Last night I finally pulled myself away from the computer about 7:30 to go home and say hello to my family. Still knowing I had an offer to prepare for one of my clients who lives in Canada I knew I probably had at least one more task to complete before calling it a day.
I called my client to see if I got the contract to them before the sun came up if they could execute and get it back to me in the morning. Affirmative! Great I can officially call it a day.
Keeping some weird hours I arrived this morning at the office at about 4:00 and the first thing on my to-do list was that contract I pushed off until this morning intent on keeping my "before the sun comes up" promise. I pull up the listing, which is an REO, wondering what hoops I will have to jump through and how many trees will be killed in the process. Last week I had one with 10 different documents and the archaic "system" utilized by this REO specialist required that each one be uploaded separately; a process that took me about 30 minutes just to upload an offer.
I pulled up the attachments and could not believe what I was seeing. I had heard rumors but figured no bank would really put in a system that was that simple and really made sense. But now there is was right in front of my eyes; not a rumor or a dream but a real life example of a easy system that will save everyone time and money and also leave a few trees standing in the forest.
One page. No kidding; no 10 page contract, no 3 page association disclosure, no 27 page bank addendum, no lead paint disclosure for a property constructed in 2005, none of that. One simple single page and here it is;
How sweet is that? Heck I would have banged this out last night if I had only known. My hat is off to whoever decided this was a system they were going to put in place and only hope others will follow suit.
Keep it simple and save a forest!
Always at Your Service,
Tom Priester e-PRO
"Results Driven Real Estate"
Keller Williams Realty
561 308-0175
tom@tompriester.com
WOW! What a great way to start the day! You'll have to follow up & let us know if your luck continued and this property is now under contract. Cheers!
Tom, this is a good idea and a great way to to see if an offer is worth pursuing.
I had the same experience....once. I pulled up the "required attachments" and low and behold!!! Simple yet effective. Finally! My buyer did not get the property, multiple offers, but neither did we waste any valuable time that was put to use finding my buyer a home she could purchase! Hooray!!! Unfortunately, last night I spent about 3 hours dealing with 10, yes 10 "required attachements" to place an offer on an REO. I remain optimistic that the lightbulb will go off all over REO land that more paperwork doesn't equate to more closed sales. Frustrated by paperwork buyers do not proceed lightly. May they be more selective about the number of offers they write, definitely, but does it decrease the possibility for a quick sale for the seller who requires 10 additional attachments, I think we know the answer.
Looks like the banks are starting to follow the lead of HUD. Maybe the next step for banks will be to put that Internet link on the listing and get the attending REO agent out of the loop
Actually....I tell anyone that is interested in making an offer to talk with me first....I don't like countering back and forth and a lot can be worked out ahead of time. Also, escrow officers like a clean contract going in...I had a buyers agent ask me the other day if there was anything he needed to know before making an offer...How refreshing, professional and called for....thank you for your post Tom
Yes, I have dealt with this type of form once. It was great. What was even better, we had an answer in a couple of hours! And we got the property!
Seeing how you were in the office at 4 a.m. did you happen to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't in fact dreaming?!?
Maybe all the paperwork was drowning the agents at the banks. I know the paperwork for foreclosures has been drowning the rest of us for sure!
Hi Tom, Yikes, that form is too good to be true. Here's hoping some of the other big guys take this one to heart.
Tom - Wouldn't it be nice to have such an easy form for submitting an offer? I've seen the REO forms that you mentioned. Ack!
Keeping it simple is the way to go. Nice to see someone having a form to help you do that!
Offer made easier and simpler, way to go! Review all the pertinent information on one page. Hopefully single page format will make it easier for all parties and enable quicker and faster decision making and turnaround.
Hi Tom, this would be great especially for the REO's, buy the time you fill out all the addendum, contract, etc... it is already pending or they already have an offer. This is great 1st step, if they accept the basic terms they you can fill out their special contracts.
Thank you for all the great comments. I must say submitting a one page offer was truly a pleasure and I thanked them profusely for putting in a system that made sense. I just submitted an offer on another REO I showed yesterday and that one had 42 pages. I like the 1 page MUCH better!
I hoping this will become a trend... All the multiple offers on REO's and everyone filling out the 100's of pages that go with it. Next they might even allow digital signatures so we can save a few $ on paper.
Thanks for the blog Tom, maybe you will start a movement across the country!
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