The Key to Closing Your Short Sale Transactions is Getting Everyone On Board!



Our job as real estate short sale negotiators is to essentially, “make everyone in the transaction happy.”  In some cases, that is much easier said than done.  In other cases, everything comes together quickly and smoothly, and it seems like we get off the hook almost too easily.  Now, while the latter situation definitely occurs quite often, we need to be prepared to deal with those situations when it may be a bit more challenging to complete a short sale.

Perhaps the biggest key to getting these deals done is setting proper expectations with everyone involved in the short sale transaction.  We’ve said it a thousand times, but if it’s not done, then the deal will not close!  That is a fact; so it is imperative to set the proper expectations right from the start, and to let everyone know what they can expect throughout the short sale process. That way, it will be much easier to get all party’s on board (buyers, sellers, listing agent and selling agent) with the current offer, which will educate them on what they can expect out of the transaction, from the commissions paid to the realtors, all the way to what a 2nd mortgage may request out of both a seller and a buyer. For more on setting proper short sale expectations visit www.RealEstateBusinessMentors.com and see my article titled “Why Buyer’s Agents Ruin Short Sale Deals”.

Another major part of getting everyone on board is stepping in and embracing your role as a short sale specialist, and truly coordinating the efforts of everyone involved and facilitating the transaction.  From telling the listing agent how long the process is going to take to working directly with the buyer’s attorney or Title Company; you have to make sure that you’re delivering all the important short sale information that they need in order to complete the tasks required of them.

When you’re speaking with lenders, that information will be everything from:

• the short sale package
• down to how long the buyer will need to close
• the type of loan the buyer is obtaining
• the seller’s and buyer’s attorney information or the title company information.

Make sure you are armed not only with the current offer and evidence to get your short sale accepted, but that you can also provide the lender with all of the details of your States closing and settlement process.  If you’re able to speak knowledgably about this information it will aid in your efforts to get them 100% on your side to get the deal done!

The bottom line is, make sure you spend the time setting expectations, determining what everyone involved in your short sale transaction is seeking out of the deal, and be prepared to present all pertinent information to both sides, so that they can be reassured that the transaction will happen, and that they aren’t just wasting their time.

For more real estate industry articles and videos visit www.RealEstateBusinessMentors.com or visit www.AskBobLachance.com for any real estate questions.