Hearing through the RE Grape Vine, these are coming...we were sent a review from Citi in conjunction with Keller Williams that they were partnering on Short Sale/delinquent homeowners...heard also BofA is partnering with Re/Max....
What has everyone else heard? What are your thoughts? I prefer BofA shorts...I dont want to compete with Re/Max agents just because of a partnering...I have a short now witha Re/Max agent...its now on month 6....I would guess they would not want that agent...
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Lenders will not direct borrowers to a specific agent, instead some lenders are making 3+ agent 'options' available for consideration. In other instances, some 3rd party Short Sale Loss Mitigation Companies are sending agents to the borrowers home to contact borrowers and collect documents. In theory these agents are more likely to get the listings if they turn into short sales, but by no means guaranteed or selected by the lender.
Amy Merrill said:
@Paul,
Ahhhh yes... this move concerns me as well.
I've been in the San Francisco Real Estate Market personally for decades and licensed for 15 years. After that amount of time, you know who actually closes and who doesn't. It is a small community and even a smaller town. A "referral" mailed by any lender gives me grave concern. Perhaps it may be time to contact the negotiators we interact, the direct lenders we refer and anyone else who will listen to get our name out there ahead of those who just took a CDPE, SFR or any other seminar just 'yesterday.'
We reap what we sow and off to work I go. I'm thrilled this morning as I have a new negotiator on a second lien ready to put our file ahead of the queue. I best run to fax some documents off and go look at a few dozen properties. Broker's Tour; It's all in the leg work - literally - Realtor Aerobics! (Especially when just about every home in our town is on a hill or has a flight of stairs or two!)
All my best!!!
I have had talks with several high level personnel in the major banks and the result has been somewhat similar. They are not prepared to run the risk of liability should something go wrong in an assigned short sale. Furthermore, they run a further risk by furnishing any personal information (Privacy issues) of delinquent homeowners.
An REO is different in that the property in no longer officially owned by the homeowner so the bank has the ability to assign the asset to whomever they choose ................... In a short sale the home still belongs to the homeowner and they cannot tell the homeowner who or what to use or do.
That being said I still believe that short sales will become more streamlined with lenders utilizing the same platform (Maybe equator) and standard short sale packet forms across the board. For now I do not foresee any short sales being assigned to specific agents. It is the agent with a passion to truly want to help homeowners get back on their financial feet that will continue to get all the short sale listings, as it should be.
http://www.theshortsalesaint.com
I have a Citimortgage letter in my possession...
It's recommended agents... not required agents.
How they came up with the list is beyond me. Different agents from the big Franchise to the independent..
I know one agent on there and he's more of an REO agent with a big team of agents ...
As for the rest... Never heard of them... ever. After 10 years of Las Vegas Real Estate... looking at thousands of listings... hundreds of transactions... I don't recognize one name.
Raymond Kennedy said:
You were clear I just messed up in my reply, sorry. I was more interested in who the lender was because I'm also a CDPE Advance Member, completed the SFR Certification Course and have completed around 25 short sales here in Oregon. If and when you find out who the lender or servicer who found your name as also approved, I'd love to know. I'm hoping to better check with lenders to see if I'm on the same approved list. Thank you again for your post!
Raymond Kennedy said:
Sorry if that last post was not clear. It wasn't the lender that called. It was the homeowner who commented that they were sent a letter. They had planned on calling me previous to that letter coming because of my own marketing. It just happened they received that letter recently. It prompted them to contact the lender at which time the lender talked to the homeowners about the program. On the letter, if I understood it correctly there were a list of names and/or brokerages to consider. Not sure the wording because I have not seen the letter yet. It sounded like to me the homeowners felt they were obligated to choose one of the agents on the list which is why they called. They had asked if I was approved and the lender went down their list of brokerages/agents and I guess I am on the list somehow. The facts are little vague at this point but as I move forward with the listing I will probably have a better understanding once I read the letter they sent.
I am guessing the letter probably suggests multiple agents / brokerages so that they remove the appearance of forcing homeowners to use a designated agent and gives the homeowners a choice. Again, my info is somewhat based on assumptions from a conversation with the homeowner but the timing of this was very interesting considering this post. I am not 100% sure if this is even directly related to the same program but it sounds very similar so my guess is yes.
I will follow up with some facts if and when I learn more.
John Bacon said:
Hi Raymond,
Do you mind sharing what lender called you?
It's official, I just experienced my first call on this. A homeowner called and said their lender sent them a letter with approved brokers/agents. If I understood them correctly they made it sound like the homeowner did not have a choice who they chose and the agent would have to be on the list. They called me off of my marketing so these homeowners seem to be well educated and smart enough to research the situations rather than believe a letter sent from their lender. They actually called their lender and luckily in this case somehow I was put on this list, maybe through my CDPE designation or brokerage, not 100% certain. While I appreciate that I was on the list I am not happy with the message this is sending the homeowners. It appears they are now being mislead to believe they don't have a choice in this situation. I will follow up on this to see if that is how it's being communicated but I really hope I just misunderstood this. If this is truly the case than there really is something wrong with this. Hopefully this will be remedied quickly. At the very least I hope they change the way it is communicated to the homeowners.
Here is what we have to do. Ramp up your marketing and in some positive manner send homeowners the message that they have the choice and the lender can not dictate the listing agent. In this case the homeowners seem to be more educated/savvy but there are homeowners out there that will buy into this information and believe they don't have a choice.
It is unfortunate the lenders can mislead the public and get away with it. I hope I am wrong about this.
For the homeowner who is denied modification or who chooses to pursue a short sale and does not already have a Realtor in mind, the bank may suggest a Realtor. The bank cannot assign that which it does not own, nor enter into a brokerage agreement. Citing that a specific vendor (or realty brokerage) be used may be construed as Steering.
Bank/ brokerage partnerships should be throughly reviewed by not only your attorney but your state real estate division, because the potential for fraud (even if unintentional) is enormous. The mere suggestion of these may possibly be construed as a form of collusion. The FBI is heavily involved in mortgage fraud investigation and it wouldn't take much for them to include these partnerships as possible RICO violation contenders.
It'll just take one homeowner lawsuit alleging conspiracy to get this fire started.
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