Real estate agents

amother

Tue, Jul 16 2019, 4:26 pm

We're looking to purchase a home, not too expensive and are in touch with numerous real estate agents. However, they all seem to have the same homes available, with some trying smooth talking tactics to talk us into buying what is obviously not a good deal or another agent who seems to be new and clueless.
Where can I find an honest, unemotional, non greedy real estate agent who knows the great deals as soon as they hit the market and will be honest with us?

nchr

Tue, Jul 16 2019, 4:28 pm

Usually great deals don't necessarily make it to the market because when they come across a broker or investor, they are sold off market. If you can purchase in cash, not subject to a mortgage, you may be able to offer less than the asking price and have your offer accepted. Brokers have what others do because that is what is listed and on the market. Some brokers have off market deals, but those usually go to their good clients and investors. Finding a home you like at a price you can afford is a great deal. You're not purchasing for business I assume.

amother

Babyblue

Tue, Jul 16 2019, 8:03 pm

If you are looking to buy a duplex in the more hot neighborhoods in lakewood then you have to find out based on the area you want which agent is the most in the know. lots go on behind the scenes with these duplex sale (who they 'allow' to buy them).

if you are looking for toms river/jackson options-your best bet would be to sign up for zillow emails or the like. you be your own agent. keep looking at the alerts as soon as you get them and when you see a house you like you go look at it THAT DAY and put in an offer even sooner if you would like to buy it.

Otherwise, Emanuel Mashinsky from Imperial knows tons, tons about jackson

there are also a few agents who live in toms river that know all about sales there (off market deals etc) perri goodman of four points, Yosef Jankelowitz of imperial.

Good luck!

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Jul 16 2019, 9:39 pm

Malka Mandel (Keller Williams) is the most genuine, selfless real estate agent in town. She knows her stuff (Lakewood and the neighboring towns), gives great advice, is very proactive for the potential buyer and makes herself very available for clients. She is always so patient, positive and nonjudgemental.

She found me my house after a year(!) of helping me look into different neighborhoods without ever pressuring me in any way. I have since hooked her up with 4 families looking for homes, one person looking to sell and a property manager, and all of them have come back to thank me for connecting them to her.

Malka Mandel 917-755-4660

amother

Saddlebrown

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 11:55 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I have found that real estate agents, for the most part, are working on behalf of the seller rather than the buyer. I bought a house a year ago and the (frum) agent literally lied to us thru the teeth - told us things that were straight out untrue in order to hike up the price of the house. In the end, our lawyer negotiated the price for us (due to some issues with the home) but we definitely overpaid. The experience left me really shocked.

I have a house to sell (the one I moved from) that I'm currently renting out, and even though when I sell technically the real estate agent might be working on my behalf, I find myself reluctant to work with dishonest people. I will not go with the agent who sold me the house I live in when I'm ready to sell.

amother

Gold

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 1:40 pm

I haven’t bought anything yet and have dealt with a few agents. (Meaning I have no agent representing me but I have met agents by looking at their listings )
From all, I felt that Ephraim Lax has been super honest with me , so I’d recommend him 100 %.
He has actually convinced me not to buy on two occasions , saying that he didn’t think it was the right fit and that my ultimate happiness was more important than the sale. I never had any agent discourage me from moving forward with a house, on the contrary ....
He was so right about those properties in retrospect and I am SO grateful he was so honest. Also, he is very knowledgable about Jackson neighborhood dynamics etc.

also, I was impressed that as I had called regarding his listings on my own, he double checked that I didn’t have an agent representing me , because he said if I did he would want to be sure my agent was involved and got buyer’s agent commission , that he wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes unknowingly. I was so impressed.

Mashinsky seems very nice too, but I haven’t dealt with him as much.

Good luck!

*edited to add - I just reread that you only want a good deal. I’ve been in the market for a long time (too long, I am bad at making decisions )
And the market isn’t like that with good deals. do some research - while some houses are more reasonably priced than others, there seems to be a general concept of market value. If you really want to buy, find out what is reasonable .

mlc

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 1:50 pm

nchr wrote:

This. Couldn’t have said this better.

Most sale by owners on Zillow are overpriced and sale with agents are usually within reason. There aren’t many steals going on.

amother

Aquamarine

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 1:55 pm

amother [ Burlywood ] wrote:

I 2nd malka mandel!

leah233

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 1:56 pm

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

Legally they are supposed to be working for the seller and not the buyer because the seller is the one paying the commission.

To the extent that that they are only supposed to tell you what is in the sellers best interests. Even if they are misleading the buyer. (As long as they don't engage in explicit fraud and deception)

In halacha there is no hetter for such behavior so hopefully the frum agents don't act that way.But don't count on it.

Buyer beware.

mlc

Wed, Jul 17 2019, 3:12 pm

leah233 wrote:

I know many frum people who are agents and I can’t imagine most of them misleading anyone. (Although yes, I did write most versus none)

Either way, that is not true about all agents representing the seller. In many if not most transactions , there are two agents involved. One represents the seller and one represents the buyer. Each one gets commission , but the buyer’s agent gets commission when the deal goes through no matter how much she or he had been representing the buyer.

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 1:56 pm

leah233 wrote:

Yes, the buyer is paying the commission. But I consider lying outright by a frum person to a frum person to be just plain....wrong, no matter who you are representing.

To give you an example, right before we were going to contract, after I had been told that the owner was accepting my bid and she had been pressuring me to go to contract for about two weeks already, she suddenly told me names of two other people who were supposedly interested in the property and supposedly driving up the price, saying I need to make a higher offer. I know now that both of those people were not remotely interested in the property and had never looked at it. The agent was lying and trying to get me to give a higher bid by creating imaginary competition.

She simply could have said that the owner wants a higher price (which he did, but I wasn't willing to offer a higher price and I was the only contender. He could take it or leave it. ) But lying is lying, end of story.

Buyer beware.

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 1:57 pm

mlc wrote:

There was only one agent involved in my case. Maybe it would've been better if I had gone with an agent on my behalf as well.

I do hope that most frum agents are more honest than the one I dealt with.

amother

Gold

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 4:12 pm

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

Your situation sounds horrible. Makes me sick to think about dishonesty like that.

amother

Chartreuse

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 8:19 pm

We were very happy with Blimie Meisels. She was our agent, not the sellers agent. She was totally on our side. Always let us know if a house was worth it or not. Many times we would go look at a house and she would tell us it's not worth more than x amount even though the sellers wanted more.

Having said that, I didn't only wait for her to tell me what's on sale. I stalked Zillow frequently. The minute I got an alert about a home I checked it out online to see if it was something I'm interested in. You gotta be on top of it.

Good luck!

amother

Goldenrod

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 8:23 pm

amother [ Seafoam ] wrote:

We used Esther Rivky Fischer who was amazing and did not push us into anything. A huge vote for her.

We used her as well and had a very difficult time and we believe she is the reason the deal went through. She is honest and strong on your behalf.

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 9:43 pm

We just recently bought a house from a non-jew. the seller's agent was a frum person. he was totally working for the sellers and definitely lied to us. thankfully we used our own amazing agent that if not for her the deal wouldn't' never gone thru the way it did.

mlc

Thu, Jul 18 2019, 10:18 pm

amother [ Babyblue ] wrote:

Goes both ways - always be wary on either end .

Because I have opposite story . My old not frum neighbor (from OOT, not Lakewood ) sold a house with a frum agent, and the buyers agent made a huge chillul HaShem in the process.
Before any contracts were even accepted they put the selling process on hold as per seller due to their personal life (pet had a cataract)
The buyers agent put up an unprofessional fuss and did not hesitate to call the sellers agent a liar and say he must be hiding something and that he was manipulating the sellers for some unknown personal reason. What on earth.

All the secular people in my neighborhood heard about it and were horrified how she painted a fellow Jew as a liar when all he did was put things on a one week personal life hold.

Ugh I was so embarrassed and am still debating if I should bother reaching out to that buyers agent.