Susan Manning

There are so many pitfalls and things to consider when you are looking at a short sale. Unfortunately many agents are making the process harder for themselves and our clients which in turn continues to give short sales a bad rap.

Recently my clients had an offer in on a property that was exactly what they wanted. It had a view, open floor plan, in a great neighborhood, and had three bedrooms and a loft. There was some work that needed to be done on the property including fixing the garage door where the listing agent had tried to adhere his sign to the vinyl door and left marks that would render the door useless unless replaced. All in all the pros outweighed the cons and my clients were in for the long haul which turned out to be about two months of their time.

The listing agent was from out of the area so I'm sure that he had not seen the property since he had listed it. He actually told us what other offers were in on the property. In my offer I specifically asked the seller and agent to take the property off as an active listing and put it in back up. There were already five or six offers on the property.

I called the agent to inquire why the listing was still active on the MLS after a week or so. He said because he was an out of area agent that it was difficult to get the outside board to make the changes. This went on for some time. After being the responsible agent and staying in touch about our offer, the listing agent told me that the bank was getting close to getting an approval and my client's offer had the highest net submitted.

A week later I called to see how the approval was coming. The listing agent then told me that another cash offer had been submitted and was in the process of being approved. In the mean time, the listing was still active on the MLS.

I totally disagree with keeping a listing active on the MLS when an offer or offers have been submitted. Who are we as short sale listing agents working for? Our clients or the bank? In case you answered the bank, I say, WRONG! We are working for the client. So why do agents treat short listings like auctions and essentially are working for the bank?

I don't understand how an agent can think keeping a short sale listing open is a good thing. I understand that buyers may walk from a transaction. Guess what, they used to do that in regular transactions too. And what did we do? We started over and got a new buyer. If a short sale listing isn't selling, reduce the price!! We all know that price is what sells a property.

The thing that really upsets me the most is the lack of follow up that these agents are doing, and I'm seeing it rampant in both REO's and short sales. If you have a list of people who have offers in on a listing, why don't you call the agents back? As a courtesy for one thing, but as a good business practice as another. You never know if your current deal is going to fall out! And when it does, wouldn't the previous offers be the first people that you call? I just don't get it.

Are there any other agents out there that feel the best offer and only the best offer from a committed buyer who understands his offer is legitimately being considered is the one that should be submitted to the bank for a short sale?

Hey I found a cool website that was passed on to me from a friend. Its Goog411. Just go to google.com and forward slash Goog411. Here the link, but its easy to remember. http://www.google.com/goog411/

A colleague of mine said that his daughter had $40 in 411 calls in one month! Too bad she didn't use the free 411 from google!

Also the website can foward maps and texts to your cell phone. See, this can even save trees! Think of how many times you may have printed out pages of maps and directions. Go green and use the free 411!

What's your plan? This is my plan and you all are to keep me accountable. If you have any other suggestions to add here, please feel free to comment.

I'm going to be getting an accountability partner that I check in with every morning to share three things I am going to get done that day. I will then call them back and confirm status of those accountable items.

I'm going to be prospecting a minimum of one hour five times a week including for REO listings.

I'm going to close two deals a month preferably double ending one at least.

I'm going to be sure to send out my monthly mailings.

I'm going to increase my AR points by 5000 by the end of the month.

I'll admit it. I don't know the answer to this one, so I'm reaching out to the AR community for a response. I've been asking around and still have yet to find an answer with which I am satisfied. The Bailout Bill for Homeowners was passed this summer but is there anyone qualified to do this modification?

Here's what I think I know so far:

• A bill was passed this summer to back basically loan mods for owners who want to do a short pay refi to stay in their homes.
• Only homeowners who have the Option Arm payments qualify for the loan.
• Only 400,000 of distressed homeowners will be able to qualify.
• There is a monetary cap on the amount of money the government has to back these modifications.
• The banks will have to agree to the modification terms just like in a short sale so there are no guarantees that the refi will work.
• The charge for this service is around $3000.

So I've been asking around for qualified individuals to help clients with this process. I've asked loan officers that I trust and respect. I've also asked other real estate professionals. The problem is that this is a brand new modification opportunity that no one really has experience working yet. Who do I refer my clients to? The clock is ticking and there is a limited number of opportunities. What is your opinion on the best course of action for those in need?

Recently I moved (no not fun!) and found out that the AC wasn't working properly at my new place. The AC repair guy showed up and proceeded to look around to see what the problem was.

It turns out the repairman knew exactly what was going on even before he did much investigation. Apparently the filter was the culprit. He told me that everytime he sees one of those blue "custom" filters, he knows there is going to be trouble.

The blue filter once it starts to be used, crumples up and effectively becomes obsolete from filtering all the things you don't want to go into your unit - dust, pet hair, etc. It basically is like not having a filter at all once the sides peel back.

What exactly does that mean? Well you know when you go to buy a new filter for your AC, did you know that if you go the cheap route and purchase the blue filter you can cut custom to fit versus a filter built specifically for your unit it can end up costing you hundreds of dollars in the long run? Sometime you have to go to more than one hardware store, but it is important to measure the dimensions and get the proper filter.

This one trip from the AC guy cost more than $300 by the time he was finished. So you think you might be saving a few bucks at the hardware store, but in the end you end up costing yourself a lot of time, money and a big headache! Be ware the blue filter~