MY TOP 10 SHORT SALE BEST PRACTICES
WORKING WITH THE SELLER & PROPERTY
PART TWO: DON'T SELL A SHORT SALE SHORT!
Treat the Short Sale Home Like You Treat Your Regular Listings. Many may disagree with me on this one. Certainly, agents on Oahu who have "short sale mills" disagree with me. But I REALLY mean this. Based on what I have seen, I think some agents have the idea that short sales listings are homes that can be treated in a second class manner. Where an agent would normally hold open houses and personally show the home, they instead have it on lock box. Where an agent normally would ensure that the home is at least minimally clean and presentable, the home is full of cobwebs, dead bugs and leaves. Calls are not returned to Buyers agents or they are put on an endless telephone hold in some hellish automated short sale showing system. This list could go on.
Do you think this helps a client sell their home quickly and for a price the Bank will accept? REALLY??
Since the REALTOR very often needs to sell the home quickly, to get an offer in and postpone an impending foreclosure date, I can see no better reason to ensure the home is as well presented as possible and even, perhaps, minimally staged, prior to listing. Not only will you sell it faster, but you will generally get a higher price for your client.
What they hey, though. If you get enough of these short sales, some will stick and you can make a lot of money with minimal effort, RIGHT???
I see the point that it is somewhat risky to take a short sale listing, since it may foreclose and you will not get paid. And even it goes through, you may not get "full" commission. There is also the risk that you may frequently buyers will walk during the lengthly processing period and you have to sell the home 4 times over, to have an offer in place when the Lender is finally ready.
But, rather that minimizing YOUR time and money investment, as a way of mitgating your own risk of loss, why not instead maximize the QUALITY of your efforts, to maximize the likelihood of short sale SUCCESS? Would you rather have 5 short sales where only 3 of them close and 2 of your clients get foreclosed upon? Or 3, where they all close, with 3 happy Sellers and Buyers? That's an easy answer for me.
And anyway, you must admit that even with a regular sale, there are always risks. You might also not be able to sell the home because the Seller may not be realistic about dropping price, the Seller or a tenant may make it difficult for you to show the home, the Seller may change their mind about the job and decide not to move, the home may fall out of escrow for a variety of reasons, you may have a personality conflict with the Seller, etc., etc.
There are always many variables involved in selling a home and it is always a measured risk of not getting paid for your efforts. Some sales just don't work out, short sales are no different - just a different set of problems. And I am finding that typically, the commissions on short sales are no less than those on regular listings. If it is a Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac, they can't go below 6% and most others will offer at least 5%. So, in my opinion, the risk of lesser commissions is a lame excuse for paying less attention to short sales than your other properties in today's market where is 2.5% commission on a non-short sale home is common.
Read on in Part Three of this series or go Back to Part One: Knowing Your Loan
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