Re: Marketing of Real Estate

by Jim W Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:39 pm

Malaya wrote:
Jim W wrote:I'm going to give ALL IN 1 a shot. Justus Hauser, apparently has legal issues with most realtors @ lakeside, has offices here and GDL. Charges 5% and has a number of bilingual realtors.

Actually it's the other way around. He's one of the few that doesn't have legal issues.

All the realtors who acted as a monopoly and refused to lower commissions where found guilty of "something" and with their last appeal they lost. Fines are in the millions which means we're going to see a lot of them close and maybe change names or change hands to try and avoid the fines.

Also Hacienda is looking at all real estate brokers here because of the ratio of gringo workers to Mexican. I think it has to be 10 - 1 and what the real estate offices have been doing is counting the maids and gardeners as employees so they could have more gringo agents.

Another no no and Hacienda is going to be cracking down.

Justus on the other hand was thrown out of GIL because he refused to be part of their practices. They shunned him because of that and made life as difficult as possible for him. But, he stuck to his guns and lowered his rate to 5% instead of the 7% others were charging.

He's the only one here that I know of that is not part of the monopoly charges that all the others face and he'll also have no problems with Hacienda. Also, his Mexican workers are bilingual and he is fully fluent in Spanish and has offices all over Jalisco.

John if you found him abrasive then you did something to put him in that mood. He's as nice as they come, very helpful and sells a LOT of homes to Mexicans.

Any house here will sell if it is priced correctly and will sell quickly. Unfortunately too many are going to lose money on their homes and can't face that possibility so refuse to lower their prices and then wonder why their home won't sell.

So, out of all the realtors here, Justus would be my FIRST stop. He's one of the honest ones around here.

Malaya, Refreshing read. After meeting Justus and his sales staff, I found his staff was made up of primarily bilingual Mexican sales reps. During our prelisting meeting, I expressed my feelings regarding 16% IVA I must pay on his companies commission. He explained this is Federal law. At any rate, I find Justus to be honest as to my home value in this market.......unlike the preceeding listing agent....and have reduced my price accordingly, and have included a 25,000 pesos selling bonus for the agent that sells my home. cheers

by Malaya Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:53 am

I agree. It's just that he was not in legal trouble and John said he didn't get on with him. It wasn't directed at you :)

by johninajijic Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:02 am

Malaya wrote:
Jim W wrote:I'm going to give ALL IN 1 a shot. Justus Hauser, apparently has legal issues with most realtors @ lakeside, has offices here and GDL. Charges 5% and has a number of bilingual realtors.

Actually it's the other way around. He's one of the few that doesn't have legal issues.

All the realtors who acted as a monopoly and refused to lower commissions where found guilty of "something" and with their last appeal they lost. Fines are in the millions which means we're going to see a lot of them close and maybe change names or change hands to try and avoid the fines.

Also Hacienda is looking at all real estate brokers here because of the ratio of gringo workers to Mexican. I think it has to be 10 - 1 and what the real estate offices have been doing is counting the maids and gardeners as employees so they could have more gringo agents.

Another no no and Hacienda is going to be cracking down.

Justus on the other hand was thrown out of GIL because he refused to be part of their practices. They shunned him because of that and made life as difficult as possible for him. But, he stuck to his guns and lowered his rate to 5% instead of the 7% others were charging.

He's the only one here that I know of that is not part of the monopoly charges that all the others face and he'll also have no problems with Hacienda. Also, his Mexican workers are bilingual and he is fully fluent in Spanish and has offices all over Jalisco.

John if you found him abrasive then you did something to put him in that mood. He's as nice as they come, very helpful and sells a LOT of homes to Mexicans.

Any house here will sell if it is priced correctly and will sell quickly. Unfortunately too many are going to lose money on their homes and can't face that possibility so refuse to lower their prices and then wonder why their home won't sell.

So, out of all the realtors here, Justus would be my FIRST stop. He's one of the honest ones around here.

You should state your source of information that Hacienda won the case against the Realtors here. Right now it's hearsay. I have heard different.

I was told Hacienda did not win. Justus Hauser told me they did win. If we had a Realtor on the forum he/she could chime in.

I mentioned to JimW before that Justus Hauser cannot give the exposure to his clients because he isn't a member of GIL and cannot list in MLS. It's also possible that many Realtors may not want to show the house at the reduced commission of 5% vs. 7%. The split of 5% is 2.5% vs. splitting 7% is 3.5%. I too think 7% is highway robbery, but it can be negotiated to 6%.

by CheenaGringo Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:24 am

A partial text from a January 15, 2010 article in the Guadalajara Reporter:
"The Federal Competition Commission (CFC), Mexico’s antitrust authority, has upheld a July ruling against the Grupo Inmobilario del Lago (GIL) real estate association, the Chapala branch of the Mexican Association of Professional Realtors (AMPI-Chapala), 14 affiliated real estate agencies and a number of brokers on charges of committing monopolistic practices...

http://theguadalajarareporter.com/news-mainmenu-82/lake-chapala-mainmenu-84/26140-antitrust-agency-upholds-ruling-against-local-realtors.html

Access to the remainder of the article is restricted to those with a subscription.

This was the most recent article I could find.

by johninajijic Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:53 am

CG - I also heard that GIL was appealing it. They are still charging 7% plus 16% IVA.

by Malaya Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:20 am

They recently lost that last appeal but no one has put that in the news yet.

by Zedinmexico Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:34 am

MexicoPete wrote:
johninajijic wrote:
Jim W wrote:John, don't disagree about the MLS issue, my current realtor brought that up, I looked him in the eye, and asked, so I might get fewer than the 2 showings over 6 months thru your company......LMAO

JimW - Don't get discouraged altho easy to do. Not many people looking and I think the ones that are are "looky loos". How many showings have you had in 6 months?

Most of the houses selling are below $ 250 K. About 4 sold in El Dorado condo above mid $ 450, one at $ 760. Several sold in Chula Vista Norte, one at $ 500 and others at $ 400's. Not a great location. A few sold in Raquet Club.

Good points John and if you lower your asking price to just over $300,000 and accept nothing lower than say $295,000, you will able to sell your house too. You have a nice home in a nice neighborhood, with a nice view between Ajijic and the Joco municipality border that is far enough away from Ajijic, not to be disturbed by the Ajijic fireworks during festivals.

John say what you want if it doesn't sell the price is too high or no buyers in this range of price.
I would guess both are true. You are in the above 250USD range. Lots and lots of inventory.
Also the market controls this kind of stuff not what you think.

Z

by Sideways Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:35 am

Q.'s to Two of You:

JohnInAjijic: Do you get many people at the Open Houses...are they worth it?

Jim W: Were you joking when you said only two 'showings' of your house in SIX months??

Q. to Anyone:
I had heard the market was doing well in April and May, until the incident here. I'm sure June was probably a bust; anyone know if sales have picked up in July? Guess the true test will be this fall/winter. Seems like there's a dearth of Sunbirds compared to my previous summers here.

by Jim W Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:04 pm

Sideways wrote:Q.'s to Two of You:

JohnInAjijic: Do you get many people at the Open Houses...are they worth it?

Jim W: Were you joking when you said only two 'showings' of your house in SIX months??

Q. to Anyone:
I had heard the market was doing well in April and May, until the incident here. I'm sure June was probably a bust; anyone know if sales have picked up in July? Guess the true test will be this fall/winter. Seems like there's a dearth of Sunbirds compared to my previous summers here.

Sideways, no I wasn't joking. Listing Broker didn't even bring his sales "STAFF" LMAO, for a walk thru. Fortunately, I am not in a hurry to sell, as long as it sells by 2015....when it sells we will rent during rainy season, split time NOB.

by johninajijic Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:07 pm

Zed quote - "John say what you want if it doesn't sell the price is too high or no buyers in this range of price.
I would guess both are true. You are in the above 250USD range. Lots and lots of inventory.
Also the market controls this kind of stuff not what you think."

Very little will sell in this market because there are so many homes for sale and yes some are overpriced, most of my competition is waaay overpriced. Older homes, no garages, no pools, no views. And it won't sell if there are fewer buyers. And if Americans have no money that adds to the equation. The other part of the equation is getting someone who falls in love with the house. You know the old saying in auto sales, "there's an ass for every seat".

Look at the market of roughly 550 homes. Many are $ 125 K to $ 200 K in poorer areas like Chapala, Riberas, Mirasol, Lower Chula Vista, etc. Very few of those are desirable. Lower priced homes below $ 250 K will always sell first.

There were 64 sales from Jan 2012 to April 2012 which included lots of land. May and June wasn't good with 4 - 6 homes sold each month. I believe July was not good either. In the better maerket of better quality homes, I know one Realtor who sold 6 homes in the $ 450 K + range this year, but sold only one last year.

FYI, the prices of homes in this Community sold for between $ 400 K (distressed sale) to $ 539 K, most in the upper $ 400's. I think October thru April will pick up.

Sideways - We get 3 - 4 couples on each Open House. Is it worth it? Kind of a funny question, yes because it gives exposure to the product and any one of them could be a buyer.

by wheels Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:48 pm

I think the percentage rate is way too high considering the agents are living here. Cost of living here is not at all near what it is in the North.
Even at a lower rate they can live quite well.
MLS here is a joke.

by Jim W Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:22 pm

wheels wrote:I think the percentage rate is way too high considering the agents are living here. Cost of living here is not at all near what it is in the North.
Even at a lower rate they can live quite well.
MLS here is a joke.

Right on Wheels Beer

........insult to injury is being forced to pay the 16% IVA........tax on THEIR commission.

by johninajijic Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:06 pm

Jim W wrote:
wheels wrote:I think the percentage rate is way too high considering the agents are living here. Cost of living here is not at all near what it is in the North.
Even at a lower rate they can live quite well.
MLS here is a joke.

Right on Wheels ........insult to injury is being forced to pay the 16% IVA........tax on THEIR commission.

I agree, the 16% IVA sucks. They should take that out of THEIR commission.

I understand advertising is quite expensive. Jim, ask Justus what it costs for and ad in the GDL reporter and in either Informador or Mural. Post the info here. Ask him to advertise in the GDL newspapers.

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