a scene in
your mind. You are driving home from work on a Friday afternoon listening to
Bohemian Rhapsody and pondering all the beauty in the world. As you come to a
stop at the red light wondering whether or not this is the Cubs year to win the
World Series you catch a glimpse of a car fast approaching in the rear view
mirror. A 19 year old college student who is late to a sorority meeting is
texting her BFF about the Miley concert and what outfits they should wear. She
slams into you at 45mph and it all goes dark. You wake up in the emergency room
and can faintly here them talking about what the impact did to your legs as
they were smashed into the console and into the car in front of you…
This moment of terror seems like an
eternity as you start to envision your days playing high school football,
dancing at your wedding, playing golf on the weekends. You can’t make out what
the doctors have started to chat about as they huddle. You say a silent prayer
that you will be able to walk again…
Then you are faced with a dilemma.
You have a choice of two spine surgeons who will take on the task of repairing
your spine so you can walk again. The first is a well known and respected
surgeon who advises the state board on this exact procedure. People fly in from
all parts of the country to have him do surgery since he does 150 of them per
year and is really good.
Your second choice happens to be
your brother-in-law, he has just finished residency and has done this surgery
on a couple of computer simulations. His ultimate passion is fly fishing but
his father pushed him to become a doctor because they come from a line of
doctors. You think he is a nice guy but has a careless nature and a drinking
problem.
OBVIOUSLY you are going to choose
the world renowned surgeon to do the spine surgery and wouldn’t dare risk your
health or ability to walk just because your sister married this dude.
Yet I see folks all the time that
use a Realtor who does three transactions a year to list their current home and
represent them on the purchase of their next one. As I walk through the
over-priced listing that has 0% chance of selling I learn that the sellers are
related to the agent and thus agreed to list at this insane price. He told them
he could get it and I think he even believed it. He lives 130 miles away and
really hasn’t been tracking real estate lately because his real job is as an
accountant for a theme park. But they are family. And how hard is it to sell a
house anyhow? What both parties don’t know is that by entering so overpriced he
is not getting anyone to even consider his listing. In 2 months when he finally
does reduce the price those buyers have already moved into their new home and
school has started. A few people are interested in the new price but something
about being on the market for 65 days makes this listing look stale. So another
price reduction and 4 months later they are still paying the mortgage on this
house while trying to fix up the new house they bought to their liking. Since
Bro-In-Law didn’t know the market they were moving to either he didn’t realize
before they purchased that they back up to a section 8 approved apartment
complex. They now know after their 6 year old daughter brought a needle in that
had come over the fence into the backyard. The stress of 2 mortgage payments
and not feeling safe in the new home are really taking its toll on the couple’s
marriage and they now sleep in separate rooms. This may be a fictional story
made up on the fly but you catch my drift.
So maybe just maybe you should have
hired a professional. Someone who works day in and day out living &
breathing real estate as it constantly evolves. It has less to do with your
relationship with the person and more to do with how well they can perform the
job. Realtors get paid a commission on Real Estate transactions and the good
ones are worth every penny. They have dedicated their life to perfect this
craft and they consistently educate themselves so that they can serve your best
interest.
I’m just a mortgage guy and these
are just my observations from the field. If you are considering telling your
sister that you won’t be using her husband RickyTheRealtor and want a referral
to a high quality local agent feel free to reach out. I know plenty of them,
and none of them are with me on Thanksgiving.
Connecting people and homes, one loan at a time…
#MattTheMortgageGuy
916-529-7600
NMLS # 1088993
Thanks again Matt for your guest blog post.
