A Day in the Life of a Realtor: Going Out on Caravan

To be a successful real estate professional, you need to know your inventory. For us here on the Westside of Los Angeles, that means we need to be familiar with the available properties on the market in all of the different neighborhoods – from Culver City to Malibu to Venice to Beverly Hills and everywhere in between.

We have different resources to keep us updated on new homes coming onto the market from our colleagues to the Multiple Listing Service (which we call the MLS). But the best – and really, the only – way to truly become well-informed on these available properties is to go on Brokers Caravan.

What is Brokers Caravan, you ask? It’s basically Open House for Realtors and it typically takes place every Tuesday from 11am to 2pm, when Realtors traverse across the Westside looking at those new homes that might end up being perfect matches for their clients.

This is the time of the week that is set aside specifically to get out of the office and actually experience these houses and condos that have hit the market. Just like most buyers wouldn’t dream of purchasing a home without first walking through the house to get a feel of the property, agents need to go through a similar process so they can relate to their clients whether or not they feel that this one particular home could be a match. A good Realtor will know their client’s taste and their must-haves when looking at homes on Caravan and be able to focus their client’s search on only those that have the best chance of being the right fit.

And while you might think otherwise, Realtors aren’t superhuman; they, too, get exhausted walking through and studying dozens of homes in a matter of hours. Just look at the toll it can take on even the most dedicated, hardworking agents:

It’s all worthwhile, though, when you walk through that home and you know exactly for whom it will be a solid match. Do you have any other questions about how Realtors learn about all of the properties available in your market? Feel free to ask them in the comments below.

Image courtesy of caccamo

Bikram Yoga Provides Toughest Workout Ever

Looking for a great workout? I strongly recommend a Bikram yoga class. It is easily one of the hardest workouts I have ever done.

After finishing the class, I was actually so tired I barely made it home. The hour-and-a-half classes take place in a swelteringly hot room (around 100 degrees) and consist of twenty-six different challenging postures. Bring a tall bottle of water to class with you — you’ll need it.

The specific series of postures are designed to warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons, in the order in which they should be stretched.

The founder of the worldwide Yoga College of India was Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury, born in Calcutta in 1946.

Did you know that Mr. Bikram practiced Yoga at least four to six hours every day at Ghosh’s College of Physical Education in Calcutta? Six hours a day!  The hard work paid off since, at the age of thirteen, he won the National India Yoga Championship. Pretty impressive.

For more information about the Bikram Yoga and locations around the world, please visit their website.  (Their main site is in Beverly Hills at Wilshire and Robertson — however, they are moving further south next month.)

Check out my video below of my painful but worthwhile experience. 

Do you know of any other exercise regiments as intense as this?  Let me know in the comments so I can put my body through even more pain once I’m done being so sore.

Image courtesy of Canon in 2D.

The Truth about Real Estate Agent Commission

We’ve found the right house, in a great neighborhood, and at the best price. We made an offer and now the house is in escrow, meaning that my client is merely weeks away from being proud homeowners. It’s at this point when my client — the buyer — asks me when they will be paying my commission. It’s actually happened to me more than once lately and it made me realize that the whole commission process can be a little confusing, especially for the buyer.

So, let’s break it down:

When representing a seller, the seller will sign a listing agreement with an agent. While there are no written laws determining how much the commission must be, most transactions vary between 5 to 6 percent of the purchase price.

So, assuming the commission is 5 percent and the purchase price is $1,000,000, the seller will have to pay $50,000, which will be split between both the agent representing the buyer and the agent representing the seller. So, $25,000 for each agent and the buyer does not pay a penny!

Let me repeat that: the buyer does not pay commission.

Buyers don’t need to sign a contract with a real estate agent to enlist their help; however, sellers must enter into signed contracts — usually for six months — with their listing agent.  Once the transaction is complete, the two agents split the commission based on the listing agent’s contract.  You only need to worry about paying commission if you’re selling your home.