"Oh, you probably think that all real estate agents drive around in Porsches and wear designer clothes." I accused a caller of harboring those beliefs the other day and laughed as I listened to him vehemently deny those thoughts. We both laughed. I laughed for a different reason. I laughed because I was indeed dressed in Eileen Fisher and driving down Interstate 5 in my Porsche. You see, as a Sacramento short sale agent, I have to find my chuckles somewhere. The short sale business is not all slap-stick comedy.
Much of it is helping homeowners let go of their homes. On the one hand, we've got the gritty details of the short sale to deal with. On the other, it's the detachment of a dream. I've worked with several sellers lately in those situations. It's a little bit tricky, because grief and depression can easily slip into their thinking when you're trying to rationalize offers.
I never leave my sellers out on a limb all by themselves. Especially when it comes to offers. Because an offer is not just an offer. An offer is a buyer who will wait for short sale approval and is qualified to buy a short sale. Sellers need guidance to navigate the solutions put before them.
In one such short sale that closed last week, my seller struggled to say goodbye to the home. We had a long relationship, almost a year. The first buyer waited until we were on the brink of approval and then skipped merrily away. The next-door neighbor tried to buy the short sale. Regardless of how many times I warned that Bank of America might not approve a neighbor, due to the arm's length agreement, the neighbor kept pushing.
All parties to the transaction have to sign that agreement, which means I have to disclose known relationships to the bank. But the neighbor thought he could steal the property. He submitted a lowball offer. We countered the offer. The neighbor refused to cooperate, so the neighbor did not get the house. After the first buyer flaked out, the neighbor hired another agent. A well known agent in Elk Grove who had extreme difficulty writing an offer for a short sale. Not all agents are familiar with short sales.
This agent argued profusely over the price. Kept repeating that this neighborhood in Elk Grove was the agent's specialty and the agent knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the home was priced too high. At this point, even if the neighbor offered the price we wanted, the seller was a little bit worn out by the neighbor's efforts. Still, the neighbor refused to offer a reasonable price. The agent was working in some other universe, too. No dice.
We sold to a VA buyer who obtained a VA loan. The offer was more than list price and at an amount we felt the bank would take. The bank took the offer. It appraised at that price, too, by a VA appraiser. And it closed. When I stopped by the house over the weekend, the garage was open and all the windows were open.
The key was still in the lockbox. What? Nobody home? It was possible, I suppose, but I needed to verify. I figured out what had happened. Sure enough, the seller had met the buyers and handed over the keys in person at closing. Sellers don't usually do that. That's the buyer's agent's job.
But to me it meant the seller had closure. Yep, all is right with the world.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for 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.
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Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan. Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
Elizabeth,
You touched on a great many aspects of short sales in your blog. There is so much to know and it changes almost daily. Short sales have become almost 100% of my business (Florida - no surprise there) and I have to know what I'm doing or nothing closes. That includes holding the hand of the agent on the other side who is not quite so adept at these transactions. I don't mind but I do expect a sincere attempt to learn.
Glad it worked out for you.
Best,
Brian Geraghty, Broker, CDPE
Hi Brian: I thought that short sales compromised a larger percentage of my business than they do as well but when I checked, I saw that it's only about 80% of my business these days. That means about 1 out of every 5 is a regular transaction.
I think short sales do offer more closure for families than foreclosure. There is something huge in being able to look the next owner of your former home in the eye and had them the key. It's probably something a pyschiatrist would label in the "control" category, but it is a healing moment.
but you are a realtor with style:)!
I wanted to ask you......just because i do love look good.....do you dress /tone down when you meet those destressed homeowners? They do loose house and probably do have hardship.
Or you think, it makes no difference how you dress for them?
Hi Chris Ann: I agree about the closure of short sales vs. foreclosure for homeowners. While sellers might feel a bit of grief parting with their home, at least they have the knowledge that they chose who bought it.
Hi Inna: Do I dress down? Heavens, no. Who wants to hire a loser agent? Whether it's a short sale or a traditional sale, makes no difference in what I wear or how I conduct business.