Before I begin my rant--let me begin by stating that I HAVE NO INTENTION of OFFENDING ANYONE professionally or personally. That being said, let's begin. There are agents that either USE or ARE field representatives that are commonly referred to as GOPHERS or ROAD RUNNERS. These people (amongst many of the services they offer) scour the field, the for sale ads, the internet, and the MLS in search of good deals for themselves or for their investors.
There is nothing wrong with this. Here's my pet peeve. When the gophers or road runners present offers for buyers WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE PROPERTY. ESPECIALLY the ALL CASH OFFERS. Naturally, in this market where there is an escrow fallout rate as high as 30% in some markets due to financing fallouts, sellers often prefer ALL CASH OFFERS. So for a seller to REJECT other VALID OFFERS (albeit financing in many cases) and LOSE MOMENTUM and TIME as a RESULT of AN ALL CASH INVESTOR WHO HAS NOT TAKEN the TIME TO SEE the PROPERTY AND SUBSEQUENTLY BACKS out of an ESCROW is beyond FRUSTRATING. I can count on BOTH HANDS the number of times this has occurred in the past 3 months.
There was one in experience in particular that chapped my hide. There w as one agent (gopher) who's INVESTOR ALL CASH offer got accepted. The seller rejected the other offers and I forwarded the sellers acceptance addendum. The agent said that he would get it back to me within 2 days. On Day 3 the selling agent calls me and IN WRITING IN AN EMAIL advises me that his buyer would like to visit the property. I immediately replied and advised him via email that IF his buyer had not seen the property yet that it was in poor form. He (offended of course) replied that I shouldn't make accusations. I've posted the email chain below as I found it humorous that the same person that was offended turned out to be GUILTY of EXACTLY what I am writing about.
Now, to be fair, there are MANY INVESTORS that have successfully purchased properties without seeing them but only through the eyes of their agent or gopher/road runner. I've closed many a transaction this way. However, they've built a track record with me and followed through and CLOSED their escrows. It's not impossible to work this way. It just makes it EASIER when the investor has seen the property.
What we've been doing lately is REQUESTING that the buyers REMOVE their inspection contingency IMMEDIATELY when submitting their offer. This has reduced the number of fallouts and separated the rookies from the veteran agents and investors.
Here's the email chain. I've protected the agents name and email as SELLING AGENT. Anything with REOheaven.com is my team. And yes, I and/or my team can be a little pushy and/or aggressive at times in our emails, but remember as AGENTS our JOB is TO CLOSE ESCROWS--not just open them.
On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Joshua Chairez <josh@reoheaven.com> wrote:
SELLING AGENT,
Attached is the Green River Addendum. Please review , approve and forward back ASAP. Please note that the property is still available until we receive a fully executed contract and seller can still negotiate with other parties. Thanks
From: josh@reoheaven.com
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:31:39 -0700
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT
SELLING AGENT,
One last thing. When sending back the addendum please include certified funds (cashiers Check) and PROOF OF FUNDS in a form of a bank statement within 30 days. Thanks
From: SELLING AGENT
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:47:40 +0000
To: <josh@reoheaven.com>
Subject: RE: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
I forwarded everything to my client. I will get everything back to you tomorrow.
To: SELLING AGENT
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
From: reoheaven@vzw.blackberry.net
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:48:03 +0000
Tomorrow? Okay, thx
On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 1:02 PM, SELLING AGENT wrote:
yes...thank you..
From: josh@reoheaven.com
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:34:00 -0700
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT
SELLING AGENT, Good Morning. I wanted to follow up on the addendum for Melton. Any luck? Please forward at your earliest convenience, Thanks
On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 11:36 AM, SELLING AGENT wrote:
I will check right now.
From: josh@reoheaven.com
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:44:59 -0700
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT
SELLING AGENT, Is your client moving forward?? I need that addendum, please advise.
On Aug 29, 2009, at 7:06 PM, SELLING AGENT wrote:
He is in Palmdale, Lancaster today looking at home.
Ill touch base with you tomorrow with addendum.
From: Paul Argueta <paul@reoheaven.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT
Do you mean to tell me that the buyer HAS NOT SEEN property and YOU SUBMITTED an OFFER for your buyer?? If so, poor form SELLING AGENT.
From: SELLING AGENT
Date: Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Subject: RE: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: paul@reoheaven.com
No. The point of my emails is he is in Palmdale, Lancaster looking at other homes, he is interested in and I cant reach him until tomorrow, when he will be back, so I can get the addendeum tomorrow to you.
Paul...please be professional in emails you send and not make accusations. Thanks.
I will get addendum to you sometime tomorrow.
From: Paul Argueta <paul@reoheaven.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT.
"If so" was included in the sentence SELLING AGENT. It wasn't inteded as an insult or an accusation. Had it been true, then yes--it would have been in poor form. But I feel much more comfortable knowing this isn't the case. Thx.
From: SELLING AGENT
Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Subject: RE: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: paul@reoheaven.com
Im working on it now.
No worries....
From: SELLING AGENT
Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 2:48 PM
Subject: RE: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: reoheaven@vzw.blackberry.net, paulargueta@gmail.com
Paul:
Last night my client once again drove around the area and called me today and said because of saftey issues and the neighborhood the home is in that he feels Unsafe for him or anyone he would lease the home out to.
Therefore, he wants to pass on this home and please ask the bank to move on to another prospective "buyer".
Thank you though...
From: Paul Argueta <paul@reoheaven.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: Counter Offer for REO Property - 235370, 37944 MELTON AVE PALMDALE CA
To: SELLING AGENT
Cc: "reoheaven@vzw.blackberry.net" <reoheaven@vzw.blackberry.net>, "paulargueta@gmail.com" <paulargueta@gmail.com>
What a surprise SELLING AGENT. With all due respect, I believe that was the first time the buyer saw the property. This isn't our first time around the block, which is precisely why I sent that message yesterday.
REO brokers also keep tabs on agents that submit offers for Investors that don't perform or submit offers prior to seeing property and backing out.
Best of luck in business.
Comments(2)