Recently, a foreclosing lender contacted me and asked me to do a short sale for them. They gave me the seller's contact info. The seller is in Puerto Rico and has no access to email or fax. All communication would be via phone and snail mail for all documents.
I asked the loss mitigator if they had a BPO. She said they did. I did a quick and dirty check of the market (not a BPO) but found two identical homes that recently sold nearby. I have a good estimate of the value of the property. It will be around $70,000.
I only asked for two things - some guidance on the price, and an idea of what the compensation would be. They absolutely will not give me any guidance on the price. I understand the philosophy behind this - the investor wants to get as much as they can. But at the same time, if they tell me upfront what they expect, and it is too high - I will not do it. If it is too low, I will advise them to expect more.
They said total compensation (both sides) would be fairly low. I would likely get mid three figures for doing this. The hassle is dealing with a seller that is far away with no technology. She also has trouble understanding English and my Spanish is not good enough to explain the intricacies of a real estate deal.
I handle nothing but REOs and short sales, so I can usually predict accurately what something is going to sell for and in what time frame. Some loss mitigators will give the numbers up front.
I do not want to go through this only to find out they have no clue what the property is worth and decide to pay me the equivalent of $3 per hour.
Am I expecting too much when a lead is being put in my lap? I need to make a decision soon and would like some opinions of others.
Phil
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