Blog

When NOT To Take A Short Sale Listing

Posted by Wendy Rulnick on October 20, 2009 at 12:47pm
Today, I turned down a listing. It was not easy. It was a short sale. When listing a short sale, there are certain parameters that must be met. Here they are:1. The seller must allow you to set the price. You know the market.2. The seller must allow you to adjust the price based on your judgment.3. The seller must provide all financial documentation necessary to complete the sale in a timely manner.4. The seller must authorize you to speak with the lender on his behalf.5. The listing period must be longer than six months. Allow time for short sale processing, so make it one year.6. The seller must be reasonable with his expectations for a short sale.7. The seller must trust you.Short sale outcomes are not guaranteed. The seller may have to bring a cash contribution to the closing. The seller may have to agree to a promissory note. The seller will probably get a 1099-C for cancelled debt. He may get a deficiency judgment and be responsible for the remaining balance. Or the short sale may be denied.In the case today, the seller had returned my listing agreement marked up with additional terms. He added that the short sale lender would remove negative reporting from credit bureaus, not issue a 1099-C, waive all rights to a deficiency judgment and relieve the seller of any further obligation.I informed the seller that these demands were not likely to be met. I would not agree to an undertaking with unreasonable expectations. He insisted. I declined the listing. Would you?It's Wendy!Destin Short SalesCall toll-free 1-877-ITS-WNDY (1-877-487-9639) or local 850-650-7883 ext 204Email Wendy: itswendy@rulnickrealty.com
Tags: agent, destin, listing, sale, sales, short
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of Short Sale Superstars to add comments!

Join Short Sale Superstars

Comments

  • Jeff Payne September 29, 2011 at 12:54pm
    Wendy, in 2010 I took 140 listings and probably turned down just as many... I find it very easy to say no.  Like interviewing someone for my team, I am LOOKING for reasons to stop the process
  • Wendy Rulnick September 29, 2011 at 12:04pm
    Erinn - Also - you are not a bank representative, so you have no obligation to the bank.
  • Bryant Tutas September 29, 2011 at 10:25am
    Erinn. It's simple. Let him out of the listing. Why work with folks that don't want to work with you? Especially with a short sale where 100% cooperation from the sellers will be required. Let them go and go find a willing seller. Life is too short.
  • Erinn Frisbie September 29, 2011 at 10:01am

    Wendy,

    I have a question/scenario I would like your input on. Long story short... we took a listing 2 weeks ago (1 year listing agreement), priced it where it should be, got all contact info for B of A from the seller who had already started communicating with the bank, etc. One week later the husband called and said that his wife felt it was not a good fit for them to be working with our team. He then told me some crazy story about my partner telling his wife to "keep crying until we got an offer" (which is 100% false). We told him no, we were not going to cancel the listing as it was a year contract (and we knew we could get it sold). Sure enough we got a full price offer today. I called him and told him about the offer and he said that he still was researching how to get out of the listing agreement and he is waiting to hear back from the office of the CEO at B of A before he decides what to do. How can he do this? What is my obligation to the bank if he refuses to accept this offer? What to do? What to do??

  • Guy Lofts CRS November 9, 2009 at 6:37am
    great call. the secret is to have enough business you can pick and chose!! That goes with buyers, sellers and short sales.

    Guy in Madison Wi
  • Wendy Rulnick November 8, 2009 at 3:54am
    Terry - I felt so much better afterwards!
  • Terry L. Osburn November 7, 2009 at 4:41pm
    I think it is great you listened to you gut. If you were met by this much stigma at the onset of the listing who knows what would happen as it progressed. We have started turning down some as well. It is not worth the headache and the stress ...
  • Kathryn Acciari November 7, 2009 at 9:07am
    Definitely a walk-away. The seller was asking for terms that you could in no way guarantee - you are not the lender. Those demands would have to be between the seller's attorney and the lender, I would think. Not for the listing agent to determine. If a seller won't do it your way (the right way), then let someone else try to save them.
  • Pam Jank November 7, 2009 at 7:45am
    Wendy, you had no choice. Seller was unreasonable and looking for a miracle at your expense. You would have wasted all your valuable time, $$, resources & expertise chasing a miracle that will not happen. And, he would have blamed YOU in the end. You need to reserve your Expertise, time, $$ & resources to help the ones that can be helped.... Remember that saying - In order to be successful "Get Rid of the JERKS."
  • Wendy Rulnick November 3, 2009 at 2:17am
    SJ, 6 months is safer, I might start doing that!!
This reply was deleted.

Latest Blog Posts

Most Popular Blog Posts

Blog Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

********************************** like buttons ************************