I guess I have finally figured it out why GMAC had been so "forgiving" about my shortsale, that the negotiator saw fit to keep stalling the auction date. Oh well maybe they are just nice people but the headlines this week say something severe.I really believe some benefits are coming out of this. We all know that the banks were hammered with defaulting property and it got beyond them to start pencil whipping things. I had a couple of friends my self that had loan mods in process and then the bank foreclosed on them. One of them is currently suing Chase.
What I think will happen is this...the fall REO storm may never come, except for Fannie and Freddie because well...they are sinking and have tons of stuff they they need to pay taxpayers with. Finally we can calm down and be realtors, offering our help to people.
The shortsale will be a mainstay for sometime and banks must be more efficient at it. We agents have much to learn about shortsales... pricing property CORRECTLY so the BPO is close to MLS price (two of my shortsales as representing the buyer recently exploded this way. Buyer walked because of too high an asking price). We need to cooperate to get the job done and not be greedy as to how much comission we make. I shop property based on what my client wants...not how much do I make on it. Had an office collegue ask me about my shortsale today and when I told her that we may need to cut into the comission split to pay the jr lien holder that the first afforded only so much to.She quickly told me that she will not work for less than 2.5 % because she has done alot of work with that buyer. Guess customer service does not come into play here because she was not willing to make it necessarily happen for her customer if they turned out they wanted to see it.
As always what we need to do is to offer SERVICE. Make sure the seller cannot qualify for a mod first and then if they appear to qualify, help them get one; list the property in case of failure. Some because of job status, will never qualify but we must outreach to homeowners and comfort them as much as possible and work on the BEST SOLUTION FOR THE HOMEOWNER not our pockets.
REO's will exist and I am convinced that they will always goto the well connected realtors. I have noticed some asset companies give assets entirely to one person : Ocwen/Altisource and Goodman and Dean are good examples of this. Unfortunately, this does not mean they are good at customer service. I saw on a particular website the names of REO brokers that were rated by normal homeowners needing their services and they were not rated favorably at all. Also had another REO agent tell me last week that I "needed to educate my buyer" about how the bank works. Seems like the bank has him by the _______...and I will not say it. I wanted to make slight changes to the addendums as they were very favorable to the sellers and I have a duty to protect my buyers. I told him everything in real estate is negotiable. He would not even explore the points I raised.
Asset companies and banks will continue to need us realtors to guide them. We are the experts in our field and need to be open to ever learning more about our profession. The mistakes made are not going away overnight.
I believe the major banks facing this crisis will be forced to more diligent in the future. Even in my state,California which is non -judicial...the state attorney general called on GMAC to explain their procedures for foreclosure.
Someday I do want to sell REO as well and do a five star job at it that will make an asset manager smile and confident, but lets see here...people still will leave estates (probate) and I do not think divorce is going away (divorce sales)..well I know , I guess I should go help Mr and Mrs Frank Mc Court and maybe Tiger get rid of some of that property.
Talk to you later my friends,
John
Comments
OCWIN/Altisourse is using what amounts to a discount broker. They pay a fee for the broker to put the property in MLS. That's why one broker has so many of their properties. Here in Dallas, the listing broker is actually in the Houston area. It's my understanding that the locksmith takes a picture of the house and that's what gets in MLS. The yard service, cleaning, trashout, etc. is handled by a nation company. Offers are submitted on line. They have basically cut out the traditional broker and are keeping the commission for themselfs.