Let’s just get to the point right away – Agents working with investors is often a love/hate relationship. You know it and I know it so we’ll get to the bottom of the issue and push all the blame of this stinking reality on lack of communication.
Agents and investors look at transactions in different ways and even have different legal regulations governing their actions. Each may assume that the other knows what to expect, the reality of their “side” of the business, and how to operate legally. When the two meet and entertain working together, I submit that a very lengthy and productive conversation take place that covers every aspect of their future relationship.
Some Tips For Both Sides
Investors
- Realize that the agent really does want to work with you assuming they understand EXACTLY what your intentions are.
- Understand that the agent wants to assist you with your transactions but that they must work within a very stringent set of rules and ethics.
- Appreciate the fact that agents have spent years or even decades building their reputation and they will protect it.
- Know that agents operate within a “full disclosure” environment and the disclosure applies to YOU as well.
Agents
- Ask questions, probe, and dig into the investor’s intentions to determine if you can work together. Make sure you fully understand what is expected from each party – Who will negotiate the short sale? Who will gather the short sale documents? What is the investor’s exit strategy?
- Understand that full time investors DO have a method to their madness and the successful ones work within a win/win business model that provides a favorable outcome to every single party to the transaction.
- Be willing to learn and get up to date on new and fresh short sale strategies. What worked a year ago isn’t necessarily going to work today.
- Embrace short sales as a viable business strategy. Like them or not, short sales will be around for quite a while.
Let’s come together and exchange some olive branches. Short sales can be messy and they aren’t for the faint of heart but a well informed, educated, and motivated team of agent and investor can yield superb results. Just make sure that you communicate to the other party what you expect and how you conduct business. If you can’t work together, then, so be it. However, recognize that a solid relationship between agent and investor is worth seeking and that it could blossom into a very lucrative business model as you both assist sellers avoid foreclosure.
We have some amazing and informative videos that we’ve recorded that really dig into how agents and investors can benefit working with each other. Please take a few minutes to watch them. You can view those videos by visiting www.MikeBridges.info/agentvideos.
To your success,
Mike Bridges
Comments(0)