Comment

Comment by Eric Mieles on October 13, 2011 at 2:35am

Norene just to address your last 2nd paragraph "if I had a buyer asked to put up 3 % escrow on a short sale that may neve happen" my thoughts are that try to do a better job upfront screening out the listing before advising your clients to move forward. Set expectations upfront and let them know no matter how emotional they may get with one house first priority is to due a huge discovery to make sure this short sale is being handled well as has a chafe of closing. If you do this and then lead your clients you will feel more secure in getting a bigger deposit and sticking with the deal. If you just allow them to see a home, fall in "like" and send in a contract you could be in the position you seem to be falling in.

Comment by Jeff Payne on October 13, 2011 at 1:33am

Norene, I too am in Florida and don't have any issues with buyers putting down large EMD on short sales.  Buyers need to be committed and this is a good way for the buyer to committ.  Make the EMD non refundable for 90 or 120 days to keep the buyers interest.  If a buyer understands from the beginning and both agents are communicating well, there should be no issues.  If a buyer is getting itchy after 30 to 60 days, they should not be looking at short sales in the first place.  

I think that saying that a buyer wont put down EMD or a buyer wont wait for the short sale, are both limiting beliefs that typically come from agents and not buyers.  If I had a nickle for every buyer who later came and thanked me for getting the short sale approved and then said they were not the impatient ones, I could retire.  In my area it is typically the anxious buyers agent that mucks up the short sale.

Comment by Norene Williams on October 12, 2011 at 7:44pm

I never said that I condone buyers writing more than one contract and I have never encouraged buyers to continue to look after they have entered into a contract, but everybody is talking about how frustrating and unfair it is for the seller and I just want everybody to see how the buyer feels.  They are at a standstill in their lives.  They can't make plans until this is decided and it is very frustrating especially if they are first time homebuyers.  If I have a buyer that is fed up and wants to look at other houses, I show them.  I always let the listing agent know that this is the case.  I have also let many negotiators at banks know that the buyer is very close to walking and they really don't seem to care.

All I was saying from the beginning is that if I had a buyer that was being asked to put up 3% escrow on a short sale that may never happen, I could not, in good conscience, advise them to do it.  There are just too many other properties out there.  I have only had 1 that has ever asked for the depost and when we said no they backed down.  Buyers in this area are just too hard to come by. 

 

Comment by Alan Remigio on October 12, 2011 at 5:15pm

Norene,  your second paragraph response says it all. Stick to it. Short sales are no different from any other sale, whether you are selling homes, yachts, mules or turkeys. There is a process, however inconsistent and we can't sell 'em all. Some here sell most times. You have certain conditions for your buyer and it should be respected. In the big picture, there is no one way.Whether one represents the seller or buyer, some times we get lost in the moment and upset because things did not go our way.

On this site, I see buyers walk and also some pay the requirements requested of the seller. The short sale addendum is very weighted towards the seller (in reality, the lender). On top of this, the sale is in "as is" condition. 

As long as this is a buyer's market, we'll have walk outs....oh! even in a seller's market!

Comment by Eric Mieles on October 12, 2011 at 4:04pm

Norene you know that is not true and/or (stating this in a nice way) you are not consulting with your buyers correctly. Yes there are lots of homes on the market however why should a buyer just pass because the seller and listing agent require the buyer to show good faith, be a serious buyer, and show true commitment to buy the home that seems to fit there needs?

To be honest you should be the one being a stickler for your buyers being serious on putting offers in. Your time is valuable and they need to know this is not a game and they can't just go from one home to the next switching up like it's okay.

Norene I posted a topic a couple weeks ago saying "Are We Now the Problem" and it refers to just this. Your saying it's the bank fault but who's fault is it when I process, negotiate, get an approval in 60 days only to then find out your buyers are saying NO? We start over, the seller is closer to foreclosure and the negotiators pond there head as well because it was all for nothing. If we ALL did a better job educating buyers, setting expectations up front for sellers and practiced great real estate we would see better results.

Comment by Norene Williams on October 12, 2011 at 2:18pm

I really did not mean to start such a disagreement.  Maybe there are not as many short sales in the rest of the country as there are in Florida, but if a seller tried to make these kinds of demands on buyers you would not receive any offers on short sales.  There are too many houses for sale here to choose from. 

All I was trying to say is that agents representing buyers( and I do both) must protect the interest of their clients also.and have just as much to lose if the sale doesn't go through.  The problem is not with the buyers or the buyers agents it is the banks that are not getting this done fast enough. 

I was not attacking anyone but I feel as if I am being attacked along with my ethics.

Comment by Ben Benita on October 12, 2011 at 1:41pm

One way to get short sale Buyer to commit:

Have the Seller counter ANY buyer offer with:

"Buyer must agree to pay for a home inspction or appraisal when they submit the offer"

We don't do this, but, I know 2 other negotiation companies that do and, though it MIGHT take a little longer to get contract, the ones they get almost never pull out (requiring skin in the game, as you can imagine, GREATLY reduces the chances of last minute BUyer withdraws.

Just a thought.....If I were a BUyer, and, TRULY interested, I know I would not have any issue with this (assuming someone GREAT was doing the short sale negotiations and I was serious about buying the home).

Best of luck guys.....

Comment by Mike Horton on October 12, 2011 at 11:06am

You know I hear the communications argument all the time, and frankly people who use that as an excuse to go out and aid and abeit their buyers to write a purchase contract while under contract with another seller and have no intention to buy 2 homes is Baloney. The buyer is committing fraud and the agent is committing an ethics violation. And since we are on a Wells Fargo blog, I can tell you from hard learned experience where the buyers agent did not disclose that they had written on a contract and when I call all cheery they said, oops I guess I forgot to send you the memo, my client bought a home last week. Guess what wells said about the foreclosure that was due in 3 weeks. We will go ahead with the foreclosure process since your contract is canceled. If we did not have agents that thought a contract was a piece of toliet paper we would not have to worry about earnest money and skin in the game. Venting......

Comment by Jim Hale on October 12, 2011 at 10:25am

Norene -

Communication? Certainly.

Commitment? Only truly possible with a deposit at risk. 

Why would a buyer be reluctant to commit his earnest money?  The interest lost?  Less than a family lunch at McDonalds.

Comment by Victoria Frieberg on October 12, 2011 at 10:09am

In Mn. our short sale addendum includes the check box that earnest money is not given to the listing brokerage until acceptance by the third party..

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 108
• 109
• 110
• 111
• 112
• …
• 220
• Next ›
• Page