Eric Slifkin, Broker Associate

Eric Slifkin has pulled out all the stops when it comes to marketing his clients' homes on the Internet. Slifkin, who was an Information Technology professional before switching careers six years ago, spends much of his time selling real estate on the Internet.

"I spend over 50 percent of my time on my computer," Slifkin, 54, says. This includes doing research, updating on-line listings and following up on leads generated from his Web sites. "With the influx of out of town buyers on the Treasure Coast, Web based marketing is an extremely cost effective way of capturing those buyers' attention early on" Slifkin continued. "But you have to respond quickly to inquiries and maintain contact in order to develop online relationships that lead to sales. It's not just about having a killer Web site - you need to leverage the technologies available to manage the entire process".

Slifkin's twenty year career in Information Technology has prepared him to rise to that challenge. In addition to the usual featured listings, he has built several sites that include virtual tours, photo galleries and relocation tools. "It is important to keep the needs of the buyer in mind - I always provide lots of pictures and information so a visitor gets an immediate "feel" for the home and area." Slifkin said. His main site, www.TreasureCoastHomeSales.com provides home buyers with all the necessary tools to search for homes, calculate mortgage and tax payments, get school information and even connect their utilities.

Having closed several hundred transactions over the past five years, I thought I had experienced just about every obstacle Murphy's law could throw in the path of a successful closing. From intransigent sellers to inflexible buyers, we have worked our way through negotiations and dealt with whatever was thrown in the path towards settlement.

The latest wrinkle of course is the emergence of short sale and foreclosure (also known as "REO" or bank owned) properties, which add to the mix of potential bottlenecks in a transaction. That said, here are some of my own experiences with Murphy's law as it pertains to selling distressed homes:

Time Lines
Whatever deadlines you put on your offer will not be met. Even if a "short" seller accepts in a timely fashion, his lender may take weeks to respond. We include a separate addendum to cover this with an automatic 30 day extension but that is often wishful thinking. Foreclosures are quicker but the acceptance deadline will typically come and go before you get an answer.

Inspections
So your offer is accepted for that bargain foreclosure in the upscale gated community. The inspection report contains few surprises since you know it needs all kinds of work and are lining up your contractors and making plans. But the FHA loan you took has their own inspector show up and they demand you fix the roof, replace the water heater and repair the A/C unit before they will give you a loan commitment. The REO bank says fix it on your dollar, which you do, not knowing if we will even make it to closing.

The Title Work
We are ready to close but the seller's title company says no, you are closing on the 15th per the contract. We remind them it says "on or before the 15th" and spend several days arguing about it until they relent. But the closing gets pushed back anyway because the lender keeps Emailing the loan package to the wrong address and the title company refuses to talk to them. It seems they do not like each other. This leads to a series of missteps and arguments with the title company. In my experience the title company has almost always been the one that helps keep the deal together and everything flowing. But in the wild west environment of foreclosures, the bank chosen title company answers to no one - they are there to serve the bank.

Closing Day
Finally we are closed but the buyer can't move in because the loan is not yet funded, so they wait the required 24 hours only to discover the cash to close wire transfer never showed up. Several days pass before we discover the buyer's bank never sent it. The funds are sent and the buyer has his house!

Parting Shot
All is right with the world and our commission check shows up. But wait - there's more! It is $2,500 short because the title company claims we never wired them the buyer's earnest money. We actually wired it three weeks prior but they chastise me and demand proof it was sent (I guess the final HUD statement was not proof enough and they neglected to check their trust account for the funds).

These are just a few examples of what it takes to get to a successful closing. Under the best circumstances there will be hurdles but if you are looking to buy a distressed property, you need to consider what can and will go wrong in the transaction. If you need to be in a new home quickly, you may want to rethink your strategy.

There is nothing easy about buying a home. You have to be prepared to go through the entire process, which can be long and even a little frustrating at times. It is not something that will happen over night. You should strive to be able to make this a great experience that will make your dreams come true. In the end you will achieve your goal of aquiring the home that you have always wanted.

Getting the opportunity to buy a home is special. It will take a lot of hard work and preparing to get to this point. You have to make sure that you have all of your finances in order so that you can make all the right decisions for your home buying experience. You need to make sure that your credit is good so that you can get a decent interest rate that you can feel good about.

If you are not sure how to get all the facts and information that you need about buying a home, you will want to do your research. You can go online and find many great resources that can get you closer to your goal of becoming a homeowner. You will see that there are things that you can do to improve your finances and to get your home financed for less that what you would expect.

You will also want to make sure that you are looking at as many homes as possible. You will not want to go with the first home that you see. You have to be willing to check out as many as you can so that you have a good idea of what is in your price range and what you can expect to find. You will know when you have found the right home that will be perfect for you. Most people get a gut feeling that they have found their dream home the minute that they walk into it.

Buying a home will take a lot of people to make it happen. You may want to have the help of a real estate professional to get you started. A Realtor can help you locate different homes so that you can find the one that you love. You will also need to find a lender and closing company to facilitate your transaction. There are plenty of different companies to choose from so you have to make sure that you are taking the time to find the people and the companies that you can feel confident in. You need to be able to trust these people so that your home buying experience is a good one that you will never forget.

Buying a home is something that you should take your time in doing. You have to be able to make sure that you are doing all that you have to so that you can make a good solid decision. You have to put all the effort that you can into it so you are happy with the end result.

Customer service is paramount to generating trust and sales in real estate. In this third of three posts I discuss a recent experience with an absentee landlord:

The Absentee Landlord...

This post is not just a customer service experience but also illustrates the dark side of serving the client. In this case the culprit was a rental agent who managed to neglect his client's listing for six months after it became vacant.

I was referred to the client, an investor from California. He had assigned the task of finding a tenant to a well known broker who rented it. But after the tenant left he never bothered to find another tenant or even check on the unit's condition. I picked up the rental listing and discovered the refrigerator had leaked water onto the kitchen floor. The water was absorbed by an adjacent cabinet that was quickly ruined. There was also a myriad of wear and tear items needing repair along with painting, cleaning and landscaping. With the owners permission I brought in a painter, cleaning service and handyman to get the unit "rent ready". I also discovered the A/C unit had not been serviced in two years and contacted a local HVAC company. As the work neared completion I began advertising the unit and quickly found a tenant, who moved in just as the contractors were finishing up. Even though it cost the absentee landlord almost $10,000 in lost rent and repairs, he was pleased to have his rental brought back up to speed with a tenant in place just weeks after listing the property with me.

First post: Mature Moves
Second Post: The Out of Town Buyer

Customer service is paramount to generating trust and sales in real estate. In this second of three posts I discuss a recent experience with an out of town buyer:

The Out of Town Buyer...
They were a professional couple from Boston seeking a club community offering both golf and boating who surfed into my Web site one evening. Their Email asked if such properties existed in our section of the Treasure Coast and could I show them listings the next day - the only time they had left before heading home. "Express" showings are a specialty of mine and I showed them a half dozen properties while introducing them to Palm City. They fell in love with a beautiful club community and a property with a terrific waterfront location. Three weeks later they were back for another look and we submitted an offer that was several hundred thousand below asking price. Needless to say the counter was laughable and they resigned themselves to not getting their dream home. But I encouraged them to stick with it and after months of on and off negotiating, a change of listing agents and a dearth of other buyers an offer was accepted just $50,000 above the original. With the buyers back home and unable to return during the settlement process I handled all the details including inspections, post-closing repairs and finding a tenant (they decided to rent it out the first year). All these activities were transparent to my clients, who tended to their busy schedules. They were truly amazed how easy I made the transaction for them and recently referred another client who is interested in a similar property.

Next post: The Absentee Landlord

First post: Mature Moves