https://activerain.com/blogs/shaskins8 en-us https://activerain.com/blogsview/2614717/circle-of-business---the-meaning-of-hardship Greetings to everyone reading at Active Rain!  I wanted to share some info on how the Active Rain community can generate business and help people.  Marcy Moyer is on Active Rain and has a relationship with my mentor/fellow agent Chris Ann, who put me on to Active Rain several weeks ago.  Marcy has a client who lives on the West Coast but owns a place in Montgomery County Maryland that he wants to short sell.  Marcy spoke with Chris Ann who told her to contact me to do the short sale for the client.  I actually own a house in close proximity to the clients property in Maryland!  Marcy gave me the client's info and I called him and now need to list his place.  So that is a great example of how all of us can use our ears and eyes and our current relationships to create other business relationships that, in the end, help the client. soThe client will then be glad that they knew us!!  So special shout out to Chris Ann and Marcy, we will be in touch very soon if you are reading! So on to the short sale.  The client has moved to the other side of the country for work. He is underwater pretty substantially in his investment property, the one that I am listing.  There is a tenant in there who is my client's friend and he is very helpful so far. The question is, is there true hardship with my client?  The client is pretty successul, he owns a house on the west coast and has a good job. He actually can afford the mortgage on his investment property but he feels as if it is a bad investment (which it is), and he is tired of putting any money into it and trying to maintain it from the west coast.  He tried to do a refinance through a special program but it wasn't approved/he wasn't eligible.  Mortgages payments that were locked in several years ago surpass going rent rates in the area. So investment property owners are losing money every month. And that is not what they are in the business of doing. So we are going to short sale and I believe you need confidence knowing that you are going to get the approval no matter what.  The hardship in this case is his move for work (he was forced to keep the property).  He couldn't sell the property when he moved to the west coast so he has tried to maintain it. It is underwater, he won't make any money off of it and he is tired of throwing his money away when he could be saving/using it for his family and tuition.  We can sell the house for pretty close to market value and the bank would save 20% versus doing the whole foreclosure thing.  Does my client stop paying mortgage at this point? He has made the decision to short sale.  Ha, that is a whole different story...Have a great day! Seth Seth Haskins Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:21:21 -0800 https://activerain.com/blogsview/2614717/circle-of-business---the-meaning-of-hardship https://activerain.com/blogsview/2581487/shorted-by-short-sellers Hey folks! I haven't posted in a while for a slew of reasons but I wanted to get on up this evening.  I negotiate short sales for other agents because of my experience with the banks and their lack of experience.  However, the agents I assist are the ones that have the relationship with the client which can sometimes cause a bit of inefficiency.  For instance, I am doing a short sale now and have gotten the file to one the last stages.  Now, the bank needs updated financials.  I have requested these updated financials for 3 weeks from the listing agent!  The listing agent has stated that the seller is not delivering the items.  So, it is important when you are doing short sales to let you sellers know that is important to deliver requested items immediately.  What did we learn in Real Estate class that is even more important in short sales?...TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!! When you deliver requested items from your seller to the bank quickly, your rep is gonna know that you are about your business! Your file will take precedence over other files because the bank rep knows that yours is gonna get to the finish line first, close, and be off their desk!! To sum it up, tell your sellers who you are doing short sales for to save all of their paystubs each time they are paid and save all pages of each month's bank statement in a folder.  It would be beneficial if they faxed or emailed that as soon as they are received so that you, as the agent, already have what the bank is inevitably going to request when the time comes.  Early preparation leads to less future frustration! OMG - that rhymes Have a great evening! Seth Haskins Seth Haskins Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:31:54 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/2581487/shorted-by-short-sellers https://activerain.com/blogsview/2552539/go-up-the-ladder I have been on top of this rep at PNC for about 45 days now, trying to get my short sale approved. We have a ratified offer.  I delivered a complete short sale package to PNC on 8/3.  My rep tells me (once I finally get a hold of him) that he didn't get my file until 8/31.  However, the BPO was already done and all items were into the bank. So after about a week. The guy counters. The buyer agrees to the full counter.  I get the new price over to him the next day.  I follow up with him several days later and he tells me the file is in PMI.  He asks me for 2009 tax returns (which a lot of banks have not been asking for).  I give him the 09 tax returns the following day. After about another 5 business days, he calls me and tells me that he needs an updated financial statement because the prior one is outdated and not the most recent format.  So i get him the updated financial statement that day.  The whole time, I am like, why didn't he just ask for the updated financial statement when he asked me for 2009 tax returns?  A stalling tactic?  I thought the guy wants to get the file off his desk.  Now, it is October and I don't like an approval taking ANY longer than 60 days (shhhhh).  I call him yesterday, and he gets very aggressive with me.  Even rude. He tells me that he doesn't like how I conduct business and he is losing his patience!  This is right after he states that he has no idea how my long my file will be with PMI and he has no way to find out!! Was he angry and rude because I am performing my fiduciary duties for my client?  Well, I knew the manager's email over there and wrote him a very friendly but bothered email explaining my situation and how I was treated.  I told him I have accounts at PNC and I know they are not about acting that way!  BOOOOO HOOOOO The manager called me this morning and told me i will see the approval by this afternoon.  Take if up the latter, these negotiating reps are pawns in the game!!!!! Seth Haskins Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:43:41 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/2552539/go-up-the-ladder https://activerain.com/blogsview/2543501/activerain-pic-and-google-charts So I tried to put my pic up on ActiveRain and it is cutting the top of my head off even though it isn't cut off in the initial screen when you upload the pic. I don't get it but I won't fret right now, too much to do!!  Just ashame because I like my haircut!! If you do a lot of transactions such as short sales where you have to be really systematic, google charts are awesome.  I keep all of my deals on Google Charts and it reduces the need for files and paper everywhere. I have all the info that I need right in front of me: Seller name, address, social, loan number, bank rep and contact info, the latest update, etc.  I think it really helps because you can really throw out all the garbage that goes along with a real estate file and put everything that matters right now at your fingertips.  With my google chart, I can go down the list and call each bank without even having to grab a file or take out any paper.  Some people like files and I admire them for that but folders and paper stress me out! Just thought I would share that because I have been using the Google Charts for years and the banks know that I am organized but they don't know it is because of the charts!! Back to the charts!! Seth Haskins Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:14:49 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/2543501/activerain-pic-and-google-charts https://activerain.com/blogsview/2541855/hi-i-m-seth--i-do-short-sales--this-is-my-first-ever-post-- This is my first blog at Active Rain although I have been a member for a couple weeks.  Most of my blogs will be in reference to short sales, which is my main niche in today’s real estate market.  I am short sale certified through Long & Foster and I have been facilitating these transactions since 2007 with quite a bit of success.  At first, I was negotiating as a title agent, serving listing agents that were my clients.  But then I decided to become an agent and that is where I stand now. There are so many people out there in hardship and their best option is a short sale when you look at the grand scheme of things.  I enjoy helping these people and their families to get out of quite a stressful situation which is facing foreclosure. So I would almost never turn down a short sale unless there were extenuating circumstances. I love a challenge and I love the fact that a short sale helps people in hardship and helps our economy! Seth Haskins Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:50:48 -0700 https://activerain.com/blogsview/2541855/hi-i-m-seth--i-do-short-sales--this-is-my-first-ever-post--