Well, it's about that time again. I need a vacation!!!! In less than one week I am flying to Germany for two weeks to visit friends and family.

My biggest concern ist, who will watch over my clients and files?! With all these short sales going on, I am just worried sick that something will happen while I am gone.

I guess I just need to trust my representation, he is a professional and will take care of everything for me.

How do you handle time off? Do you change your voicemail and auto reply on your email? Is there anything else I should or could be doing? If seems as if I got busy right when I booked my flight!!!! Yikes!!!

Wow, 3 so far this week. I love the idea of the deals I now have in my pipeline as long as I can get them to close! I highly encourage all who take on these tedious listings to get the education and knowledge needed to bring them to the closing table. Make sure your buyers agents know how the handle their buyers too. They can really kill the deal!

Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't just that heads up penny I found earlier this week.............

Good Luck and much success short selling!!!!

Hey Folks!

 

Just wanted to post a little feedback about Freddie Mac. I currently am working on a short sale submitted to Bank of America. Well, the investor is Freddie Mac and we are currently waiting on their approval.

After waiting over 30 days for that to happen, I finally broke down and called Freddie! I was not on hold forever, and the customer rep was very nice and understanding. I am supposed to get an update in the next 48 hours. I will post my experience about that later.

This is just a little post I wanted to share. I will add their phone number later. I encourage agents to contact Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae about the files being reviewed. Maybe we could push the short sales through a lot quicker and our Buyers wouldn't be walking!!!

Blog ya later!

Over the past year, my area of expertise has been concentrating on the "short sale" or pre-foreclosure properties. I list them, then try and help the sellers avoid foreclosure by negotiating a short sale with their lender.

I hear many many times that agents "avoid" showing their clients these listings because they either have had a negative experience, or they just don't know enough about short sales to feel confident that they are looking out for their clients best interests.

I will tell you this, if you are working with buyers who want that deal, and ultimately have to show short sale listings, make sure that listing agent knows what they are doing! Call them up and interview them! Ask them how many successful short sales they have negotiated. What is their track record etc. There is no reason they shouldn't cooperate and understand your concerns. I have agents at my office who come to me EVERY DAY and tell me their horror stories. Asking me what I would do in their situation.

Folks, there is no quick fix, just at least educate yourself about the process and that knowledge alone will help.

If you want a hassle free transaction, just show my listings! ;-)

Happy Labor Day to all!

 

Well, I have been the Team Leader of the Stop Foreclosure Fast Group at Keller Williams in Lakeland now for a little over a month. All in all, I have been doing short sales for almost one year now. They can at times be quite frustrating, but the feeling you have when they close, is uncomparable!!!! I have three great team members: Ed Piper, Jenny Webb, and Vickie Gordon-Eklund. They go above and beyond and are just great. If you have a Seller facing foreclosure, make sure you know what you are doing. If not, we do pay a referral fee!!

I would love to chat about short sales. Send me an email!

At this time, I am a member of a Team specializing and focusing on short sale properties only. I wonder where this will lead and if it will be my future for the next few years.

I am still doing the typical real estate stuff on the side. Working with Buyers and taking on "normal" listings. I do not want to limit my potential income area. It might be that short sales are not my forte'. I need to keep all my options open.

Short sales offer the promise of many transactions equaling money, but there is so much work involved. It is also very depressing. I just had a client on the phone this evening crying.

How do other agents cope with this market?

WOW, business is bad. Really bad for some agents. Spoke with a fellow agent this evening. Seems a former Teamleader is trying to scam off some of her hard-earned closing money by claiming he referred a listing to her. Actually, the listing was hers, she brought it to the Team. It was withdrawn, then she left the Team and it was relisted with her again.

I just can't understand how some people can stoop so low and try and steal (yes, that is what I call it!) other peoples money.

I guess we are all different and have different ethics. I just wish some common sense and decency could prevail!!

I am just curious how other agents feel about using the exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement. Sure, I've lost clients because of other unethical Realtors. Haven't we all? I still don't want a Buyer tied to me because of a piece of paper. Other agents are all telling me "First you get the paper signed, then you work with them." I just feel that if I provide the service my Buyers are entitled to, they will be happy with me, and won't go anywhere else. Just today I got a phone call off my sign. The gentleman was driving around town and saw my listing. One of my first questions was the required: "Are you currently working with an agent?". He replied: "Honestly, I had worked with an agent in the past, but I just don't feel that our personalities meshed." I completely feel that your agent is the one person you NEED to feel comfortable with. A person should have the right to move on if the business relationship is not working for them. On the other hand, clients who move from agent to agent to agent are a complete new issue. I just wrote a contract with a very nice couple. The husband was here alone at first and house-hunting. He called me off Realtor.com. He came to my office the following weekend and we sat down. He was very upfront about what had happened to him. He had met with another agent in another town (he wasn't sure where he wanted to buy and wanted the agent to be familiar with the area) and that agent was very ademant about him signing this agreement. He refused and moved on. I told him I would not make him sign this agreement because I wanted him to stay with me because my services were good enough for him to stay. That was 2 months ago. In the meantime, we have found them a house. We close on Nov 9th. They even went to FSBOs on their own and said their agent (me!) needed to be part of the deal. They later told me, that they had realized just how valuable my knowledge was to them.

Now my question.......How many of us really get these agreements signed and why? Am I living in my own dream-world thinking I will never need this piece of paper?

 

This thing they call "blogging" is indeed a super idea. I never thought I would get so caught up in it. I love reading what all the other agents in our nation are facing and doing to make things better. I also appreciate all the comments I have been receiving on my blogs. It is great just to know that there are strangers out there, who obviously care enough and will take the time (even if it's ten seconds) so write and respond to someones issues or problems. The internet has allowed us to become "close" in a sense. Sincerely, thank you ALL who read blogs and feel for all our fellow agents!!  I hope we all have very successful careers!

Fellow Agents!

 

How often does this happen to you; You have some Buyers and they are ready to buy, you just need to show them some houses over the weekend. So, Thursday afternoon you start your selection and schedule showings. 8 out of 10 Realtors don't answer their direct lines. You leave a message why you are calling (schedule showing etc.) with your direct number and wait for the return call. You wait, and wait, and wait. Call again, leave another message. And wait. Your desired appointment day/time approaches, arrives, and passes. The day after that you get a call from the listing agent (while you are thinking FINALLY). They have all these excuses on hand. Well, I usually tell them that their listing is now not being considered as we have moved on. So many times I feel like writing the Sellers a short note (don't worry, I will never do that as I know it would be VERY unethical!) and informing them how their agent is doing all they can (NOT) to sell their home. In todays market, when I have a showing, I do ALL I CAN to make it happen!!!! Shouldn't we all work together? I guess I just had to vent. It happened agent the day before and the agent called me yesteday with whatever excuses he had. Now I keep getting his email asking for feedback on the showing. WHAT A JOKE!!!!!