Success!
Sometimes success is really deciding early that a case is beyond your capability and referring it to someone better suited to help the homeowner. Take our latest lead in Southfield worth about $30,000 as is, needs easily $25k -$30k in repairs and at most would sell for $70,000 if potential buyers could get past some “unique” features like the 5 foot tall ceilings in the basement. This does not meet our criteria but a rehab friend of ours is interested because he can do the repairs himself for about half the cost we would pay to a contractor. So, we are referring this one to James and moving on to focus on the ones we are better suited help. We don’t pass on many, but we can’t take them all on either.

Your Tip:
This week I’ll cover some of the most common additional complications with short sales.

More Than One Mortgage: Remember all of the work you did and the calls you made for one lender? You’ll need to do it all for each lender on title. You’ll need to track down the right department, the right person, create another Monster Fax submit it, wait for the BPO and follow up. All for each and every lender that’s on title.

Government Loans: For example VA, FHA, USDA. These add complications because you are well, dealing with the government (in addition to the lender). Do you think this means more or less red tape? They have special guidelines for each of the above loans and add another layer to the approval process.

Other Liens on the Property: Such as IRS, back taxes, judgment liens from private attorneys. Each of those liens needs to be negotiated and removed for the house to sell.

Seller’s Emotional Rollercoaster: You’re used to the emotional rollercoaster of a “normal” seller in this buyer’s market. Now add the complexity of a short sale transaction and their already unstable mental state to the mix. Remember, your client has gone through some sort of financial and/or emotional hardship which is why they fell behind. This hardship is most likely still going on. Say they lost their job, or their spouse died. If they’re still dealing with that, and trying to sell their over-leveraged home, they could be an emotional mess. If you don’t deal with that effectively, you may never get an offer on the house, let alone get their cooperation with the short sale.

What’s New?
I got a call this week from Colin who is behind on his payments and realizes even if he catches up (which isn’t likely) they won’t be affordable. When I asked him why he got behind, he gave me one of the most honest answers I’ve ever heard… “stupidity”. He went on to explain he and his wife were going to get a divorce and in the emotional fury, neither made the house payments for several months. Now they are reconciled but it is too late to save the house, especially since it has been refinanced 3 times and they owe way more than the house is worth.

Do you have any listings like this?
Do you have clients in Colin’s situation? Give me a call and we can discuss how we can solve this problem for your client while making sure you get paid. Don’t lose the listing and your marketing dollars to a foreclosure.

What’s Next?
Next week we’ll back up a bit in the process and cover the two most common questions I get: “What is a short sale?” and “When would my client need one?”

Dedicated To Your Success,

Joel Zieve
(269) 685-5921 x201
Short Sale Negotiations: you earn FULL COMMISSION and no fee to buyer/seller – www.GreatLakesShortSales.com
Learn to Double Your Own Short Sale Closing Rate – www.ShortSaleCertified.com