Short Sales - Have you considered the other side?

Short Sales get a bad rap. I see comments posted all the time about why people hate short sales. "They never work out". "The banks have an evil agenda". Then you have the people that claim they close on every short sale they handle. I don't know which is worse! The hype! The misinformation! The out and out BULL!

Short Sales are lucrative. They meet a need in the population we service. For many homeowners in financial distress, they can be the best option possible. "About half of short sales never close. We see it as a big lost opportunity, and we need to improve the rate we close them,' says David Sunlin, vice president in charge of short sales at Bank of America." This is a true statement - but why? Has anyone considered the other side? Now I am going to make a lot of you ANGRY.

If you don't know how to do a short sale and you won't take the time to get educated or use a company to process your short sales. STOP DOING SHORT SALES!!!! Get out of the way of those of us who do.

I am in the unique position to have insight into both sides of the process. My company does short sales. My Mother worked on the other side as a loss mitigation negotiator. Short sales are a process. Is it a perfect or even fairly proficient process? Well.... that depends on which lender your working with, what negotiator you get assigned too, what kind of loan your working with? I could go on and on!

The bottom line is..short sales are a somewhat complicated and time consuming endeavor. Add to that the high turnover ratio of loss mitigation negotiators and you sometimes have the blind leading the blind. We need to take out the flotsam, you know that stuff that floats around and gets in every bodies way. That would include the new investor who just finished what I call a "Silver Bullet" seminar or boot camp. The are the ones that will be a millionaire in 3 months working 4 hours a day from the deck of a yacht somewhere off the coast of a tropical paradise. OK, maybe I am exaggerating , but you know what I mean. They clog the system with low ball "cash" offers they can't close on unless they get an end buyer. Don't get me wrong, I love investors. About half my clientele are investors, but they close when I get an approval.

The other major clog is RE agents that are attempting to do a short sale but don't have a clue what they are doing or are unwilling to do the necessary follow up . By this I mean the agent that sends in three offers at the same time, doesn't label documents properly, or are too busy to get the paperwork to the lender when it is requested. Again I could go on and on but I will spare you.

My point is each and every piece of paper that gets sent in to the lender needs to be processed. The flotsam gets in the way of real offers that are well prepared. Now, it is true that once you get assigned a negotiator the well prepared package will get the attention deserved. The lenders have been doing a pretty good job in restructuring the systems to be able to dump the flotsam, but still it takes time.

SO, if you want do short sales - go for it! BUT, get educated or get a company that specializes in doing short sales.

One more word to the wise- and this is for Realtors and Homeowners alike. Do your due diligence! Whether you are hiring a Realtor or a company to handle your short sales. Do your homework before you entrust your business to anyone. Make sure they are knowledgeable about short sales. If they are doing these everyday they should be on the front line as far as information on how the packages are processed. This can be invaluable to you.

You should always get references, more than one. And really call them. You would be surprised how many times you are given a reference that isn't even someone they did a short sale for. Make sure they have been in business for at least a year. There are many new "Specialists" out there. They took a class and got a certification. So what - have they done a SUCCESSFUL short sale? That would be the first question I would ask. And if they tell you they close 100% of all short sales - run don't walk, to someone more honest. Also they need to have a comprehensive system for handling your short sale and a way for you to monitor your short sale WITHOUT you having to call them and ask for a progress report.