Would You Let a "Flipping" Investor Negotiate Your Short Sale?

I sent out a listing agreement a couple of weeks ago for a Destin Florida condo. This was a Bank of America short sale, and no payments have been made for 9 months. I never received the listing paperwork back, so just wrote it off.

Today I got a call from “Clyde”, who said he was a licensed real estate agent in the sellers' home state of Georgia and knew them personally. He was helping the sellers with a short sale of their primary residence. Clyde said the sellers still wanted me to list the property, but that Clyde would go ahead and negotiate the short sale for them. He also said he himself would be the buyer, but would line up another “investor” to do a property flip.

(OK, I don’t want any part of this, I thought. Help me off the phone.)

“Clyde, I negotiate my own short sales, so I cannot help you with that arrangement”, I told him. He reiterated I would not have to do anything but list the property, and he would take care of the rest, even though he was not licensed in Florida. “No thank you, sorry, I am not interested” I restated, and I wished him luck.

“Why not get involved?” you might be thinking. After all, I could save hours of calls, emails, negotiating, stress and have a built-in buyer. Well, one reason is I want to be sure my short sale listing closes. I know I have a 90% chance or greater of getting an approval if I handle it personally. And I don’t know Clyde.

But the biggest reason is, I don’t want to be involved in a short sale flip, even as just “the listing agent”. Bank of America’s approval letter states “There are to be no transfers of property within 30 days of closing”. Other lenders state there are to be “no assignments” by buyer to other parties. To me, that means, no flipping! I am not going to get involved. Why ever risk getting near a deal like this? Not me.

So, I lost a listing today. But you know what? I really didn’t want it.

It's Wendy!

Wendy Rulnick, Broker, CRP, CRS, GRI, ABR Rulnick Realty, Inc.

Destin FL