I just watched a youtube video that I found on Google using Boise short sale specialists as my word search. The video flat lies. First it doesn't identify what brokerage it is which is is a violation of Real Estate Law in Idaho. All advertising must identify the brokerage.
Second the video says that their group has helped successfully negotiated HUNDREDS of short sales for Boise area home owners. So I identified the company and looked on the intermountain MLS. This company has listed a total of 50 potential short sales. Hardly hundreds! Of those 19 were canceled and 10 expired! Many if not most expired and canceled short sale listings run out of time and go through foreclosure. Five were listed as contingent short sale which means that there is one or more offer accepted by the seller and they are in the negotiation process with the short sale banks. Out of the 50 only 14 have closed!
Hundreds? This is just a lie! They have one active listing. The advertisement states that Boise Short Sale Help is a "team of licensed Realtors who can list your Boise home for sale to find a qualified buyer". At the bottom of the youtube advertisement there is a link to a website with some information and a form to fill out so they can contact you. In it the writer says "I wrote the book on Short Sales Literally". Then he says " Over the past eight years I have bought and sold over 100 houses as an investor. I have negotiated hundreds of short sales to help people avoid foreclosure." The writer is not identified. The brokerage is way down at the bottom of the page. This guy whoever he is clams that he has taught short sale seminars all over the country!
I may be wrong, but being there is no identification on this form page, I check the broker of the company's record in the intermountain MLS. He has eight listed sold short sales!
Now I guess maybe it is possible that he has done these hundreds of short sales without listing them in the MLS. But what do you think?
The two agents in my company that do short sales have closed 110 short sales for sellers. I am openly soliciting people who are considering a short sale to call me. So I am openly criticizing a competitor and I do hope to have calls because of this. But mainly I am mad and disgusted. How would you like to pick a doctor for back surgery who falsely claims that he has done hundreds of surgeries when he has done 10 and only one was a back surgery!
I just want to warn you if you are considering a short sale to ask the right questions. You are already vulnerable or you wouldn't be looking for someone to help you do a short sale. Whoever you talk to ask them to SHOW you their record. Ask them to show you on the MLS the number of homes they have listed as potential short sales. Look at the expired and canceled listings as well as the active and closed.
These guys claim to be experts and experienced with thousands of short sales. What shows on the MLS is far different. It shows a group of six Realtors. The company name is blankity blank Brokers. That implies that it is a group of brokers. I looked that up too and only ONE is a broker. The rest are agents. Now I am not saying that is bad. There are many agents who do as good of a job as any broker, but even that smacks of misrepresentation to me.
I am just sensitive to people caught in this economy and find the need to do a short sale. Failing to close a short sale can be devastating. Most of the time you only have one chance to sell short. Short sales are time consuming and the success rate agent to agent is tremendous. There are so many Boise short sales and short sales all over now that agents are coming out of the woodwork soliciting short sales. What people don't realize is that when an agent lists a home for sale they may gain even if they don't sell it because they will be contacted by potential buyers who may not buy your home but may buy A home with that agent. I am just warning: Boise short sale seller beware. Don't go for a flashy ad, web page or video. ASK when you talk to a potential listing agent and insist that they SHOW you their record and experience in the MLS. Any Realtor can show you any other Realtors MLS record. But you need to make sure you are looking at all short sale listings. Look at active, closed, expired and canceled. Call me at 208-870-2115 if you have questions or need more information and go to www.BoiseHomesandLandforSale.com for short sale information and www.BoiseMeridianRealEstate.com for a great MLS.
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