Posted by Steve Adkins on April 25, 2009 at 8:00am
I have to admit, I finally understand! After a week of HELL, I finally understand! But let me back up a step and set the stage for my short story.Like many agents in this market, I have been trying hard to get in the middle of this REO thing. Working the phone, shaking hands, writing BPO's for months, business events, etc. Finally, I get my first break and pick up 8 new-construction REO's in a partially started subdivision. The bank has been great to work with, but they want maximum value for their houses and are a little over priced, but still a great deal compared to what they once were. Sales have been slow. But that asset manager really like me work and referred me to an asset manager with a national bank.Finally after 9 months from the first BPO, and missing out on the first group of listings, we picked up another subdivision with 10 houses and 26 lots, all REO’s. Three of the houses were not finished yet, while the others were move-in ready. The bank came in with aggressive pricing, well below my BPO, pricing the unfinished houses at $49,900! One of the three was to the final drywall stage with most of the trim work in. What a deal I thought! And so do half of Georgia I think.As soon as the listings went into the MLS's my phone started ringing, and ringing, and ringing. Often with 2 or 3 calls coming in at one time. I could not get off one call without one to three messages left while on that one call. The listings were entered into the MLS's about 4 pm on Wednesday last week, by Friday at 3 PM I had already taken 14 to 16 written offers on the three unfinished properties and over 100 phone calls. The bank said no more offers, that they could not handle any more paperwork in a timely manner as I was sending them a new offer every 30 minutes. It was absolutely crazy! Never in my life have I've been in such a "feeding frenzy" like this. And I loved every minute of it!But the phones have not stopped ringing, or the email inquiries. And because I did not have binding agreements yet, only verbal agreements, I could not change the MLS status to “pending”. And banks can take days or weeks to get anything signed back to you, sometimes not until closing. I continued all week to answer every call, and return every message even so every call was coming in on these three unfinished houses I already had multiple competing offers on. I lost count sometime after the 30th call each day. It was to the point I had to turn my phone off to eat lunch or dinner with the wife. One morning I had to transfer my calls to my senior team member while I was in a CE Class, boy was her blood pressure up when I got out of class! I think I forgot to warn her before having my calls transferred, oops. ;-)Then by Monday, the "drive-by" calls started. I think every construction worker and investor in three states drove thru the subdivision and called off the yard signs! And of course everybody who saw a cheap home, thinking they could move right in and finish the house little by little. They saw price and never bothered to read the comments.So now, I finally understand! I fully understand why some agents never answer their phones or return calls. If I didn't have my team to help support me I would not have been able to return every call in a timely manner, if at all. I'm sure I may have missed a couple, as the volume of calls and emails was absolutely overwhelming for just one person. I quickly became an issue, as I could not address possible problems on the offers with the asset manager, which in my book is of the highest priority! And since she is not a real estate agent and not even in this state, she was not familiar with our standard forms. I still have not had time to make a quality flyer to put in the houses.I have been one to badmouth REO agents in the past, I will admit it, and I did it everyday. I had no idea why they were so unresponsive. I do now! I can see why their service seams so poor as there are not enough hours in the day and you have to set priorities in your daily activity, or you will never get anything done. Luckily I formed my team a year ago and we have become pretty organized, but this last week has opened my eyes to our weaknesses. Changes will have to be made, and quickly if we are going to keep up!Don't get me wrong, I hate the poor service many in this field provide. It's just not right to everyone involved. I understand why, but I do not like it! It takes work, hard work, to provide quality service. And because of the extra efforts I have made over this past week, we have been able to take an offer on another home in this subdivision, picked up 6 potential buyers for my team members to work with and another 10 showings since Monday by my team only. With another 30 showings by outside agents. I also have agents sitting open houses in the REO subdivision all weekend (without water and power in the main house), with other agents in my office begging to be able to sit open houses. How many people do open houses in an REO property?Finally, I Understand!Steve Adkins - RealtorNFSTI Certified REO SpecialistThe Adkins GroupBetter Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokerswww.The-Adkins-Group.com
Daniel, one of my team members is looking into a couple of systems now with the 800 #'s that may meet our needs. Good idea, I hadn't thought of it in that way yet.
Steve, invest in one of those phone systems that let you have unlimited virtual lines and designate an extension to each property with whatever info from combos to property description. Its a good way to track how many agents are calling on a particular asset and impresses the AM when you have those stats. More importantly it'll alleviate 15% of your calls. hehe.
Haha, Barb I so understand about the brain going numb when you get home! The wife made the mistake of trying to talk to me last week about an upcoming family wedding and I still have not heard the end of it yet!
Now things have slowed down a bit this week so far, maybe I can clean out the floor in my office so I can find my desk!
I've been warning agents in my office to get their roller skates ready because when this market finally breaks (for the good this time) we all are going to be so busy you are not going to know which way to turn. And I can say it's so much more fun being busy then having nothing to do!
Thank you for your understanding! Before REO I was the best at getting back to people in a timely manner, but now...my brain is numb every day when I finally head home. People look at me like I'm on drugs or something because there is so much going on in my mind at all times that they can tell I'm not giving them my full and undivided attention, but more like a blank stare if at days end. My senior team member shares my office space...we often say that we are like old married folks that sit in the same room all day and never talk. Literally, we have had days when the phone is so contant that we never even get to say hello or goodbye and certainly no time for conversation in between. I must be nuts, but I love it. When there is a lull for too long I get depressed. But it's nice to be understood. I know other agents that just have no clue complain about us. Those same agents would never be able to cope with our lifestyle. Thanks for the great post!
Thanks everyone for the kind comments! And yes Michael, it was that thread or blog that made me want to write this. It is something most people cannot understand until they have experienced it first hand.
Have you ever watched those nature shows where they show a shark feeding frenzy? Or how the Africian army ants kill their prey? That was how I was feeling! THE PREY! It was absolutely crazy!
Next time I'll put one of my team members on the MLS as the lead agent! :)
Our company and MLS policy is that we cannot change status of a listing until it's binding. But by putting the "Under Contract" rider on the yard signs really helped stop a lot of the calls.
Now to do some yoga to get ready for the coming week!
Nice Job Steve. Sorry, I had to laugh a little remembering our exchange on a previous post, where I was one of those "EVIL AGENTS" who can't always respond as quick as everyone would like. Very few agents understand how overwhelming it can be. Keep up the good work. One way to stop some of the calls on properties with acceptance but not under contract is to put them on hold until you are able to get them into pending. Open Houses, yes we do them on as many as possible and end up double ending a lot of our own listings that way.
Comments
Now things have slowed down a bit this week so far, maybe I can clean out the floor in my office so I can find my desk!
I've been warning agents in my office to get their roller skates ready because when this market finally breaks (for the good this time) we all are going to be so busy you are not going to know which way to turn. And I can say it's so much more fun being busy then having nothing to do!
Welcome to REO!
Have you ever watched those nature shows where they show a shark feeding frenzy? Or how the Africian army ants kill their prey? That was how I was feeling! THE PREY! It was absolutely crazy!
Next time I'll put one of my team members on the MLS as the lead agent! :)
Our company and MLS policy is that we cannot change status of a listing until it's binding. But by putting the "Under Contract" rider on the yard signs really helped stop a lot of the calls.
Now to do some yoga to get ready for the coming week!
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