When you are looking to purchase a home you are working against 3 things: time, other buyers and the seller.

 

 How can the pre-qualification or proof of funds, and pre-approval help with all three?

 

 Let’s start with the pre-qualification, a process that takes maybe 5-10 minutes, can be done over the phone, and requires that you provide truthful information to the lender.   Having the pre-qual letter (or proof of funds) assures both the agent and the seller that you are a buyer with intent.   And, more importantly, that you are a buyer who knows how much house you can buy.

 

Since buying a home is such a subjective decision and a lifestyle changer, knowing how much house you can afford will save you time.  You can quickly target the appropriate houses.  It also saves you the difficult and deflating step of having to downgrade your expectations.   By the same token, getting pre-qualified may have the inflating consequence of upgrading your expectations! 

 

When an agent takes you into a house, you are entering someone’s personal space.  If you’ve ever sold a home or had an apartment employee enter your apartment when you weren’t home you kind of know that feeling.  Not only that, the homeowner is constantly maintaining or quickly making the house presentable for what they want to know is a capable buyer.   Some houses are listed with the stipulation that agents may ONLY bring pre-qualified buyers.

 

The first time the seller sees the pre-qual letter or proof of funds (with account numbers blacked out) is when you present an offer.  Prior to that, they are going on faith that the agent has only shown their house to people who can actually afford it.  The pre-qual or proof of funds helps the seller take your offer more seriously.  However, the pre-qualification letter gives them only a small measure of certainty in accepting your offer.

 

The pre-qual is a statement by a lender that IF the information you provided is accurate you would QUALIFY for a loan up to the specified amount.  Following the pre-qualification comes the actual approval process.  In this step the buyer provides proof of all the information the lender needs to give approval for a loan.  Without this approval beforehand any offer the buyer puts in on a house is contingent on the buyer getting this approval.  There are times when the information given during the pre-qual is not accurate and the buyer and seller both will be disappointed to learn the sale cannot go through. 

 

So imagine if after you get the pre-qualification and start looking, you immediately begin working on getting the approval.   You will know with certainty what you can afford, you will save time in your house search, you can close sooner because you will not need a financing contingency, and the seller will be assured that you can buy the house and is more likely to quickly negotiate better terms.  The sooner you can get the seller to accept your offer the less likely another buyer can come in and snatch the house from you.

 

With an approval letter all you need in your offer is an appraisal contingency – this allows the buyer to negotiate a lower price or exit the contract if the house does not appraise for the contracted price.  Most home sellers have had a recent appraisal and will be confident of the house appraising for a certain price.  So if the appraisal is the only thing standing in the way of your purchase they will be thinking this is a pretty sure thing!   Which offer do you think they will accept – yours with a slightly lower price with just an appraisal contingency or another offer with a higher price but also a big IF for financing and the added time of waiting for that financing approval?

 

Anita Kummer, assistant to Rhonda Duffy, President and Broker of Duffy Realty

 

Henderson Place in Alpharetta Georgia is a great Townhome and Cluster Community that is convenient to everything you would expect in the superb area known as Alpharetta Georgia!

Morris Lake townhome community in Alpharetta Georgia is convenient to shopping, schools and many, many restaurants and entertainment in Alpharetta and Metro Atlanta. With only 30 minutes to downtown Atlanta, you can also enjoy all of the sports teams in Atlanta, cultural events and theater and some of the best restaurants in the Southeast U.S.

Whittington subdivision in Alpharetta Georgia has a great community pool. This video also shows the spacing of the homes and architecture that the builder used in the neighborhood.

Whittington Sudivision in Alpharetta Georgia is the proud home of many happy residents.

 

Whittington is the perfect neighborhood for professional and retired folks who want to avoid huge amounts of yard work.  It is conveniently located to shopping, interstate 400 and many large employers in Alpharetta Georgia.

 

 

My question is simple here -

 

Do sellers believe that it is a listing agent's job to show the house to any buyer whether or not they have an agent?

 

I have been asking this of my sellers over the last few weeks and I get a "Yes!" And, it is followed up with "Isn't that the job of the agent?"

 

So whereas we may be fighting about procurring cause... as agents, the public absolutely thinks that they should and can call the listing agent to see the home and answer questions. 

 

One of my sellers said that if the listing agent isn't going to show the house to buyers with an agent, that they should just say on their voicemail that if you want to see the house, call another agent.  Why confuse the public they said? 

 

One of my clients saw an 850K house with the listing agent and told them that they had their house listed with me but that they had not signed a buyer agreement but that they were going to use us.  The agent blasted us and forgot to go back to ask again if they were still going to use us - I guess just thinking that after his blasting they would change their mind.  He showed the home. 

 

Then, my client wanted to make an offer on the home with me. 

 

I called the broker and they said that they would pay nothing to us as they had shown the home and that they buyer said they were not working with anyone. 

 

At the showing, the agent did not discuss buyer brokerage or who represents whom in the transaction.  The agent did not follow up with the buyer.  The agent did not give the buyer a seller's disclosure, comps or anything else, they did not disclose in the listing that they were paying less commission etc...

 

Now, we get paid nothing?

 

Sad thing is for the seller that the buyer got so pissed off from all of this including the unprofessional blasting that they decided not to buy the house! 

 

That was a month ago - house is still on the market - another house now belongs to the buyer!

 

Cooperation gets homes sold and the listing agent of the 850K house would still be making over 24K on the listing side.  But more importantly, the seller would not be suffering on the market.  They had a buyer!

 

 

 

The rest of the story as told below... after many of you responded.

 

Okay so here is more to the story that I left out before - sorry, I didn't expect so many posts and action here...

 

The buyer/seller was our client for over 1 year selling a 1.5 million dollar home and downsizing to 850K.  At the beginning of their listing we had a buyer's agency with them because they received an offer on their home.  The offer did not work out, they did not move and the buyer agency expired.  We discussed the buyer agency with them at expiration and they said that they were too heartbroken from the last offer that they would just wait to see homes when they got another offer.

 

On Sunday night (the day before Memorial day), a couple came by their home (without their agent) and caught them in the yard.  They showed the home and the couple told them that they were going to bring their agent the next morning and in the meantime they were going to get an offer together. 

 

My client panicked that night and starting looking at homes on the internet.  My partner who they had been working with had called them earlier in the week and of course over a year of them being on the market they became friends.  My partner told her that her daughter was graduating from high school over that weekend and that she had a whole bunch of family coming. 

 

On Memorial Day, my client called our office and left a message that we did not pick up until around noon telling us that she was getting an offer.  In the meantime, trying to be helpful because she knew my partner was busy, she called the listing agents of several homes and got this listing agent...  that is where the story above comes in...

 

Thanks for your responses.

Okay there are all kinds of theories on how to make people like you but in real estate, I think there are a few very simple principles that can definitely help.

 

1.  Be on time with phone calls and personal appointments.

2.  Don't interrupt when they are speaking.

3.  Use your voice to express highs and lows - in other words, don't sound monotone.

4.  Follow up on personal conversations with emails to reiterate what you spoke about.

5.  Leave every conversation with what is happening next.

6.  Make written timelines of what happens when.

7.  Keep everyone in the loop by copying all parties on emails.

8.  Let people talk themselves 80% more than you talk about yourself.

9.  Never tell clients about your personal problems.

10.  Be proud of them for the right to buy and sell properties.  It is an earned right after all.

11.  Do you best to figure out what they don't know that they don't know.

12.  Present yourself in a detailed manner.  This could be your materials, your appearance, your car and your contracts.

13.  Mirror and match their actions.  Look this up if you are not familiar.

14.  Smile and present that you are on fire, happy and are a great resource for them.

15.  Be grateful for every encounter that you have with every person.

16.  Remember that the goal is to pierce their sphere of influence, so make memorable experiences for them.

If you are a Seller who has been thinking about Short Selling Your Property - READ THIS!

 

Bank of America is testing foreclosure waters with an incentive program for defaulting homeowners to “short sell” their homes instead of enduring a foreclosure, which can take years.

 

Almost unheard of five years ago, a short sale must be approved by the lender because the sale amount winds up being less than the mortgage owed on the house. Foreclosures have come to cost lenders so much in terms of sunken prices, deteriorated properties and legal fees that Bank of America announced last week that it would give $5,000 to $20,000 to qualified borrowers who submit a short-sale request to the lender by Nov. 30. A seller would be paid if the house is sold by Aug. 31, 2012.

 

“It’s an incentive for people who are delaying foreclosures or who are in a foreclosure process,” said Alan Randel, broker/owner of AmeriTeam Realty Inc. “They stop paying their mortgage, and it can take a year of or more. … This is an opportunity to get cash out and be relieved of the deficiency.”

 

Guidelines for Bank of America’s new Enhanced Short Sale Relocation Assistance program state that a borrower may use the incentive to pay off existing liens or for relocation expenses. FHA, Ginnie Mae, VA and USDA loans are not eligible. Details are available by calling 1-866-880-1232.

 

Short-sale incentives are an outgrowth of earlier, “cash for keys” programs offered by lenders and real-estate companies. Also, the U.S. Treasury Department has tried to boost the number of short sales with its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, which provides $3,000 for borrower-relocation assistance, $1,500 for servicers to cover administrative and processing costs, and as much as $2,000 for investors who meet certain requirements.

 

Other programs currently available:

 

•Wells Fargo offers incentives of $10,000 to $20,000 to certain homeowners who opt for a short sale or who transfer a home’s title back to the bank. The program is aimed at properties in Florida and other states known for protracted, judicial foreclosures. The money is available only on first-lien loans that the company owns, which is about 20 percent of its portfolio. Details: 1-800-678-7986.

 

•JPMorgan Chase has not reported how much it offers for short-sale incentives, though real-estate agents have reported sellers getting $20,000. The lender also has declined to specify how it determines the amount of its incentives. Details: 407-248-3945.

 

•Citibank has reported it offers an average of $12,000 for borrowers when it owns the mortgage. The amount is determined upfront and varies depending on a borrower’s financial circumstances and mortgage-payment history. The money is disbursed when the short sale closes.

If you choose to do nothing when effort is required, expect gravity to pull you under.  ~ Rhonda Duffy

When you have a predicament that has come upon you either by your choice or not, you must take action to get to the best possible outcome as quickly as possible. 

Many homeowners are finding themselves in a predicament with their mortgage liability.  They have suffered hardships ranging from job loss, divorce, death and even being severely upside down in the property’s value.  With the rise of the hardships in place versus the hardships disappearing, home sellers must take action as quickly as possible to have options that offer them recovery as quickly as possible.

There are solutions available that dissolve the debt owed to the mortgage holder.  The first of the solutions is a short sale that removes the debt owed with a satisfaction of mortgage with no money needed at closing from the seller.  After finding a buyer for the home, the homeowner then proves to the lender that they have a hardship.   This proof shows that the homeowner deserves the reprieve from the debt to the lender under the lender’s guidelines of a short sale and the homeowner is given a satisfaction of the mortgage with no debt owed.

In some cases the lender’s specific requirement require that the homeowner pay either a small portion of the debt at closing or the debt is paid off with a promissory note.  The amount of debt asked for is significantly less than the amount owed. 

In worse case scenarios, the lender forecloses on the home and then pursues the debt owed with vigor and the homeowner is severely penalized on their credit and sometimes on their job if the employer is seeking a worker with good credit.  Foreclosure is a horrible predicament and often sends the homeowner into a financial crisis that can only be recovered after years of further hardship.

To do a short sale you need to act quickly to find a buyer.  The best place to seek a buyer is by using both the MLS activated by a real estate agent and the for sale by owner market where many investment minded individuals search for great deals.  Once your home is on the market, your agent will start communicating with your lender.  Most lenders are relieved that you are seeking a solution to your problem rather than sloughing off the responsibility of your debt.  Next, getting together your package of proof is important.  The package that will be sent to your lender needs to be meticulous and well thought out.  Your agent should be an expert in short sales with both training and experience.  Without experience, your agent will not be able to provide the best package to your lender.


For more information on short sales go to www.ssrules.com. Rhonda Duffy is an Elite Certified Short Sale Specialist and is the ONLY Elite CDRS designated real estate broker in Georgia. 

1.  Bring them a willing and able buyer.
2.  Prove your hardship.
3.  Provide updated and complete bank statements with limited spending shown  for  non-essentials.
4.  Take a patience class to help you sit around and wait.
5.  Keep your buyer in place by inviting them to the home over and over for various  reasons.
6.    Introduce the buyer to your neighbors and tell them all the reasons that you love              it there.
7.    Learn the Art of Prayer. 
8.    Update your package with new statements and pay stubs as you get them.
9.    Don’t clean up for the appraiser.
10. Make sure that you disclose everything to the lender to have your best chance of     getting approved. 

The ability to get a short sale done with lenders has been a blessing for many homeowners.  It allows relief of a very troubling situation and large amount of debt with relatively small disruption of credit and lifestyle.  Many people report that they feel that they did the right thing and that they feel very grateful for the opportunity to short sale.  Just remember that there is a process that needs to be mastered to be successful with a short sale.

For more information on short sales go to www.SSRules.com. Rhonda Duffy is an Elite Certified Short Sale Specialist and is the ONLY Elite CDRS designated real estate broker in Georgia.