I wonder how an East Sacramento agent does the math on those closed short sales when talking to a prospective seller. It's no surprise that the public has a hard time trusting real estate agents when some of those agents engage in agent fluffery. How does a consumer separate fact from fiction? Moreover, why should a consumer have to decipher what is true and what is not in the first place? Aren't agents supposed to be honest and follow the Code of Ethics, which means tell the truth?
I think they get away with it because some of them tell only half of the truth and not all of the truth. They might distort some information. But it makes it difficult to choose an East Sacramento agent to sell your home. Because there are ton of them clawing to get out of the ditch. Ick, bloody fingernails, scratching those concrete walls. It's a real battleground out there right now.
However, when it comes to a short sale -- and I'd like to think any other sale in East Sacramento but I'd just be tootin' my own horn -- a seller really needs to hire an experienced Sacramento short sale agent. I talked to a seller about selling her home as a short sale in East Sacramento. This seller had talked to a competitor who gave the impression that the agent had closed lots and lots of short sales. I pulled production for that agent from MLS. You know how many short sales that agent closed as a listing agent over the past 24 months?
One.
One sold short sale listing.
Yowza.
And this East Sac seller has a complicated situation. The loan is a refinance, a hard-money loan. Not only that, but there's mortgage insurance involved. Those two combinations means the seller needs not only an experienced Sacramento short sale agent, but needs an agent who is not only certified as a HAFA short sale specialist but has actually closed HAFA short sales. This seller's best bet is a HAFA short sale. Fortunately, the seller was referred to me. I am a Sacramento short sale agent. I am a Certified HAFA Specialist. I have successfully closed HAFA short sales. The seller is doubly lucky that I also specialize in East Sacramento.
I get my fair share of short sales located in my areas of specialty such as East Sacramento, Midtown or homes in Land Park, but I go where duty calls. Much of the short sales in Sacramento are in Lincoln / Roseville, Natomas and Elk Grove, so that's where I go.
While this particular seller is lucky, others aren't so lucky. Many simply choose as a short sale agent a childhood friend, the next-door neighbor, some part-time real estate agent who maintains a flashy website, a guy who was napping when he happened to pick up the phone when they called the floor desk of an agency down the street, and so on. Then, when their short sale goes south or they don't get a release of liability, they look at the real estate industry as a whole as letting them down. Or they say short sales don't close. Which is about as far from the truth as it gets.
This is the deal. If you're looking to hire a real estate agent to do a short sale, and let's say that you have to choose solely between an agent who specializes in your neighborhood or an agent who is a short sale specialist, here is what you do. #1) verify the production of the short sale specialist and #2) hire the short sale agent.
Graph: Elizabeth Weintraub, sourced from MetroList
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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Short sale experts for short sales no doubt give you the most experience for the job Elizabeth. I like your blue in the pie chart, but what? Competition? I thought that was 0%??? : )
That "competitor" certainly wasn't me, Elizabeth. . .I run away from short-sales, while you are running toward them! I think you actually sharpen your teeth on them each morning:-)
Elizabeth - Short sales are a whole other animal than a traditional sale and I LOVE when agents play number games. "I'm the top listing agent in XYZ neighborhood" when only one or two homes were listed that year.....
Hi Gary: Agents shouldn't stretch the truth or bend the facts because it just makes them look bad. It's a poor reflection on all of us in the industry.
Hi Myrl: Aw, I don't think of you as a competitor -- not that you wouldn't make a formidable competitor. But you're my friend.
Hi Michelle: I suspect agents think they are being "creative" or I dunno. Maybe they just aren't thinking. We're not always 100% on top of our game every waking minute. So it could be a honest error on that agent's part. Hard to say, but I'd give the agent the benefit of doubt before condemning.
Elizabeth - great post about short sales, and making sur!e a seller hires an experienced agent
Naw Elizabeth, I'm not formidable to anyone. You've seen that documentary, "I Am" - It's all about cooperation! I'm glad you're my friend, Elizabeth!