Real estate insanity

[unknownjulie]

I am mostly speaking about buying REO's or short sales without representation. It is my understanding that the banks dont negotiate much. I think a buyer's agent would be useful for negotiations with an actual person.

[oink]

I think I'm wasting my time on this but here goes:

Wrong! You need a good buyer's agent worse than most any type of buyer. Not many Realtors are proficient with REOs and Short Sales. That applies equally to the agents that have the listing. Considerable effort is undertaken by a proficient agent earnestly trying to close an REO or Short Sale. A good buyer's agent proficient in those types of sales will pick up most of the slack of an ignorant listing agent. REO's and Short Sales will involve significant negotiation and much other manipulating of the screwed up system by the proficient agent. Short Sales also take many months to close, if they do. I'd ask if the agent is a CDPE, certified distressed property expert at the minimum and how many short sales they have closed or if they sluff off the file to someone else to process.


You seem to have already made up your mind so, whatever.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[unknownjulie]

Well, those are excellent points you have made. I'll see if I like the house.

[csgray]

Having bought a foreclosed house here in Puna I don't think we could ever have closed the deal without our realtor extraordinaire John Dirgo. He earned every penny of his commission.

We had to meet every single deadline and the bank had to meet none! It was the single most frustrating business transaction of my life, and although I love our house, and we got a good enough deal that we aren't under water, I don't know if I would ever, ever buy another foreclosure. We attempted to buy several short sales and the banks at that time just wouldn't play let's make a deal, I understand they have gotten more likely to take offers in the last year or so.

The weirdest thing about buying our house was that we would make an offer, they would turn us down with a few insulting comments thrown in, and then the next day they would drop the price below our offer. This happened 3 times until they finally accepted an offer that was almost $15,000 less than the first offer they turned down! It seems like the right and left hand don't even know the other one exists, much less what they are doing.

Good luck and happy hunting.

Carol

[unknownjulie]

Yep, I am expecting this type of stress, since I have heard of this type of thing. I am so sorry you had to go through this! I am in a really nice rental that's month to month, so I am positioned to wait out this type of thing. OF course, what will likely happen, is something like my land, where I put in a low offer- expecting a counter and being able to "really think about it" and "decide if I want to counter"- and then WHAMMO- I get the call that "they accepted my offer and we close in 30 days". Thanks for the realtor reference!

[EightFingers]

The reason banks don't like to deal on foreclosures is the federal government covers all their losses. So, banks don't have any real incentive to make deals or move fast to get their housing inventory sold. Kind of sad to see houses rotting away, but the banks don't really care, all they look at are the numbers. Couple of REO's in HPP I'm interested in, but I'm really hesitant to make any offers.

[unknownjulie]

Call the listing agent and see if there are already offers, and how many. I know that really cheap stripped one- around 80k- had 5 offers when I called a couple weeks ago. The other one for 168- that's split up into 3 living areas- is also already sold, but it shows as "active". GL

[Bullwinkle]

John nice guy - good real estate guy

I like to use my own agent to represent in a deal as well

Agents have a commission at stake - some times (very often) the buyer and seller just do not mesh - the agents save the deal

I know what I want and how much I want to pay for it - It seems to work out best when I put that out there to the agent and have them call me when the escrow papers are ready ....

Remember the agents work for a commission - let them run - but don't let them drive - grin

[Carey]

Julie, You say you avoid realtor, since you were the "one who has always found every property I've ever bought in the past on my own"..I know I am WAYYYY older than you, so when I hear a statement like that, I remember when Finding a property all on your own meant that you went out & found a lot, talked to the landowner, & bargained on a price....

I am thinking that you mean that you look through REALTOR listings...which IS USING A REAL ESTATE AGENTS SERVICE. You may not have any idea of ow much it costs to have that service, but even to day with the internet, think of how it would be to try to find all of the properties OWN YOUR OWN, without someone else footing the bill for getting a buyer & seller together...that is kinda what you pay for when you use a real estate agent

Currently you are finding that many of the lower priced "deals" have multiple offers, that is because the market is coming back. There are some who are reinvesting in market flipping that you will be completing against... some of these people are professionals that sometimes have professional real estate agents working for them to find the best investment to buy.... and may even have the "inside track" if they have a long term relationship with their agent (BTW... that is a very good way to get the absolute BEST info on the market...)

[HawaiiTedd]

Aloha. Hope everyone is doing well today. First, a couple points of factual information:

- The State of Hawaii licenses individuals as a "real estate salesperson" or "real estate broker".

- A "real estate salesperson" must work under a supervising "real estate broker", who has additional experience and education and must approve all transactions of the salespeople under their supervision.

- Now...a "REALTOR®" is, by definition, a member of the National Association of REALTORS®, a professional trade group of real estate salespeople and brokers...of which membership is voluntary, NOT mandatory.

- Therefore, not all "real estate salespeople" or "real estate brokers" are "REALTORS®" (nor do they need to be in order to be licensed). Some real estate professionals chose not to join the National Association of REALTORS® (for a variety of reasons).

- The "listing agent" (aka "seller's agent) has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller. They must act in the financial best interest of the seller.

- A "buyer's agent" has a fiduciary responsibility to the buyer. They must act in the financial best interest of the buyer.



And now my opinion...for the reasons immediately above, it is unwise for a buyer of real estate to go directly to the listing agent (seller's agent) and negotiate to buy a property. ALWAYS use a "buyer's agent" from a different real estate company or brokerage than the seller.

Full disclaimer...I am a licensed real estate salesperson in Hawaii.

I hope this information was useful.

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