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Stacie's REO etiquette Part 1

Inventory has been low for the past year due to moratoriums and it has brought the worst out in some agents. On an average my listings see between 2 and 40 offers. Which means that every listing I have has multiple offers on it and I get to work with one happy buyer and one happy buyers agent. What else do I get????..... 1-39 mad buyers and 1-39 mad agents. Lucky for me right?? Thought being a REO agent was easy?? Well sit in my shoes just for a moment. I have to manage not only the expectations of the banks, asset managers, my team, agents but buyers and their agents as well. The agent etiqutte I have seen lately is very shameful so let me help by giving a coulpe etiqutte pointers so you are not "That" agent.

Calling on availablity and Offer status. All of my listings are updated daily. If it's in MLS as active it is. I am not sure why I still get calls when I put in the MLS not to call and if they see it in MLS it's still active. REO's are always active until we have sellers signatures on the contract and addendum's thus the reason why you want to write your highest & best the first time since it may take some time to get sellers signatures on your offer. Calling on offer status....I know buyer wait anxiously to hear any news about their offers but calling the list agent everyday on status is kind of a no no! Think of it this way.....The banks have thousands and thousands of REO's across the country, Asset managers have thousands or REO's to manage and REO agents have many (some have a fleet and some have a basketball team) but to your client their is only one. It is your job as the buyers agent to manage their expectations. Calling on offer status you are most likely going to hear " I have no news for you yet but as soon as I do I will call you." The banks are inudated and they don't have time for status updates on all the offers that come in on all the properties they have across the country. Tell your clients "If it is ment to be it will happen."And insead of calling list agent send a quick email asking "any new news?" You are more likely to get a responce.

Blaming list agent for your offer not getting accepted. When did my role as list agent turn into the seller as well?? I get calls all the time from agents who are mad and want explainations and I start to give them what they ask for and as soon as I start talking they talk over me or try to explain why I did something wrong. This does nothing but waiste my time. I am limited on that so I ask that as a buyers agent you take into account that your client is not the only one out there and that when writing an offer on a REO you give it your Highest & best the first time so you don't get beaten out and have the rug swept out form under your clients. If they want to play around and see if they can get a REO for less then asking price then it is their gamble they are taking and maybe they will listen the next time you write an offer.

That is all for now cause I can go on and on and on but I will save that for future blogs.........

Posted by Stacie Cunningham on 07/07/2009 08:37 AM

Comments (21)

reo agent, reo, banks, reo asset manager, asset manager, buyers expectations, buyers agent

Post is included in group: REO
Post is included in group: The National REO Brokers Association
Post is included in group: REO REALTORS

21 Comments on Stacie's REO etiquette Part 1

JUL

Stacie - You may be the exception, I hope so!

In our area - North Western Nevada - some of the agents are absolutely awful! They will not return calls, do not update MLS, do not communicate and are very rude about it.

One agent in a neighboring community is so caviler that she has told agents, me and others that I know, that "We should sell something else if we don't like".

I've watched the status turn from active to pending and never ever gotten the courtesy of a phone call! When I've called to find out what happened, the answer is ... "Oh! That seller does not reject offers!

Would you think the courtesy of a phone call would be appropriate?

I have REO Listings ... I go out of my way to make sure I keep these agents up to speed and take care of them. I do not want the "stinky" reputation that many of these agent really deserve!

While I'm a bit conflicted about how to respond, I'm not quite sure who this blog is really aimed toward...maybe I am "that" agent. I DO call on REO's that may indicate "offer under review" because on more than 80% of my attempts it just so happens that the offer fell out (as they seem to almost every time) and the agent was "JUST" going to update the MLS (oh yeah, it fell out a few days prior). I also periodically follow up with the annoying email "any news" and much to my surprise they follow back with "oh, I was JUST going to call you..." While you may very well be an efficient agent (the type we need more of) most others are not as efficient so it is up to the buyers agent to leave no stone unturned. I disagree with your advice to tell them "if it's meant to be...." I take an agressive approach, and while the listing agent may find me annoying, I do find that the client is happy and wants the take charge agent acting on their behalf. It is, however, the client that will pay me...and ulitmately you...so I'm all for doing what they want. I do like your advice to make the highest and best offer, sometimes clients do want to make low-ball offers and then they are upset when they do not get it.

Your comments and thoughts are understandable Stacie, it is tedious to manage the information and expectations. And I totally agree with fending off the heat of disappointed agents and buyers, they need to chill or perhaps keep a more civil tongue in their heads.

Unfortunately, on the listing side, not enough REO agents are as thorough as you about updating the MLS etc. And as a good agent, buyers agents do every sharp elbow move they can to get a deal (it is real estate after all) because of those selfish, lazy, all or both listing agents. Those listing agents employ every dirty trick in the book to double-end their listings, we shouldn't be surprised when buyers agents desperately call and email us for updates and availability.

I list and sell REO's in the SF Bay Area. Surprisingly, agents thank me for returning their phone calls (go figure) as I'm sure they do with you. This is a networking business. I certainly like double ending my listings but I'll make more money in the long run creating a vast network of agents who trust me and like doing business with me. Some day this REO stuff will be over and if you've done the spade work, you'll have a legendary referral network.

Keep doing the great work Stacie and don't get your hopes up too high on a change in behavior from the agent community. Lead by example and perhaps things will change with time.

JUL

Stacie- One thing that you may consider on your REO's is having your assistant send out a weekly update to all offers on the table. Let the buyers and buyers agent know that you will send them a weekly update via email as to the status of their offer. Then on a weekly basis have your assistant or transaction coordinator send out an email to the buyers agent and/or buyer and let them know of any status updates even if there is no change. This could alleviate the annoying "are we there yet" calls.

JUL

Wow up to 39 offers. That's exciting, mind boggling and crazy.

Stacie - Good to see your still here.

I agree - It is typically the Bank that you are waiting on for an answer. As an Asset Manager for the last 9 years I feel your pain.

We try to respond as soon as possible although it is typically out of our hands and sitting on some Directors desk for days at a time while the buyers are getting more and more frustrated.

If I were the buyers agent, I would let them know from the time they put in an offer that the Bank is ALWAYS very slow with responses. If it turns out that we get back to you sooner you look like the Superstar, if not then you can always blame it on us anyway. No harm - No foul.

Take care

JUL

I partially agree with you staci however here in Orlando I find that at least my banks will say yes we will accept this offer but wont get it signed sometimes up to 2 weeks at that point they arent looking at other offers and it would give false hope to buyers and agents by telling them it's not signed so send it in. So I try to update my mls to state offer accepted waiting on signatures.

JUL

Appreciate your perspective Stacie. I'm more of a buyer agent than a listing agent so I'm not one to be criticizing how I recieve updates for my clients on REO properties. I do see that agents that send out regular updates on a weekly basis seem to do better with satisfying the buyer clients. I guess it works both ways in terms of respect and what level of communications works for both parties.

JUL

Stacie, Thanks for giving us the perspective of an REO agent. It sound like you do a good job. Unfortunately, I haven't dealt with many thorough or responsive REO agents. I have switched to sending e-mails in trying to communicate rather than phone calls because I do get a better response rate - but even at that I most often do not get any responses from the REO agents. It is so frustrating.

JUL

Stacie: How have you been? Its been a while, you are so right, i get alot of the same issues. I dont take it personally. Old dogs can learn new tricks, the market will change again and all things will again be normal for most.

JUL

Hi Stacie,

The problem I've seen here is that before the property can hit the MLS its already sold! I just got an accepted offer on a property for my client. I had to "literally" sit in front of my computer for hours until something new hit the system. Its hard to nail properties down here. I wish I could say if shows active in the MLS its available here. I've seen more than once that the property is under contract still showing active.

Keep up the good work!

AUG

There are plenty times that the bank has accepted an offer but have not signed off on it yet. And they don't want to look at other offers. Typically I will pend the listing in MLS just to keep other agents from wasting their time and mine, even if the seller has not signed off on it. The other issue is that some buyers want to close in 3 weeks time, but the seller takes 2 weeks to sign the contract. Makes it hard for the buyer to get the job done with those kind of delays. Any advice?

AUG

Stacie, we are experiencing similar challenges in managing the communication requirements with 40 offers on each REO. We finally developed some recommendations and some pointers on writing offers and communication tips! But from the feedback that I am seeing here, it will not be enough to satisfy all the agents. But Vickie is on the right track by switching from phone calls to email. I am certain we are frustrating some of them too since we now insist on EMAILs for communications. Catching an REO agent on the phone and asking for an update, is as productive as shopping for PC in an Apple store!! If an offer is countered, we communicate back within few hours and notify an agent.

We had to develop REO Offer Guidelines and Offer Summary Worksheet to help us manage the flood of offers. One challenge was to associate a buyer with the their agent since the portals where we upload this data don't require this information! Also, some of the offers were missing the critical information our Asset Managers require for a complete offer. So, these 2 documents have helped us manage the flood of offers specially the Summary Worksheet which has been a life saver. We are looking to automate more of our processes that since we anticipate this situation will continue.

We have it posted on our website. Feel free to use it if you think it helps. www.myREOexchange.com

AUG

We have some REO agents in NY that aren't like you. We get wrong lockbox combos, empty lockboxes, no calls for showings returned, we'r e told on Friday that a home is available and then when we fax an offer Monday someone else tells us it is under contract, and places that won't answer calls on a weekend.

Today, I drove an hour to show a home and the lockbox was wrong. I couldn't even leave a voicemail. No cell info for the listing agent. Multiply that by about 20 from your colleagues and that might explain why agents call you.

SEP

Stacie,

I would love to work with you. Our town's busiest REO broker only does e-mails and texts and I don't blame her one bit. While I hear a lot of complaining about it I find her extremely easy to work with and very professional. The only reason I don't go to that is I don't exclusively list REO properties, so I have to answer my phone.

However, part of the problem are the REO listing agents that are not as professional as you are. Just today I posted a blog wondering what I could do about a very unprofessional REO listing agent. If you have any feedback on it, on or off activerain I would love to hear it.

SEP

Some REO agents here frustrate me to no end. They think they are so much better then you are and speak to you in a way that's disrespectful. The system is so flawed with the whole process. That's why there are agents who stay away from these types of deals and i can see why.

OCT

And I was feeling so all along....well if misery loves company I know where to turn next time I deal with a frustrating buyers agent.

Keep in touch,

John
:-)

OCT

I've had my share of less than stellar REO listing agents in NorthEast Florida - some are better than others, but there are a few brokerages/agents in particular I really hate to even call....

OCT

Great post!!! I also handle alot of REO listing in the Houston area and unfortunately I have to deal with REO agents are not as thorough as they should be.

NOV

I do agree that it is a bit confusing out here with the listings being so limited in many cases and especially the lower end listings. Most agents say right on the MLS - no calls, no emails to inquire about the property --- > and some of those agents do not have websites to go to try and find out your answers that are not on the MLS. Yet your buyers are asking.

Then if you wait to hear from the agent.... you look back up and the listing is gone. Now you have to deal with your buyer.

Can't wait until things change and the communication gets better.

NOV

many good point were covered, There are the good apples and bad apples of both sides. I agreed on both sides, some buyers agents don't read the realtors remarks, and some times REO listing agents fail to do everything. Be sure whether side you are working with, do it right. Communication and professionalism are key factors. Sometimes bad REO reputation will affect their listings.

Probably more of the CODE OF ETHICS AND STANDARS OF PRATICE OF THE NATIONAL STANDARD OF REALTORS SHOULD BE USE MORE OFTEN IT COVER THINGS THAT SOME REO AGENTS ARE NOT AWARE OF. f

IT IS KNOW EASY TO BE A REO AGENT, IT IS HARD WORK, I STILL REMEMBER HOW STARTED AND HOW HARD WAS TO STICK TO IT. and thanks to many courses and certification and seminars, personal growth etc. It never ends, more education and knowledge is required, but I am still the same person that plans to stay in the business even when the old reo days are gone.

Anyway whatever side you represent do your best and be professional.

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