Step 1: What Happens When I Represent You?

Most people do not understand what the role of an agent really is.

Firstly, it’s important to know that there are two sides to every transaction.

There is the agent that is representing the seller/landlord (known as the listing agent), then there is the side that represents the buyer/renter (known as the buyers agent).

What Does The Listing Agent Do?

The listing side will represent the landlord in the transaction.

There is a listing agreement that is signed between the agent and the landlord.

This agreement lays out all of the terms between the agent and the landlord.

ALL OF THE AGENT’S DUTIES ARE TO THE LANDLORD, NOT THE PERSON THAT IS RENTING THE PLACE.

That means if you are talking to the listing agent and you tell them you are willing to pay $5,000 a month for the property that is listed for $2,500, the agent has an obligation to let the landlord know that you are willing to pay more.

And guess what you will not be paying in rent.

If you guessed $5,000 you are right.

What Does The Buyer’s Agent Do?

When you work with a Realtor®, like me, to help you find a property you would want that agent to represent your best interest in the deal.

This is what the buyers agent does.

Just as the listing agent has a signed listing agreement with the Landlord, you would have a signed agreement between you and your buyers agent (Craig).

When this happens, now you can talk freely with your agent about how much you are willing to pay for that unit and that conversation stays between you and the agent.

Unless it needs to be disclosed to help you get into the property, the landlord would never know the information in the example above.

I Am Working With An Agent But Do Not Have A Written Agreement With Them.

This is not really good for you.

In CA, when a renter works with an agent and there is not any agreement between the renter and the agent, the the agent by law works as a sub agent for the landlord.

This means in that above scenario, when you tell the agent you are talking with that you would pay $5,000, well that agent now has a legal duty to let the landlord know that information.

If you are speaking to lots of different agent, keep this in mind.

If you do not have a signed agreement, more than likely that agent my be the listing agent or a sub agent of the landlord.

Either way they do not work for you and your best interest is not you but the landlords.

With that being said, if you would like for me to help you find a new place to live, my office and my self do require an agreement to be signed before we start looking at any property.

If all this makes sense, you are now ready to move on to step 2.  The video below will go over the buyer agreement.

Step 2:  The Buyers Agreement

You can watch the video below that will explain the agreement that we will sign.

After watching the video if you have any questions you can use the link below to book a time to chat with me.

If you do not have any questions, then continue on to step 3

Step 3:  Tell Me About You and What You’re Looking For

You can do that with the form below.

As always, let me know if you have any questions

Step 4: Let’s Talk

Looks like we are on a roll now.

After you fill out this form, please pic a time to chat.  We can either talk on the phone or zoom if you like.

We need this time so I can fine tune some of your answer above.

You do not have to go to step 5 until we can talk unless you want to.

Step 5: Credit & Background Check

Every landlord is going to ask for your credit and a background check.

Below is my link to get this knock out.

Everyone that will be on the lease and it over 18 will have to do this.

If there is more than one person on the lease, please send them this page and have them go to this step.

The site I use is $30.00 per report.

It is a secure and easy.

Once you have completed this, it will store the reports.

This way we do not have to keep running it over and over paying 30 each time.

If you are not quite ready to start looking and or not ready to sign a new lease within the next few weeks, hold off on this part.

Once you are ready to get this process moving then come back here and do this part.

Any question please let me know.

Step 6:  Getting You Set Up Inside The MLS

Now that I have all the information I need to get this going.

I will get you set up inside the MLS to start sending you home.

You may be asking what is the difference between Craig doing this VS you looking on your own?

Let me start by explaining how the MLS works.

When an agent put something for rent into the MLS it goes onto a local server here in Los Angeles.

At the end of the day, somewhere around midnight, the National Association of Realtors computers located in Chicago will pull all the information from all of the local MLS.

The listing will then show up on Realtor.com.

From there, Realtor.com feeds all of the other real estate website.

You can see there is a time delay.

That is what makes it different when you are getting homes sent to your email from the local MLS.

When a real estate agent puts in a new listing here in the local MLS, you will receive the email quicker than anyone that is not working with a Realtor like me.

There is one other reason working with me is quicker.

There is a status in the MLS that is called Coming Soon.

That status is not publish to the public website.

This is why you will find a new listing that just came on the market and is already gone.

It happens because they are working with a Realtor and saw the new listing before it went public.

Hope this helps.

Now let’s get you into your new home.

Benefits Of Working With Me

• Your search will be set up inside the local Multi-Listing Server (MLS).   This search sends you properties that are on the market in real time.   This means that if a property goes on the market, you will normally get it in your mailbox with in a few hours.    There is a process that a new listing goes through when it is put into the MLS.   If you are using any outside website to look for properties, there is  a time delay.
• If you have seen a new listing that just came on the market and is now leased out, it is because they were set up on this type of search and received it before you ever found it on an outside site.
• There is one more advantage to being set up on this search.   There is a category that is call “coming soon” that agent use.   When a new listing is put into the MLS the agent can set it to coming soon instead of Active ( you can find out more information about different types of statis here   put in the link to that page)  If you are not working with an agent that has you set up on this program, you will only see this listing once it becomes Active.   This could be 24 hours after the listing has gone Active if you are using an outside search.    This does tie into that example above on how you will see Active listing that just came on the market today yet they are already lease out.
• It is because the person saw that listing up to two week ago and their agent already has be in touch with the listing agent before hand.
• All landlord will require a credit report and background at minimum.  I am seeing that some agents will not show properties until they see that you meet the landlord requirements.     The market is moving fast and there are a lot of people looking right now.  If we have to wait on this paper you may lose out on the property that you want.    I will need this back before we go look at properties.
• Once you find a place that you like, I will look at what other places around this one have been rented out for.   Sometimes landlords just through out numbers to see if someone will bite.   I will let you know if the rent is in line with the area.
• Next I will fill out all of the paperwork and submit it the agent.   I will help you negotiate item in the property.
• After all of this complete, I am there for you till you are ready to find your next place.

How Much Do You Charge?

You may be asking now…. “How Much Is This Going To Cost Me”?

Luckily for you, the landlord pays my fees, therefore you owe nothing.

Let me know if you have any questions.