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Real estate agents own properties in foreclosure or are short sales

Since I've been doing BPOs(broker price opinion...kind of like a mini-appraisal on properties in financial distress) in the north San Diego County area, it has become increasingly obvious that a number of real estate agents in the area have homes with a notice of default(behind on their payments), or are attempting short sales(debt obligations are more than the sales price less the cost to sell) on their own properties. I can maybe understand if these are agents that are new in the business or haven't sold many homes, but I've seen agents who sell more homes than me finding themselves in this position.

My question is: how good is a real estate agent at advising clients about home ownership if they can't even manage their own home(s)? In fact, at my prior broker, the office manager had her home go into foreclosure, thus enabling me to label her "the real estate manager who can't manage her own real estate".

Your comments are appreciated

Posted by Tony Cannon on 02/20/2008 10:38 PM

Comments (6)

foreclosure, notice of default, short sale, agents, home ownership, advising clients, san diego, bpo, broker price opinion, distress

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6 Comments on Real estate agents own properties in foreclosure or are short sales

FEB

2008

Wow! Many agents would say that those who do BPOs do so because they cant sell homes. Dont worry about other people, do your job and say a prayer for those who are having tough times.

Tony - when I was a foreclosure officer in the early eighties, most of the borrowers in default were real estate agents, attorneys, corporations, etc. When markets are hot, people can get greedy. Whether you're a real estate agent or not, greed can kick in. Another issue is when the husband and wife are both agents. When the faucet shuts off...

Wow that is interesting, but I think just because a person is a realtor, or maybe in a profession associated with real estate doesn't meant that they are good investors. I think that the even if the realtor may be the best real estate agent, but is an amateur investor and they know nothing about actually investing in properties then it is would be more likely for them to end up in this situation. I personally believe that investing is a science that must be studied and learned in order to make it through the good times, and the bad times!

Thank you for some good responses.

I had not heard that about BPOs. I do know I got into doing them as they can lead to having REO listings...with 3 agents in my area now having about 100 REO listings each, I would like a slice of that pie too! And I hope I'm not opening a can of worms for an REO discussion now.

And Ryan is very insightly about the investing aspect. Maybe agents that represent investor clients should be SUCCESSFUL investors themselves.

Also, the cliche about "can't see the forest for the trees" is often true since agents are dealing with homes so much that they miss the big picture about the fundamentals driving market prices. It reminds me of mid-2007 when all the agent feedback said the homes were priced right, yet there were no buyers making offers...

FEB

2008

I am amazed at how many agents there are who sell Las Vegas and don't even own property here. Like Larry said, don't worry about them, worry about yourself.

MAR

Tony:

I am interested in doing BPOs as well. I signed up with a few companies and no calls. Have you managed to get any listings??

San-San Wardojo

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