Why Working With a Realtor Is Beneficial When Purchasing a REO or Short Sale?
January 5, 2012 | 
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Realtors have access to MLS listings, including REO’s and short sales. If you are thinking about buying either an REO or short sale, you should work with a Realtor who can help you shorten you search time and assist you with the negotiations on the property.
They can send you updates when new REO’s and short sales come on the market because they have instant access to this information through their local MLS. All REO’s are listed with local Realtors. You typically have to make an offer through a local Realtor when you buy one.
Having someone represent you in the negotiations is a good idea. Many buyers and investors work with their own buyer’s agent, while some like to work with the bank’s listing agent.
Realtors network with other Realtors and can provide you with information about the property such as whether there have been other offers, if the property has fallen out of contract and the reason it fell out and give you insight as to what price and terms the bank/seller is looking for.
Some Realtors specialize in distressed properties and have relationships with banks and distressed sellers, as well as other Realtors who also specialize in distressed properties. They may have access to REO and short sale properties that have not come on the market yet, giving you a heads up about them.
Realtors are knowledgeable about homes in their local areas that meet your criteria. They talk to sellers and neighbors who visit their open houses and respond to their mailers. They know the history of homes in the neighborhood and can access the recent sales in the area so you know what to offer on your REO or short sale property.
Realtors coordinate the closing process working with the closing agent, the bank, the seller, their attorney, and all other parties to the transaction. They will remind you of contract contingencies and help you go over the title report and other closing documents. They can refer you to vendors, including home inspectors, contractors and subcontractors, mortgage brokers and lenders, as well as recommend other real estate-related services that you might need.
Finding a Realtor
The best way to find a Realtor is by getting a referral from another investor, family member or friend who has had a positive experience with their Realtor.
You can also search online and look for Realtors who work in an area that you are interested in buying a home.
If you see a short sale sign or bank foreclosure sign with a Realtors’ name on it, you can call or email them. They provide you with free services and information. They earn their commissions when the property closes and are paid by the bank that own REO properties.
In a short sale, the seller’s bank will pay the Realtors commissions out of the short sale proceeds, provided the Realtor requests payment of the commissions in the contract.
While you could find your REO or short sale on your own, smart and savvy investors/buyers work with a Realtor because they recognize the value of doing so in both saving time and money.
Realtors are experts in housing markets in their area and understand how to deal with banks and distressed sellers and can offer their expertise to buyers and investors making it more likely that you secure your REO or short sale and help to make the closing process smoother and more enjoyable.
Secret to Short Sale Success: Lining Up Buyers
If you want to be certain that your short sale is going to be successful, make sure you have one or more end buyer for the deal. The secret to short sale success is in your buyers list.
The most successful investors will start with building a buyers list, perhaps even in advance of selecting a property to acquire using a short sale. Many list services and online systems for investors are available to help you identify active buyers in your area and the price ranges they buy in. It is also possible to find this information out by hand by going to the courthouse or checking deed information for purchases by non-lender businesses and all cash individual buyers who are buying multiple properties in the area over a short period of time. These are the active investors in your area. Map out where they are buying and note the price ranges they buy in.
Contact these individuals to find out more specifically whether they are still interested in buying property in the area, and find out what exactly they are looking for. Are they rehabbers who want to fix up and resell properties in a certain area? Are they buy and hold buyers looking to rent the property? Are they your competitors in flipping property or do they prefer to wait until distress situations have been cured before they buy? While you might start your contacts with email or a letter, you must eventually start a conversation with these people to establish a level of trust.
Often times the regular investors in your area will be regulars at local real estate investor or landlord association meetings. They may also be active in a local chamber of commerce or business lead group. Start attending these meetings on a regular basis.
Then start targeting agents who have active short sale and REO listings in the areas where your active buyers want to own property and work hard to gain trust among these agents. Pinpoint the type of property that the buyers on your list want to own and make offers in the price ranges that will work for your buyers. You will quickly gain credibility with the agents who really work the short sale market once you’ve shown that you have great buyer contacts that are eager to put buy your deals for all cash.
Obviously, the most successful agents will have buyers’ lists of their own, and will be plugged in to marketing to find potential retail buyers as well. Between your investor-buyer contacts and the contacts of your best agents, it should be relatively easy to find end buyers for all of the well-targeted short sales that are priced right and in the right neighborhoods.
Posted in agent short Success | 
Tags: Association Meetings, Flipping Property, Local Chamber | 
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Duties and Responsibilities of a Short Sale Realtor
The short sale realtor usually deals in mortgage money and comes to a point of understanding where they lowers the amount remaining on the loan, allowing the property holder to sell of the asset at a much reduced price to balance the payment of the loan.
It is an intricate business where they are supposed to offer advice and ensure that you speak to the proper council. As a short sale realtor, you need to devote loads of time and put in some uphill struggle. This sort of a sale includes a lot of parties including the property owner, the lender, the investor who owns the loan, the purchaser and the negotiator.
Duties & responsibilities
• The most important duty of a short sale realtor is to guide the clients through a probable way by which they are able to purchase a short sale home. They are looking forward to sale the property at a reduced price after discussing the steps needed to be taken that leads to the purchase of the short sale property.
• There are many short sale realtors who would be ready to help you in different scenarios but you have to be wise and sensible while choosing them. You got to identify the most efficient and effective dealer among them.
• The ideal realtor would come up with considerable ideas that would either work within your given funds and resources or else would discard the offer. If the short sale property does not give them some money, they would prefer not to sell the property.
• There are few realtors engaged in short selling process who does not charge a fee for their service and on the other hand there are also companies that are involved in scams. So be very alert while opting for this kind of services.
• Usually the realtors have the basic responsibility of solving your home and property requirements. While getting in touch with any of these companies, make sure you do an extensive research on the property you are looking for as well on the realtor company so that you get a proper return out of the investment you make.
The prime function
The short sale realtor includes specific expertise on the technicalities of a real property transaction and provides room to the sellers so that they gain monetarily by selling the property to the maximum bidder. The realtors assists the clients by offering suggestive measures to be adapted while selling a property and it includes identification of the potential buyers, the way you should negotiate, the tactic required to position your sale and tuning the dealing that would effect to maximum profit.