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Short Sale Market & Process | Asheville Real Estate

Steve Wilde | 843 Views | 01/26/2015

Now I hear agents all the time come up and say, I don’t want to do short sales. Short sales are too long. They’re horrible, and they never close. I avoid them like the plague. I would encourage you to take a step back and rethink that.

Short Sale Market

For the most part, this is an untapped market. Even when that’s all we had was short sales, nobody dominated the market, and as soon as everything else started selling, everyone got out in droves. It’s so quiet here, it echoes. Nobody is in this market. There’s only a couple people that are even playing around in this market, and guess what? It still pays 6% real estate commission, by and large. If you’re on both sides of the deal, some of the guidelines allow you to get 4% or 5%. We usually get our agents 6%, even then. So this is great, great money.

Short sales are difficult, but you have us now. We do all the heavy lifting. All the agent does is bring a market price offer, show up prepared at the BPO – that means you have comps in hand and walk them through the property – We do the rest. That’s it.  We do all the heavy lifting. We collect all the documents, we talk to the bank every single week. We update everybody every single week. We get the approval. We walk the closing attorneys through the closing, do all the extra stuff associated with closing a short sale, and the best part of this? We don’t have ah upfront fee. We don’t get paid unless we close, and most of the time the bank pays us. We do the short sale, so you don’t have to.  We’re going to see short sales for a long time. In fact, I think we’re always going to see short sales. It’s not going away. It’ll be part of it forever. Why? If you’re underwater on a property, there are only three options: a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and a foreclosure. And a short sale, by far, is better for everyone involved.   It’s better for the bank. They’re going to make more money now, as opposed to a foreclosure some time next year. It’s better for the seller. It’s going to affect his credit less. It’s going to be done now. He’s going to get over it. It’s a speed bump compared to a foreclosure, which is, I would say, a financial wreck. Not the end of the world, but my God, the difference between  a short sale and a foreclosure. Huge. And it’s better for the market.

Short Sale Process

Most of the time, we’re on a file as soon as you have a listing. You have a listing. You do the numbers. It’s a short sale. Then you send them to us, free. Again, we have no upfront fee. They have no obligation to use us at all. But I’m going to spend 45 minutes to an hour with your client, going over everything about their short sale. About their short sale. Every bank is different. Not all banks or servicers forgive deficiencies. They can ask for a promissory note. They can ask for cash at closing. It’s important before you spend a great deal of time working and marketing the property, that they know exactly what’s coming.   So we’re going to deal with the deficiencies. We’re going to deal with the tax issue. We’re going to talk about how does this affect their credit. We’re going to talk about any cost or fees associated with a short sale. We’re going to touch on getting a home inspection. It’s so important most of the time to get a pre-inspection, and we’ll talk all about that.

And then, I’m going to send them the documents that we’re going to need for their loan or their loans, and I’m going to go over every one of those documents. I’m going to talk about the hardship letter. I’m going to talk about the financial statement. I’m going to talk about all the financial information they need. They will be a prepared and educated seller. How do we get paid? Well, we have no upfront fee unless it’s Nation Star, and if you’ve ever done a Nation Star, you get it. Other than that, we have no upfront fee. We don’t get any fee unless we go to closing. We’re paid on the hud at closing, and usually, the bank pays all of our fee. More than 80% of the time, the bank pays absolutely all of our fee.   We have a minimum fee. That’s a line in the sand, or a safety net. If we fall below the safety net, the seller brings it up. The bank is not going to skunk us, but if they — if we just fall below, usually it’s $2,500. If we fall below that mark, they just bring us up to that mark. And it doesn’t come out of your commission, doesn’t come out of anything. It’s in the guidelines, and they know that four months ahead of closing.  And that’s it. Go get some short sales.

We’re going to do short sales. Get ready! We’re going to go here.   Short sales, hard work. I’m a hard worker. You got to talk. You got to talk to the bank like you know what you’re doing. But I know you. I know Skippy at the bank.  Of course, the bank knows who I am. I’m Hugh Westonshire. Of course they know who I am, please. Just tell them that Hugh has made an offer, and they’ll do it very quickly.

By: Steve Wilde

Short Sale Market & Process | Asheville Real Estate

Now I hear agents all the time come up and say, I don’t want to do short sales. Short sales are too long. They’re horrible, and they never close. I avoid them like the plague. I would encourage you to take a step back and rethink that.

Short Sale Market

For the most part, this is an untapped market. Even when that’s all we had was short sales, nobody dominated the market, and as soon as everything else started selling, everyone got out in droves. It’s so quiet here, it echoes. Nobody is in this market. There’s only a couple people that are even playing around in this market, and guess what? It still pays 6% real estate commission, by and large. If you’re on both sides of the deal, some of the guidelines allow you to get 4% or 5%. We usually get our agents 6%, even then. So this is great, great money.

Short sales are difficult, but you have us now. We do all the heavy lifting. All the agent does is bring a market price offer, show up prepared at the BPO – that means you have comps in hand and walk them through the property – We do the rest. That’s it.  We do all the heavy lifting. We collect all the documents, we talk to the bank every single week. We update everybody every single week. We get the approval. We walk the closing attorneys through the closing, do all the extra stuff associated with closing a short sale, and the best part of this? We don’t have ah upfront fee. We don’t get paid unless we close, and most of the time the bank pays us. We do the short sale, so you don’t have to.  We’re going to see short sales for a long time. In fact, I think we’re always going to see short sales. It’s not going away. It’ll be part of it forever. Why? If you’re underwater on a property, there are only three options: a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and a foreclosure. And a short sale, by far, is better for everyone involved.   It’s better for the bank. They’re going to make more money now, as opposed to a foreclosure some time next year. It’s better for the seller. It’s going to affect his credit less. It’s going to be done now. He’s going to get over it. It’s a speed bump compared to a foreclosure, which is, I would say, a financial wreck. Not the end of the world, but my God, the difference between  a short sale and a foreclosure. Huge. And it’s better for the market.

Short Sale Process

Most of the time, we’re on a file as soon as you have a listing. You have a listing. You do the numbers. It’s a short sale. Then you send them to us, free. Again, we have no upfront fee. They have no obligation to use us at all. But I’m going to spend 45 minutes to an hour with your client, going over everything about their short sale. About their short sale. Every bank is different. Not all banks or servicers forgive deficiencies. They can ask for a promissory note. They can ask for cash at closing. It’s important before you spend a great deal of time working and marketing the property, that they know exactly what’s coming.   So we’re going to deal with the deficiencies. We’re going to deal with the tax issue. We’re going to talk about how does this affect their credit. We’re going to talk about any cost or fees associated with a short sale. We’re going to touch on getting a home inspection. It’s so important most of the time to get a pre-inspection, and we’ll talk all about that.

And then, I’m going to send them the documents that we’re going to need for their loan or their loans, and I’m going to go over every one of those documents. I’m going to talk about the hardship letter. I’m going to talk about the financial statement. I’m going to talk about all the financial information they need. They will be a prepared and educated seller. How do we get paid? Well, we have no upfront fee unless it’s Nation Star, and if you’ve ever done a Nation Star, you get it. Other than that, we have no upfront fee. We don’t get any fee unless we go to closing. We’re paid on the hud at closing, and usually, the bank pays all of our fee. More than 80% of the time, the bank pays absolutely all of our fee.   We have a minimum fee. That’s a line in the sand, or a safety net. If we fall below the safety net, the seller brings it up. The bank is not going to skunk us, but if they — if we just fall below, usually it’s $2,500. If we fall below that mark, they just bring us up to that mark. And it doesn’t come out of your commission, doesn’t come out of anything. It’s in the guidelines, and they know that four months ahead of closing.  And that’s it. Go get some short sales.

We’re going to do short sales. Get ready! We’re going to go here.   Short sales, hard work. I’m a hard worker. You got to talk. You got to talk to the bank like you know what you’re doing. But I know you. I know Skippy at the bank.  Of course, the bank knows who I am. I’m Hugh Westonshire. Of course they know who I am, please. Just tell them that Hugh has made an offer, and they’ll do it very quickly.

By: Steve Wilde