In Puerto Rico why are most realtors so lazy they dont respond

Realtors like to make money like you and me and there are around 15,000 properties for sale.
1) They tend to not want to work with Americans that are still in the mainland, as a lot of times they are not in the island long enough to close on a sale and a lot of times they are not sure where they want to live or the type of property they want.
2) Some are only interested in promoting and moving properties that are high value properties
3) Some after they make a sale or two, they have enough money in their pocket so they quit until they need more money.
4) A lot of properties are listed by one or more realtor / non-exclusive so there is less incentive to push a property
5) A lot of owners just put a sign in front of the house and may make a deal with a realtor but no contract, so the seller can sell or the realtor can sell.

Some areas like Condado and Rincon, the realtors are more on the ball and better at dealing with mainlanders, but not always.

Even if you get a good realtor, if you want to see a property listed by somebody else, it may be hard to find the listing agent, which means your realtor is not going to be able to show you the property. Also your realtor needs part of the commission, if he is not able to make a deal with the listing agent, there is no reason to show you the property since he won't get a penny for it, just the listing agent gets payed and he did not find you the buyer, so in that case you are not going to be able to see the property unless your agent or you get a hold of the listing agent.

It is better to rent a house until you are sure where you want to be, the type of house you want, and have several months actually in the island to see properties. Coming to the island for a week to a month is very frustrating and you will be able to see only a few properties, after all there are about 15,000 possible ones, but seller agents are hard to find so if you are lucky you may get to see 100 in a month.

Im from the states originally, although now Im in PR.  When sending an email, I dont know how they would know where I am.

Just because they are listed it does not mean the realtor is active. They may be working at walmart at the moment. Better chance with an agency of 3 or more agents if you want a response. A lot of realtors work part time at selling houses.

Most realtors can not tell where the mail came from, but English is a good way to tell. Some agents speak little or no english so those are likely not to contact you back.

I can tell where an email came from and a few realtors can also but not many.

You do not normaly see the information because you are not looking at all the headers of the emails you receive, but i can tell each email server that was used in the delivery of the message and sometimes i can also get the IP it was sent from and from there figure out where it was sent from. With a contact at the ISP I can get what house was using that IP at that time of the day.

Check your email client settings and have it show you the full set of headers, you may find it interesting, specially any spam mail which lies about where it comes from.

Sometimes I track web traffic to Russia, China, Iran and the specific address of the Mosque.
Rey

If you are already on the island, it is my suggestion that you drive around in areas where you think you could live, and look for signs that say "Se Vende."  Get the phone number, if it's provided on the sign, but better yet, knock on the door or talk to the friendly neighbor ... forget the realtors, don't hold your breath waiting for anyone to call you back, face to face is your best bet.  When you find something you like and negotiations are going well with the seller, get an attorney to do the paperwork.

I contacted 2 realtors with listings in the area we wanted to live.  Both got back to me, but one really took the initiative, listened to me, and emailed me a few suggestions based on what I said I wanted and our budget.  We only worked with him once we landed on the island.

We brought current credit reports with us, already had local PR checking accounts, and we moved into our house 6 days later.  Just be prepared, find a responsive realtor, and make a list of everything the house MUST have, and a few things that you would like.  We got everything that we wanted (even the nice to have's).

Don't take the fact that the realtors you contacted were lax in doing their job. I am sure that there are some good realtors out there. Fortunately, we got our house through Clasificados and didn't have to deal with realtors.  Most listings are in Spanish but there are some that have the listing also in English.

I agree with everything that the others posted, however it is easier if you speak Spanish to deal with the seller directly. Even though there are many who speak English.

Good luck in your quest. and Welcome to Puerto Rico.

Tonie

Rey gave a good response as always. Let me add my dos centavos.

I think PR sellers are poorly, poorly served in an unregulated market. Nobody disciplines PR realtors, no licensing. So no problem, I can do whatever the heck I want.

Like guys like David what's his name that hijack RE websites like "Point2Point" and "Classificados". He has 75 % of the listings in PR. 

Interested in one of his? Don't waste your time. His wife answers the phone with the baby crying in the background. He ain't calling you back.

The other thing is I think alot of them just want to show their girlfriend their picture on the net. Or else have to show Public Aid they are indeed looking for employment, can't mess up the Food Stamp thing, you know.

Don't buy in PR, because you ain't never getting it sold other pure luck or at 90% loss.

So if the prior posters had a great experience with one of the few, and I am sure they are out there, just rare, please tell us his/her name.

Please tell the board who. Most of us are in the market.

If tou are looking for a good and responsive realtor, send me a private message and i will give you the contact information.

I had a good experience with my realtor and lawyer - I would be happy to provide contact info.

OMG. Let me just say I used to work for a Real Estate Office in PR and know many Realtors.  They were and are some of the hardest working people I ever met. Always busy, working super long hours,  always taking phone calls, emails, dealing with the bank, sellers and buyers, the Government (CRIM)...always a nightmare with the Crim.  Most Sales take many months to close. Then you get people from the States on Vacation every week wanting to see properties...sometimes you can just tell they aren't really planning to move here and the Realtors waste a whole day showing them properties and then they leave and never come back to PR. When instead they could have spent time with a obvious serious buyer. Also there are Realtors out there that don't speak English and it doesn't help at all if you don't speak any Spanish. Pretty much nothing works as fast in PR as it does in the States...especially when government is involved. Remember Realtors here have to navigate those systems also to make a Sale. Everyone is so quick to judge right? Yes there are good and bad ones just like everywhere and everything. Really I would say if you don't have Patience to deal with Realtors in Puerto Rico then probably everything and everybody is going to drive you nuts as well.

Agree with you 100% Dora

Wow, such an eye opener from a boot on the ground, and thank you,.

I take back everything I posted but , but, but --I ain't the lone ranger on bad experiences with PR realtors.  Small internet board here, 10 posts a day? And almost all gringo posts. But alot of WTF with realtors in PR? So this isn't happenstance.

Who do you recommend west coast?

East coast/SJ based realtors I have learned, and I get it totally, now anyway, are not responsive to west coast interested gringos. Tell you "OK we are in this together" and then totally drop you. Like you never had the conversation. end of the story.  Better they tell you, hey dude, I am 3 hours away from that area, call Jose over that way. But they don't. They just bullshit you.

In the mean time all your research on line goes out the window.

And that includes some west coast guys like ocean blah blah blah.com. Want to waste your time? Call them, probably just him. Lots of listings, but apparently no fax machine or voicemail. YMMV.

And this also includes what's his name that has hijacked Point2Point and Clasificados. Unless you want to talk to his wife and listen to the baby and the soap opera in the background.

The realtor with whom I contracted to sell my place in Arroyo moved to Florida and has arranged for her friend to show my place.  I tried to find a a 'real' realtor, who does it full-time but it seems in that area of PR it is a side job. 
This is a very different experience from when I sold my house in New York.

Very well put Dora. You hit the nail on the head. I am sure that there are many hardworking real estate people here in different parts and fortunately I haven't had to deal with them. However the fact as you said that many "gringos" come over here for a week or so and want to see property and are not really interested in coming here for real is very true.

My husband used to be in real estate in NY many moons ago and the times that he would take people out to show properties to and they would not commit or never come back was astounding.  He would use all his gas and time for nothing but I guess that happens everywhere.  I also worked as a receptionist in the office and found many inconsiderate buyers who would waste the agent's time and gave them the run around.

In reference to agents here, we have a friend who recently got into contract to purchase a condo down in Salinas and then went back to the states.  All was good until they told her that she had to close in a certain amount of time or face a penalty and when she spoke to the agent, found out they  didn't file all the necessary paperwork that her bank needed. But they still wanted to fine her, so obviously the deal died. It is very difficult to purchase something here if you are not on the island.  I definitely wouldn't.

When we were planning to come here, we looked continuously at Classificados and had found several homes, we wanted to see, but guess what , when we finally got here 90% of them were gone, so we had to start our search again. We did find a great house after 3 weeks of staying with family, which wasn't too much fun.

My main point is not to search until you are here for good and then if any problems arise you are here to solve them, whether with an agent or on your own.

Hey Bonu,
I send you a private message with the info about a realtor you wanted. He is a friend of mine so try not to waste his time.

What sort of property you want?
What type of community (Urbanizacion, beach house, Country house, farm, condo, etc)?
What town or towns you are looking at?
You mentioned previously that you do not speak Spanish, are you renting at the moment?
Where in PR are you currently living?

Unfortunately I agree with many of the above comments :too many mainland folks come here and want to enjoy a free tour with no real interest in buying.  Time, gas and commitment are not free for the agents! This is part of the work I do here so I know the challenges.  even when a client has true interest,  we can tour 10 properties with no results because people are looking for properties like the ones they had in Cincinnati not remembering this is NOT Cincinnati!

If you need someone in the San Juan /Caguas area pm me for some suggestions.

Our family will be in PR for Spring Break. We've contacted several agents with little luck, until this week. My husband has been speaking to a very helpful gentleman who has answered many questions. he has also spoken with a lady at a bank there about a mortgage for a 2nd home.  We've known for a while that PR is where we want to retire to, Fajardo specifically.
We have good friends in San Juan, locals, who we are considering making power of attorney to deal with documents and help us close the deal. Is this feasible in PR?

Yes, the Fajardo area is a great place, a little higher than some areas but you are close to Culebra and Vieques, marinas and several beaches. Several of us are in that area or plan to move to that area.

The power of attorney has to be done in PR, a US one will not work, so you will need at least one trip back to the island. While you are there also get a checking account from Banco Popular, they will accept a US residency unlike many other banks, you can change later. Also while there pay for a P.O. Box office in Fajardo, may want to make it for a year in case there are delays. They will give you an address where you can send packages during your move and also you can use that address for connecting electricity, water and other stuff once you move.

I would not give the PO box address to others until you move or very shortly before the move, you want your mail at your US address until you are ready to go, otherwise the mail will sit at the post office until your friends have a chance to check for mail.
If you need a realtor send me a private message, but your friends may be able to locate a nice place for you since they are there in the island.

OK, we have a place in Fajardo and had a great real estate experience but it was not without work on our part. We have a very good agent, so If you want to know anything about the Fajardo area, just contact me.

You can read about our experiences here:
https://www.expat.com/en/blog/central-a … nolis.com/

Do not be offended (or just try not to be...), this is not you, and it is not unique to the real estate industry.

Hello..

Being a mortgage banker and a realtor for 20 yrs I really understand what you mean and went through, as you see my name is 24/7 ..why?  because I know most people will repond 1-3 days later if they do at all (island time may be?? I live up my name, please feel free to contact me for any detail or inquiry..now is the time to buy in PR!..also check us on facebook ..happy real estate hunting!

Perhaps we were just lucky, but we had a good honest agent and a reasonable, knowledgable real estate lawyer that assisted us.

PM me for contact info if wanted.