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Our team of agents at Seattleshortsaleblog has been extremely successful with short sales for many years now and pinpointing the key attributes that has contributed to our success is quite apparent once you meet our negotiators. As emphasized before in our previous blogs, one of the biggest downfalls in the short sale arena is the lack of communication, or more specifically, the lack of a good communicator. Facilitating a transaction with multiple parties who have only their own financial interests in mind, is not an easy task which is why we at seattleshortsaleblog continue to emphasize the importance of a professional negotiator in your short sale. Let’s explore some qualities to look for when choosing the right agent for your short sale.

Why is a negotiator important in a short sale? Picture a room of five famished people waiting for food and suddenly throwing one pie right in the middle. Most likely, a fight will break out for the pie and it will probably end up getting ruined resulting in a loss for everyone. A negotiator is like an individual who comes in to help everyone get a piece of the pie with minimal losses for everyone. A short sale transaction is a very similar situation. Everyone is trying to get the most pie they can get but without someone facilitating the portions each entity will receive, it often leads to a foreclosure which is a severe loss for all parties.

So, how do you identify a pro negotiator? I believe one very important factor for a good negotiator is his/her personality. To briefly describe some personality traits that I believe all successful negotiators should have is first and foremost, charisma.  You want a negotiator who is enjoyable to speak with and can build relationships.  Second, is stability and to be direct, an uncanny ability to control emotions. Third, and really most importantly is the ability to listen, you need to provide a party with what they want in order to get what you want or at least mediate their wants and fill as many as possible.

In working with all parties of a transaction, the negotiator should be able to influence servicers (banks), agents, and buyers (exempt sellers because negotiators are on their side). Without building good rapport and maintaining good relations with all of these members, the short sale can easily fall through.

Another key factor for a good agent/negotiator is organization. A short sale involves a plethora of various documents coming from different parties. Without have these files organized, a short sale typically fails as lenders are very particular about timely file submissions. For more information, please read our previous blog on The Key Factor For A Good Short Sale Agent.

What do you think? Are there more qualities a pro negotiator should have? Would love the feedback. Thanks!

Peter