(Ok, I just posted this long winded and somewhat ranted on a post.  Since I spend so much time on it and offered a couple links to some articles, I figured I would make it available on my blog as well.)

Well the Riverside County market is in a major crunch right now and Short sales are the word of the day.  I have one of these going myself and am getting lots of short sale experts calling me on it.  I have had the property since last October and my clients never admitted (or even realized if they are to be believed) that they had a pay option arm.

So, while I am trying to sell their home, they are using option #1, trying for an aggressive market price, and losing equity everyday.  Now, I know these people well and care about them, but it is frustrating since they priced the house 30k higher than what I told them point blank it would sell for.  Meanwhile, they ate through 15-20k in equity and now need to either sell via short sale or be foreclosed upon.  Unfortunately, this is very common.

Now, I see a lot of issues regarding short sales on here.  Am I upset with my clients..yes and no.  They should never of used such a loan and didn't contacted me about it which is my fault too.  We ALL should be spending time educating our clients about the loans and practices of aggressive loan brokers.  But we can't make them listen.  I have written a couple of articles on this which you are welcome to use AS LONG AS YOU GIVE ME CREDIT AND MAINTAIN THE LINKS IN THE ARTICLE TO MY SITE.  I say this because I take a lot of time to write my articles and have found people stealing them left and right while putting their name and site on it.  So now I track them all in a myriad of ways. 

Anyway, the article I wrote discussing Loan Program importance can be found here: Picking the right loan in Temecula CA.

A more recent article I wrote regarding the new time in the market and the importance of solid real estate representation can be found here - In Today's Market, using a Professional Broker is Paramount.

These articles work in conjunction since I was ticked about both issues.  Now back to the topic of Short Sales.  I find that no matter what, you do the best for your client and I believe that often times Short Sales are better for future credit repair as they are not full blown foreclosures.  Also, you have some negotiating ability with the bank on how things will be reported.  But I truly hate what short sales do to the surrounding community and people who bought the homes.  Personally, I also think putting the shark investors on the bloodied bank people is just fine since the banks really started this mess.

The banks are the most responsible for this situation since they offered the products and even had sales reps guide the hands of mortgage brokers to work around the safe check points for loan approval.  The loan guys often pressed people into these loans because they made more money - again the banks fault for creating incentives to rip people and put them into irresponsible loans.  And the owners are to blame for not realizing or understanding what they were signing.  So what can we do about it - how about much better communication, involvement, and long term cilent investment?

All this points to is that we, the long term professionals, have to start making a difference again. It was hard to make a difference during the boom. Agents grew on trees and practices got very fast and loose.  People are now hurting because of it.  That is why I wrote these articles (and many more to come) because we are in a position to earn back the respect and trust of our clients who often didn't appreciate or care what a real estate agent (commodity) thought. Imagine trying to be a stock broker during the dot com boom.  We still see the effects with all the discount brokers now because people viewed investment professionals like joke commodities since anyone could make money during the boom. Can you say Zip realty, Homegain, Soccermom, or part timer?

I honestly do not think real estate agents and brokers deserve the status and lack of respect we often get shown in the marketplace.  However, many agents slammed people into deals using pet lenders and then hit the bars and bought new cars, etc.  I think a lot of agents took the easy money and didn't stand up to their own clients or networks on things such as loans, long term viability, investment value, and the best purchase strategy.  I know I did and it cost me a deal or two and 3 to 4 different lender relationships, but it was worth it. One of the two deals it cost me has already come back with the "I should of listened" bit.

With many of the shaky people leaving the business (washout) we need to step back up and start building a solid foundation, one brick and a time for our clients. If you want to be in this business for the long term, that is what we need to do.  Now people are demanding the best agents to sell their homes, worrying about working with a true professional versus the friend down the street.  We should make sure to stand up and start pushing our networks to bring the very best to us clients for the long term.  And also, we should stand up to our clients and insist that we are professional, and rather than dive through hoops for their business, they should respect our skills (as long as we are worthy of that respect) and understand they are hiring a top gun to help them through this market.

I still see too many newer or less professional agents aiming to please their clients while actually hurting their investment value by not standing up for themselves.  Guess who the client blames then? - The agent that didn't stand up for themselves on their pricing views, etc.  I just turned down a listing (the third one this month) because the owners wanted top dollar, limited viewing schedules, and mass marketing investment on my behalf if I wanted to win their business.  I said no, explained my position professionally and after a short period of time have since been thanked for my candor and hired by two of them.  I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, I told them what they needed to hear.

We need more and more of that in this market.  I joined this business to help people grow and watch their families enjoy the benefits of a home and long term investment thinking.  I stay close to my clients and will always work hard to put their needs first since that logic invests in my business log term. I hope as we go through this market cycle we have agents that can commit themselves to their clients more and we can start to regain the reputation we used to enjoy.

Sorry for the sliding rant lol.  I am working on a Sunday (no-no) and the family wants my time.  I try to be a professional dad too!

Stefan

Temecula CA Real Estate Expert