You may be interested to hear that they said in front of 400 Realtors that they pay 6% SOC. It was a very informative seminar, however I agree that selling REOs is not for the faint at heart.

Keith Sorem
Keller Williams Realty
http://www.beautifulglendalehomes.com

I don’t think this phenomenon is limited to Chula Vista. We are living in strange times. I have been in more multiple offer situations, on both the buying and selling side, than not during the past month, including one of each just yesterday. The market has been more active of late – Perhaps a combination of buyers tired of waiting for Armageddon, Spring Fever, and prices in many cases coming back to Earth. Some homes still sit with painfully long market times, but the well-priced homes, particularly in the lower price segments, are moving quickly right now.

I suppose there is some consolation in knowing that you are a good judge of value. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be repeatedly finding yourself in multiple offer situations. I wrote a little rant on the subject here, my advice from an agent’s perspective. If your agent is handling things exceptionally well, however, I can only recommend patience – And an engine warmed up and idling in the driveway for the moment the next oppotunity becomes available. In real estate, my favorite saying is “time is never on your side”.

So does this mean I owe you lunch now or something??

John – great input regarding case workload and most importantly the advice regarding representing investor buyers in an owner-occupied sales transaction. That was one item consistently covered in all seminars and highlighted the fact that investors taking advantage of distressed homeowners is not highly thought of by the courts. The advice I was given regarding this particular scenario is to refer your investor client to the listing agent (the referral fee is typically the fee listed in the MLS as the cooperating broker fee).

Chris – yes, it’s all about managing everyone’s expectations. As John Lockwood stated, a 10% below market “discount” is a reasonable expectation. As you have pointed out, the process gets way out of kilter when the list price is out of touch with reality. I have felt your pain when it comes to then trying to establish a consensus market value for a local San Diego property (factor in the “as is” condition of sale) with a lender located in Pennsylvania and most recently one in Western Nebraska! It can make for a very trying and difficult transaction, especially when representing the buyer looking for and expecting the “killer” deal. After all, how many ads do we see about all of the money to be made in the foreclosure market?

They sit in banks 1,000 miles away from the property not realizing the condition or neighborhood it may or may not be in.

And here is the crux of the problem. They rely on BPOs (Broker’s Price Opinions) to help them set an acceptable price for the property. Who does BPOs? New, inexpereienced agents looking to make $35 or agents that have not been able to generate enough business on their own and need $35 for their time and lack of knowledge. (Stop! If you are an agent selling a minimum of 20 sides a year and you still make time to do BPOs then I’m not talking to you. So don’t get upset with me.)

All of those factors make for a difficult transaction. You hit the nail on the head. Congratulations on your jump into cyberspace. I’ve never met the Bergs. But I’m impressed. Here’s to your success.

One thing that I’ve found it very important to do with buyers is to counsel them that the bargain they’re likely to get with a short sale or REO (on average, about 10% or so in our market), is generally offset by inconvenience and less negotiating room on the repairs. Having said that, I don’t avoid them — I have this thing about making money.

One other thing worth throwing out in this context is to be careful as a buyers’ agent with investors, if there’s an NOD filed and the property is non-vacant owner occupied. California Equity Purchaser’s Act can bite you on that one.

John, nice debut.