Wednesday, September 11, 2013

10 Ways Using The Denver House Guy Will MAKE You Money (and save you ridiculous amounts of stress)



  1. Buyers don't pay me a dime.
If you're a buyer, it's completely FREE to receive all of The Denver House Guy's services, including representation, negotiation, consultation, contracts, showings, and protection on your behalf during the transaction.
  1. I've saved both my buyers and sellers an average of $8,300 per deal, adding up to over $325,000.
How? Through proper negotiation and contract strategies. There are several different ways and times to negotiate during the buying and selling process. Part of those negotiations is knowing the value of the home to make a good offer, but also the legal ins and outs of all the Colorado real estate contracts and all the different ways to save money right there in the contract, which can be easy to misunderstand, and add up to over 50 pages of legal jargon.
You don’t want to know how many classes and deals I’ve completed in the last 8 years to get to know all the Colorado real estate contracts and disclosures. I also add legal language to protect you. Lone buyers, sellers, and inexperienced agents do not know how to take advantage of the contract as The Denver House Guy does.
  1. Buyers and sellers talking directly is never a good idea!            
I've seen both buyers and sellers stick their foot in their mouth after saying the wrong thing, giving away too much information, or engaging in heated arguments, consequently costing them thousands of dollars or the entire deal, confessing, "Jonathan, I didn't mean to say that!"
For example, because it’s their home, sellers often attach too much emotion to the deal and can get offended easily, or say the wrong thing, like,
“You’re offering me what?! Absolutely not!”
“Fix the roof? My roof is fine, we’ve never had problems!”
Or buyers: “Sorry but we would NEVER pay that much! That is ridiculous!” ”
My job as a Realtor is to buffer the emotional zone and represent my clients to the other party and translate their impassioned pleas in a reasonable, polite, and professional manner, while at the same time always protecting my client’s interest using real estate law and negotiation.


  1. Realtors deal with all third-parties of the transaction for you, including the different inspectors, the title company, third-party vendors, repairmen, lenders, the showing company, the other realtor in the transaction, the HOA, and any other third-party necessary to close the deal (including sometimes attorneys and the City and County). Even an expensive real estate lawyer will simply not do all of this, or even most of it!  I've been asked many times, "Jonathan, how do you juggle all this?!" "Duh, it's my full-time job!"  


  1. 80% of “For Sale by Owner” sellers end up using a Realtor.
It doesn’t take long before lone-sellers realize how time-consuming it is to coordinate showings, put their house on several real estate websites with the proper legal information, use the appropriate contracts and disclosures to protect themselves, interpret any offers they receive, deal with the buyer...or worse, the buyer’s experienced agent! They quickly realize what they thought was easy has turned into a nightmare.
  1. Only the MLS IDX’s to over 5,000 websites online, which is where Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Yahoo! Real Estate, TheDenverHouseGuy.com, and the thousands of other most popular real estate websites actually get their listings! Only a licensed realtor can list a home on the official Colorado MLS.
Plus, any home on the MLS automatically goes to over 20,000 Colorado realtors who have buyers. Homes on any other website do not automatically upload on other websites, so most realtors and buyers are unaware of them.
  1. Pricing your home incorrectly can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

    I ran into a seller the other day who told me the price she sold her home on her own. It seemed a bit low, so I looked up the sold comps in her neighborhood. To my disbelief, she sold her home about $50,000 under market value!
The opposite problem is that most sellers who try to sell their homes price them way too high, and end up sitting on the market far longer than homes priced correctly by realtors, only to keep reducing the price, and even accepting a very low offer to just get rid of the headache. Other sellers, as the one above, may price their homes way too low, and have experienced buyers or realtors take advantage of their mistake. The difference between $300,000 and $350,000 is far more than paying commissions.

  1. Lone-buyers are fresh prey for experienced sellers or sellers’ realtors.
Buyers letting the seller’s realtor run the transaction have no one protecting them! The seller’s realtor is only concerned with the seller’s interest, honoring their agency agreement with the seller. They will not negotiate or recommend anything for the buyer (why would they?), including price, inspection items, deadlines, radon and other inspections, or anything else.
When I represent buyers, I protect them from dangers and risks they were not even aware of, including deadlines when their earnest money may be in jeopardy. I will even suggest them to terminate the contract if that is the best course of action for them.
  1. Why deal with stubborn agents or lenders?
As I’ve quickly learned, not every agent or lender is “nice.” Sometimes, in fact, they can be absolutely impolite and unprofessional. This can be an emotionally exhausting stress roller-coaster for buyers and sellers. But they still have to be dealt with. That's where I come in. And sometimes The Denver House Guy really does have to bring the boxing gloves, otherwise they won’t listen. Why waste your precious time & energy getting emotionally riled up dealing with them when that is my job, and it doesn’t ruin my day to do so (most of the time)?  You should be packing your stuff getting ready to move! :)
NOTE: By the way, there IS a difference between real estate agents and REALTORS®. REALTORS® have a whole set of courses, ethical regulations and standards, and national Boards which they are involved that regular real estate agents are not. Jonathan Ghaly is proud to be a REALTOR®.
  1. As my friend said, “Dude, buying a house is way too much work. I never want to do this again. I wish I just hired you.”
That is literally what he said to me, and I don’t blame him. It is a full-time job, and most people don’t really understand all the work that a Realtor has to put into just 1 transaction. 

Don’t learn the hard way! Just hire The Denver House Guy.