Where Have All the REALTORS Gone?

With nearly 10 years of full time real estate sales experience in IL and AZ , I have seen the best and the worst. Being a REALTOR can be the most exciting yet challenging small business anyone ever builds in there life. Yet some still treat it as a part time job or hobby. I just cannot understand this.

Today with rampant foreclosures and short sales, it is critical that REALTORS be up-to-date on the latest methods, contracts and agency law procedures. Additionally, they must have a sense of humility coupled with an unmatched drive to be successful. Yet so often I find agents who, when given specific purchase offer submission directions for short or REO sales, refuse to follow directions or continually delay. In reality all they are doing is hurting their client's chances of successfully purchasing a home, and wasting their time.

Then there are the agents that are up at 7am and in bed at 11pm. They answer their calls, and when they can't, call back as soon as possible. They work with other agents to put together agreeable contracts and they put their egos at the door, realizing that the client comes first! They have an open mind and a zest for new ideas and learning. They are much like small entrepreneurs or small business people. Business people with a vision!!! Perhaps this is why they are so successful and their checks show it? These are few in number but they still exist.

I have pondered these two axioms and realized that some of the agents in the field did not enter the field because they wanted to create a business, rather they saw the money and felt it was a job (part time or otherwise) that they could fit into their busy schedules to make "extra" money. Now I don't blame them, but I do hold fault against agents who do not put their clients interests first. They should not be in business and clients should not use them.

Real estate, now more than ever, is a business! With that requires a business acumen and an unmatched drive for success coupled with communication and spirit. For those that strive to continue educating themselves and treating this as a full time business--HATS OFF TO YOU!!!

Short Sale-Not All Have to Be Pre-Foreclosure

Just the other day I was told by a new client that he had been told by another agent that he would have to be late with mortgage payments or stop paying altogether for his lender to take his short sale negotiation seriously. Not only was I shocked, I was furious! Thank Goodness he did not take that misinformed advice, and found our team.

Although it sometimes does take negotiators a little longer to negotiate a short sale without the impetus of late payments, no REALTOR should ever give financial advice. It is unethical and outside his/her knowledge of practice. What's more, many homeowners are facing a hardship that will eventually result in late or missed payments. Even if the homeowner is not currently late.

Our experience has been that lenders would much rather either see a short sale with a hardship while the homeowner is current on loan payments than have that homeowner start being late with payments or not paying at all. It is mutually beneficial to the lender as well as the homeowner for the homeowner to keep paying payments, if possible, while short saling a home. Additionally, this will ultimately help the homeowner's credit profile too.

So no, not all short sales have to involve the homeowner not paying his or her payments. If an owner has a hardship, a short sale can be pursued.

For more information about Short Sales or to discuss the Short Sale of your property, you may call me, Todd Hillman, at 602-376-0706.