Anyone Can Do a Short Sale

Yes, it’s true, anyone really CAN do a short sale. But, the real question for any REALTOR considering taking on this challenge is “Why would you want to?”

As a Realtor, surely by now you’ve become aware of the awesome potential of pre-foreclosure short sales in the current real estate market. With newspaper articles, internet blogs, and even such heavy-hitters as CNN and CBS touting the benefits of short sales, it’s nearly impossible to go a day without hearing some new claim about how to capitalize on this great opportunity. In fact, if you’re like most Real Estate Agents and Brokers, you’re currently being hit daily with e-mails and flyers promoting 1 to 3 day “Seminars” which promise to teach you how “anyone” can learn the “secrets” of doing a short sale. Perhaps you’ve even taken the bait and, like countless other agents looking for an edge, you’ve decided to shell out the hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of dollars to learn the short sale business from a self-proclaimed “guru”.

Again, I ask, “Why?”

Have you ever really sat down and considered “what is the return on my investment for all the time and effort it takes to do a short sale?” Or better yet, “am I really growing my business or am I just spinning my wheels?” And perhaps most importantly of all, “am I really the most qualified person to help my homeowners who need a short sale?”

Let’s face it, the PROCESS of negotiating a short sale is really quite simple on the surface, and if all goes well, “anyone” really can negotiate a short payoff with a lender. In fact, after you handle a few transactions, you might even get very good at negotiating a deal with the banks. Yet, if you’ve tried your hand at short sales, then you know that, after all the flowery promises of the guru’s fade away, that’s where the rubber meets the road and that’s when you are left to fend for yourself – battling against a bureaucratic process that is different with every lender and which can become so frustrating that you just want to quit. If you’ve been through it, then you know that the short sale process can take months. You might question whether it’s by design or ineptitude when the banks’ default and loss mitigation departments seem to be toying with you: keeping you and your homeowner stressed out and jumping through hoops the entire time. Did your paperwork get lost? (aagh!) Were your phone calls not returned? (how rude!) Did they find your paperwork (hooray!), only to be lose it again (oh no!). Yes, the list goes on and on, and if you’ve tried your hand at short sales, then it’s likely you have a few “war stories” of your own! Surely you’ve experienced the unpleasantness of when your homeowner becomes unhappy with the process – thus causing you, the agent, even more stress. Hopefully, you have NOT been a party to the worst of cases – in which the agent may be sued by the homeowner if the process fails despite your best efforts! Do you even know how to protect yourself from this disaster?

In the end, you are likely forced to face the question “Just what is my grand reward IF I’m successful in obtaining a bank approval letter for the short sale?” Yes, this question is so vital for the real estate agent to understand, that I’ll state it again a different way, “What’s in it for me?” You already know the answer, yet you may not want to admit it. The fact of the matter is that if you as the realtor are successful in negotiating a short sale, if you spend the 50-100 extra hours of your time to do everything that is required to obtain a short payoff Approval Letter, and if you finally complete a closing for a short sale, then your payoff is… a Real Estate Commission! (Or in many cases a REDUCED commission!). Yes, if you’ve “done short sales”, then you well know that for all those dozens of hours of additional time spent, your reward is…a pay cut! A pay cut? Yes, it’s true, when you do short sales, it’s very likely that the bank will only approve you for a reduced commission (a pay cut). And that’s when you’ll finally learn the “REAL SECRET” of short sales for Realtors (the one the guru’s don’t tell you): more work for less pay! That’s what Realtors get from doing short sales.

So I ask you, does that sound like an effective strategy towards growing your business?

For some readers, the above scenario may seem alarmingly familiar. For others, the process may sound scary. Yet, all is not lost. You can indeed capitalize on the amazing opportunities that short sales have to offer. There is a better way – a solution to the short sale rat race. Did you know that some agents have broken the code to pre-foreclosure sales success? Would YOU like to know their secret? Would it benefit you to know how you can get involved in the short sale process and get paid the same amount that you would get paid if you did it on your owns? Would you like to know how this secret can actually save you time and effort, and free you up to do what you do best? It’s really not a “secret” at all. It’s just common sense!

So what is the real SOLUTION to effective realtor-driven short sales? It’s simple: OUTSOURCE the short sale NEGOTIATIONS portion of your growing portfolio of pre-foreclosure listings. Think about it for a minute and you’ll realize that outsourcing negotiations truly represents a win-win-win for you as the agent, for your homeowner clients, for the banks, and even for your final buyers. But how do you go about outsourcing? The answer is to utilize a company that specializes in building, submitting, and negotiating short sales and take advantage of the Relationship Leverage which they have built with lenders.

These so called “Loss Mitigation” specialists are now representing a new concept in pre-foreclosure sales. After all, the banks have Loss Mitigation Negotiators working on their end; so why shouldn’t you have such a specialist on your team as well? By working with one of these negotiation specialists, you’ll be free to act as the real estate agent, while your Loss Mitigation Service Company will handle ALL aspects of Short Sale Processing. It’s important to know that these “Short Sale” companies are not Real Estate companies, so there is no need to fear losing the listing. In addition, the Loss Mitigation organization will likely get paid their service fee from the lender’s sale proceeds, so you also won’t have to worry about losing your commission either. Yes, there are many benefits to outsourcing your negotiations to a professional, but besides saving yourself all the time and headaches of trying to manage the process on your own, one of the best things you’ll experience is that you’ll be free again to concentrate on earning your commissions by doing what YOU do best: marketing, showing, and ultimately SELLING your client’s home. And when this occurs, when you can actually give your homeowner clients a fresh start and a way to escape the pressures of mortgage default and potential foreclosure or bankruptcy, that’s when you’ll realize the true worth of this “secret”. That’s when it will become clear that you as the real estate agent and your loss mitigation specialist actually share a symbiotic relationship -- where you both can thrive, even as you save banks money, get great deals for buyers, and of course provide a new beginning to your homeowner clients!

So how do you get in touch with a Loss Mitigation Service Company?

Well, the good news is that the list of companies performing these functions for agents and homeowners continues to grow monthly, and just about every state will soon have companies standing by to help you! Nonetheless, it’s not all a bed of roses; prudence demands due diligence and therefore you should exercise caution when seeking a company to handle their short sales because there are a few scams being run. In the October, 2007 issue of Florida Realtor magazine, a number of “foreclosure scams” are detailed in the article “Whose Behind the Smiling Face?” Among them:

1) “…groups of investors calling themselves a ‘Trust Company’…ask the homeowner to quitclaim their home’s deed to the trust, saying they will negotiate a short sale.” Unfortunately, some of these groups never do. Instead, “the trust pays off the loan amount at less than the full amount without negotiating with the lender or getting the lender’s approval, so the lender goes after the seller for the difference even though they no longer own the home.” (An ethical company is when that, IF they use a trust, it is only AFTER they obtain an Approval Letter from ALL lien-holders and the trust is not activated until the actual closing occurs in which the homeowner actually sells their property. Utilization of a trust prior to closing is merely a way for an investor to gain control of your homeowner clients and only serves to place your homeowners at the mercy of the investor. It is the author’s opinion that land trusts are not necessary prior to obtaining an Approval Letter).

2) Another scam involves the “sale of the home to a straw buyer, who would borrow against the home’s value and pocket the money. The original owners were told their payments were brought up to date, allowed to stay in the home, and were promised that they’d be able to buy it back from the investor.” Only to later learn that “the home’s equity was gone and [they were thus now] unable to afford to buy it.” (While a pre-foreclosure short sale and owner-leaseback can indeed be an effective way to avoid foreclosure and give your homeowners the ability to save their home, unfortunately all too often such arrangements are fraught with fraud. If you or your homeowners are approached by such an offer, be sure get everything in writing (especially the terms of the lease and future resale!). Have a real estate attorney review it and thus protect yourself and your clients. This can work, but you must ensure that the investor group you are working with is both fair and ethical. Do your research first!).

Sadly, these are just two of the “foreclosure scams” being run today which are plaguing the industry and giving short sales a bad name.

So, how can you choose the right company?

Here are some tips that might help you when choosing a Loss Mitigation Firm to partner with:

1) Ensure that the sole service of the company is Loss Mitigation.

2) See if they have a referral network of other professionals they work with.

3) Where does the company’s focus lie? Are they just in it for money for themselves (or) are they focused on helping those who really need their help? An ethical company will have the desire to make YOU as the realtor a “Hero to your homeowners.” And most importantly of all, the primary mission of the company will be to save homeowners from foreclosure and get a fresh start in life.

4) Ask the company if there are any other alternatives besides a short sale. An ethical company will help you explore other foreclosure-stopping alternatives besides just a short sale. (Since these other alternatives likely do NOT involve that company – and thus won’t provide an income stream for them – if the company overlooks telling you about these other options, you might want to steer clear).

5) Does the company require your homeowner to deed their house to a trust? If so, why? When? And who will be in control of the trust?

6) Will the company let you and your homeowner see the HUD? Will they tell you exactly how much they stand to make or will they tell you “it depends.” (An ethical company will disclose all fees in advance, will put everything in writing, and will let both you and your homeowners examine all short sale documents at any time).

7) How will the company keep you informed during the long process? Will they give you a way to track your file’s progress as it progresses?

8) Will the company fight for your homeowner to get a Waiver of Deficiency or Satisfaction of Mortgage? If the homeowner’s lenders don’t agree to such a request, then your homeowner could end up still owing the difference between the short sale proceeds and the balance of the mortgage(s). The result, your homeowner really didn’t benefit from the short sale at all!. (An ethical company will make it the purchase contract contingent upon all lien-holders agreeing to provide a Waiver or Satisfaction. Yes, it will make the loss mitigations more difficult for them, but to do anything less would be a disservice to the homeowner).

9) What kind of guarantee of success will the company give you? The fact of the matter is that there is NO GUARANTEE. No company is 100% successful at completing every short sale and if someone tells you they are ALWAYS successful, then you should really question them as to how that is possible. The national industry average for short sale acceptance is 30-75%. If the company you approach provides a higher or lower figure than that, they may not be telling you the truth. (An ethical company will admit that there are no guarantees. And a better one will tell you WHY sometimes deals don’t work out and what they are doing differently to continually improve. The market constantly changes, your loss mitigation company must be able to adapt to the ever-changing lender requirements).

10) Examine the company’s website. It’s hard for a tiger to hide his stripes. When you look at their website, it will become pretty evident where their focus lies. If they are really about helping others, the site will be more focused on providing information and solutions versus just about making money.

11) Ask your gut. When you talk to the company’s representatives, how do they make you feel? Trust your instincts. You’ll know when you’re dealing with a scammer or when you’re dealing with a potential valuable partner.

These are just a few of the questions you might ask, if you interview a company to handle your Loss Mitigation negotiations. No matter who you work with, hopefully you now understand that while it’s true that “Anyone can do a short sale,” it’s the smart realtors who don’t “do short sales” on their own, but instead add a Negotiations Specialist to their team to “do” it for them!

Anthony Teagardin is a Loss Mitigation Negotiator for Genesis Property Solutions, LLC (GPS). No matter where you are at in the country, GPS would like the opportunity to try to help you help your clients. For more information on the benefits of working with GPS, including a full disclosure of their costs and services, please visit [http://www.HelpMeGPS.ORG] or google “sell foreclosures gps”. Give GPS a call and let GPS guide you to a new beginning!

Anthony Teagardin is a Loss Mitigation Negotiator for Genesis Property Solutions, LLC (GPS). No matter where you are at in the country, GPS would like the opportunity to try to help you help your clients. For more information on the benefits of working with GPS, including a full disclosure of their costs and services, please visit [http://www.HelpMeGPS.ORG] or google “sell foreclosures gps”. Give GPS a call and let GPS guide you to a new beginning!

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