There are so many pitfalls and things to consider when you are looking at a short sale. Unfortunately many agents are making the process harder for themselves and our clients which in turn continues to give short sales a bad rap.
Recently my clients had an offer in on a property that was exactly what they wanted. It had a view, open floor plan, in a great neighborhood, and had three bedrooms and a loft. There was some work that needed to be done on the property including fixing the garage door where the listing agent had tried to adhere his sign to the vinyl door and left marks that would render the door useless unless replaced. All in all the pros outweighed the cons and my clients were in for the long haul which turned out to be about two months of their time.
The listing agent was from out of the area so I'm sure that he had not seen the property since he had listed it. He actually told us what other offers were in on the property. In my offer I specifically asked the seller and agent to take the property off as an active listing and put it in back up. There were already five or six offers on the property.
I called the agent to inquire why the listing was still active on the MLS after a week or so. He said because he was an out of area agent that it was difficult to get the outside board to make the changes. This went on for some time. After being the responsible agent and staying in touch about our offer, the listing agent told me that the bank was getting close to getting an approval and my client's offer had the highest net submitted.
A week later I called to see how the approval was coming. The listing agent then told me that another cash offer had been submitted and was in the process of being approved. In the mean time, the listing was still active on the MLS.
I totally disagree with keeping a listing active on the MLS when an offer or offers have been submitted. Who are we as short sale listing agents working for? Our clients or the bank? In case you answered the bank, I say, WRONG! We are working for the client. So why do agents treat short listings like auctions and essentially are working for the bank?
I don't understand how an agent can think keeping a short sale listing open is a good thing. I understand that buyers may walk from a transaction. Guess what, they used to do that in regular transactions too. And what did we do? We started over and got a new buyer. If a short sale listing isn't selling, reduce the price!! We all know that price is what sells a property.
The thing that really upsets me the most is the lack of follow up that these agents are doing, and I'm seeing it rampant in both REO's and short sales. If you have a list of people who have offers in on a listing, why don't you call the agents back? As a courtesy for one thing, but as a good business practice as another. You never know if your current deal is going to fall out! And when it does, wouldn't the previous offers be the first people that you call? I just don't get it.
Are there any other agents out there that feel the best offer and only the best offer from a committed buyer who understands his offer is legitimately being considered is the one that should be submitted to the bank for a short sale?
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