I got a new listing the other day.  The client hired an attorney on the east coast of Flordai after reading his blog on Active Rain.  This client has a second home that he bought for his parents to live in. (5BR home) As usual in this market, it is way upside down.  He has it rented, but the rent is not covering the expenses.  Anyway, I met with him and his wife, went over the listing agreement and short sale issues.  He met with the attorney and they came up with a game plan.  The next day I met with the clients to sign all the listing documents.  The attorney had his own short sale addendum and other documents to be inculded not only with the listing, but the future sale too. 

I normally have a clause in my listings that allows me to be in control of the listing price and make adjustments as I see fit.  He would not allow that.  His attorney said we needed to start the listing at way over the value and we would drop it as time goes on.  Come to find out, we were $100,000 over the most recent comparable sale.  The client said we would be dropping 7% once a month.  I would be February before we get to the price point we need to be at today. 

I informed both the attorney and the client, that I could not sit around and wait 4 months to finally get to where we could possibly be a price point that would generate some interest, then sit for possibly another 4-6 months waiting for the bank to approve.

I am in the business of selling homes and working though the short sale process, not playing games with the lenders and the clients attorney.  The bank will work off of the comps in the area to determine the value of the home.  The fact that it was on the market for 4-5 months at an unrealistic asking price does not really matter. 

So hard lesson learned, make sure you are dealing with a realistic seller before agreeing to the short sale.  I don't get paid until I close this deal.  I now have invested 9 hours of assistant time doing paperwork, listing entry, lockbox, photos, visual tour etc, now updating the listing to show terminated and I have nothing but a story to write.