I didn't realize how many designations there were for short sales.  Experience is always the most valuable especially when it comes to short sales!

And if you are out there promoting yourself as a short sale specialist you better be pretty familiar with MARS (Mortgage Assistance Relief Services). Some say real estate agents are exempt, but if they are claiming to be short sale specialists, they are not exempt.

Hey Bryant, you took the words (acronyms) right out of my mouth!  I've always felt that designations LOOK great to the untrained eye, but don't always make someone a better agent.

I have NO designations whatsoever.

23+ years in the business, and not even GRI or CRS... and I made it a point NOT to get into that nonsense.

Meanwhile, RE/MAX international selected me on countless occasions to present a class or fascilitate a break-out session.

I have faithfully attended Howard Brinton's Star Power conventions.

By Referral Only hired me as a featured speaker and fascilitator in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

I see folks add GRI and CRS to their resumes, but they are lucky to do 10 transactions per year.

Meanwhile, uneducated little old me and my team are producing over 100 transactions per year.

I've got a PhD in RESULTS.

Take your designations and shove 'em.

The only designation that really works for short sales is CYA

Here in California there are now guidelines in place by California Association of REALTORS® that if you use the word expert, specialist and other such nom-de-plume you better have the expertise to go along with it. CAR is clamping down on agents that say they are experts etc and are not.

I like that Jerry McGuire line ----Show me the money, instead show me the closed short sale deals.

BB: Are you sure about the statement you made?

Having a Short Sale designation means that the agent, at a minimum, knows how to put together a short sale package to send to the lender.

???

LOL.

BB, i love how the short sale programs here are touted as the end all to become the expert...great experience & true knowledge is what sellers need...great post!

Short Sale courses offer a good foundation, but there is no substitution for experience.

There is absolutely nothing like experience in all avenues of life. It doesn't matter whether you are a doctor, lawyer, realtor or more. Designations are worth something, for sure, but experience is ultimately the test for whether or not you or I are ready to do our best for clients.

Experience speaks louder than words. It is nice to have a couple of designations for the public. I have to agree with you-Can you get it done?

Nowadays I see many advertisements that so & so is a certified blah blah blah. In my personal experience, only once has someone asked, how long have you been doing this & how many homes have you sold? I agree w/ #171, my CE is usually mundane stuff that is not pertinent, in 3 states...

YOu know. I saw that it had disappeared because I wanted to reblog it. Glad it's back.

WoW, 180 comments, hot topic. 

We did years and years of short sales before we ever had a designation and then we only got the basic of basics, the SFR- because we were already VERY experienced in getting our sellers to closing. 

I suggest a mentor if you don't know how to do short sales until you get up to speed with them. Being that there are so many different kinds of short sales just doing one with a mentor is not going to get you the experience you need to deal with homeowners  who are about to lose their home to foreclosure, that is certainly not a client you want to practice on. I don't know how agents and attorneys can sleep at night being proud that they close 10% of their short sales!!!!! 

But I disagree with #131 Richard- 

You do not need all those documents for ALL short sale situations and we do some strategic short sales without hardship letters. There are Chase- old WAMU files where if they qualify they do not need any tax returns, no income statements, we just need to justify the offer price and it has to be primary home- we are getting sellers up to $20,000 to move out on those ones. Now the old Wachovia files are taking on this reach out program, no pay stubs, no hardship letter, no tax returns. Just get 'er done. 

And even Richard, if you have all those documents still does not mean the listing agent knows what they are doing because it is the art of negotiating that brings about a good outcome for the seller and ultimately the buyer at the end of the day. Katerina 

And just for the record- Broker Bryant had told me at one time that he would not do short sales when they first started being a norm here in Florida because he did not want to put any of his sellers in jeopardy. When he saw that the other agents doing them were hurting sellers and had no clue he reached out not just in writing his book, but we spoke about short sales and he reached out to those here in Florida that were doing them and got mentored. I don't know if he remembers all the conversations with us and this great broker in the west Florida market who is no longer here in the rain, his name just slipped my mind, sorry, he was a very good short sale agent and everyone learned a lot from him because it was in the trenches stuff. This was WAY before any designations on short sales were invented. So no, he did not go out and just do a short sale to learn a short sale. Bryant- I hope I am not speaking out of turn here. Katerina 

BB the truth comes out at last....you are certifiable.

Shocking. Simply shocking.

:-)

Lots of great comments here. Too many to read so I will just toss in my 2 cents.

When short sales first started showing up in the Fremont, Ca. market, I wanted nothing to do with them. The market moved and so did I. Short sales are such a large part of our market now that a successful agent must list and sell short sales. I took the CDPE class so I would get a better grasp on the technical, legal and strategic issues that would allow me to better serve my short sale clients. CDPE was a great class. Did it make me an expert? Is a new law school graduate an expert attorney? You have to start somewhere. Getting a designation is only a start. They you have to DO IT.

Well, I am a CDPE, but I'll tell you, long before that designation I earned my bumps, bruises and migraines from the trenches and 2 years at investor college NRU in Phoenix,AZ.

But you are right, once you understand it's an "Alice In Wonderland" rule book, at the end of the day it's a process and with certain systems, it's quite simple.

I get bummed out that someone that went to a 1/2 day at a title company can market themselves as my equal when my 100 to their 1 short sale experience says 'I don't think so". But I don't like to have the battle of egos so I let my work and reputation do the talking.

Great article-very provocative subject!

Great post.  I've done well over 100 short sales, so I am guessing that probably puts me in the top 1-2% of all agents, however I am still learning new stuff every day.  Other people call me a short sale expert, and refer me business because they see me as an expert, but I try and avoid the designation myself.   I still have a TON to learn, and I always stay teachable, as laws are always changing...as are the lender's procedures.

I always find it funny when all these CDPE folks try and call me and act like they're experts at short sales, and you can just tell from their verbiage that they are just regurgitating something they read in their course.  It irks me that they think that EVERY short sale is exactly like the ONE or TWO that they did.  Child, please!

Anyway, I've read enough of your posts to realize you could call yourself an expert if you wanted to, and it would be a fitting title, but if you want to wait another 100 deals, more power to you.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts...another good entry.