Toll Brothers Co-Founder's Daughter Walks Away From Buying a Toll Brothers Home

Ok - I've heard of people walking away from the purchase of their new construction property - but this one is pretty funny.

Wendy Topkis - the daughter of Vice Chairman and co-founder Bruce Toll of Toll Brothers - informed the company last month that she and her husband "did not intend to make settlement" on a $2.47 million home they had previously agreed to purchase.

Toll Brothers said it intends to pursue its rights under the agreement of sale.

Toll Brothers said expects a 22 percent decline in home-building revenue for its first fiscal quarter, ending Jan. 31st.

I wonder how hard they will hold Wendy's feet to the fire.....

Locally - sales at Toll Brothers Hawthorn Woods Country Club has been slower than expected - and they are dealing with re-sale units in that same complex - competiting with their new construction.

I live just up the road from there - in what I consider to be a much better development (more unique and better built custom-built homes and a beautiful lake) - and in any case - I created a real golf green in my backyard.... complete with sand traps and water hazard.... :-) So - I can golf for free anytime I want :-)

Interesting in purchasing a home in Hawthorn Woods Country Club? DON'T SIGN IN WITHOUT AN AGENT! Obtain representation first. Builders will not pay out their commission if you want to be represented by a professional after you sign in alone. They love it when you do that - because you'll have no one on your side - fighting for your best interests.

If you are thinking about purchasing a home in Hawthorn Woods Country Club - as professional negotiators (We are Exclusive Buyer Agents - never representing sellers or builders - so we are always on YOUR side) - we'll help get you a much better deal than you'd ever be able to get on your own. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Maryland thinks about Reducing re-set time to 60 days from 180 days for listed property. In Illinois - it is 91 days

In most states - the MLS calculates the number of days a property has spent on the market as a consecutive figure. That amount resets to zero if the property is taken off the market for a certain amount of time. Maryland had it at 180 days - but is thinking about reducing it to as little as 60. Here is an article about the re-set time in Maryland.

In Illinois - for many years - a property had to be off the market for 181 days before being re-listed if the market time was to show zero in the MLS. Then in 2004 - that figure changed to 91 days - and it has been 91 days ever since (re-ratified in November, 20007) with the exception of the summer of 2006 - when the board changed a rule - which only lasted a few months. See the attached for the reason they dissolved it.

At that time - if a property was de-listed and then came back
on the market - it would show zero days on the market - even if it had only been
off the market for a day or two. MLS rules states that if a property is re-listed - it had to have a new listing agreement.

What happened in the summer of 2006 - was that there were so many "new listings" with no new listing agreements - MLSNI had to fine the agents a few hundred dollars - but nevertheless - the statistic in the MLS still zero'ed out. There were so many agents doing this -- re-listing property without new listing agreements - that it became a big headache for MLSNI - and they could not keep up with all the infractions. Here is the postcard that they sent out at that time after they re-thought everything.

So - in September of 2006 - they re-instituted the 91 day rule again. Agents and brokerages put pressure on MLS systems to minimize the number of days a property is off the market - to reset the clock to zero. In some states where total market time (including time with past agents) isn't listed on the agent copy of the MLS sheet (it is in Illinois) -- this can help sellers (if agents are lazy and don't look up the property history).

Kiplingers Personal Finance - Use an Exclusive Buyer Agent

A recently Kiplingers article talks about the benefits of consumers using an Exclusive Buyer Agent.

Another Kiplingers article interviews five Exclusive Buyer Agents from around the country - on what the "buyers market" looks like in their area.

And the Kiplinger link to negotiating a good purcahse contract with a home builder.

We don't ever have our buyer clients accept builder financing for goodies. They get the goodies - and we help our clients shop for the best loan - which may or may not be the lender that the builder is tied to (usually not.)

Unlike other agents - we know how to analyze a Good Faith Estimate for our buyer clients - and we take the time to shop for the best loan for our client. On average - we save our clients $30,000 or more over the life of the loan.

As a Buyer - Why Take the Risk of Hiring a "Buyer Agent" (Dual Agency Possibility) When You Can Have an Exclusive Buyer Agent (No Dual Agency)?

The answer is - you shouldn't take the risk... It's a no-brainer. When you use an Exclusive Buyer Agent (they and their company never list property for sale) - and you are assured of 100% representation - 100% of the time.

Unfortunately - Dual Agency is legal in Illinois because traditional firms lobbied for it - in order to preserve the ability for their agents to obtain "double dip" commission. Never mind that it isn't good for the consumer...

How can a Realtor, in all honesty, work for two Clients on opposing sides of a transaction? How can you place your Client's interest first, when there are two of them, one trying to get the highest price possible and the other trying to get the lowest price possible? You can't.

Unfortunately when consumers meet with a so-called "Buyer Agent" the first time - and there is no contract - over 80% of consumers in Illinois aren't told by their agent that they can get into a "Dual Agency" situation until it happens.... when their buyer client wants to write a contract on their own listing (that they happened to "sell" to their client.) The law says they were supposed to disclose that they could - upon first contact - but it rarely happens. Thus - the home buyer is left in the dark - and doesn't realize the conflicts that can crop up. (Would have never happened - had they used an Exclusive Buyer Agent.)

An Agency relationship creates a fiduciary between the Agent and Principal. Take away the fiduciary and there is no Agency. When entering into Dual Agency relationship, this fiduciary must be modified, to the point of no longer existing, in order to assist both clients equally. A fiduciary is NOT equal. Here lies the problem. Dual Agency, by it's very nature, is not an Agency relationship. Below are some excellent links that delve into the problems with Dual Agency a little further.

http://www.realestatelawyers.com/Dual-agency.cfm

http://www.realestatejournal.com/columnists/housetalk/20031010-barta.html

http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20050208_dualagency.htm

This is why I've chosen to sacrifice half of my potential income - to only be one "one side of the fence" - that of the buyer. If it was about the money - I'd be like every other agent - working both sides. It is about the ethics to me..

Lake County Illinois Real Estate, Golf Courses in Hawthorn Woods, and Lake County Illinois Forest Preserve Golf Courses

If you are thinking about purchasing a home in Lake County Illinois that is near a lot of golf courses - Hawthorn Woods is the place. While
Hawthorn Woods Country Club is in Hawthorn Woods - you can zoom in to see the huge number of golf courses surrounding Hawthorn Woods!

Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Kildeer, Steeple Chase Golf Club (Mundelein Park District), Countryside Golf Club (Mundelein), Ivanhoe Golf Club (Mundelein), Four Winds Golf Club (Mundelein), and Royal Melbourne Country Club in Long Grove - surround Hawthorn Woods.

Would you like a luxury home with a magnificent pond surrounding it - with white swans and herons - and a real USGA spec golf green in the backyard, with sand traps and water hazards for practicing? E-mail me - and I'll fill you in.

The Lake County Forest Preserve district has four different courses that you can golf on.

For more information on Lake County Forest Preserve Golf Courses - check out the following links:

Lake County Forest Preserve Information

Countryside Golf Club

Thunderhawk Golf Club

Brae Loch Golf Club

Ft Sheridan Golf Club

How Real Estate Firms and State Associations are Confusing the General Public

If your are a potential home buyer - please be aware that agents and their companies are prostituting the term "Exclusive" - by sometimes calling themselves an "Exclusive Buyer Agent" or having you enter into an "Exclusive Buyer Agreement"

The official definition from NAR back in the 1990s is that an Exclusive Buyer Agent never lists property for sale - nor does their company - to avoid the conflicts of interest that typical "buyer agents" have. The term "Exclusive" is critical - because the meaning is just that --- exclusively representing buyers.

A traditional buyer agent - can offer you no more than Exclusive Right to Represent Agreement (which means that they are the only agent that is representing you) - which is a far cry from an "Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement" which means that you are working with an agent that is representing you, but that they and their office never represent sellers. BIG DIFFERENCE.

When they dilute the meaning of the term "Exclusive", and confuse the general public - no one can understand the difference in the type of representation that is offered.

In fact - under an Exclusive Right to Represent Agreement-- that agent may only be temporarily "designated" to represent you. If you become interested in one of their own listings- they suddenly don't represent you anymore -- either declare dual agency on you - or shuffle you off to another agent in their office for you to work with ("Designating them") -- who you may not want to work with at all.

At that point - that agent that WAS supposed to be representing you - is not supposed to tell the seller what they know about you...but at the same time, they are legally representing the seller and working in their best interest. So - as a consumer - can you see the problem here??

I hope so.

And what you - as a home buyer - aren't told - is that every other agent in that agent's office is your adversary....and that there could be overheard phone conversations, that there are shared fax machines and file cabinets, and that your agent may have biases towards showing more in-house listings or worse - their own listing -- because perhaps they get a bigger commission split if they push an "in-house" listing on you. Agents don't disclose these 'issues" to you.

When you understand that this can happen with a traditional agent - and that you get better representation from an Exclusive Buyer Agent for no extra cost (everything is built into the transaction) - using an Exclusive Buyer Agent when you are buying becomes a "no brainer."

Unfortunately - as a home buyer - you aren't told upfront what an Exclusive Right to Represent Agreement really means. And worse yet - most buyers in Illinois sign no agreement at all. This means that agents have carte blanche ability to deceive you. Across the US (and in Illinois) there is less than a 12% disclosure rate.

If you have no contract with an agent - they are supposed to disclose that they might suddenly not be representing you at one point -- upon first contact with you (or if you sign an Exclusive Right to Represent agreement with them - within that agreement) but since most buyers don't have a contract with an agent in Illinois - most of the agents are disclosing this fact way too late -- contract signing (which isn't legal).

Consumers deserve better...