Hi folks. Recently I had an agent request more information on..... "You mentioned that you educated your sellers at the listing appointment about the inspection. Being a little green still, I can't say I've heard anyone, in the company I work for, talk about doing this at a listing appointment. I guess maybe there's fear that the listing may be lost if we get into that section. So I guess I'd love it if sometime you could talk more about how you present this in your listing presentation." First, I want to let you know that my listing presentation may be a little different than most. I've never had any training and I've never been on a listing presentation with anyone. I haven't read the book and I didn't listen to the tapes. My presentation was learned by 17 years of trial and error. T... 03/03/2012

Hi folks, as you know, being good at problem solving is a must in this business. Let's play "Solve the problem": I had one of my Buyer agents email me this week flustered because the Seller of a property was requesting that the Buyer pay $2,400 to a negotiating company on a Short Sale. This fee is non-negotiable and can not be paid by the Seller because their Lender will not allow it. The Buyer obviously doesn't want to pay either BUT they really want the property. What's your solution to get the Buyer in this property? While you're thinking here's a great example of problem solving.  Disney had the problem of the queues to their rides being too long and people getting tired of waiting and leaving. The obvious solution was to speed up the rides so the lines moved faster. But implementin... 03/22/2011

Hi folks. I just read a comment on FaceBook from my friend, Susan Milner, that got me thinking. Susan is a broker who handles Short Sales, as I do, and she was contacted by the Florida Office of Financial Regulations. I guess they were asking her questions about her Short Sale business. They are supposedly cracking down on unlicensed activities. Not sure why they would contact a Real Estate broker since the OFC does not govern our industry. They do however license and oversee mortgage brokers, mortgage businesses and mortgage lenders. Anyway, Susan's update got me thinking about what would happen if the OFC or the FEDS stepped in and made it illegal for Real Estate agents and brokers to negotiate Short Sales? Some of us have changed our Real Estate business to where Short Sale negotiati... 03/18/2011

Hi folks. Bob Hertzog started a good conversation earlier this week on his article.... Attn: Short Sale Listing Agents...READ YOUR LENDER APPROVAL LETTERS BEFORE CALLING ME WITH THE "GREAT NEWS"!! Some how the comments made it around to commissions. One of the responders stated: "...because it is the investor and/or pmi (mortgage insurance) who determines who gets what and how much." And of course since this is dealing with Short Sales and how we get paid I just had to chime in..... The above statement is not correct. Our listing agreement with the seller determines how much we get paid and how much of a co-broke we are offering selling agents. The listing agreement is between the seller and the broker. The lender/investor/sevicer/MI company (let's call them lender for simplicities sak... 12/20/2010

Well my answer is easy.....practical. And here's why based on a real life example from this week. REOs (foreclosures) in my area of Poinciana Florida make up 25% of the inventory of homes for sale but 60% of the closed transactions (last 90 days)!! What that means is that REOs are by far the best deals and are flying off the shelves. They also sell for 100% of the asking price. The foreclosure market in Poinciana Florida is very, very competitive. Most of these foreclosures are being bought by Investors looking for good rental properties. On average they are able to buy a 3 bedroom 2 bath home with 1800 sq ft of living space and less than 10 years old. These houses rent for $800 to $900 per month. And can be bought for an average of $64,000. If you do the math you'll see these are exce... 12/11/2010