This is a nagging subject that simply will not go away.  Since yesterday afternoon I have had three separate realtors force horror stories on me about other realtors that allegedly do not know what they are doing with Short Sales.  You have to listen so I often find comedy along the way as the stories unfold.

 

Early this afternoon I was speaking with a very aggressive young realtor in his twenties.  I have personally worked with this individual very successfully over the past year.  We got to talking and somehow he got on an open rant about the incompetence of the old guard of realtors.  I said with humor, “The Blowhards, I mean Dinosaurs”, yes exactly he replied.  He told me he was sick of the bossy old timers proclaiming they know what they are doing and watching them walk unsuspecting homeowners to foreclosure.  Now I started to tune in to what he was saying.  He went on to tell me how they simply don’t know how to price the properties and they just want to put the listings in the MLS and get paid.  I have heard this many times before and witnessed it myself.  He told me he was a nice guy the first year or so he was in the business but that now he was out for blood.  His illustration was that he would get up for work and put his hockey suit on and plow through the realtors.  I related to his “my way or the highway attitude”.  He is sick of the incompetence, excuses and general lack of care for the business.  As we shared stories just from yesterday, it once again became clear that his point was that the old times either needed to get up to speed to properly represent the distressed homeowners, or they needed to take a back seat and let the twenty to forty year old bull dogs handle the short sales.

 

It’s comical that with each of these calls regarding stories of discontent are directed at realtors by another realtor.  Recently I have had realtors on our full service cases that have failed to follow our protocol and we buzzed them accordingly.  They hate to have “big brother” checking to be sure they do their job.  After all pricing a property is not complete by just dumping a listing in the MLS.  There is a two part process that we require as part of our program.  There is also a pricing model and means of keeping the property on the market that reflects the best interest of the seller.  Not all realtors like new things.  Many are control freaks and think they know everything.  This is true even as they fail clients and walk them to foreclosure. You would think they would want to keep an open mind and learn so they can earn referrals from helping people avoid foreclosure.

 

Recently there has been a flurry of realtors that have signed up for a class that apparently  issues them a certification as a distressed property expert.  I have had at least ten of them tell me in the last week that the only reason they took the class was for the certification.  I told one of them I thought this was completely ridicules when he proposed completely ratifying and locking up one of our listings with a low ball contract.  He got upset.  In the end he was more upset with himself when I threw it in his face that he was an expert after the course and where the hell was the clue telling him how to keep the property on the market. Oh yeah, I gave that to him and it didn’t come from the idiot handbook associated with his new certification that will gather dust in the glove compartment.  He listened and we are ok so I am not going to imply that he is just another idiot trying to make a buck selling real estate in Florida.   

 

At the end of the day I have to listen to realtors that proclaim they are the experts and that all the others are idiots.  That was a funny excerpt conversational rant from a guy in his late thirties yesterday morning.  He was the expert and all the other realtors were just idiots.  The stories never stop.  I would like everyone to be aware that these are unprecedented times in real estate and the realtors have lost control with short sales.  Realtors in general are more apt to unintentionally walk you to foreclosure than outline a real plan for you and your family.  You must educate yourself and be careful.  I am telling you point blank that realtors, and hundreds of them, are proclaiming that the real estate industry is rife with incompetence.  Listen to me so you have the time to benefit from a short sale and not have your property inadvertently sit on the market while the window of opportunity closes.

 

This is precisely why we monitor all the realtors assigned to our client’s properties.  We keep tabs on the pricing, activity, and follow up.  If somebody is a slacking off it doesn’t mean we move to get them replaced.  It means we light a fire under them so we can help the homeowner win.  Avoiding Foreclosure with successful Short Sales is a team effort. Until the realtors wise up they are creating liability for themselves and wasting too much time calling each other out on the basis of expertise.  

 

Soon we will be adding a new strategy supplement to the Resources Section of our site titled Realtor Risk Factors.  The problem is getting so bad that our attorneys have decided that it is time to elaborate on the risk associated with the distressed homeowner’s failure, and their ultimate financial demise.  Right now the realtors think they are insulated and that it’s not their problem if representation does not work out.  On an individual case basis they may be correct for the time being.  However, after listening and blogging on the unfortunate consequences of failure and the part the realtors have played over the past year, one may start to see of vision of the next big opportunity.  Maybe it will be a class action suit against the realtors.  I say this will all seriousness.  The realtors and their brokers think they are insulated.  What they do not know is that even their Errors & Emissions Policies do not cover them representing the distressed homeowners in Short Sale negotiations.  Wake up call.  Let’s call it the fine print.  Given what is going on this is a big mess just waiting to happen.  We will be adding the risk factor strategy supplement to our Premium Course Upgrade very soon.

 

In the meantime, the Dinosaurs roam free and the stories will continue.  It is up to you if you are a distressed homeowner dealing with a decision in this awful housing crisis to not count on the realtor for everything.  Understand the risk that the Dinosaurs may only be good at listing your property but not much else.  If you look at their picture and it looks like in was taken in 1990 you may want to ask what qualifies them to help you short sale your property.  I would also ask to speak with happy customers where they were directly involved and successfully completed a short sale.  Happy customers are very key.  I have lots of happy customers.  When you ask for them and the realtor attempts to ignore you, with a short sale, you better show them the door or you may be a risk.  A Short Sale to Stop and/or Avoid Foreclosure is not a rookie’s or an old timer’s game.   You need a plan.  Please join our two hour video free trail at www.thenegotiatedsolution.com . 

 

Blogging from the front line of the housing crisis.

 

GHunter

Submitted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 6:55 pm