Top 4 Warning Signs You’ve Hired the Wrong Short Sale Agent:

March 15, 2012 - PRLog -- 1.       The “First Time” Agent:
If you’re in the market for a short sale agent you really need to be looking for an agent that has experience.  If your agent says they have never done a short sale before and say “how hard can it be?” then you need to keep looking.  And if you’ve already hired an agent and find out this is their first short sale and the agent promises “I can do it,” then it’s time to find a new agent.

Short sales require a thorough process so agents should be used to handling them on a regular basis. With this kind of experience comes success. Agents who do short sales even a couple of times a year do not have enough experience.  Short sale agents should be working on them daily. This enables them to become familiar with the banks and gather the right contacts to get the deals done. If you’re in a position where the bank is nonresponsive, you need an agent on your side that knows exactly who to call to get an answer fast.

Short sales are on the rise in Massachusetts as well as nationwide. You need to know when you hire someone to help that they are qualified.  There are a lot of agents out there who claim to know how to handle short sales and have done TONS of them in the past. The best thing to do is research that claim. You can find information about almost any good agent online, or if you ask enough people someone will have heard something about them. Just because an agent may have a few short sale listings doesn’t mean their track record is good on getting them closed.

2.       The “What Do You Think” Agent:
When setting a list price for your home it is never a good sign if your agent asks YOU what you think you should list it for.  Any home for sale, whether it is a short sale or not, should be determined by the market. All list prices should be set in comparison to other homes that have sold in the area (a comparable market analysis report).  With a short sale you want to make sure the list price is as aggressive as possible to be able to move the property, while keeping in mind that the bank has to agree to it.

If your agent shows up at your home to sign up your listing and says, “I’m not really sure what price we should list at. Do you have any ideas?”  Then your answer to that agent should be, “Yes my idea is I need a new agent!”

If you have already hired an agent and the property has no activity or has activity but is just not selling, your agent is making no recommendations on how to get things moving, and you find yourself suddenly thinking back to the listing appointment when your agent said “what do you think,” then it’s time to hire a short sale agent who knows what they are doing.

3.       The “Ghostly” Agent:
You’ve met your agent once, maybe even received an email here or there, there may even be a sign on your front lawn, but that’s it!  You leave messages for this agent yet never get a call back. Your friends are starting to think you made them up. These are not good signs.

A good agent will keep you in the loop and always be reachable. Selling your home can be stressful and confusing, you need to be able to contact your agent and receive answers in a timely manner. If you can’t get in touch with your agent easily, imagine how hard it’s going to be for the bank to communicate with them. Remember, the banks aren’t nearly as patient as you are.

4.       The “Lost With the Bank” Agent:
A good short sale agent above everything else knows how to deal with the banks involved. The lien holders are the key to getting any short sale approved and if the agent representing you has no contacts with anyone at the bank or doesn’t know anyone who does, then your deal will not go through.

Good communication with the banks is an absolute must. The only way an agent is going to have this type of communication is if they do short sales on a daily basis. There is no way around this. We hear more often than not about sellers dealing with agents that can’t seem to get through to the bank.  This is when things for the homeowners trying to sell go south, but this happens only if you are dealing with an agent that doesn’t do shorts sales all the time!

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We are Foreclosure Short Sale specialists, helping homeowners in California that are facing difficulties with their property. Some of the California counties we currently serve are:

Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, Orange, Riverside