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Just venting here to express my frustration with Real Estate "Professionals".
Background:
With low interest rates and housing prices,in 2012 we decided it was time to purchase a new home.
-Made offer in April 2012 on a Short Sale.
9months+ later still nothing.
Listing agent (dealing directly with her) is supposedly a "Short Sale" specialist according to Keller Williams website.
Found out she only closed TWO Short Sales in her career.
Last week I had to show here where to go to counter high asking price from the seller's loan investor (Homepath website for Fannie Mae).
-Then two weeks ago, we found our "dream house". Regular sale.Yeah!
Made offer to listing agent Friday with deadline as of today.(called him directly since we were in the area and wanted to see the house right away)
This morning, he inform me he got in argument with seller's over the weekend ("sellers wanted that he makes flyers this weekend to showcase the house so he had to stay up until midnight") so he cancelled their listing and dropped them!
(agent always seemed a little rude from the get go.He also didnt answers calls/emails evenings and weekends.)
Oh and by the way, when we purchased our first home in 2007, our agent never told us about homestead exemption and I just found out about it last year.
Now what to do about this new house?Trying to find seller's contact info but to not avail.
PS: I'm aware not all RE Pro are the same but that's 3/3 for us.
Now what to do about this new house?Trying to find seller's contact info but to not avail.
1. Go to the county (usually) assessors' records that are [usually] online. Find the owner.
2. Go to Whitepages.com and find the phone number.
3. Call.
4. Drive and knock on the door.
While I can't speak to the agents competence/incompetence 9 months is not out of the ordinary for a short sale. That's a bank problem, not an agent problem. They are awful when trying to close a short sale.
As to the rest, sounds like a stupid thing to do with an offer on the table but it's a bit harsh to judge all agents by those 2. There are competent ones out there. While I know Dave's got a pretty good idea there the seller could actually still owe a commission to the agent if you buy the house since he had the listing at the time of the offer. If it doesn't work out go hire a competent buyer agent.
Thanks for the tip. Couldn't find any numbers so I might need to go with option 4
Update: we gave a counter offer to this listing agent. He say he will email seller with it and represent us even if he us not under contract with seller's anymore.
Hope it doesn't jeopardize our chances.
Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes
1. Go to the county (usually) assessors' records that are [usually] online. Find the owner.
2. Go to Whitepages.com and find the phone number.
3. Call.
4. Drive and knock on the door.
I think in the future, rather than going through the listing agent, try and find a good buyer agent.
The 9 months for Fannie Mae is about right. Fannie Mae changed their policy in 2012 and it is causing short sale nightmares with valuations. Agents can no longer use short sales and foreclosures as part of the valuation process so it is causing high valuations in some areas where the only comps are short sales and foreclosures. My buyer is in this nightmare right now.
At least with a buyer agent you could have been continuing to look at other homes while hanging out with the short sale. I know for me, as a buyer agent, I can see which agents closed what so I'll know if I'm dealing with a newbie short sale agent or not. It impacts whether or not my clients write an offer on the house.
I have to say though, that I question your people picking judgement. You just hired someone that couldn't handle a minor conflict with a seller to negotiate on your behalf. Why would you do that?
I think in the future, rather than going through the listing agent, try and find a good buyer agent.
The 9 months for Fannie Mae is about right. Fannie Mae changed their policy in 2012 and it is causing short sale nightmares with valuations. Agents can no longer use short sales and foreclosures as part of the valuation process so it is causing high valuations in some areas where the only comps are short sales and foreclosures. My buyer is in this nightmare right now.
At least with a buyer agent you could have been continuing to look at other homes while hanging out with the short sale. I know for me, as a buyer agent, I can see which agents closed what so I'll know if I'm dealing with a newbie short sale agent or not. It impacts whether or not my clients write an offer on the house.
I have to say though, that I question your people picking judgement. You just hired someone that couldn't handle a minor conflict with a seller to negotiate on your behalf. Why would you do that?
Just venting here to express my frustration with Real Estate "Professionals".
Background:
With low interest rates and housing prices,in 2012 we decided it was time to purchase a new home.
-Made offer in April 2012 on a Short Sale.
9months+ later still nothing.
Listing agent (dealing directly with her) is supposedly a "Short Sale" specialist according to Keller Williams website.
Found out she only closed TWO Short Sales in her career.
Last week I had to show here where to go to counter high asking price from the seller's loan investor (Homepath website for Fannie Mae).
-Then two weeks ago, we found our "dream house". Regular sale.Yeah!
Made offer to listing agent Friday with deadline as of today.(called him directly since we were in the area and wanted to see the house right away)
This morning, he inform me he got in argument with seller's over the weekend ("sellers wanted that he makes flyers this weekend to showcase the house so he had to stay up until midnight") so he cancelled their listing and dropped them!
(agent always seemed a little rude from the get go.He also didnt answers calls/emails evenings and weekends.)
Oh and by the way, when we purchased our first home in 2007, our agent never told us about homestead exemption and I just found out about it last year.
smack::smack
Now what to do about this new house?Trying to find seller's contact info but to not avail.
PS: I'm aware not all RE Pro are the same but that's 3/3 for us.
You know why i call BS on this, you lived in your first home for 5 years and knew nothing about the homestead exemption?
In all your other posts about the short sale you talk about everything the agent had been doing with the problems with BPO's and changes with the negotiators for the bank since April but now the agent doesn't know what they are doing?
In the other example, the listing agent had a buyer, you, who supposedly made an offer on his listing but he just dropped the listing over making some flyers? Even in a lower priced area, probably looking at at least $100,000 for the home, no buyers agent so we'll figure a little bit of a discount on the commission, 4%, for good measure and 50/50 split with the broker. So the agent dropped $2,000 minimum over making some flyers? Being it is your dream home I am going to figure at least double the price at $200,000 so the agent just threw $4,000 out the window over making some flyers?
OK
And what happened here? How did the agent screw that one up?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gabrielh
Wow! look like my strategy worked out, agent just called me that they took our offer!.
They just countered with closing one day earlier and $2000 ED instead of $1000.
Thats less than 24hours after our offer was submitted! Was not expecting that. We have until 4pm to confirm. (Been waiting on a short sale for 8+ months and its going to be hard to let that one go.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by gabrielh
Update: we decided to pass on the foreclosed house so back on waiting on the short sale.
Never go with the Listing agent on a short sale or REO. Remember, they represent THE SELLER's best interests. Some regular sales, might be okay.
I'll take this one step further, NEVER as a buyer deal directly with the listing agent. While you might get lucky, buying a house is way too big a transaction to be putting your best interests in the hands of the person that your adversary hired first. The listing agent is legally prohibited from advocating on your behalf. Repeat: The listing agent IS NOT and CAN'T BE your advocate.
"Yeah, but maybe I'll get it for less if she reduces commission because she's getting both sides." There is just as strong a possibility that you'll overpay and have your bare bottom hanging in the breeze because of non-protective contract terms.
Before all you good, fair, honest listing agents scald me for this, I'm not talking about how you personally handle both sides. I'm talking about what is best for a buyer in the majority of situations.
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