Rachel McLendon Behme

2011 is in full swing. Yes, we're over half way through the very first month of the year. If you didn't spend your 2010 4th quarter prospecting and you did spend it doing nothing but drinking egg nog and being full of the holiday spirit (nothing wrong with this), then we'll see you in the summer. You are so far behind it's going to take you till summer to catch the rest of us. I've hit the ground running in 2011 and I hope you have too. I don't mean this professionally only; I have resolved to fine tune the out of tune items in my life and smooth out some of my rough edges. We as agents and people should encourage those who we work with and those we spend our time with to do the same. You are only as good as the company you keep. If you keep talking about change and you have done nothing about then enjoy the bed you've made. You will not enjoy my company in your world of misery.

We have an obligation as agents to let our clients know this. Prepare them for what could and might happen. The real estate market can be an unfriendly place if you're not ready for it. Smooth out those rough edges in the home before you hit the market. There may be a sense of urgency motivating you to get on the market sooner than later; I can understand this. Rates will start going up and soon. A buyer's buying power will inevitably dwindle and we'll be back to a world where 6% is the going rate. I can recognize your urgency. I feel it too, but you should not and cannot properly serve your clients if you have not given them the proper tools to deal with the bumps and curve balls they will encounter. Shame on you. I challenge you to market and care for each home you list for the rest of your career as if were yours or someone who you cared deeply about. This is part of my grand plan for 2011 and it's already in action. In fact, it was in action before the 4th quarter even started. Like I said, if you're still trying to figure out how to bounce back from the holidays, it's too late.

I have set my goals and I remain true and steadfast to them. In this world one of the few things you have is yourself, your self-worth, and your word. Extremely precious each of these and you should resolve to make them the very best you can for yourself, your family, and your clients (who are like your extended family). HEY!!!! It's 2011 get with it!!!

Rachel McLendon Behme
Keller Williams Realty, Broker, ABR
100 Bluegrass Commons, Ste. 2100
Hendersonville, TN 37075

D (615)822-8585

As a Realtor I have dealt with my share of short sales. I have represented both buyers and sellers in numerous short sale transactions, however it doesn't get any easier to swallow, for me. I am a mother and I am a Realtor and I think both require an unbelievable amount of patience. I try to exercise my patience consistently throughout the day, but it becomes tough when road blocks and lack of communication exist between bank and Realtor.

It is in the best interest of the bank to sell these homes in a short sale situation. The alternative is foreclosing and auctioning on the court-house steps where you will probably see a 20% loss from what you could have received in a short sale situation. It's all about playing the game. However, the game becomes terribly frustrating toward the end. I think everyone knows going into this that a short sale can take time, but when you are still hearing stories of short sales taking years, yes I said years, to close there is still a lot of work to be done. The process of short sales should and could be improved. NO one expects to wait a year or more to buy a home; and quite frankly it is a dis-service to everyone. If your seller is approved for a short sale there is clearly a hardship present. I know banks are not in the business of caring about folks, but to drag these people through this everyday for a year without allowing them to move forward or giving them any kind of "light at the end of the tunnel" just creates hate and angst. Unfortunately, this sometimes over flows on to parties that have absolutely no control over the sale or timeline in which it occurs. We are all at the mercy of the bank gods.

I do hear encouraging words from colleagues every now and then. Geez, some agents make their entire living off of selling short sales. They may have mastered it, if that's possible. They may have even made a connection inside that bank. More power to you. That's an amazing feat, but I would say this crowd is an extremely small percentage of working agents. The rest of us deal with the daily changes and feeble attempts at improvement of the process. It is a sad state of affairs we live in today. It is unfortunate for so many. Why oh why do these institutions feel the need to rub in the faces of these unfortunate people day in and day out? This is the part that is so hard for me to swallow. I'll do your tasks and submit the same paperwork a hundred times, because that is my job. My job also (albeit unspoken) it to somehow reassure my client that this nightmare will soon end for them and their families with as little hesitation and as much confidence as possible, whenever they need it.

As short sales become an increasingly larger part of our market banking institutions are going to be forced to create something a little more efficient than Equator. Thanks for your attempt Bank of America, but your system is flawed and it needs work. Survey me, please! Ask me what I thought after the process is over, not after I have a phone call with someone who has absolutely no bearing on the transaction and to be quite frank can not even answer my questions. This is a corner of the market that someone is going to be top dog in. I can almost guarantee you this....it won't be me until the system is re-evaluated and re-designed. Don't get me wrong, I don't turn them away or refer them out. I am completely capable and skilled in dealing with a short sale; I am just pointing out that the average agent deals with them several times throughout the year and not everyday. It should be made easier across the board- Seller, Realtor, and yes, even the Bank.

Rachel McLendon Behme
Keller Williams Realty
Affiliate Broker, ABR
100 Bluegrass Commons, Ste. 2100
Hendersonville, TN 37075

D (615)822-8585

I set several goals for myself this year and I am happy to report that I achieved the third of the three major goals this week- I passed my TN Broker's Exam. It's an exciting time for me and honestly I don't know what to do now that I've reached my goals. I am sure I will just continue to set more, but I'd like to take a moment to let this one sink it a bit.

I am pretty sure most people set goals; some don't. Seriously. I know to many that's just plain crazy talk. I mean, goodness, I set a goal as soon as I get out of bed in the morning. Recently I have wondered more about how other people conduct their business. I am not sure why; probably out of my need to figure out the most efficient and effective ways to do things. There's that I/D personality again. Anyway, as I have come to realize that achieving goals large or small is the way to live and sell. I am going to start setting goals for each listing that I take relative to that particular home and I will make them extremely specific. I think we all set goals for selling and for listing, but as part of stepping up customer service I think I will think of each listing as a child. This should be easy for a mother of two girls. Some days and transactions will be great and a few won't, but that's life and that's selling.

I'm curious about how others set goals. I would love some feedback from all the readers out there. I am even open to hearing from you all who are not in the real estate world. Maybe you don't even sell anything, but you have a great way to set goals specifically and in an obtainable way even if it's a monster goal.

Rachel McLendon Behme
Keller Williams Realty
Affiliate Broker, ABR
100 Bluegrass Commons, Ste. 2100
Hendersonville, TN 37075

D (615)822-8585

In the state of affairs we are currently in our job has never been harder. We educate ourselves to no end on how to deliver the best customer service and how to be as knowledgeable as possible in all the different facets of real estate. Well if you have not added this to your repertoire of things you do, you should. Sometimes I find that agents can sometimes get in the way of making a transaction come together. It's not a fight over who is best or whatever it may be in the situation. It is about the client and what their needs are. We need to be able to come together over the issues and work them out. This is not me versus you.

Many states offer CE in the way of becoming a real estate mediator. I think this should be required just like the ethics course is required in TN every renewal period (2 yrs). We should practice mediation between ourselves and our clients along with mediating between agents. I hear way too many stories these days about how awful a transaction was due to the other agent. It is discouraging to hear there are still these types present in the industry. Often things can be made about oneself, but not when it comes to a real estate transaction. It must be a win-win for everyone or there is no deal and guess what you've lost your business and most likely any future business with this person(s) and anyone they know. To me there is nothing more detrimental to me and my business than less than desirable stories about my quality of service. You see that is attached to my name and I still believe that in this business you are only as good as your name and reputation.

Please folks begin working together and with each other, whether you are in real estate or not. Mediation is such a major part of what we do every day; you may do it as a wife, mother, boss, sister, etc. Become an expert in this and watch what happens to your business and your life. Only good things come out of working together. I guess it just boils down to the Golden Rule. USE IT.

I double-dog dare you to watch a TV news show or spend more than 5 minutes on the web without hearing about the massive "robo-signing" foreclosure scandal that is rapidly encompassing the biggest banks in the country. Here are 4 things home buyers need to know about this breaking real estate news, and how it impacts them.

(Hint: I threw in a couple of bonus items at the end!)

1. What is robo-signing is, and what all the fuss is about? The phrase robo-signing refers to what we're now realizing has been a very common practice in the banks' foreclosure document processing divisions, where one person was essentially given the job of signing as many 10,000 foreclosure documents per month, by hand. These individuals were supposed to be reviewing the files, making sure grounds for foreclosure actually existed, signing the docs in front of notaries. But because of the volume of documents, what they actually did was just sign thousands of documents at a time, without even reading them, and ship them off somewhere else to be notarized.

If you do the math on an 8 hour workday, you'll see that that only gives the staffer 1.5 minute to review each file and documents to make sure the foreclosure is warranted. That's not humanly possible, which is how these staffers got the nickname "robo-signers"

Government regulators are very concerned that the banks may have been taking people's homes without following the proper legal procedures. As a result, 40 states' attorneys general are teaming up to launch a multi-state investigation, and the federal Comptroller of the Currency and federal attorney general may also get involved in investigating this issue.

2. Will the freeze will make the banks cancel buyer contracts on REO properties? Currently, the freeze impacts bank-owned properties that are owned and/or serviced by Ally Financial/GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and some properties that were owned by Bank of America. Generally, contracts to buy these homes are being put on hold and extended for 30 days. As well, the banks are often reaching out directly to buyers and offering them the option to cancel their contracts and recoup their deposit money.

3. Is it safe to buy a foreclosed home? There's lots of talk right now about the "clouds" that this scandal will create on the titles to homes that were foreclosed by the banks' foreclosure mills. And that makes sense: if the home wasn't properly foreclosed on in the first place, then the legitimacy of the bank's resale can be called into question. Normally, I'd say: Don't worry about it, buyer - that's why you'll get title insurance! But last week, 3 of America's largest title company insurers declared that they will not offer title insurance on a number of the homes that may have been involved in this scandal.

In the vast majority of cases - when the foreclosure was justified and a bona fide purchaser, someone who was not involved in the bank's wrongdoing, has purchased the home, courts will not reverse these foreclosures or their sale to buyers. But if you're in the market for a foreclosure, get clear on which bank owns the place as soon as you can, and run the property past your title insurer before you get too far into the transaction to make sure they can write a policy of title insurance on the property before you spend too much money on inspections and appraisals. (And see my Bonus Buyer Advice at the end of this blog post!)

4. How the foreclosure freeze will impact American home values, say after you buy. In the short term, these freezes might cause prices to stabilize, as we expect to see the supply of foreclosures for sale start to shrink. However, if these freezes stretch out for a long period of time, they could simply be delaying many inevitable foreclosures, which could delay the recovery of the housing market and home prices, over time. I wouldn't expect to see the freezes cause prices to drop much beyond where they are now, but if they stretch out, they could keep appreciation flat for a longer period of time.

P.S. - Bonus Buyer Advice: Don't underestimate the deals you can get on non-foreclosed properties. You can often get just as good of a price on a better property with more flexibility on the seller's part in terms of repairs and other negotiation points if you buy a home from an individual seller, as opposed to a bank-owned property.

This is an excerpt from the Trulia newsletter, but since this is what is on my mind I thought I would share it. If you don't receive their newsletters or if you do and you do not read them- start now. The more you know....