A lot of money is being spent by companies trying to attract real estate agents to spend money on their short sale products. This may be because many agents become restless and anxious when the market changes from one trend to another.I'm writing this blog to let you know not to lose your common sense when faced with many solicitations on the different certifications that are currently flooding the internet. First it was REO certification. GET IT! GET IT! GET IT NOW! Even now I still get solicitations to come to a seminar or an event that says they can show you how to get more REO listings or get into the business. But in my area, most agents are asking where all the REO's went. Now some companies are pushing Short Sale Certifications & Designations. GET MORE LISTINGS THIS WAY!Don't get me wrong, I love education. I have a degree in education. I also enjoy research a lot. But one day I asked myself, which certification do I choose? But MOST IMPORTANTLY, which one matters to the companies I want to partner my business with?I started my late night search on this subject and actually sent emails to some big banks, and to my surprise I got some very good advise. The government backed bank rep I spoke to told me that they don't have a preference one way or the other on getting certified and they don't endorse any particular training company. He was more interested in me getting the knowledge, so that when I bring a buyer to them or get a listing from them, that I follow their rules, their procedures, & their guidelines for a smooth transaction. He then gave me a link to listen to a webinar for free that their company uses frequently for short sale trainings. It was awesome. After listening to this webinar I searched the internet for more and I found a lot. With as much as I know today I could probably certify myself. (ha-ha)So what do you do? Certified or Not?1. Ask the banks (if you are trying to get listings). Ask them what proccedures they use.2. How much should you pay for the certification or designation?3. Who is going to RECOGNIZE your certificaton (training) during this market phase?
Mellyora great blog, actually wish I had stayed current with looking at the site on a daily. Jesse your input is so true and have to admit because of the slowing in my area (I guess all areas) I too was hung up on getting all of the available training over the last 4-5 months. Well believe you me, and am finding that this form of networking is priceless education that I'm sure will pay off in the end.
Jesse your right on about the predatory companies and desperate agents. Unfortunately there will always be those agents that continue to be lured in and in the end it will negatively effect all of us. Experience is the best training there is and without that all the certifications and designations are pretty much useless. If you were a bank who would you choose to give your listings to in this scenario? Agent "A" who has no certs or designations but has 5 years of reo listing experience or agent "B" who has no reo experience but has all the latest certs and designations. It's a no brainer to me. The reo part of the business has been tainted by these type of agents and companies and now we're all suffering and will continue to do so and it's really frustrating. Jesse, I commend you because you could have easily sold out and jumped on that bandwagon by trying to profit off of others false dreams and take a piece by pedaling those products on your forum but you haven't. That says alot about your character because you sure would make alot of money doing it.
Agents can take a whole bunch of classes and certifications, but it doesn't mean a thing unless they've closed the transaction. Anyone can be "book" smart.
"Certification" is an awfully strong word. True "certification" in a specialty takes a lot more than an all day class and a looseleaf book of forms. It takes experience, recommendations, and mentoring from a true expert.
Hello Victoria. The Realtor conference in San Diego next month will have several training sessions on various certifications and designations. The Short Sale designation is being taught by REBAC but you can also use the course as a prerequisite towards a Buyers Designation. The short sale designation is a stand-alone designation. The price is CHEAP. I like cheap stuff. It saves me money to do fun stuff like go to seaworld or take a bus tour at the San Diego Zoo..I also researched the person that will be teaching the class. She's very thorough. Go to: www.coursecalendar.com/foreclosure and click on the course. You should be able to find more info.
Ok, so I have been waffling about NARs SFR Designation, mostly because it is national and recognizable within the industry. CRS and Rebac are part of the course providers, so should be good quality..maybe! Anyone try this route? I have done several short sales successfully, and two, not so much..but I think those were banks not willing to forego the old Loss Share bucks..
Hello Loni and Joyce. I emailed Jesse to find out how I can share my web links for you without blasting my personal email on the blog. Once I hear from him I would love to share the links so you can listen to the webinar. If you need it sooner, you can go to google and do a basic search for (free short sale webinars) (short sale webinars) (short sale training webinars) (banks and short sale training) (short sale webinars for real estate agents) etc., this is how I found several live webinars that were free to listen to. If you have any suggestions until Jesse responds please let me know.
Jan, thank you for sharing. There are many ways to learn about short sales, the process, and bank expectations. Experience is the key to short sales. It's good to get lots of it. It makes the process easier and the seller/buyer will feel more comfortable with you.
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Mellyora...Thank you for the tid bit. I look forward to the "link" and will follow your google advice.
I value the opportunity to learn.
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