 
Maybe now. Just maybe now, real estate agents across the Country will finally buy in and realize how bad the foreclosure crisis is and get their collective acts together and learn how to correctly complete short sales.
Still one of the naysayers that does not believe that banks are in a somewhat hopeless position and that they do not want to own all of these foreclosed properties as REO’s?
What’s it going to take for you realize that banks take huge discounts on the defaulted loans that they are trying to mitigate? I mean we always tell everyone how we are often able to obtain discounts of 35-40% or more off of the current “as-is” value and we are challenged as being some kind of pariah.
We tell agents to negotiate from a point of leverage and understand that you are in a much more powerful position than you think you are. However most agents can’t seem to grasp that. They believe that it is impossible. The banks are too savvy. The banks aren’t just going to give away the deal.
Hey Mr. / Mrs. / Ms. Realtor…this is LOSS MITIGATION like we have never seen it before..wake up..let’s scream it from the rooftops..BANKS DO SHORT SALES AND BANKS ALLOW FOR TREMENDOUS DISCOUNTS! Say it over and over again until you get it.
What am I going to have to do..prove it to you. You say show me..prove to me that a bank will just up and dump a loan, a non-performing asset but an asset nonetheless.
Ok…if I can prove to you without any equivocation that banks do short sales and give HUGE discounts, will you now start doing short sales the way they are supposed to be done or at least start learning how to do them the right way…I mean you don’t want to be standing around whining on Active Rain while the rest of us are slaying the dragon do you?
You don’t want to be THAT agent who is stonewalling the homeowner saying banks don’t do short sales do you? You don’t want to be that agent exposing yourself as an incompetent by listing a house and stating that the “bank has already approved the price” …do you?
Well sit down, make sure you are sitting, I am going to give you proof that you can’t refute and should not even try…ready for it?
This wholesale dumping of a company is underscored when you realize that BSC stock was near $60.00 a share just last Thursday (3/13/08).
Bear Stearns has been a Wall Street mainstay, having been founded before the Great Depression in 1923. The fact that Chase was able to purchase an institution, with a deal backed with funds from the Federal Reserve tells you how serious this mortgage crisis is and while it may deepen fears about further decline or erosion of the world’s financial markets, it is the time for those of us in the real estate business to step up our efforts and get these short sale deals done.
Opportunity seldom is seen at this magnitude. Opportunity? Absolutely. Once and for all, maybe we can get the real estate agents and financially incompetents out of the way who see profit in misfortune as a bad thing. Now is the absolute best time to buy and now is when the NAR should come out with some serious advertising.
What do you think Chase is thinking by buying BSC….well they are hoping to make substantial profit! If anyone doubts that they need to exit the business today!
Are you in foreclosure and are you trying to do a short sale? Well if you have a spaghetti-spined realtor who does not know how to powerfully negotiate then fire he or she TODAY! No questions asked fire them! Now is the time for seasoned professionals to act. Professional real estate agents around the Country heard this information last night and started salivating.
Find those types of real estate agents and cozy up with them. That’s who you want to list your foreclosure with. So hopefully everyone will now realize that YES,BANKS DO SHORT SALES AND YES BANKS ALLOW HUGE DISCOUNTS!
Still not convinced? Do you need more proof, more of an incentive? Here’s a short sale tip that should have you running out today to make some serious money. In our office we will be scouring every loan in Broward County that is associated with Bear Stearns. Why you ask? Do you really…really have to ask?
Well not sure if you know this but somebody just bought all of Bear Stearns loans for less than 10 cents on the dollar. So that tells me if they can sell these loans at 20 cents on the dollar they will double their investment!
So in other words..there’s a whole lot of room for negotiation. I, and now you, have a pretty good idea on the basis points of these loans.
Bear Stearns is not the only guest at the mortgage failure party. Read the annual report of a number of lenders, in fact read the annual report of every bank that has a loan on one of your short sale listings. Who’s next? Countrywide? Wells Fargo? Option One? Homeq? Litton Loan? Who knows, but what you must now know is it’s time to be a shrewd and ruthless negotiator.
Mitigating these loans must be seen as helping the economy. The euro is killing our dollar. Gold is at an all time high…what more do you need to get your short sale business going? The American economy needs these loans mitigated and it’s time for agents to get their act together and rally. It’s time to go for the proverbial throat and take down these short sales.
Opportunities like this rarely come along. What are you going to do today? Whine and commiserate on Active Rain that short sales are hard and stand fast with your erroneous opinion that banks don’t give huge discounts, or are you going to get out there today and act like a champion..a professional? The choice is yours.
By the way…the Fed also lowered rates again. Man it’s a wonderful time to be a Capitalist!
I have to say that Bear Stearns deal was incredible!! Our economy is in dire straights. However, opportunity is every where right now for the savy investor.
We should be closing on a short sale next week with 5th 3rd bank. They accepted $175,000 on a loan of $270,000. So I agree there are certainly some good deals out there. Fortunes will be made over the next few years.
yep..it’s going to be a huge market!
We’ve worked on a couple of short sales here in Chicago.
Points for agents who have not done a short sale to know:
1. The buyers must know that the process to purchase will be longer and the negotiations will be harder than your typical resale. The banks aren’t going to give the property away, and they have bereaucracies that take time to work through.
2. The first thing the bank will do is negotiate down the agent commission. If you’re a savvy agent, you can protect your commission (you’re going to earn every penny of it in these transactions) by having a buyer agency agreement with your clients. They’re going to get a great deal on the home, and you’re going to work your butt off, so why not have the buyer pony up to bring your compensation back in line with the agreed upon commission the MLS listing was supposed to gauranty?
3. Listing agents on a short sale – get your clients an experienced real estate attorney. They’re going to need one whether they realize it or not. The bank isn’t going to be looking out for your client’s best interests and they’ve got a whole legal department behind them.
4. Listing agents who try to negotiate a short sale contract as if it were a typical resale are going lose those buyers if they don’t disclose the short sale and don’t involve both party’s attorneys and the bank right away.
At least that’s been my experience so far. I’d like to know what others have experienced.
Hey Dave, it is good to hear from you.
In our experience, you are correct. The banks will not “give away†these properties, but they most assuredly do not want them back. You will have to justify your position and price point with data, and then more data. The banks right now are overrun with requests for short payoffs and workout programs.
About commissions, you hit the nail on the head. It is all about negotiation. The bank will try to squeeze every last penny they can out of the transaction, I don’t blame them, in order to get the most money they can. Go into this negotiation knowing you will have to make concessions, so build in some room to give.
I cannot say enough about being represented by an attorney. In Florida, we are a judicial foreclosure state, so all cases going through the judicial system. Being represented by an attorney can give you them time you need to work your transaction, also we have found that when the banks talk to an attorney, they are much more receptive, especially during the negotiation process.