TWELVE TACTICS FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN TOUGH TIMES
TACTICS 10 – 12
Tactic 10: Expand The Options
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In a shifted market you will need all the legal, proven financing solutions at your disposal to get your transactions closed.
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Look at alternative financing and expand the options.
Three Areas of Creative Financing:
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Creative Things Sellers Can Do to Sell Their House.
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Creative Things Buyers Can Do to Buy a Home.
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Creative Things Lenders Can Do to Finance a Transaction.
What Sellers Can Do:
- Seller Contributions or Concessions
- Seller Buy Downs
- Owner Financing
Creative Things Buyers Can Do to Buy a Home:
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Family Members.
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Options Lenders
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IRA and 401K Funds
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Co-borrowing
Creative Things Lenders Can Do to Finance a Transaction:
- Government Funded or Bonded Programs.
- Municipal or Regional Grants.
- Resubmit loan applications through automated programs until they figure out just what a buyer needs to do in order to qualify for a loan.
Your Financing Team:
- Sales agents only need to have a firm understanding of the playing field, the players and the options.
- Build a team of financing experts and sources.
- Having them keep you informed and up to date.
- Position them to serve your clients.
Tactic #11: Master the Market of the Moment
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Short sales, foreclosures, and REO’s quickly become the market of the moment.
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Dealing with homes in default is hard work and requires orginization and persistence.
The Three Stages of the Market of the Moment
- Stage One: Default
- Stage Two: Foreclosure
- Stage Three: REO
Stage One: Default:
- An insolvent homeowner in default seeks relief from the lender.
- Options: 1. Lender temporarily suspends or reduces payments(forbearance), 2. Lender agrees to modify the loan and 3., Lender agrees to a short sale.
Stage Two: Foreclosure
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Homeowner is unable to cure loan and home is foreclosed.
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Options: 1. Homeowner repurchases home at auction or during redemption period and 2., Investor purchases home.
Stage Three: REO
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Home goes unsold at auction and becomes “real estate owned” on the lenders books(a liability).
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Options: 1., Agent works with lender to market REO’s for resale and 2., Agent works with REO agent to handle their buyers.
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The Two Opportunites of REO’s:
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1. REO Seller Representative – listing agents who market their services to financial instituions.
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2. REO Buyer Representative – buyer agents who market their services to REO seller representatives.
Tactic # 12: Bulletproof The Transaction
- Forewarned is forearmed.
- You must get the transaction to and through closing.
- Do that as a fiduciary service to their clients.
- Do that in order to get paid.
- You will have to deal with “buyer remorse,” “seller anger,” loan processing delays, tight appraisals, tough inspections and anxiety all around you.
- You must be the calmest person in the transaction.
Outcome Framing:
- Remind people about the consequences of their decisions and actions.
- In times of fear, doubt or emotional reaction, bring them back to serenity and reason.
Deal with Buyer’s Remorse:
- Nail down the decision.
- Make a list of all the ways in which this new home meets their needs.
- Write down all the work they have done in finding this ‘best possible home.’
- Have them date and sign this paper with the lists on it, and you sign it with them.
- Congratulate them on their diligence and success.
The Three S’s of Bulletproofing:
- Selection: Do everything possible to select the service providers and have confidence that they are reliable, stable and acting on behalf of you and your clients.
- Supervision: Check on progress. Be ready to handle mistakes and delays before they become serious.
- Systems: You must have systems in place to: track the closing process, alert you at critical checkpoints and communicate the progress to your clients.
- You also want to have a say in the selection of inspectors, landscapers, repair people, insurance agents and other service providers.
- Not only is your advice desired and expected by both buyers and sellers, but it insures that things will go as smoothly as possible.
Inspections and Appraisals:
- You can have a direct impact on the outcome of the inspection.
- Your impact on the appraisal is much more indirect.
Play Defense:
- Be assertive in protecting your client’s welfare and your transactions.
- Catch things early, before the problems happen or they put the closing at risk.
- This will serve you in every market.
Putting It All Together
- Down shifts are more difficult on the front-end.
- Up-shifts are more difficult on the back-end.
- The drop off is steep in the buyer market.
- The build-up is slower and more sustained in the seller market.
- A buyers’ market requires us to be doing the things we should have been doing all the time.JRE160A54322 Blue Cross Open Access POS.
