Jon Gosche

Every week I read of new real estate scams. We have our share of Boise Real Estate scams. Short sale scams, refinance scams, foreclosure scams, false advertising, puffing credentials, etc. But I just read one on ActiveRain that takes the cake. It is on a members only blog and is not re-bloggable. But I have to tell you about it at least.

A real estate agent in another state, listed a property and shortly after started getting calls about it being for rent. It was NOT for rent. But apparently some third party scammer found the listing and was advertising it for rent. A fictitious owner was offering it for rent and immediate occupancy. Someone actually sent the scammer $1,500 to hold it for them! This woman called the agent AFTER she had sent the fictitious owner the money and then apparently found out the home was occupied.

Wow! Why would anyone send anyone rent money before looking at the house and meeting the landlord? Unbelieveable. People need to know there are all kinds of shady things going on in the housing market. Everywhere.

If you are renting call a legitimate property management company. If you are looking to buy don't fall for the foreclosure list ads. Go to www.BoiseMeridianRealEstate.com and search for free. Click on the bank owned property box and you can find all that are listed. Set up a search alert so you can get the new listings when they are newly listed.

Well my last blog told of my recent experience getting a Boise home that had 20 offers on it! Today I found some more encouraging news for the Boise Real Estate trend. Realtor.com listed Boise SECOND on its list of the top ten turn around cities for real estate. It says: "

"Boise City, ID: Number eight on the turnaround report, Boise has seen a year-over-year inventory count decrease of more than 40 percent, according to Realtor.com October real estate data. Also, the market has experienced a median list price increase of more than 14 percent, and a more than 23 percent drop in median age of inventory. Further, new foreclosures counts have decreased since January." (Realtor.com)

For the full report see http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2011/11/17/top-ten-turnaround-towns-midwestwest-edition

Although this is encouraging it is getting frustrating for first time home buyers trying to buy a Boise home! It is more important than ever to have an experienced Realtor to help you find and buy a Boise home. As I said in my last blog, the house we got had a list price of $82,650. On the forth day on the market there were over 10 offers. Ours was the 10th. There were 20 by the time it was done! There were several factors that made or offer successful. 1. We did a thorough market analysis. 2. We were realistic and made an offer that was still a good deal for us but it was substantially higher than the asking price. 3. It was a clean offer with no closing costs asked for. 4. We had a loan commitment letter from a LOCAL lender who is well know and reliable and doesn't send pre-approval letters before consulting with an underwriter. 4. We had a good earnest money deposit. 5. We had proof of funds for the down payment.

Realtors and buyers alike get frustrated after several failed offers. They are bewildered because this is suppose to be a buyers market. But Boise home inventories are dropping. Interest is low and there are a lot of investors competing for property.

If you are a buyer you need a top notch easy to use web site. That would be www.BoiseMeridianRealEstate.com. And you need a good experienced Realtor. You need to chose a Realtor who you trust and stick with him or her. You will get top notch service if your agent knows he or she will be your agent when you pull the trigger.

So get ready. Everything that I have experienced recently makes me believe this article. Boise expected to be a top turn around city is probably very true. It is a great place to live, low property taxes, potential for the economy to start roaring back and pro growth politicians.

Beware of Short Sale Specialists and Loan Modification Specialists in Boise and probably everywhere else.

As time goes on there have been more and more Realtors® advertising themselves as Boise Short Sale Specialist. I just got done researching on the MLS. Something that is easy for any Realtor to do. I have written about this several times in several places. I think this is a Realtor ethics problem.

Many of these "certifications" are a few hour courses. Some are sponsored by banks. First of all, in any profession to call oneself a "Specialist" implies that is all you do. In dentistry an Oral Surgeon is a specialist. They do NOT do general dentistry. A Cardiologist doesn't do general medicine. But many of these so called short sale specialists, at least the Boise Short Sale Specialists that I look at list and try to do anything and Everything. So they are NOT specialist. You can be an expert in Boise short sales and do general residential real estate but if you are saying that you are a Boise Short Sale Specialists you are implying that you are limited in your real estate practice to being a short sale Realtor IN BOISE. Not even in Nampa, Eagle, Kuna or other places.

I just spent some more time looking at the track record of two of the most aggressive Boise Short Sale Specialist Realtor® advertisers. One closed 15 short sales this year, 44 total, some of those co listed, has 94 canceled, withdrawn or expired. That is a 68% failure rate! He has 19 short sale listings or co listings.

Another, in the same Real Estate group has closed 4 short sales in 2011 28 total including 5 co listings and 57 expired or canceled for a whopping 67% failure rate.

But I guess maybe that is good! Because I have read several articles saying that the Florida failure success rate is only 14%. That was about a year old article though so I am sure it is getting better.

Who would go to a heart surgeon with a 50% failure rate? Now maybe this isn't as serious, but failing a short sale can be devastating. It usually results in foreclosure which is usually (not always) a worst outcome for a homeowner.

I have a 6.2% failure rate. That is a 93.8% success rate. Part was due to canceling after listing because the seller had multiple properties and decided to do bankruptcy after we listed so we canceled.

My experience with people who have tried to do loan modifications are that they have even worse horror stories. I have yet to meet anyone who has successfully completed a permanent loan modification. Often when they call they are days or a couple weeks from their auction date.

Article 11 of the Realtor® Code of ethics includes the following: "Realtors^® shall not undertake to provide specialized professional services concerning a type of property or service that is outside their field of competence unless they engage the assistance of one who is competent on such types of property or service, or unless the facts are fully disclosed to the client. Any persons engaged to provide such assistance shall be so identified to the client and their contribution to the assignment should be set forth. (Amended 1/10"

When I look at the advertising and web sites that some Realtors® post and publish, and then look at their experience I think it is clear that they are in violation of this Code of ethics. A short sale experience is bad enough for a person to go through without finding out the hard way that they have an incompetent agent.

People have to start someplace. The best training for short sales is to do them. But I think it is the responsibility of a Realtor to be honest in their representation. We pay good referal fees. You can save a lot of trouble and headache by referring your short sales to people like us who have done a lot and have a high success rate. You can also co-list with someone with experience until you are a master.

On the other had I want to warn people who are considering a short sale, or a loan modification. You have to do your homework. You have to ask the right questions. You don't want to get tied up in a contract or process that is going to fail. Ask any agent who holds themselves out to be an expert or a specialist to SHOW YOU. It is easy to find anyone's track record on the Multiple Listing System.

If you are thinking about doing a Boise Short Sale, or a short sale in Meridian, Eagle, Nampa, Kuna, or southwest Idaho or McCall Idaho please call me. I will do all I can to get you the information you need and to help you. If you are a Realtor® and are tired of beating your head against the wall with short sales refer them.

Boise Idaho Certified Short Sale or Distressed Property Experts. Liars!

I have just finished Googling Boise Short sale experts and see a lot of "Certified Short Sale Experts" certified by various teaching organizations. I just picked one randomly and looked up this persons listing and sales record. She or He had 13 cancellations, 7 expired short sale listings, 1 pending and 18 closed. Two of the canceled or expired subsequently sold. So out of 38 listings 18 closed.

Let's be fair and make it 36 listings because two were listed twice and subsequently sold. That still is a meager 50% closure rate. Actually that is pretty good considering most everything else I read shows that nationally only 14% to 20% of attempted short sales actually close! I also have looked at several other so called short sale specialists or distressed property specialists (or experts), and many have much worse success and less experience than this. Few had a lot better success ratio and lots of closings.

As soon as there is a market the "teachers" and "certifications" pop up all over. Some are just people giving classes with their personal certification. Some of these are a few hours long and you get a string of letters to put after your name.

Short sale certification is meaningless. Some of the certifications are developed by banks. Do you think they teach you to fight for the seller to not pay a deficiency in a deficiency judgment state, or fight for a buyer when the bank counter offers? I am not saying all training is worthless or all certifications are meaningless. But how do you tell the difference?

With Short Sales there is nothing more important than plain raw experience. Numbers count. Eventually everyone fails. Short sales are difficult. Failures should be the exception. For sellers failure can be devastating and lead to foreclosure or worse. Would you go to a surgeon with a 50% success rate for gall bladder surgery?

Anyone choosing an agent for a short sale needs to ask the potential agent to show them their record. The same with a buyer agent. You can save yourself and your buyer a lot of time and angst by looking in the MLS and looking at the listing agent’s record, both numbers and percentages of success and failure.

Be careful doing this. Be fair. Some listings will be canceled or expired but subsequently sold. Some will be canceled because the seller worked out another solution. When working with buyers, and another listing agent's short sale I look see cancellations or withdrawals I ask the agent to be fair, and see if there are any legitimate circumstances so not to unfairly count all cancellations against the agent. We look at how many they have listed, how many they have closed or failed to close. If we want the house and the agent is inexperienced I ask if we can help them.

I have no short sale certification but have been involved in over 100 short sale closings and with my partner have a 90% closure rate as of now. We have only 2 expired unsold and a few cancellations do to various reasons like other workout solutions. My partner in short sales John Boles has gone through Short Sale Genius certification and still subscribes to their ongoing updated training and networking and it has been very helpful.

I think agents being involved in short sales need to really consider Realtor Ethics. In fact Doctor ethics should be applied. “Do no harm.” If one is holding himself out to be a short sale expert and as a 50% success rate I think their ethics are questionable. I am not a short sale specialist. I have done and will continue to do a lot of short sales and I have been very successful closing them. I am comfortable and confident that I will get those that I list closed. When I first started, I told people the truth. When I first started short sales there was no certification that I knew of. The loss mitigation departments of most banks didn't even know what they were doing!

If you have questions or comments post away or call me at 208-870-2115.

Since I started blogging and reading ActiveRain blogs and other short sale information I am seeing two things. First a lot of advertising for short sales. And more surprisingly, a lot of very negative stuff, especially by bloggers on what a hassle the are. They are not all a hassle. In fact they have gotten easier and easier to get closed. I would really like to have some comments on other agents short sale experiences and I would like potential home buyers and sellers come here and comment on their experiences too.