Over the years I have worked my share of Short Sales. I always spent the time to qualify the Seller before moving forward. This just kind of seemed automatic to me.
Yet a couple of months ago a Buyer that I am working with called me about a property that she saw on my web site. Like most first time Buyer's Susie is real enthusiastic. And rightly so with this home.
It is surrounded by homes in the High $300's to upper $500's. Yet its sales price was only $209,000. I checked the listing and no indication of a Short Sale, photo's looked good as well.
Showing instructions are Call agent. I make the call on every number I can find leaving messages every where. Two days pass And I finally get a call back. I set the appointment and call the Buyer.
Just like the photo's this home is stunning at least for the price and area. It is hard to keep Susie from doing cartwheels in the Living Room. Later that evening we write the offer, theorizing that the reason this gem is still on the market was the incompetency of the agent who takes 2 plus days to call back.
To be on the safe side I put a few caveats in the sale to protect the Buyer. Things like Sale is subject to Seller providing documentation of liens and or amounts owed on the property. In the event that the Seller owes more than a negotiated sales price Seller is capable and willing to bring cash in to close.
Got the agents attention on that one. Three days later the agent requests a meeting between the Seller herself and I.
It took 45 minutes to drag it out of them but the reality was the Seller owed almost $300,000 on the home. The listing agent had never asked the question.
To this date that the listing is still on the market. The agent has never had any communication what so ever with the two lenders. She drops the price on a regular basis it is now down around $150,000 or so.
It is absolutely true that the single biggest failure of Short Sales to close is often the Agent.
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What is the home worth? From your description of the area it could be worth 300K! What is the real value and is it still a Short Sale?
Woow the agent seems to be clueless as to what it take to successfully close a short sale.
Gene,
Real Market Value is $325,000. Yes now she does have it advertised as a Short Sale. Two biggest problems is that she never calls back and she hasn't done the upfront work. Seller until recently was still making the payments on time.
Herb,
Sounds like a combination of incompetence in the beginning and now misleading marketing.
Cristina,
Sad truth is that this agent concentrates on listing short sales. It is just sad for the Sellers.
That is almost criminal on the part of the agent to think they can just play with the sales number and not get the banks in the loop.
Ed,
I am right there with you. Especially when it comes to Short Sales as the clock ticks down.
Herb,
You have to be kidding me! In California, the mortgage amounts are public record as long as you can work an amortization table you can get a good idea. How could she have a listing and not know? You should send her a bill for your time. In our MLS, if a short sale is not disclosed in the agent notes you get fined. Period.
Tni
Tni,
I like the fine idea. In oregon the rely totally on the Short Sale Addendum that notifies all parties that the sales price might not be agreeable to the Lien holders. Hence I see homes listed for as little as $59000 when you know that the will not sell for less than two or three times that much.
No matter what listing we take, I do like to know the seller's payoff balance. Kudos to you for adding the clauses to the contract. If the agent does not know about short sales, they should not be working them.
Kay,
And that just about goes for all properties as well doesn't it. The liability that we take upon our shoulders for the representation of our clients in most cases largest purchase and or sale in their lifetimes is vastly under stated and appreciated.
To place a listing in the (Portland) Regional MLS a listing agent must mark it
"Short Sale? Yes" or "Short Sale? No".
To mark it either way not knowing whether it should be Yes or No is a violation of the RMLS rules.
Additionally, placing a listing in the multiple (and marking it, say) with "cash" as an acceptable term of sale could cause the seller (and/or the listing broker) to owe selling side commission.
Jim,
It is truly sad what we have to work with. I was out again today looking at Short Sales for an investor client. I came across three listings that were vacant and priced between $180,000 and $220,000. all three properties required agent to call before showing.
None of the agents answered any of their phones nor did the assistants who had left their numbers as well. I drove by all three properties and it was quite obvious that they were all quite vacant.
You just have to feel for these Seller's who may have had high hopes of selling.
Sadly they will probably fall into the foreclosure category all the while thinking that no one was interested in their home.
Oh Goodness, sounds like you're in for a real roller coaster ride.
yes they look so nice but Foreclosures are such tough on to stomach.