Thinking about working the preforeclosure market as a Licensed Real Estate Agent?

Since I began posting on activerain I have become quite busy with emails, and calls about the preforeclosure market. Its clear that licensed agents want to gain knowledge on the subject from a practical source not from a philosophical point of view. This is great for me because it means that the buzz must be out there that the preforeclosure market is “the next best thing” in real estate. While I am thankful to the activerain network and its members for the increased business I am very surprised to find out about all the inaccurate and downright false information there is out there about the preforeclosure market. I would say 70% of the agents who contact me really do not understand this market at all.

I hope to be a source of accurate knowledge on the subject of pre-foreclosures and how this market is a legitimate source of business for licensed real estate agents. This market is so full that its needs simply can not be met.

Problem: My personal statistics indicate that out of 10 contacts I receive about 3 only partially understand preforeclosures from a book smart point of view and only about 1 of 10 tell me that they actively work with distressed homeowners everyday.

In New Jersey we are on track to hit about 50,000 foreclosures by the end of 2008! Think: 4 preforeclosure deals this year (1 per quarter) can yield about $18,000 considering the current average sellers agent commission according to the NAR is about $4,500. Why would anyone turn their back on that whopping sum? Worst case scenario you will need to short sell all 4 properties…is completing 4 short sales per year not worth an extra 18K?

My plea: We all must stay current with the times if we expect to be most effective in the preforeclosure aspect of the real estate field. How many agents are really ready to learn short sale transactions and specialize in what is now more commonly known as “the pre-foreclosure” market?  At the rapidly climbing rate of foreclosure filings in my state I wonder if soon we will be left without a choice.

In conclusion, I can not think of a better resource to gain this preforeclosure training than right here on the activerain network. I have personally found several real estate agents on this amazing board that practice working the preforeclosure market everyday across the entire nation. I urge anyone interested in the preforeclosure market to reach out to these people.

Anthony