One of the top mistakes realtors make while doing short sales is failing to know and really understanding the short sale process.
This is possibly the biggest mistake of all, and a very frequent one.
How often do we try to do something that we don’t understand, without first educating ourselves about it, or seeking training? Particularly when our livelihoods are at stake? Probably not very often.
But with short sales, what most agents are doing is trying to perform these transactions without understanding short sales and the short sale process! Most agents are either flying by the seat of their pants when they do a short sale, or taking advice from another agent who may have accomplished only one or two short sales, but who doesn’t really know what they are doing either. Does that make any sense?
In a time when over 1 in 5 home sales nationally require a short sale, and when it is projected that by the end of 2009, 50% of all sales will require a short sale, does it make any sense that the vast majority of agents don’t have a complete and thorough understanding of the short sale process?
We hear complaints all the time that demonstrate that most Realtors don’t understand short sales. We often hear agents talk about short sales taking 90 days or longer. It is not the lender who makes it take that long! It will only take that long if we make it take that long, if we aren’t following the proper procedures for successfully accomplishing a short sale.
We often hear agents say short sales aren’t worth the trouble. The truth is short sales are rather easy, they are not much trouble, and they don’t take a lot of extra time – taking an average of about 3-4 hours more than an average listing. That is if you know what you’re doing.
We also hear stories about agents screaming and yelling at loss mitigators. This only demonstrates that the realtor doesn’t understand what they are doing. The loss mitigator wants to get the deal done just as much as you do! They work on a commission basis just as you do! We should really be treating them as partners – partners in getting paid.
Swimming upstream is hard. Swing downstream is easy. With proper training and understanding of the short sale process, we can be swimming downstream with short sales at a time when the market is slow and as short sales are becoming a large and growing part of the market.
Or we can swim upstream and fight for the scraps that all the other agents are fighting for.
Which makes more sense?
Chris Badger of Strategic Loss Mitigation, along with being a real estate Broker, is known as one of the top experts in Short Sales.
For more information see his blog at The Short Sale Blog
For his complete Short Sale guide for agents go to “The Ultimate Short Sale Success System”
[tags]Short sale, Realtor, Short Sales, Agent Short Sale, Realtor Short Sale, Success, training, system[/tags]
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