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Have Banks Gotten Into Real Estate By Way Of Foreclosure Listings?

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Professionals

Have Banks Gotten Into Real Estate By Way Of Foreclosure Listings?

If you have been in real estate for any length of time you know the banks have been trying to cut into our slice of the pie. The National Association of Realtors has fought for years to keep this from happening, but have the banks sneaked in through the back door? And have we as Realtors facilitated this?

I showed a bank owned home yesterday. I called the listing office to set the appointment and was told to schedule online, and if I wanted to submit an offer I needed to do that directly. I don't think the listing agent was ever in the house- she was offering conventional financing but there was no furnace or water heater and the house was powered literally with 4 fuses. If she had seen the house she would have only offered cash terms.

If she never saw the house how did she price it? I know- the bank set the price and the bank will determine (without advise from their "agent") the timing and amount of future price reductions. 

Where is the agency relationship? She doesn't advise on pricing. She won't be looking over any offers that come in or advising her client. The totality of her marketing is just sticking it into the MLS.

I don't mean to beat up on this one agent- she is the norm in this area.

So where exactly is the average foreclosure agent behaving in the manner of an agent? Where is the representation? Or is a Realtor who doesn't look at their listings, who doesn't advise on a price, who doesn't check with a potential buyer's lender before advising their seller to accept or counter an offer, who in many cases now doesn't even receive the offer and present to their sellers, who doesn't go to closings... is that person just a secretary for the bank? Is collecting data to enter into the MLS and emailing offers the job of a Realtor or an admin job?

The banks get the best of both worlds- they get cheap secretarial help without the costs that come with hiring an employee.   

Posted by

Jackie Hawley, Realtor, ePro

ReMax Encore
Cell: (248)736-6406
Jackie@JackieHawley.com 
www.MiRelocation.com 

 

Comments (4)

Jessica Holtzman
Keller Williams Realty, Inc. - Moorestown, NJ
Real Estate Agent in Southern New Jersey

Hey Great post.... plus, they also get the benefit of reducing an agents commission after we do all the work faxing them the same information over and over when its "lost" or the "employee no longer works there"

 

Feb 07, 2012 09:07 AM
Jackie Hawley
Coldwell Banker Professionals - Oxford, MI
Southeast Michigan Real Estate

Jessica- Thank you. I forgot to mention about the repeated faxing!

Feb 08, 2012 04:34 AM
Richard Glesser
North Country Appraisal Services - Gaylord, MI

Not only getting into the real estate selling market but having control over the market based upon their large inventory of REO homes.

Feb 13, 2012 04:59 AM
Jackie Hawley
Coldwell Banker Professionals - Oxford, MI
Southeast Michigan Real Estate

They have definitely affected prices big time. I had a buyer write on one house- bank owned- but she was an investor and they took a lower offer for owner occupied. The house was in pristine condition and on a premium lot. Sold for half of the next cheapest in the sub. When that hit the MLS everybody else dropped their prices that week.

Feb 13, 2012 06:22 AM