Anything but a short sale?

[BillyBoy]

I'm a new agent on the streets trying to get listings. All I hear is that my CMA came in at $220.000 and I owe $225.000, how could I possibly list my house with you and pay a commission? I have to bring money to the table now! Is their anything you can do for these people other than offer a short sale?

[nitsujri]

If all they're missing is $5K then they should consider themselves lucky. Too many people are missing $25K, $50K on their homes. They're lucky they're not in foreclosure!

The realism of it all is that if they have to consider short sale for WHATEVER reason, there is no other option other than going lower, foreclosure.

The angle you should try to spin is why you're useful. Yeah it's understandable that they owe money and they don't want to pay you, but you have to explain to them why you're needed. A short sale is not as straight forward as a regular homesale. FSBO's are hard enough as is (especially when it comes to worrying about making a mistake), a short only gets worse. You have to work with the bank, help manage the relationship, work with some different documents.

Truth be told, you could leave the homeowner to deal with the shortsale paperwork, but that's not adding value at all. When you're dealing with a foreclosure you become even more valuable. Grind through it, provide customer service and be the best RE Agent there is.

If you're not familiar with shorts and what all goes into them, there's plenty of resources out there. Our website has a number of older posts (shameless self promotion =), check it out.

Since you're relatively new, welcome! Survive through this era and you'll be a very solid RE Agent.

[jsdomino]

What most people don't realize is that in most Short Sales people bring money to the table. Anyway you look at it a Short Sale is going to cost them money.

If these folks are only upside down a few thousand, they should just sell the home as a traditional sale and pay the difference at closing. Yes, they will lose money, but their credit will not be affected.

I know a lot of people are taking the attitude of "Oh, heck with it, I'll just let my credit score go in the tank for 3 years", but they don't realize that for those years they will have a difficult time borrowing money on anything. They will pay higher rates for everything they buy. It could even affect a job search.

Remember, a Short Sale is nothing more than a debt settlement agreement with their lenders.

[escapeso]

I try and discourage people from short sales if they are close. I would prefer to sell a second car or something than do a short sale. If they are 25k off and you are not interested in short sales you could find someone in your area that specializes in that sort of thing and set up a referral agreement.

[Arizona Real Estate]

If there's only a $5k difference they are lucky. Most short sales in Arizona, the sellers are $50k-$100k short.

[maryd]

you can tell them to wait until the market improves, do a loan modification or last but not least, a short sale

[tomgoral]

I have negotiated 14 short sales, possibly more. I am done with them! One word, "Pointless"

If the loan is through a privet investor, your out of luck. Loan modification through a privet investor? Your out of luck.

You will only have a chance doing a short sale if it's government backed, Fannie Mae.

ex: I have faxed in a short sale package incl/purchase contract to a lender 1 year ago, and I just received a response 2 days ago. And guess what? The lender wants the homeowner to pay off the secondary lend holder, not going to happen. Pay off the taxes, not going to happen. Contribute to the loss, sort of hard when your out of work, eh?

This is not negotiating, just demands.

The government needs to step up, regulate the banks. Give them deadlines and rules... Many, Many, Many agents are boycotting Short Sales, only problem... There are nothing but short sales out there.

At the moment, you will close 2 out of every 6 properties, that's my ratio. Could be better or worst for you.

This is my advice, if you take a short sale listing, find an office, preferably a law office that will negotiate you short sale for "No Fee". They will negotiate their fee with the closing costs.

[maryd]

I totally disagree with Tom. I have closed most of my short sales with the exception of Countrywide and Bank of America. Two worst systems in the country. EMC, Wells, Bayview, First Horizon, Chase, GMAC, Aurora, Citi, Wachovia...all fantastic. BUT if you dont know how to do short sales, put the package together, put the loan number on every page, and most importantly, how to do a net sheet or HUD for the bank, you're toast. You'll never get it done...ask someone for help

[tomgoral]

I totally disagree with Tom. I have closed most of my short sales with the exception of Countrywide and Bank of America. Two worst systems in the country. EMC, Wells, Bayview, First Horizon, Chase, GMAC, Aurora, Citi, Wachovia...all fantastic. BUT if you dont know how to do short sales, put the package together, put the loan number on every page, and most importantly, how to do a net sheet or HUD for the bank, you're toast. You'll never get it done...ask someone for help

The package is assembled by a company that has 20+ negotiators, which consists of attorney's, title company, negotiators.

If your that confident in short sales then I am stunned. I have spoke to probably 70+ agents and we all think it's a lost cause. I have been doing short sales for 2+ years now. I would assume I know the process from the in's and out's.

[nitsujri]

If the loan is through a privet investor, your out of luck. Loan modification through a privet investor? Your out of luck.

I agree with tom, private investors (I think he means private) are never easy to deal with. They're simply not as willing to deal with losses as large banks are who can have writeoffs.

But a year to get back a negotiation package? That's just ignorant. 1. If you're forced into a short sale, how can you float for a year without going into foreclosure? If you can float for a year, why are you in a short sale!? Something had to be going on with this one. 2. Banks would rather deal with a short sale than a foreclosure, end of day. If you tell them, "Hey, hurry your a** up or we're going to be forced into foreclosure." They'll move.

Yeah short sales are tough to deal with. We've had a handful, which is more than enough. Being a short sale lister means you're on the phone for hours at a time with people who don't want to deal with you. But they're forced to, its their money too.