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Fashionable to List as a Foreclosure?

By
Real Estate Agent with ChangingStreets.com

Who would have ever thought it would be fashionable to list your home as a distress sale? We are seeing agents in many markets advertise civillian owned homes as foreclosures. We probably get 5 calls a week from sellers screaming at us that their home shows up as a foreclosure on ChangingStreets.com!

At this point there are two things wrong, they are on the most popular real estate site in the market and their agent plays for another team, good decision on the web site....secondly if it shows up as a foreclosure their agent entered it that way!

I love seeing a home listed as a foreclosure with nice furniture in it!!! It sure beats most of the foreclosures that only have carpet stains, and musty odors. I thought they were just being staged!

There is so much creative agenting going on in this market, remember it was creative financing that go us here. Some agents are so panicked that they are destroying value in properties, neighborhoods and communities.

There is an agent in the Raleigh Multi List service that puts banners on MLS photos that say "$80,000 below tax value". Great for me as a buyers agent. Lousy for the seller, what kind of message does that send? Does it say this is a great comfortable home with updates and an outstanding floor plan? Or does it say "this poor schmuck can't wait to sell?"

It is even tougher in the REO business, you want the right combination of quick sale and preservation of value. This sounds strange, but even the investor has to look at the line between great deal and future value...especially if it is a short term hold.

Ok not by best written rant, but maybe I am frustrated that some of the price declines we are seeing may be  due to the the incompetence or laziness or inexperience of some agents and not only economic conditions.

Iris Shamas
ITS Realty - Scottsdale, AZ

If the price is below tax value, that is good for the buyer.  If the seller wants to "unload" the property, it is good for the buyer that the agent is advertising that price is below tax value.

Mar 24, 2010 01:35 AM
Julie A. Black
KAUAI DREAMS REALTY Kauai Real Property Specialist - Kapaa, HI
CLHMS, CRS, GRI, Realtor, Broker

As a REO agent I get a lot of calls from buyer's looking for REO homes and foreclosures while other agents in my area have no leads. I don't blame private sellers and their agents wanting to list private homes as "pre foreclosures", it catches buyer's attentions.  Unfortunately for private sellers REOs are driving the market down.

Mar 25, 2010 05:11 AM