Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Realtors are not Travel Agents
In some states, every real estate agent and broker must take continuing education classes.
Because I maintain real estate brokers licenses in a few states, in Pennsylvania for example, every 2 years I attend a 15 hour class.
This year I took a class on the new real estate sales agreement used in Pennsylvania.
The instructor is very active in the Pennsylvania (PAR) and National Association of Realtors (NAR), and was a key person involved in creating the 10 page Agreement of Sale. If you ever bought a house, you have probably witnessed a similar pre-printed 'standard' form.
In each state they want the Realtors using a pre-printed form, because they are not trained as attorneys.
Did you know which page of the form leads to the most lawsuits?
The blank page --- where the Realtor fills in language for some particular thing needed by the buyer and/or seller to do the deal! Whatever a Realtor writes in there is subject to interpretation.
The instructor opened the class talking about why they make the form so complicated -- so Realtors won't go the way of travel agents! I almost fell off my seat.
Funny, as you can imagine, in this class of 40 or so, no one really knew all the ins and outs of the form - scarry, as all these folks fill it out all the time.
The instructors main point about the form is that most Realtors think their job is to connect buyers and sellers. If that is true then they have about as much value as travel agents - he said.
However, if you know the ins and out of real estate law, you can keep your buyers and sellers out of a lot of trouble! And he is right about that. Worth way more than the 4-7% commission if you have a great agent. Just learning the nuances of that form was worth 1000's of dollars. Like in PA, did you know if your Realtor fills out the name of a mortgage company in the mortgage contingency and you use someone else, without notifying the seller by amendment, the Seller can cancel the deal and keep your deposit. Me either! One guy in that class who sells his own real estate did that 18 times as he gets pissed when people can't close on time because they are having trouble getting a mortgage. Buyer beware if you have a dumbass agent I guess.
I have to tell you it's a pain in the ass to give up 2 days to take these education requirements, but I always learn something and enjoy them - even though I never take anyone out looking for homes. I can fill out a mean PA form now, thanks Dominic!
The test was to fill out the 10 page form, I got a 97 on my test as my transcript came in the mail last week-- I was too lazy to stick around (you could have had him grade it in front of you). I wonder what I got wrong -- that could cost me if a buy a house in PA, I hope I use a good agent (I will it will be a Smarter Agent partner!). No worries.
Because I maintain real estate brokers licenses in a few states, in Pennsylvania for example, every 2 years I attend a 15 hour class.
This year I took a class on the new real estate sales agreement used in Pennsylvania.
The instructor is very active in the Pennsylvania (PAR) and National Association of Realtors (NAR), and was a key person involved in creating the 10 page Agreement of Sale. If you ever bought a house, you have probably witnessed a similar pre-printed 'standard' form.
In each state they want the Realtors using a pre-printed form, because they are not trained as attorneys.
Did you know which page of the form leads to the most lawsuits?
The blank page --- where the Realtor fills in language for some particular thing needed by the buyer and/or seller to do the deal! Whatever a Realtor writes in there is subject to interpretation.
The instructor opened the class talking about why they make the form so complicated -- so Realtors won't go the way of travel agents! I almost fell off my seat.
Funny, as you can imagine, in this class of 40 or so, no one really knew all the ins and outs of the form - scarry, as all these folks fill it out all the time.
The instructors main point about the form is that most Realtors think their job is to connect buyers and sellers. If that is true then they have about as much value as travel agents - he said.
However, if you know the ins and out of real estate law, you can keep your buyers and sellers out of a lot of trouble! And he is right about that. Worth way more than the 4-7% commission if you have a great agent. Just learning the nuances of that form was worth 1000's of dollars. Like in PA, did you know if your Realtor fills out the name of a mortgage company in the mortgage contingency and you use someone else, without notifying the seller by amendment, the Seller can cancel the deal and keep your deposit. Me either! One guy in that class who sells his own real estate did that 18 times as he gets pissed when people can't close on time because they are having trouble getting a mortgage. Buyer beware if you have a dumbass agent I guess.
I have to tell you it's a pain in the ass to give up 2 days to take these education requirements, but I always learn something and enjoy them - even though I never take anyone out looking for homes. I can fill out a mean PA form now, thanks Dominic!
The test was to fill out the 10 page form, I got a 97 on my test as my transcript came in the mail last week-- I was too lazy to stick around (you could have had him grade it in front of you). I wonder what I got wrong -- that could cost me if a buy a house in PA, I hope I use a good agent (I will it will be a Smarter Agent partner!). No worries.
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