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Flood Gates ... are they open yet? And what's an agent to do?

Just a reminder! The word in the air is that it is time.... (June is almost over... July is coming) -----> Banks will be or are already releasing more of the foreclosures that they have in inventory.

Although there is also the possibility that banks will cooperate with the new programs that Obama has introduced to help homeowners keep their home and also this is set in place to help slow down the number of foreclosures. See:

What has changed with Short Sales?

Between now and then... Look out for your Loan Modification letter - it is time sensitive --- if you do not get one CALL YOUR LENDER! Do not miss this opportunity to AVOID FORECLOSURE!

Doing nothing is not an option.... It's a bad mistake if you are having mortgage problems.

However, should be one the lucky agents that get a truckload of REOs (Bank Owned) properties, do not forget to maintain your properties in a manner to help the communities stay in a upbeat condition and help the market by maintaining your properties in a manner that will help the market instead of continue to bring it down.

Here are just some of the responsibilities an agent has - in order to maintain a Bank Owned Property:

Floors swept and mopped
Carpets vacuumed
Walls, ceilings and corners should be free of cobwebs
All light fixtures should have working light bulbs
Sinks countertops and cabinets wiped down
Vacuum out cabinets
Replace air filters
All appliances cleaned (interior and exterior). If inoperable, remove.
Windows washed and window ledges cleaned
Mirrors cleaned
Bathtubs, showers and commodes cleaned
Vents cleaned and free of dust
Ceiling fans cleaned
Clean fireplace, if applicable
Property should smell clean, air fresheners can be used
Gutters and down spouts cleaned
Sweep front porch
Power wash exterior, if needed

In additon, agent will need to keep the property up by:

Watering the lawn regularly
Cut the lawn regularly
Dust the inside of the property
Check again for cobwebs, pests - remove them
May have to reclean the carpet if it is during rainy season, check for mud or foot trackings
Turn on the utilities and pay the bill and wait for reimbursements
Report to Asset Manager any damages, repairs needed and supervisor their repair
and the list goes on.

You know some will say us agents have it easy. I say to them take a look at this list and tell me it is easy being an agent! Wait! there's more: Is it hard to spot a bank owned property in Stockton, CA? But I love it!

Check out our website and find tips for BUYERS and SELLERS - Find some valuable information on ( Short Sales, Bank Owned Properties, Latest Loan Modification programs - including Foreclosure Alternatives Program to help prevent Foreclosure). I work with my daughter (D'Adrea Davie) as the Mother and Daughter Real Estate Realty Team at Family Realty Group and we have the latest information for the Loan Modification program & FAS (Foreclosure Alternatives Program).

Our aggressive marketing plan includes on-line listing advertising.

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If you are thinking of Avoiding Foreclosure, Short Sale or Buying a home in Northern California's Central Valley (San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa and Stanislaus Counties - includes Stockton, Manteca, Tracy, Lathrop., Salida, Ripon, Modesto, Lodi, Hayward, Castro Valley, Union City, Fremont, Newark, Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin and all surrounding cities). Call us at 866-543-0461 or email US (go to our website and email us).

Rosemary Brooks

Patrick Williams & Associates

Mother and Daughter Realty Team

PH: 866-543-0461

FAX: 866-815-1649

EMAIL: info@motheranddaughterrealtyteam.net

WEBSITE: www.motheranddaughterrealtyteam.com

Posted by Rosemary Brooks -Mother & Daughter (866)-750-8282 on 06/26/2009 06:19 AM

Comments (61)

Foreclosures in the ActiveRain Channel

foreclosures, reo, bank owned properties, stockton, ca, foreclosure alternatives program, fap, rosemary brooks

Originally posted at: Mother & Daughter Blog: Flood Gates ... are they open yet? And what's an agent to do?

This post has been included in California Information San Joaquin County, CA Information
Post is included in group: Foreclosure Alternatives Program
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61 Comments on Flood Gates ... are they open yet? And what's an agent to do?

JUN

Rosemary. Wouldn't it be nice if listing agents made some efforts to make foreclosure listings presentable and MARKETABLE?

Guess what?? They just might sell faster.

. Many agents who list foreclosures do not even take pictures or room dimensions. Wish they made an effort to market the homes.

Some of the REO agents are excellent but many are not doing their jobs. The bad ones are costing their clients a lot of money.

When REO agents fear the reimbursement system, they are reluctant to advance repair funds. Some have advised that asset managers have refused reimbursement for HOA documents even though they are required.

Do you actually do all of that stuff? Most regular homeowners who have their home on the market don't do half of that. Do you hire a cleaning company and charge the bank or is all of that coming from your commission?

This doesn't sound like any of the REO properties I go in!

Rosemary, I hear bank owned properties can cost the listing agent quite a bit of money because you have to pay the utility bills and upkeep while it's on the market. I know you are reimbursed at closing, but still, if it sits on the market for a while it seems as though it could be quite costly!

Chanda panda

Charlene and I are up to our eyeballs in short sales and REO's. If you do these things on REO's, and if you get the price right, they sell in a day. That yang makes the ying worthwhile and you have balance. Oummmm

Rosemary, I so wish the agents handling the bank owned homes here would follow your advice but I don't see it happening. Great post and great advice.

REOs are easy to spot here because the yards are usually a mess! Nice list!

Rosemary,

Some banks will not even pay for an initial cleaning for their property. While I've emptied science-experiement fridges and done an intial tidying, no way am I going to do (or pay for) ongoing, thorough cleaning. Especially if the home has been winterized and the water is off, it isn't feasible.

Frankly, I've not gotten one ounce of feedback that dirty windows or new cobwebs were a deterrent - the price compensated for a non-powerwashed exterior.

Hats off to you if you play maid or personally pay for one!

This will just keep fueling the I gotta get a Bargin mentality !

Rosemary -Most of these properties in my area don't get the services you provide but still manges to get multiple offers. I am sure though, that making the property more presentable will fetch a higher offer.

You must have one heck of a budget and plenty of time to do all of that cleaning. Either that or you have a cleaning service at your beck and call. It would almost scare me to have to keep up that level of maintenance on a non-occupied house, while trying to maintain my own.

Maybe one in ten? Actually in the past few months I've seen fewer homes that actually look 'distressed', but of course we have had very few bank owned homes come on the market compaired with last year here in Lincoln so maybe agents can go the extra effort to at least have the home cleaned out. I can understand when some of the agents handling bank owned have a large number of properties don't want to take the time and effort to clean them up... however I assume they are getting a commission on these properties, and they certainly don't have to 'market' these homes other than put them on MLS.

I don't believe well priced foreclosures in our area stay on the market long enough to get more than a cleaning "once over". They are FLYING off of the market.

Hats off to you Rosemary for making it look easy!

I have to say the list agent did this to one of my escrows in April after we were done w/ Due Diligence. The cleaning job was so good that I had to go outside and look at the address since I literally didn't recognize the house without the dirty carpets, walls, countertops, little tidbits of trash strewn about, etc! It wasn't bad before but it DID make a difference to see everything sparkling!

It all depends on who cares about their business. This goes for the bank and the agent. I have seen more distressed properties than most. However they were flooded properties after Katrina. Everything was just where it floated. Thousands of them.

Great list Rosemary,

I have just signed up for a coaching class to get started with BPO's and hopefully become an REO agent - I am learning all of the things that I will become responsible for - I had no idea!

Rosemary -- good post, and right after I read it I noticed some foreclosures hitting the market in my area. Can't wait to see what happens in July!!

Yes you have to clean up and keepup with these forclosures. It's not my cup of tea!

Patricia Aulson/portsmouth nh

Wow, I had no idea that a Realtor had so much responsibility for maintaining a bank owned property!

so many REO agents think they only have to list it and it will sell. It is amazing that some won't even return calls.

JUN

Our local REO agents barely put a sign up let alone mow grass or clear a path to the door.

No doubt they are a lot of work for not that much money. However at least it is steady income because they actually sell.

I do find that the REOs tend to have the yards a lot more maintained than the abandoned short sale homes. The short sales are always the ones that get phone calls from the neighbors complaining about high grass. Once they become an REO someone mows it on a regular basis.

Rosemary - It is no secret Stockton has been hard hit by foreclosures and distressed properties the last couple of years. I had wondered if the California Foreclosure Moratorium Act, which was implemented for 90 days beginning a couple of weeks ago, has made any impact on your market at all. Here in Sacramento we seem to have a shrinking inventory in many areas; but I fear what will happen once the 90 days is up, and we are going into Winter months, rather than Summer.

Only a few REO listing agents make an effort to sell a clean product---usually there is still trash strewn about, missing fixtures etc. It would be delightful if we had to check our paperwork to see if it's an REO, unfortunately that's rarely the case.

As a buyers agent who actually previews lots of properties, I have seen over 1100 REOs over the past two years. I would have to say that no more than 20 of them were in the condition that you describe. In my market, REOs don't need to be clean to sell. If they are priced to market, they will sell within a couple of days, after receiving multiple offers above the asking price. How wonderful it would be if all the REOs were clean and in livable condition. Far too many of them don't even have the water turned on, which leads to toilets not being flushed.

I think I've been in one REO property up here that was even close to that list....they simply have too many, make less on the sale than the buyer's agent, and have to list in bulk. There's no way unless you had unlimited resources to pay someone to do all this. Especially when they take one picture of the front of the house. WHY? You are already THERE. GO INSIDE and snap a few more. How long does it take if you're in a hurry? 5 minutes?

Fascinating list! I talked w/ one agent who indicated that he had lost thousands of dollars as a result of not being reimbursed for repairs/cleaning/maintenance...

Will we get a flood of REO? I do not know. I do not want to see the market loose another 50%, on the other hand there are not enough homes on the market right now. The banks should get them sold ASAP will trying to maintain a stable market, but we need to get people in homes.

Rosemary,

Just got a letter from PAS stating exactly what you had printed in your blog that we have to do. Do you do PAS by any chance? and we are scratching our heads on how we could get all that done for under $300 initial sales clean!! We like to keep our homes as clean as possible but sometimes is is like dressing a piece of you know what. Always chuckle at the air freshener bit......sometimes not even roomful of them will do the job.

Most of the REO's in my area only 1 exterior photo, never mind staging, if there is more than 1 photo, it's the front from another angle... thanks alot you know.

Rosemary

I wish the agents that did REO's would do any of your list. I also wish that when an agent is aware that a home has mold that they would tell us. I am at the point now where I wear a mask as I go inside the house until I am sure it is safe.

Well priced REO's go fast here as well no matter what the condition. But I do work with some investors that would like those extra pictures, not just the front of the house.

Wow, I have yet to see a REO listing where 3 or 4 out of your 18 items are list have been checked off. Will your asset managers pay for the water to mow the lawn? In our area, they don't even keep the power on therefore the sump pump does not work when it rains which causes flooded basements and mold resulting in huge losses when the property actually sells ...

If nothing else it would be nice to at least take the time to take some pictures. They have to go and put up a sign, so take more pictures. Maybe even they don't want to go inside!!

Rosemary,

I used to do REO properties...if I didn't have them listed, I did trash outs for another real estate company...your lists are pretty accurate and you should have added the mountain of paperwork you are required to do on each property and the battles you fight with the usually unlicensed, inexperienced individual who is your contact.

and I laughed at the comment about if the appliances don't work remove them. They would tell me the same thing and there was never electricity on at the time. And the wait to be paid...60-90 days after closing on many items. I do not miss them at all...

JUN

I disagree that it is the agent's responsibility. Possibly, when signing a listing we could have the bank sign some kind of contract for upkeep. But, there's no way I would fund maintenance on a bank owned. Absolutely, no way.

Banks are doing a disservice to the real estate market and their shareholders who keep giving REO listings to agents who aren't doing these simple things.

Good list and one that agents should periodically review.

JUN

Lenn - The better the looks, the faster and higher it will sell or that is how it should work.

Gita - so true! I do try to make sure the property "looks" good. But I don't just do it, I get approval first. I have also tried to be proactive and let the bank know I suggest a termite or roof inspection - they don't do it all the time but it is a good practice to let them know. You the agent, are their eyes. Or so they say!

Its not feasible to think that an agent have the time to go to every listing and do this run down but I have found that a great deal of the properties do not need all of this done. Pick the major things -- make sure it is clean and make sure the lawn is curb appeal, trash out and some of the other major things -- and you're probably good to go sell it.

Nice

Nice hearing

Nice hearing from

Nice hearing from you

Roy - Banks need to step up and work out the kinks in their reimbursement procedure. They seem to think they can take forever with thing they do! Not good.

Tim - I let the bank know what is needed and I only make sure I get done what they approve. Believe me I am no charity case. I just treat each property as 1. If I get the approval fine, I make it look good as I can, if they slow around and do not approve it first ----> well, nothing gets done.

Chanda - I am always hesitant to put the utilties in my name. I hate it when they ask for a deposit! Like I have money for that.

Whew...are you tired from typing! What a list! I think it is also important to note that some of the lenders have signed up with a third party to get the homes up to par, instead of putting the responsibility on the agent. However, it is important for the agent to go behind and make sure that the third party service completed the services that are suppose to get done. Great Post!

LOL - I bet you really got some REO agents with this one! Around here, they're surprised when I call and ask questions like, how long ago was the swamp cooler removed from the roof, leaving that big hole?

JUL

Rosemary

Thanks for giving others a glimpse of what we go through (or at least at what we SHOULD be doing) I have so many people approach me thinking this work is EASY. What!? no way is it easy. We trash out, we clean, we inspect , we walk through once a week, mow, weed, and on and on and on. Besides the hours spent emailing submitting copying and faxing invoices, missing pages contracts etc. Without a great network of support we could not do this but most of our homes do not "look" like reo's. When I encounter other reo agents properties in our area that are a mess it really ruffle's my feathers knowing how hard I work to keep the community and my asset managers happy and then to see others not take care of their responsibilities. We have one bank that requires so much maintenance that it makes my head spin they really do take better care of their reo's then what I have time to take care of my own house.

Joe - that is what we all want - balance! And more listings!

Barb - maybe if we get the word out... it will catch on?? um?

JUL

Sara - yellow grass is such a "curb appeal" killer and the first hint... Well that and broken windows!

Irene - some of these are just suggestions and may seem extreme and really are not necessary for every property. A spotless foreclosured/vacant home sounds good but are rare. And honey I ain't nobody's maid. I am an overseer!

Michael - if it looks like trash, you will definitely get low balls. You keep bringing the bank low balls and your listing inventory is "low" because the bank will stop sending them your way.

Jennifer - some areas are hot and there is not enough time to get half the preservation done before you have several offers. What a life!

William - if you 75% or 65% of this list and make sure it is approved FIRST, then make sure the work is completed, the property is more likely to sell faster and for a higher price.

Jeff - some don't require as much work or attention.

Vanessa - oh now that sounds good

Renee - Approval if a must and first or reimbursement is a hell's nightmare.

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