Blog with MAE Capital

Real Estate’s Dirty Little Secrets

January 23rd, 2018 5:00 PM by Gregg Mower

 

As a Real Estate Broker who has been in the industry for the last 33 years I have learned several tricks and secrets that other Brokers don’t want you to know about.  I want to share them with you as I have learned to save my clients money using the secrets other Brokers don’t want you to know about.  In Real Estate everything is negotiable and that is the first secret I will share with you as that will be theme of this whole post.  We will cover how Agents are paid and how loan officers are paid, as knowing this will help you negotiate and choose the best firm and Agents to work with.  We will explore the various other aspects of Real Estate like how the financing works and how you can bundle the services from one company to save thousands of dollars.

Let’s start with selling a house.  If you are considering selling your home, you should know that when you talk to an Agent about listing your home that he or she’s commission is negotiable.  The Agent will tell you that the going rate is 6% or 5% but the dirty little secret here is that there is nothing written in stone.  If you did a little research you could find a company like MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan that can that can save you thousands by bundling Real Estate services you will need anyway and receive a discount on the commission you pay to sell your home leaving you with more money to buy your next home.  If you are dealing with a “Big Box Real Estate Firm” you may not be offered this option as they are not allowed to negotiate like that and may not offer all the same services, but the smaller firms can.  Another little secret is that when you list your home for sale whether it is with a small Brokerage or a large Brokerage the way your home is marketed is exactly the same.  Your home is listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that is a digital service that every Realtor has to belong to.  So, if you think your home will be seen by more Agents if you list it with a large firm you would be mistaken.  In fact, smaller firms generally have strong roots in the community and those Agents that work for these firms understand that they have more ways to serve their clients and save them money.  Another secret is that when listing your home and you know you will buying another one the same Agent who listed your house for sale can sell you your next home and when doing so can now accept a lesser of a commission on the sale of your giving you more money to buy your next home.  Here at MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan this practice is common place.

This brings us to Buying a home.  Did you know that you don’t pay your Agent to represent you when you are buying a home?  It’s a fact, the seller pays commissions to the Listing and the Selling Agent as per the listing agreement already completed before you ever saw the house.  This is why, as the seller, you will have to pay something to sell you home or you won’t get anyone to show the house.  So as a buyer, either moving up or a first-time home buyer, you should always have representation.  Did you know that if you go directly to the Agent who has the house listed it won’t save you any more money as a buyer?  This is a common myth when looking to buy a home, as what you don’t know is that the Agent who has the house listed for sale has already made arrangements with the seller for their commission, in fact, in that scenario it might end up saving the seller money and not you as the buyer.  In Real Estate in California the Agent has to look after the seller’s best interests first, that is the law.  So, knowing this will put you at the advantage as, if you remember, everything is negotiable and if you have the right Agent they should be able to negotiate a better deal for you than the Agent representing the seller could by law.  The trick is when you are selling a house and buying another is to work with a MAE Capital Agent as they will bundle their services and take less when they sell your home leaving you with more to buy the next home if they also represent you when you buy your next home, this is called service bundling.

The next aspect of the Real Estate transaction is the financing.  This is probably the part of the transaction that you will be least knowledgeable about as you can’t see a loan like you can physically see a house.  This part of the Real Estate transaction is the part most people are afraid of and have no knowledge of how it all works.  I’m not going to teach you how the financing works, but I will teach you the secrets that your Loan Officer doesn’t want you to know about.    Again, going back to our theme of everything being negotiable, you guessed it, the financing is also negotiable.  Most people don’t realize this as the laws have changed to where Loan Officers and companies have to set their fees up in advance of disclosing to you.  This is where you have the advantage as you can easily shop an interest rate and fees to get the best deal.  Going back to small shops verses large shops, the same holds true for Mortgage companies.  The large Mortgage shops are far more restrictive when it comes to negotiating fees and interest rates than smaller shops and the reason for this is the regulators who the companies report.  A dirty little secret is that most of that larger Mortgage Companies in California are licensed under the Department of Business Oversight(DBO) which means they don’t have the same restrictions that the smaller companies that are Regulated by the Bureau of Real Estate (BRE).  The secret is that if the regulator is the BRE the Mortgage Company under them can only make a total of 3% in fees and commissions whereas the Mortgage company regulated by the DBO can make unlimited amounts of money on your loan thus they are generally higher in interest rates and fees.  Choosing a Mortgage Company under the BRE that can provide multiple services translates to you not only having a lower mortgage payment but also lower costs to get that loan.  At MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan, we are regulated by the BRE and thus ours rates and fees are less than any of our DBO competitors before we discount anything.  Here is a secret that will save you thousands, and you can quantify it. If you use MAE Capital to Sell and Buy your next home and use our financing without any discounts you would be better than our competition in fess and costs and monthly payments, however, the reason for sharing this is to show you how we do use discounts to save you additional money.   Having the ability to have Listing, Selling and Loan Agents under one roof will not only save you time it will save you money, we are here to help.

I understand you have choices when you need a Real Estate Service or services, I wanted you to learn some secrets and tricks to save money whether you use MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan or not.  I am a firm believer in empowering my clients to make informed decisions.  If you are reading this blog then you are one who researches and fills your brain with knowledge before you make any big decisions.  You are the smart one as most people follow the leader like sheep and you know where that leads you (to the slaughter house).  Here at MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan we pride ourselves on serving our customers and they keep coming back so we must be doing something right.  When you talk about experience and the ability to think outside of the box that is what we are and sharing the secrets of the trade is just one way of keeping our clients informed.  If you need further assistance with one or a bundling of our services, we would love the opportunity to show you how we do this Real Estate and Loan Business.  www.maecapital.com 916-672-6130  


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MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan

CA DRE #01913783|NMLS #806170

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Rocklin, CA 95677