Lexie Longstreet

• Manage |RSSReal Estate Brokerage of the Future

Ugggg. I know... I know... I am a broker/owner of Savvy + Co. in Charlotte NC. It is frustrating to read your letter... knowing how far we have come. I have been arguing with the "board" on and off for years. What you don't know... and I hope you don't think I'm making excuses... but Charlotte has a couple really large firms who have controlled the MLS forever. They had the money to put behind certain technology so they have tried to stop the little guys from having access to this info. Now their are several IDX companies that we can use - and I think we have a great search on our site, done by Davis Farrell. We have a "Go Green" tool that calculates estimated commute cost, and we have a Research Button that lets you see similar priced homes and Solds. I work with our IDX provider all the time to come up with user friendly add ons. As far as the schools, well, our school info is all top secret. Even if you go to the local school district website, I defy you to find any valuable information. If you think our VOW sucks... you are in for an afternoon of fun looking at that. If you care about schools in Charlotte, you will really need a knowledgeable agent to help you navigate. And make sure you check the "Proposed Maps" because the school boundaries are a moving target. I think that is why we don't have any links... no one wants to be sued. Floor plans, and room sizes hahaha ... we don't even have square footage of the houses! In March of 2008 the MLS decided it was too much liability for the agents. Everyone was getting sued for miscalculations. Consumers were unhappy with their home purchases if they found out it was missing 87 square feet. Now, they it is a vague range. However, many agents pay for professional measurements to be done, and these are on the MLS. But they aren't distributed on the VOW or IDX. (Trust me, I wrote and complained about this back when it happened.) For now, check out our home search at www.SavvyandCompany.com. You can get great neighborhood info on our neighborhood blog, www.HipHoods.com and some additional info at my site, www.CenterCitySavvy.com. I hope you move to Charlotte! I'll take you to the MLS and introduce you to all my friends. Lexie Longstreet Savvy + Co. Real Estate

UGGGGGG this is horrible news! What is wrong with these people? If they had passed the $15,000 tax credit to any home buyer we could have seen things turn around significantly and quickly. Now it is limited to nervous first time home buyers that are wondering if they will have a job tomorrow. How can we get thru to these people? The email campaigns and letters are not working.

I see the opposite of many of these comments... with regard to commissions. I think we are going to see Buyer's Agents or Agents with Buyers being "king of the hill" and getting 4% will be the norm instead of 3%. Many builders and sellers in our market already offer bonuses and/or 4% commissions. Listing agents are still writing listing agreements at 6% (7% with bonuses to buyers agent) and many are asking for cancellation fees if the seller cancels the listing before the expiration. (If they decide to rent, or stay in the home.) Although many listing agents are lowering their side of the commission just to get a home under contract during the negotiations. Clients are willing to pay to have their homes marketed effectively. And our agents use our office! They meet clients at the office to write offers and even have closings. They interact with other agents and put buyers with sellers. They get excited about their listings... and get others excited about them. Buyers and sellers also walk in the door... We don't have cubes for each agent... we are a hoteling office model. Sure we do contracts thru Docusign and efaxing but I don't think agents should have to be writing a contract for one of the clients largest purchases of their life on a tiny table at Starbucks. Sure, you can write contracts on the hood of your car. Sometimes you have to. But really..... ?