People tend to dream that a never-before-met great uncle will leave them a sprawling waterfront estate in a will they didn’t know existed. This sounds lovely (minus the death of your uncle, RIP!), but it doesn’t happen very often. In the real world, what actually occurs is that your crazy cat-lady Aunt Janice leaves you a cramped, outdated ranch home in a bad neighborhood in a city you don’t want to live in. Or, equally likely, crazy Aunt Janice hasn’t paid her bills for the past couple years, so now to settle the estate, the property is in the hands of the bank. While this seems like a pretty sweet deal for the bank (real estate is one of the safest and most stable assets available!), the bank isn’t too excited to have this property, either. Cash is king and the only way to recoup the money owed by late Aunt Janice is to sell the home.
To the bank, Aunt Janice’s house is now considered what is called a real estate owned (REO) property and they’ll be looking to sell it in a timely fashion. After all, any property in the hands of the bank that is not making money is costing money. A common real estate platitude is that any property will sell if you wait long enough or lower the price enough, but neither of these are very attractive options for the bank. They aren’t interested in holding on to the property and dealing with the wait-and-see of the traditional real estate process, but an auction sounds equally unappealing as they don’t want to let REO property go below the value they need to recoup. So what’s a bank (or unwitting devisee) to do?
One innovative way to unload these REO properties is a real estate marketing event. These events, along with the proper marketing, create the urgency needed to help push a buyer into action and sell a property quickly. In this model, the competitiveness of a sale event will bring deal seekers with an eye for market value. Price creates desire. Desire creates urgency. Urgency creates competition and competition raises the final sale price.
Buying and selling real estate isn’t as cut-and-dry as buying something like groceries or a new car, though. Some buyers may be interested in the property, but can’t play by the rules of the game. In these cases, the real estate event model means that offers can be attracted even after the event. These offers may have contingencies to be worked out, but these can all be negotiated thoroughly will the seller. Unfortunately, some properties result in a no-sale. Typically this means the price needs adjusting and potentially additional marketing will need to be done to expose it to a new, broader audience.
Whether it’s through inheritance or repossession, when it comes to unwanted real estate, three things are true: 1). This property is costing you money 2). You want it sold fast and at a fair price, and 3). Real Estate Sales Events are a great way to move your REO properties.
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