Amy Ransdell ~ Atlanta Short Sale~Short Sale Daily News

Ever read Horton Hatches an Egg? He sits on an egg for 51 weeks because the bird was tired of waiting.

I just read this story to my 2 year old and could not help but correlate the story to the typical short sale right now. Not to say that with the right combination of lenders, loan types, # of liens, investors backing the loans, etc.... that you cannot get a short sale approval very quickly.....BUT, we all know that most take a considerable amount of time. That time-line is at the mercy of the lender - and sometimes, no matter how good you are at negotiating and putting together a great package, you cannot change the lender's time-line.

The story rang a bell because one of the biggest complaints we get from buyers and their agents is that the process takes too long..... We have may of our colleagues who negotiate short sales say that one of the number one reasons buyers bail is the lengthy timeline. I even had a fellow AR rainmaker make a comment on an earlier blog-post that they don't show short sale listings because "no buyer wants to wait forever."

See - buyers in this market are like the bird in the story. It is boring and tedious to sit and wait for lender approval. So........where do we find a Horton to hatch the egg?

Often times the best solution for deal specific situations is to build a list of wholesale investors. If the property meets their investment criteria - they may want to place an offer on the property. If the seller accepts - you can send it to the lender and get the proverbial short sale ball rolling. The investor is usually more willing to wait however long it takes to see if they can get a great investment deal. They will also be not as likely to pester you during the process. Alot like Horton - they will just sit and sit and sit no matter what because they 'offered what they meant, meant what the offered, because they mean it 100%.'

If the lender does not approve the offer, then the investor doesn't get the property. BUT the deal is not dead ---The BONUS is that you will likely have the approved net that the lender or investor behind the loan wants as a result of the egg sitting process.

Your next step is to effectively market the property for a buyer that meets that minimum net criteria. If you are in verbal negotiations with the loss mitigator - talk with them about leaving the file as "open." If the negotiator has to close the file - you will still be able to get the next offer in a little faster since the BPO will still likely be valid and whomever you talk to should see the previous negotiation notes. [Be sure you mark the file repeatedly as meeting the terms of the approval]

Find some Hortons in your area---- and build a buyer's list.

We have some suggestions for doing both - call us.

[If you do not get my literary reference - you have to pick up a copy of Horton Hatches an Egg - I guarantee you will look at short sales differently]

www.managesmyshortsale.com

Thanks

Amy Ransdell

The apple does not fall far from the tree....

Those of you who are real estate lifers - you know that deals never sleep. You likely have to answer the phone at the oddest times and places, stop in the middle of Wal-Mart to send a text message, find yourself checking your email religiously, always need to run by a property for this or that, etc...... If you have a family, then you know that the kids end-up"working" with you.

We have been negotiating distressed property deals in Atlanta (short sales and REO buys) for several years as a family owned investment group while I also work as a real estate agent. Our managing members include 3 under the age of 10 [shhhh! - we don't share that with our business affiliates.] - okay - kidding.... BUT I swear that our kids have absorbed enough at their young ages to successfully negotiate a real estate transaction even as challenging as a short sale.

In fact, my 9 year old proved that to me the other day. I caught him walking a Friend of his into our loss mitigation department. Before I could remind him that he is not to be in that area - I overheard him explaining to his friend what we do - and I got a real laugh.

His friend asked him if he sold houses - and his response:

"YES, OUR team sells houses for people that are under-the-water and the banks they pay their mortgages to have to let them sell their house for a cheaper price. It is a lot of work and we don't make guarantees - but everyone comes out better."

To help his Friend understand better - he gave the following example - note the personal twist: "It is kinda of like this: You gave me a box of baseball cards and I promised to give you $3, but my Mom would only give me $2 - So, you have to be willing to take the $2 or get nothing. Better to get something."

The freind says: "Then I'll just take the baseball cards back."

My son's response: "Maybe the baseball cards you gave me were worth $3 when you gave them to me - but now they are only worth $2....If you take them back you won't be able to sell them to anyone else for anymore than $2. Might as well take the $2 bucks now"

And it gets better: "We can get a baseball card store to tell us what they are worth, I know they will agree with me, but at least you can take their word on it and not mine."

Result: The Friend took the $2

Now, either my son is devious, smart, or has just heard too much over the years. Anywhoo - I just wanted to share - Thank you for reading.

For those of you working hard at short sales, TO YOUR SUCCESS! It is those of us working in-the-dirt to get them done that will bring stability to the market, NOT the government.

Short sales can be MORE PROFITABLE and Easier to Complete

We love to hear short sale tales - please share

Amy Ransdell - Distressed Properties, Atlanta Short Sales

The Manage My Short Sale Team - "Always Moving Forward"

I had two agents call me yesterday wanting to show a couple of my team's Atlanta area short sale listings. Both immediately had negative things to say and refused to show as soon as they found that they are short sales.

I believe in full disclosure, transparency, and setting propert expectations from the start. So, we have all agents call before showing. We let them know exactly where we sit in the process, our team's short sale track record, and any lender specific time-lines we know to expect. We also share the comparables and property condition information used to establish the list price. We do all of that so that everyone is fully prepared for the process - no questions! It is necessary to weed out and screen buyers that will not perform, or will not be able to stick with it.

For these two listings: The list price for both properties has been set with full comparable evidential support (no playing games in our office), the lenders are in agreement to consider short sale offers, and the homeowners are willing and ready to do whatever is needed to ge the process rolling. Buyers have an opportunity to get a property for a great price should the Sellers accept and the lien holders approve.

Now I would understand if a Selling Agent refuses to show a short sale for a legitamite reason: the buyer has to move right away, the buyer is re-locating and needs to lock in a closing date, the buyer wants to lock-in an interest rate that will expire in 30 days if they don't close........ Hey, those are real reasons not to put in an offer on a short sale. Yes, short sales can take longer than a standard transaction and there are other risks associated. BUT, the reasons these agents wouldn't show these short sale listings stemmed purely from a personal hatred of the short sale process. Their buyers didn't care about time-lines, but their agents did!

In this market - you cannot avoid short sales entirely or you are preventing your buyers from seeing what could be a great deal that they may be willing to wait for. Not all short sales take a long time - especially if they are listed by an agent or a team that specialized in the short sale process. Our team has a 90% closing rate which is 70% better and 50% faster than the national average. We will work hard to get the short sale approved for buyers. By doing that - I am creating a WIN-WIN for everyone. The homeowner in distress gets out of a bad situation, the buyer gets a deal, the neighborhood avoids another vacant low-priced foreclosure.

We hear every objection you can think of - and sadly many of them are from the agents entirely: I need a closing right away, I need the money and I don't want to wait for months for a commission, I don't want to give up any commission (some is better than none), I only show perfect houses so the deal won't fall apart later,......I've heard it all.

So for you agents that avoid short sale listings, let me give you a few reasons to do it anyway: Short sales can be a great opportunity to get a home for a great price, are generally in much better condition then a vacant foreclosure, sometimes have proactive owners that will still offer repairs and home warranties......AND lenders are becoming more and more open to allowing FULL "standard" commissions, 3% seller concessions, repair allowances, and are even allowing the Seller to pay additional closing costs....You would be surprised! Just be sure the listing agent is good at the process or suggest that the listing agent work with a loss mitigation team that is.

More agents need to open up to the idea of short sales. Nearly 60% of all closed transactions this year will involve some type of negotiated purchase. Short sales cannot be avoided.

If you are a listing agent comiserating with me now - I would love to know what you think about the new short sale web-based program MANAGE MY SHORT SALE. It was designed to help more of us take the market by the horns and make short sales systemized and more profitable.

Thank you for letting me complain - Please share your short sale tales.

Hey short salers....my apologies, but I need to do a little venting....and thought sharing this story would be a great opportunity to talk strategy for dealing with STUBBORN junior liens.

Just had an attorney try to tank a short sale deal that will bring us more than the normal profit centers for our team.

He represents a client with over $50k in judgements against the Seller. The primary lender has set the minimum net they will require. There is NO budging them any further. They have already postponed foreclosure 3 times, have agreed to take $20k less net than they wanted, have agreed to a much more than a standard amount to junior liens (there are two), and the agents have reduced their commission. There is just no room to give him anything. They "will foreclose this time if this contract doesn't work out"--their words.

We did the whole: The Seller is in distress and ... The property will go to foreclosure and everyone will get nothing... Look, everyone has taken a discount, even the agents.... NOTHING.....Except a few explicitives that he wrote on top of my offer letter in sharpie marker and faxed to my attention. What is with this guy?

Well, the bad blood between his client and the Seller stinks. His client would rather see them go to foreclosure then get anything. Boy, I wish I could throw away a chance to make some extra money. Pride doesn't stop me. This plaintiff is not just going to throw away a chance to make anything he will also have to foot a heavy legal bill to his attorney.... dummy!

Okay - so what is our solution? Well, in tough situations you sometimes have to bend and find another workable way. We first went to the lender and asked for just a little more reduction in their net. Then we went to the Seller and to the Buyer and explained the situation. Both the Buyer and Seller are going to contribute towards the pay-off of the junior lien. The Seller knows it is beneficial to them to pay a little towards having a huge judgement released. The Buyer know they are getting a home below market and are willing to make a little extra investment to not lose the deal. The agents get to keep the commission they had agreed to....And we get what we have been guaranteed. Everybody WINS WINS WINS

Can this be done in every junior lien situation - NO? Is this strategy necessary every time? NO

BUT - I have watched too many deals go bust because agents just give up. The don't try other options to keep the deal aliive. That is one of the reasons on ly 2 of 10 short sales close in this country. At that rate, we are going to have a lot more agents hungry and looking for jobs with the rest of the unemployed.

As agents - our jobs have changed - we have to be creative bulldogs and get it done! Our team completes over 90% of the short sales in our office. We are making it happen.

For more short sale tools please visit www.easyshortsalemanager.com or http://shortsalecoachingmonthly.com

Thanks for reading

Would love to hear your short sale tales

Amy Ransdell

770-966-7040

The Southeastern Group

Just met with a highly successful and very experienced agent. He is considering joining our team as we answer to the needs of this market and both process and invest in short sales. In our conversation - we couldn't help but talk about our fellow agents that are suffering, some starving, and many who have left the business entirely.

The market has changed, and this is only the beginning. Old school real estate practic is gone and it is now time for grass-roots to meet technology and for both to meet 'patience.'

Right now it is estimated that the home values of 1 in 4 people are underwater. If they find themselves in a must sell situation, they will need a short sale. There are distressed listings everywhere. However, agents everywhere keep telling me how much they detest the process, the unknown variables, the low closing percentages....and simply do not have the time and resources to take on the risks associated. BUT - this is where the market is headed and we must all re-evaluate our businesses. We must be willing to "put on a new pair of shoes."

That was his phrase.....

No matter how comfortable we are in our shoes - they are getting worn out, space is limited, and they may even be starting to stink.... It is imperative to look for where the market is headed and change accordingly before you lose your shoes.

For those of you struggling - for those of you who have taken a short sale or REO course and want to make a change, but do not have enough resources or the time to wait for a transaction to close...Have you considered finding a team to join that can help you defray the costs, give you the support you need, and even aid in lead generation?

Please share your stories - We are working diligently in our market to encourage agents to take on more distressed listings and are trying to give the tools they need to make it work. If you are part of a team or a team leader doing this now - we would love to hear more.

www.Southeastern.ManageMyShortSale.com http://shortsalecoachingmonthly.com

Amy Ransdell

The Southeastern Group