She's mean and she's right.  In this market we are all learning.  Banks not repsonding for weeks are a real problem.  I am attempting to get MI Association of Realtors involved.  It would be nice if NAR would get involved with all the people we have in politicla places.  NAR and the bankers assocaition need to get together and create rules that benefit everyone.

Hi Angie,
Thanks a bunch for your input!  I completely agree with you!  It would be fantastic if NAR could do anything to help. 
Maya

Maya:

All offers must be presented period, I don't care if its a short sale.  It does help if the agent that you are working with is someone you like to work with.

Maya, I would start by writing a letter to her boss or Broker and tell them how she treats other people. If to no avail, write the NAR. You should not have to put up with her #$%^&(*&. Thanks, Royal..

Hi Lorraine and Loretta,
Thanks so much!  I've had other Realtors tell me that the seller or the lender was not accepting any more offers when I've had a buyer and I just took it at face value.  What was I thinking!?  I don't know why it occurred to me that a Short Sale would be any different from any other sale.  Even if the seller did say, "No more offers!"
Thanks so much for your input!
Maya

Hi Royal,
Great advice.  Thanks so much!
Maya

I think you are missing one key thing here...

Yes you DO have to present ALL offers to the Seller, but NOT THE BANK.

The Bank DOES NOT own the home, the seller does. You do not need to send every offer to the bank, only the best offfer(s). Sending more than one does complicate the process and adds time to your acceptance/rejectance of the short sale. I just had a conversation today with the Supervisor of Investigator teams at Countrywide and he said that multiple offers that arent even close are a huge part of wasting his teams' time. So do the bank a favor, present all offers to the seller, but dont bother sending in the really weak offers to the bank and let the process work without interferance.

I hope this helps.

Hi Darrel,
You are a HUGE help!  I really thought every offer no matter how good or bad had to go to the bank.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Maya

You're welcome Maya. The entire short sale process has become polluted, and each and every one of us need to do our part to help sort things out. Most problems will just have to run their course, but as long as we dont take actions, or inactions that cause them to be bogged down they will come to an end.

If you already have several offers submitted to the bank and you feel optimistic about them, put your listing as Pending with a note in the Realtor Remarks. Mid Florida Regional MLS already requires that when a seller accepts a short sale contract that the listing must go pending in the MLS while awaiting response back from the loan servicer. I dont quite agree with this approach, as some offers are just too soft and the chances of the buyer withdrawing are high. If there are multiple offers I would be more likely to accept a status of pending and give my sellers some time off from showing their home.

Best of luck to you in this long and very painfull process we call a "Short Sale". To me the only thing short are your nerves by the time you get a few weeks into the process.

Unfortunately we can't force banks to be smart and take short sales more seriously. If they were smarter they probably wouldn't have all these short sales and foreclosures to deal with..

Maya, oh, I feel for you. It really amazes me how these mean spririted agents think that they are going to get anywhere with their ways. What goes around comes around.

It only makes sense that submitting offers that are off the ball only will lesson the success of a short sale approval with the bank and I can certainly understand that the banks don't want to deal with them nor does the seller want to have an adverse effect on the possibility of their home closing and avoiding foreclosure.

We all know agents like that. I know several who are not only rude, but they're arrogant, condescending, and think they know more than everyone else, even when they sound like complete idiots. I avoid them at all costs.

Hi Darrel,
You are AWESOME!  Thanks for the great advice!
Best wishes,
Maya

Hi Terry,
You are so right.  I actually wished bad things on Countrywide after Katrina and Wilma hit our area.  The President said those affected could call the banks and get 3 months to catch up, and repair their homes while we struggled to open up our businesses, clear our streets and get our electricity repaired.  Our community was crippled.  The insurance money didn't come for months and for some it never came.  After those 3 months Countrywide sent out notices saying that homeowners had to come up with the back payments or they would foreclose.  It was just aweful the way those people were treated.  I actually was happy when Countrywide took the big fall because of the way they did business.  None of those people had to loose their homes.

Hi Lynn,
Thanks so much for your kind hearted and insightful comments.
Maya

Hi Lisa,
You are so right about arrogance and condescending attitude.  I wonder why those "Experts" don't set an example and share their knowledge.  It's such a joy to help people or teach them rather than treat people badly because they don't know something.  I will always be grateful to those who have been helpful, kind and nice to work with.  I sure want to avoid the nasty agents, but once in a blue moon they have the best property for my buyer or a needed buyer for my seller.  It's pure torture dealing with them.  Thanks a bunch for your comments.  Thanks for sharing how you deal with monsters!
Maya

Did the seller sign the offer before sending it to the 3rd party?  Even though theres a 3rd party approval it's only a continency here in VA so its actually a ratified contract and goes in our MLS as CONTRACT with NKO.  TThis would eliminate the other offers on the property.

Hi Stacy,
The seller signed all of the offers before they went to the lender.  VA is the same as here in FL ... our contract was also ratified... all of the offers were Back Up Offers except the first one.  Our MLS announced the a few weeks later that we should make all offers Contingent with a Kick Out if they are Short Sale properties with an offer, but I hadn't done that before the announcement thinking that I really didn't have a contract until the lender approved one of them.  I thought that more offers would give the lender more choice and show the range of desire for the property.  It sure would be NICE to feel confident that it was "ok" to send just one offer to the lender!  I'm grateful for your input!
Many thanks,
Maya

Maya, I got your message =)

I just wanted to add that obnoxious agents will not share what they know because they probably don't know as much as you think. That's just what they want you to believe. You can shoot past them very quickly just from what you learn here on AR, and from taking classes that are offered at your local Association. I have a huge advantage over most of my competition just based on my technology knowledge, and more importantly, what I've learned from ONE class at our Board! I've taken the same class 3 times; every time the FAR/BAR contract is updated. The class is one how to complete and effective sales and purchasing agreement. There are so many things that seasoned agents do completely wrong, and they don't even know it, because they never get anymore training. (They're above that.) So I have the advantage when we have a transaction together. =D 

Your queen of mean is right and wrong.  If you still have the house as active even with a contingency then you have to show the house and the seller has to look at offers.  The seller does not have to accept any offers he doesn't want.  Put the house pending would be the only way to keep it from being shown.

the seller absolutely does NOT have to accept any offer that comes thru the door - short sale or not. it is THEIR property and they have the right to refuse any offer they want to. 

listing agents:  be sure to carry the the right language in your listing agreement to PROTECT your sellers from these bully agents.

Hi Lisa,
:) LOVE your comment!  Very inspirational!  Thank you for your ideas.
Maya

Hi Gene,
Wonderful point about the status.  I had not changed the status so your comment is spot on.  Thanks so much for your comment!
Maya

Hi Wendy,
Thanks very much for your comment!  What kind of things would be good to include on the listing agreement when working with a short sale seller? 
Maya

MAYA--If you get offers that are too low or ridiculous you shouldn't even send them in as it will make the lenders leary of your intentions. Any offer that is submitted needs to be substantiated by the current market conditions. The lenders and their investors are not going to accept any offer simply because it's the only on that came across. It just doesn't work that way. The unfortunate thing is that all the agents submitting offers just lessens our standing as professionals and make the entire process longer and out of control.

As far as signing multiple offers. Be very careful of that. In actuality you have a contract as soon as the buyers and sellers sign off and the bank can break it, not the other way around. In a normal sale you wouldn't take multiple contracts until the contingencies are met.

I had an agent in my area send in 9 contracts and he can't figure out why the lender hasn't assigned someone for over 60 days. Why would they? They have a hot property that they feel is not priced high enough because it is so popular. His higest offer walked away. Now what?

If you have 9 people waiting for one sale that means there are eight other homes not being sold, increasing the inventory which lowers the values which makes the lenders leary of taking such low offers.

One tip, in case you're not using it. Have all the contracts with at least 60 days for closing. Don't do the standard 30 days--it will heighten the chance of the buyer walking away, it will also set the expectation of the waiting.

Hi Sidney,
EXCELLENT points!  Thank you very much.
Maya

Got a solution for you. .

"Seller reserves the right to accept or reject any offers or showings until the bank makes a decision with present offers"

Got a solution for you. .

"Seller reserves the right to accept or reject any offers or showings until the bank makes a decision with present offers"

Hi Fernando,
You are SO RIGHT!  I've changed my policy on multiple offers.  Wish I'd done it sooner!
Maya