Competing Mentalities in the World of Northern Virginia Short Sales
What a buyer wants, and what a seller and their mortgage holder need in a short sale are often opposed. Good short sale agents like Chris Ann Cleland will advise their short sale sellers to counter offer if a low offer is received and unlikely to be accepted by the mortgage holder.
Competing Mentalities in the World of Northern Virginia Short Sales
When you go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City and pull the lever on a slot machine, you don't expect to see three cherries line up and the jackpot light to start ringing. Slot machines are a past time for folks who do not care about the outcome. Yeah they'd like to win a million dollars, but they are just as happy to sit there and have the thrill of pulling the lever over and over as the rolling icons tease them. It's a rush.
Sit in on a Texas Hold ‘Em game and you'll witness a different mentality. Players at the poker table are making calculated decisions based on the actions of their fellow players, the community cards showing and their own hand. It is rare when these players get surprised by an outcome. Some of them can even tell you the hands their opponents are holding.
As a Northern Virginia Short Sale Listing Agent, it is my job to have the mindset of the poker player. I need to know what the bank is most likely to accept. I can't advise my Short Sale Sellers to take their home off the market on the whim of a Buyer who is pulling the lever on the bank by writing a low offer and maxing out closing cost assistance just to "see what they (bank) say." This is not a serious buyer. This is a slot machine player. Win or lose, this person's mindset isn't changing. If this slot machine house doesn't pay out, maybe they'll go pull the lever on another Short Sale Listing and see if that one pays out as they desire.
Buying a Northern Virginia Short Sale is no different than buying a regular sale in that it takes a committed Buyer with a legitimate offer. Writing offers and throwing them at the bank to "see what happens" ultimately hurts the Short Sale Seller who is doing their best to avoid foreclosure. Sending in that low offer with tons of closing costs is doing nothing but costing the Short Sale Seller time. And in the
world of Northern Virginia Short Sales, that's something a Short Sale Seller doesn't have to waste. The Short Sale Seller is not there to help you fulfill your dream of ripping off an already bleeding bank. They need to SELL, not throw what-if scenarios at their bank.
So if you want to buy a Northern Virginia Short Sale in good condition, ante up as close to market value, or as close to market value as you are willing to go. I'm not going to advise my Short Sale Sellers to take their home off the market for your "slot machine offer." Banks are not dying to hand out properties well below market value, or give a buyer a ton in closing costs, when they are already standing to lose hundreds of thousands on any given deal. And when the bank says no, my Seller and I know you are walking away.
If you insist on gambling, go play on the courthouse steps where you have no idea of property condition, liens, or anything else about the properties being auctioned other than the address and an idea of what market value would be if it were in good condition. Maybe you'll be the winning there, but who knows what you're getting.
Chris Ann Cleland, Realtor- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com. Or you can visit her website: www.nvarealestate.net.
Header photo is Lake Manassas in Gainesville, VA taken by Chris Ann Cleland.
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