How to stop short sale lenders from automatically cutting our commission

Nearly 9 out of 10 of my short sales, the lender cuts the commission from 6% to 5%. I am sick of this. They know they have us by the short hairs and do it automatically. Now I have GMAC being represented by IMPACT that wants to take 1% of my 6% commission. They want me to sign a new fee agreement and commission disbursement form. What can I do and how can this be stopped. 

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;-)

Agreed. A Chef is needed and the cooks can assist the chefs. A lwyer represeting the seller's interst should be the shef in my humble opinion as the seller is the one wityh the problem with their lender that needs to be mitigated. An attorny is held to a high moral standard and will avoid potential lawsuits generated by the "cooks"

Attorney's high moral standard?  Hence the high regard the public has for them???  Doh! GTFO of the kitchen.

of course, a recent Campbell survey rated public trust of real estate agents on par with used car salesman....probably due to the fact that agents seem to think it's OK to bill themselves as experts when they take a 3 hour webinar or get a fancy designation after a few credit hours.

You left out the part where Attorneys ranked just below that.

Joseph and Cameron, there are BAD attorneys and there are BAD realtors.  My opinion is that an attorney knows little about real estate and the majority of the time the problem with a short sale is not the sellers financial status or the banks problem with the seller, it is a problem with the value of the property.  Bad BPOs, high appraisals, the bank thinking the property is worth much more than it is.  That is where an experienced real estate agent has a greater advantage than an attorney who knows nothing of value on a property.  An experienced real estate agent is going to be able to convey to the lender the true market value of a property much more effectively than an attorney would ever be able to.  I believe an attorneys role should be advising the seller on the legal aspects of the short sale, not handing the short sale itself because there is no need for it.

Joseph, I will leave you with this question, what makes you more qualified to generate a short sale package and present it to a lender over someone who took a 3 hour webinar and one that has a fancy designation as you put it?  Afterall, we all know exactly what the bank is asking for and we provide it to them in a short sale package. What would be the purpose of adding you to the mix?  Not trying to flame the fire here, just curious why you are more qualified than someone like Cameron who I know is at the top of his game in the short sale world. 

hear hear

I appreciate the response, Jeff, and I agree, there are bad agents and bad attorneys.  From what I see, it's a 90/10 split on the agents.  It was mentioned that short sale are not a legal issue, that they are a real estate issue.  I disagree.  I believe that short sales are a LENDING ISSUE. Yes, short sales obviously combine real estate and lending issues, but without intimate knowledge of how lenders and investors guidelines work, and how to deal with their personnel, you simply do not have the innate experience to do the job correctly. Am I saying agents can't do short sales well?  Of course not, but the agents who are "learning as they go along" are endangering their sellers and opening themselves up to enormous liability. Even those that do have the experience, an attorney MUST be involved because certain aspects of the transaction are the practice of law, and the fact that you have no E&O protection should cinch it. It's my belief, and I have certainly not seen anything to counter it, that agents should not be doing short sales themselves.  Agents have a very critical role in the process, but it's not dealing with the lenders.  Ask yourself, just what experience or skills does an agent have in this area? Yes, you are the market and property expert.  No question.  No one in the transaction is better suited to listing, selling, gathering market data to justify the offer, and dealing with buyers than an agent.  This is your area of expertise and most agents are good at it. This DOES NOT make you an expert at knowing the inner workings and nuances of dealing with lenders.  Not at all. Certainly does not qualify you to handle the legal aspects of a short sale.  What I teach agents is simple:  A short sale should be a collaboration of three distinct expert talents.  We leverage our experience and expertise by working together for the benefit of the seller.  This team consists of an experienced agent, an experienced negotiator, and an experienced attorney.

What makes me experienced in short sales?  Well, I spent ten years in the mortgage lending business, holding positions such as retail loan officer, processor, wholesale sales executive, and secondary marketing.  I understand all aspects of the underwriting process, guidelines, how lenders loss mitigation works, etc. I have started doing short sales in 2005, and since then, I have personally negotiated, consulted for, or overseen close to 1,000 short sales. The biggest difference though, is that I employ strategies when approaching short sales, instead of just reacting to lenders decisions.  I anticipate what is going to happen before it happens, so we can plan for it and disclose to buyers and sellers what the possibilities are.  I can teach any chimp how to collect documents and to know what is a short sale package, and anyone can work a fax (well, almost anyone) This is why designations and short training cycles are worthless.  They give an agent just enough information to be dangerous to themselves and their sellers. Yes, I want my agents to know how short sales work, because it helps them and me do our jobs, but I cannot expect them to know to details and nuances that come only from experience.  For those agents here, which I understand are the "cream of the crop," I believe that some of you do have the knowledge and experience. With this you will also know that liability considerations, staffing and overhead expenses, and use of time are hurdles to overcome. To be successful at any kind of volume, you cannot do this yourself, there aren't enough hours in the day.  If you are on the phone, you are not listing and selling. The problem that I see is a lack of good third party negotiators, so for now, agents are forced to do it themselves or partner with an attorney.  I am one of a handful of qualified third party negotiators that is not a front for investors, and that have a contract that established Fiduciary Duty to the seller. I still believe that in a perfect world, my system of leveraging expertise is what is best for all involved.  I will leave you with a link to my blog, and my article of what I believe is the agents critical role in the short sale process.  For the record, I am a licensed agent in IL but am inactive as I do not have time for listings.

http://josephalfe.com/2012/01/the-listing-agents-role-in-the-short-...

Joseph, are you an attorney?

Joseph come come now, First; You trying to hard, obviously you don't have anything better to do with your time to write such long response, Second home owners in hardship don't have the money to pay an attorney for something a highly educated trained Realtor can handle, Third; We agent definitely will not pay you for the work we can handle our commission is cut as it is, Four; In all may transactions I found that attorneys only complicate things and add another party that we have to go back and forth with, Fifth: We Realtor have the best attorneys money can buy working for us thru our National and State realtor associations I hope that all Realtor are aware of that and utilitizing on it, Lastly I have at least 150 hours of training in 2011 on the matter, this year I plan on taking the same or more and lets not forget to thank Shortsalesuperstar website and the great Woman and Men behind it Wendy Rulnick, Bryant Tatus and Jeff Payne for providing this fantastic website full of data base on short sales free of charge.

P.S. i will not response to this forum anymore it has taking to much of my time already, Thank you everyone.

No I am not Jeff, this is one of the reasons (same for agents) that I REQUIRE all sellers to have an attorney represent them.  Since I can get attorney fees paid by the lender (reasonable and customary) It is no charge to the seller, and the attorneys in my network have agreed not to charge hourly or up front to the sellers.

Jason, trying too hard?  Please. I am extremely prolific on a number of sites like this because it's my job and my mission to educate agents as to their role in the short sale process, and make available my expertise so they can assist their sellers. Am I looking for business?  Not really. I don't care if you use me or not.  In fact, I am quite selective about what agents I work with because most I have to babysit and hand hold and I don't have the time especially because so many have issues with following directions.  I work with only good, experienced, seasoned agents who know their roles and execute to the best of their ability. Also, about half of my business comes as a direct referral from law firms, because attorneys are typically smart enough to know that outsourcing to a professional is cost and time efficient, especially if the agent and attorney retains full control over their clients and their listings.

It is obvious that you did not read my response above, because if you did, I suspect that you would see that agents that refer me into a deal retain their listing and 100% of their commissions, as they should.

Cute but am doing a Hafa and they paid me 7% plus i got seller 20,000 abd buyer 3% so it all depends on experiance Ha i can send you the approval letter if you like to see

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