If Your Short Sale Agent Has A 90%+ Success Rate, Are They Really Looking Out For Your Best Interests?

If Your Short Sale Agent Has A 90%+ Success Rate, Are They Really Looking Out For Your Best Interests?

It seems like every broker has one- a “company” or “group” who will handle short sales for their agents’ clients. I’m contacted a couple times a week with the common pitch: “All you have to do is list them and we take care of the rest. We have a 90% (or 95% or 98%) success rate. We are the best thing since sliced bread and it’s easy money for you! It’s a WIN-WIN.”

First, I hate the term win-win.

Second, if a short sale company has a 90% or better success rate are they (and by extension YOU) really looking out for the best interest of your seller. Your client. You know- the person whose best interests you are supposed to be looking out for.

Are these companies claiming they NEVER have a listing that sells at sheriff’s sale for the mortgage amount or more, relieving the seller of the deficiency? 90% or more of the time they get all deficiencies forgiven? Are we as agents just looking for an easy way to make money and to hell with our sellers- our clients, the people we are supposed to represent?

Is a Short Sale the Right Course of Action for You?

Sellers- The Short Sale is Subject to YOUR Approval Too

Why I Don’t List Short Sales

Jackie Hawley
Keller Williams Realty

Cell: (248) 736-6407

Jackie@JackieHawley.com

www.MiRelocation.com

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Southeast Michigan Short Sales- Why You Should Avoid Many Of The So Called “Short Sale Specialists”

Southeast Michigan Short Sales- Why You Should Avoid Many Of The So Called “Short Sale Specialists”

I will preface this post with a kind of anti-disclaimer: If you have to sell via short sale, I DO NOT WANT TO LIST YOUR HOUSE. If you are a past client or a friend, I will list your house if selling via short sale is the best option for you, and you agree to my rules. So this post is NOT to get your short sale business.

I have my own reasons for not listing short sales, one of them being the success rate to close. In just general MLS searches for buyers and for market anlaysis’ for listings, it appears that about 1/3 of the houses that go pending short sale approval, end up back on the market or foreclosed. I personally never saw the benefits of a business model that has a 1/3 failure rate built into it.

Then today, one of my associates received an e-newsletter from a local “short sale team.” They bragged a bit about having closed over 100 short sale transactions in the past year. They then go on to crow about the fact they “process on average 75 active short sales daily…” Hmmmm. I was never a math genius, but I do own a calculator and that comes out to 100 closings for every 27,000+ clients they take on. So about one third of one percent of their business actually closes.

Since I can’t convince all my buyer clients to avoid short sale listings, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hire a good, experienced, successful agent to handle your short sale. Someone who was a good and successful agent BEFORE short sales became such a big business. To me it looks like many of the “specialists”, whether they are attorneys or real estate agents, specialize in listing a high volume of distressed homes with a small success rate. From a seller’s perspective, you may want to consider quality over quantity.

What Makes a Good Short Sale Agent?

Short Sale Approval is Subject to Seller Approval of the Terms

Bad Advise From Your Realtor? From Your “Short Sale Specialist”? What Are Our Responsibilities? Where Does The Buck Stop?

Jackie Hawley

Keller Williams Realty, Clarkston MI

Cell: (248)736-6407

Jackie@JackieHawley.com

www.MiRelocation.com

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