Current Realtor Recommendation

[ALOHANO]

Hi Folks

  My wife and I are looking to relocate to the Puna area along the Volcano Hwy corridor. I have an agent I have used in the past but she is not very responsive to my requests for information. I think we are overdue for a new agent. We would rather work with an agent who cares about the deal and who is knowledgeable about the process. 

I have used the search feature and have read through it a bit, but it is not today’s information. Especially in today’s society and rules. 

Thanks in advance for your help and opinions.

[Seeb-2]

Are you here?

[ALOHANO]

Not yet.

[terracore]

I've fired 7 realtors. One I didn't fire was John Erickson. I used him twice. The best recommendation I can offer is to find a realtor who lives in the area that you are looking to move into. Down to the exact subdivision if you know that much.

Some of the more desperate realtors, especially new ones, offer buyers part of their commission, if that is something you are interested in. All things are negotiable.

I would definitely fire a realtor who wasn't responsive. One time (in another state) I called a realtor, it rang, and then went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. Within a few minutes he called me back and said "I got a phone call from this number, I'm sorry I missed it, I didn't see a voicemail, is there something I can help you with?" THAT is the type of response you want- the one you get when you're not even looking for it. I hired him.

I have nothing against the profession and I get a lot of grief for my opinion, but most of the hours of what a realtor does is "show you around". Here's the grief part- a German Shepherd can be trained to do that. In competitive markets realtors will spend thousands of their own dollars to sell a property. Newsflash- they don't do that on Hawaii island. Most of them don't even answer their phones or emails evenings or weekends.

I remember (in another state) when we were selling the mother-in-laws house when she was dying of cancer and because the hospice situation was like $9000/month we were willing to sell low. The realtor we hired was looking at up to a $25k commission for a house that literally sold itself. She called us up in the evening and explained that she was showing the house in the early morning and needed us to clear the driveway of snow. Mind you, the house was a 2 hour round trip away from us. I told her, you're making $25k for showing the house once or twice and you can't figure out how to get the driveway plowed? Go get a shovel. She was EXASPERATED.

But the driveway got cleared, and the house sold that day. Don't get confused of who works for whom. Especially if you're the buyer. The realtor makes it sound like the seller pays the commission. That is absolute nonsense because the buyer is paying the seller. Try negotiating a sale price and after all parties agree demand another 5% reduction because "the seller pays the commission" so you want it paid out of funds that don't come from you. Yeah thats what I thought.

[Seeb-2]

Not yet.

Realtors / builders get a huge amount of calls from dreamers on the mainland. Often a waste of time. So until you’ve made some kind of commitment it living here their not going to put a lot of effort in. 
at least start with a cell with an 808 number, or a job lined up, pre approval for a loan, something

[terracore]

Not yet.

Realtors / builders get a huge amount of calls from dreamers on the mainland. Often a waste of time. So until you’ve made some kind of commitment it living here their not going to put a lot of effort in. 
at least start with a cell with an 808 number, or a job lined up, pre approval for a loan, something

True to some degree but when we were looking we did much of the work ourselves because all the properties are online now.  We gave the realtor a list of properties we wanted to look at and scheduled an afternoon to see them.  The day before, we did "drive bys" of all properties and crossed half of them off our list so we took up less of his time than he had planned.  The only thing we needed the realtor for was to unlock a couple of doors.  But you are right, nobody should waste a realtor's time unless they have bona fide plans (and the means) to purchase a property.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

all the properties are online now. 

Hawaii Information Service

Also, if you find properties that pique your interest, don’t forget you can “drive” the Highway 11 corridor on Google Earth for a sense of what the immediate neighborhood is like.  The little dude/dudette in the right bottom corner gets you right down to street level.

[ALOHANO]

All I did was ask my long time realtor to find out why the home I am interested in fell out of escrow and get me a copy of the sellers disclosure statement for my review. Has not sent it to date. My wife and I are very interested in this home.

I am a retired Real Estate Brokerage owner and understand how things work. I would have fired an agent that worked for me if they acted in this manner with clients.

Bottom line is that my wife and I are retired, in decent health, and want to move to Puna. We have spent many many vacations there and are a very “low maintenance” couple who are very interested in spending our time dinking off on our land.

Thanks TC for the recommendation.

We appreciate everyone’s input.

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HOTPE

No worries! I have driven many mile on the “Google” Hwy!

Thanks

[Seeb-2]

If you’re not the contract-vende both my have privacy issues in Hawaii

[ALOHANO]

All I am trying to do is see if there is an agent or even a firm on the island that stands out or offers exceptional service. More of a looking for a recommendation type of situation. I understand the process of buying property. I am just looking for an agent that is willing to do more than fill out the blanks on a boilerplate contract.

Thanks again folks