(I didn't mean for this to be a book, sorry.  Writing this was therapeutic on some level...)

I never aspired to work with short sales.  They just found me!  Last year I became the agent for some buyers who fell in love with a short sale.  After looking at at least a zillion houses, they decided to wait it out for the short sale.  That's when I learned how powerless it is to be the buyer's agent, because there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO to move the process along!  I was at the mercy of the Listing agent, having to trust that he was doing what he needed to be doing to get us to a successful close.  Sadly, he wasn't, and the house went back to the bank while my ready, willing and able buyers had been trying to buy it for nearly five months!  Determined, I watched like a hawk for it to hit the market as an REO, and then pounced with an offer above asking price and won the bidding war.  My buyers FINALLY were able to move into the house they loved.  I just made no sense that it had to be so hard.   

My first short sale listings came to me as a referral from my ActiveRain friend Brian Brumpton.  I decided that it would be a great educational opportunity for me to learn Short Sales from the listing side.  Oh boy, have I learned!  Still learning, particularly right now about just how complicated an already complicated situation can become when the mortgage insurance company weighs in and makes demands, emphasized with the equivilent of "it's my way or the highway." 

Meanwhile, I have acquired as clients, two great young couples who have fallen in love with homes that are short sales.  The first has been waiting for a response since the middle of February.  Their lease was up, so to stay on month to month they are being gouged with high rent.  The second couple, waiting not so long although to them it seems like an eternity.  Out of time, they have rented a tiny apartment month to month to wait it out.  Not a day goes by that they don't wonder if I've heard anything yet.  Nope, not yet. So let's see.  Right now I have three homes listed as short sales with two discouraged sets of sellers feeling beaten down by life and trying to make the best they can of a bad situation.  With one, I have periodical conference calls with an attorney. The attorney has searched 50 states for case law or something that might help understand what to expect in our particular short sale situation.  There is nothing, and she herself is FRUSTRATED that every case is a wild card of what to expect. I am in communication nearly every day with my short sellers.  Those conversations are never uplifting or inspirational. I have three buyer's agents who are at my mercy, who have three sets of clients who are waiting impatiently for word on their offers to purchase my listings.  They call me regularly for updates to take to their clients.  In these conversations we commiserate and feel each others pain.  I have my two sets of buyers eager for updates.  These conversations are a little brighter than those with my sellers, at least I can give them encouragement and pep talks.  I have two listing agents at whose mercy I am for the skilled handling of the homes my buyers are waiting for, while they languish at the mercy of their negotiators to actually appear out of the abyss and begin negotiating. 

I am caught up in a web of frazzled and frustrated people!  No wonder I am frazzled and frustrated!

The other day I spoke with the listing agent on behalf of one of my buyers.  She had put the status as pending, and after I reassured her that my clients were not looking at other homes, but would wait it out on hers, she agreed not to allow any more showings or take other offers as back-ups.  A negotiator had been assigned and I needed to resend her one of the documents that he was missing.  Not ten minutes after I hung up the phone, she called me back, very upset.  Seems my buyer had called in and spoken to her associate, wanting an update.  (I had just updated her that there was nothing new, the day before!)  But my sweet, first-time homebuyer had just got to the point that she felt her head would explode with frustration (been there, done that) and thought she would call and see if she could make something happen.  I don't know what was or wasn't lost in translation, but according to that listing agent, my client said that she had offers on three houses and they better hurry with a response because they were going to take the first one that got back to them!  You can imagine how upset that listing agent was since that was 180' different that what I had barely just finished telling her!  All is well, I reassured the listing agent and had an educational chat with my buyer about why it is best to let me be the one to communicate with the listing agent.

Then, the next day, I get a call.  I recognized the guy's name.  It was the prospective buyer, who has his own buyer's agent, who is waiting on a response to his offfer on one of MY short sale listings.  After what had just transpired with my buyer's communication misbehavior, I actually laughed out loud when I realized what was happening!  His agent had just had a long conversation with me the afternoon before, about where things stood and what is going on.  My caller started out by saying that he really liked his agent, and thinks he is doing a good job, but they are really frustrated and wondering if it's true that there is nothing they can do but just keep waiting.  He thought he would call me because he was convinced that there just HAD to be something that SOMEONE could do to get things moving.  They were closing on their current house, would be homeless and living in an RV, and if we let the lender know that, wouldn't it help them speed things up???  Um.... You'd think so, wouldn't you.  But sadly, no.  We had a long talk, and I was able to help him understand that his agent is a great guy and is doing everything he can, as am I.  And I was able to tell him sincerely, that as hard as it is for him, and me, and the seller to be waiting such an outrageously long time for a response, the person who had it the hardest is his agent.  He, responsible to protect the interests of his client, is powerless.  Has to stand by and look after his client, without the ability to actually DO anything.

Then, I get a call from a former associate in another state, who is wrangling with the listing agent on behalf of her buyer on a short sale.  He refused to submit her offer.  She was FRUSTRATED and seeking some advice.  Seems he told her that there was a new law that once an offer had been submitted to the lender, he couldn't submit another one, even if it was bigger and better, as hers was.  Huh?  Yeah, right. 

Short sales.  Do you know that there are still people who think a short sale has something to do with selling FAST!  One thing that is clear is that they are here to stay for the forseeable future.  I just hope that someone, somewhere, sets some guidelines and standards for the third Party Creditors to follow that will make some sense of the process.  Because honestly, the way things are right now is LUNACY!  It just doesn't have to be so difficult.

Janna Rankin Scharf provides a superior level of real estate services to home buyers and sellers in Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County, Idaho. Visit www.JannaScharf.com to search for homes in the Coeur d'Alene MLS for anywhere in spectacular North Idaho.

No matter how grand or modest your real estate dreams may be, you can turn to me in confidence.  Give me a call today and let me know what I can do to be of service to you!

Janna Rankin Scharf, AB, GRI, CSP, CNS, CLHMS  208.651.9700  NorthIdahoJanna@gmail.com