While I listen to the debate rage on and on...I'll let my creative side develop some survival skills for what I see coming down the road.
Take more listings, and take better care of the sellers. We'll see more and more sellers who have little or no equity and even less cash to be able to make repairs buyers may ask for. How do we help and protect them?
Try using a pre-market home inspection. For just a little money the seller will be better prepared for negotiating with a buyer, and in some cases a buyer might not feel compelled to do their own. On thing I've seen is that on many repairs, the seller can usually get it done for a lot less if they aren't pressed for time.
Then encourage them to add a home warranty to their listing. This will help them stand out from the crowd and could save them and the buyer lots of money. I've even seen this save a deal when a seller couldn't afford a repair that the buyer (and lender) wanted done before settlement.
Do a more thorough investigation of the buyers lender. Know who is at the other end of that mortgage and learn as much about the buyers situation as possible. Encourage the seller to empower you to really dig into the buyer qualifications to determine if the mortgage approval is portable in the event the lender gets 'hinky.' Or, is this a 'special deal' only available today for this buyer and only from this one lender. A well qualified borrower who can qualify for a typical FHA loan should be able to move that mortgage to any lender if the need should arise, other wise the seller will get left high and dry with no buyer and they have been off the market for two or three weeks or even more. If you have an in-house lender they might be willing to help you and the seller evaluate the buyers mortgage, and they might be in a position to save the deal for the buyer if needed.
It's true these are good risk management techniques to do in any market, but they are especially useful now. And as important as these are, it's also very important to have a frank and honest discussion with the seller about what could happen to them in a tough market like many of us face today.
I think it's going to get tricky out there before it gets better again. Don't let it scare you, let it make you better!
Comments(13)