Great discussion on short sales. Something for everyone.
We qualify our buyers before showing them a home, right? But are you qualifying the short sale listings you're showing them? If not, you may be wasting your time.
By contacting the listing agent and asking them a few basic questions prior to showing their listings you'll accomplish 2 things.
- You'll save you and your buyers some and frustration time by not showing or writing an offer on a property that's not going to qualify as a short sale and consequently will never close.
- Listing Agents will get a clue and finally start doing their homework before taking any listing and slapping "short sale" on it.
When I meet with buyers looking for a home in Chandler, AZ, my first visit with them will include some counseling about the types of properties available for sale in our area.
- Traditional resales
- New home construction
- Short Sales
- REO's
I will explain the process with each type of sale. When we cover short sales, I'll go over my list of questions that I will ask any listing agent prior to showing a short sale listing and explain the reasons for each question and I'll obtain the buyers approval to eliminate Short Sale listings based on my findings so we're not wasting time.
I will tell you that buyers agree 100% of the time. Buyers do not want to sit around waiting on a short sale that's not going to close and loose the opportunity to find one that will.
Here are a few questions I ask any short sale listing agent (and another reason why listing agents should be responding to inquiries in a timely manner. If they don't respond...I don't show).
- Do you have any offers?
- Have you submitted any offers to the lender(s)?
- How many offers will you be submitting to the lender(s)? If it's more than one, the interview is over and I'm moving on to the next property.
- Have you prequalified the seller and do they have a hardship?
- Have you reviewed their financials and do they have an income shortfall?
- Have you verified the parties on the Title and Deed?
- What stage of foreclosure is the property in?
- How many lenders are involved?
The answers to these questions will determine whether or not we'll look at the property. Some of the answers will give me an idea of how long the process will take and depending on how long my buyer is willing to wait, whether or not we'll look at the property.
The answers will also be a very good indicator of whether or not the listing agent knows what he/she is doing. I'm willing to help a listing agent along, if certain criteria are met, but if the agent has not done their homework, they've just flunked my interview and we're moving on.
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Amy Jones, Realtor, ABR, CNE, EPro, CDPE
Chandler, Sun Lakes, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Tempe & Mesa
Named one of the "Top 50 Real Estate Agents" by the Phoenix Business Journal
RE/Max Excalibur
4921 S. Alma School Rd
Chandler, Arizona
Direct~480-250-3857Visit www.AmySellsAZ.com for more information including free MLS search.
Visit www.PhoenixArizonaRealEstateBlog.com for a comprehensive Phoenix Area Blog.
Visit www.SunLakesBlog.com about living in Sun Lakes, AZ.
Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.382-8711 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit my website: HomesAzRE.com, or stop by my blogs at: MesaAzRealEstateVoice and AzLadyInRed!
Thanks for post. I learn a lot of new information from Active Rain blogs. Best Regards,
Hey, I love posts like this, so helpful and informative. I use many of these questions, but your way of phrasing them is different and helpful for me. The whole pre-qualifying ritual is essential, but you have to guage the client so as not to offend them. These are touchy times around financial issues. Thanks for your posts
Great post for realtors. Asking the right questions is always the key to any successful transaction.
This is good information and great questions to ask short sale listing agents. It would be great to get this information ahead of time to determine if it would be worth showing a specific short sale or not. I have been trying to find these things out - but most of the time the agents won't respond. Sometimes I go ahead show the property without hearing back if there is something really great about the house. But most often I won't show. It brings up the issue that has been discussed numberous times on AR about agents who don't respond to e-mails and voice mails.
I always test the listing agent to see if they have any experience in short sales. As a buyers agent you need to be able to tell your client if they have any shot of getting an approval!
Such great advice it can eliminate a lot of frustration if the right questions are answered.
Thanks for coming by everyone. Be sure to catch the entire discussion on Amy Jones' post. ;-)