The Scottsdale Real Estate Files

“Sign here, please. And here. Initial here, please. Date. Super, I’ll email this to the listing agent, and we should get an answer within three to five business days.”

There is no arguing that the inexorable march of technology has merged with the increasingly corporate backdrop of the Real Estate world to metastasize into an impersonal cancer of convenience. With REO agents, short sale agents and, well, virtually any agent trudging through this muck who seeks to offset the commission implosion of falling prices with an increased quantity of transactions, it only follows that we limit personal interaction in the name of production. Listing agents instruct buyer agents to text for lockbox codes and review the document tab for offer instructions. You may email for confirmation of receipt, but please no calls.  Shoot, you have a better chance of finding the Lost Dutchman’s Mine with a broken lamp and defective map than reaching a bank agent with 100 open files by phone. It’s all just a precursor to the ultimate end game of conducting a transaction entirely by telepathy.

In stark contrast to the Borg-like approach that the banks and their chosen representatives have brought to the industry, however, is the resale end of the spectrum. While the low priced, low conditioned bank homes are being churned out like not-so-Happy Meals, there remains a dearth of quality, owner-occupied, resale properties available. At least of the competitively priced variety, that is.

I am working with several buyers at present who are not interested in the distressed end of the market, and find themselves frustrated with the lack of reasonably priced resale homes. I have to admit, I am right there with them. Even after factoring in a price allowance for superior physical condition and the likely equity constraints of the sellers, it is downright shocking what someone can’t find for, say, 500k in the Central Phoenix corridor.

What’s a buyer’s agent to do?

Flogging the MLS 58 times a day for new inventory will only lead to frustration. And chafing. One has to buck inertia and go make things happen. And how, pray tell, does an intrepid REALTOR go about pulling a rabbit out of a rabbitless hat in this world of impersonal drones?

By picking up the phone and calling the heavy hitters in the area to see if they have anything coming up that might fit the bill. By, gulp, knocking on doors and sending out mailers to the desired neighborhood(s). By going and finding the damn house and coercing a sale, rather than idly waiting for it to show up during the course of one of those feckless 58 searches.

The MLS has become its own brand of social media. Resign yourself to its database as the only source of business procurement, and the constant surfing is more akin to updating your Twitter status than actual work. We complain about looky loo buyers when we are often online versions of the same animal.

If the property you seek is not in the database of currently available homes, go find it in the real world.  It’s what we used to do.  Or, should I say, it’s one of those salesy relics of the so-called “dinosaurs” of the industry that we high-paced, high-tech, trailblazing ingrates have eschewed in the name of progress.

We are Real Estate professionals, not market watchers, contract submission specialists or inventory managers. We are paid to sell houses. Those of us who have opted not to represent bank listings as REO agents or rushed to short sale “specialization” would do well to understand that we cannot afford to operate under the drive-through mentality that has infiltrated our industry. We must put down the modern tools from time to time and make things happen the old fashioned way.

The art of the deal is not dead. In fact, I’d argue that the lack of equitable resale homes on the market makes the interpersonal role of a buyer’s agent more important than ever. If you want dirt cheap, you can take a number and wait for the banker to see you. If you want a move-in ready home, however, you might have to turn over a few rocks just off the beaten path.

I, for one, have pledged to stop lamenting the lack of quality listings in this alleged buyer’s market, and go force some honest to goodness face time with the carbon-based lifeforms that can produce them.

Right after I run another search.