What Are Your Plans for 2013?
We are soon to begin the 4th quarter of 2012, and you know what that means: you need to start working on your business plan for 2013. Are you planning to hire a support team or work on an agent team? Are you going to prospect for expired listings? FSBOs? Short sales?
It doesn’t matter which direction your business will take. No matter what you select, you need to become a master of your domain—by reading, studying, watching videos, preparing advertising materials, etc.
How to Become a Short Sale Master
Believe it or not, there is still plenty of time left to add the solicitation and listing of short sales to your bag of tricks. And, in order to become a master of that domain, here are a few things that you need to know:
- Foreclosure Process for Your State. When you take a short sale listing, it is important to know whether there is a pending foreclosure auction date. There are some new state and federal rules about dual tracking (processing a short sale while simultaneously pursuing foreclosure), but for the most part, it is a slippery slope to take a listing shortly before the scheduled auction date.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Guidelines. The FHFA just announced some new guidelines for the processing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac short sales that are slated to take effect on November 1,2012.
- HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) Program. You can seal the deal with your short sale sellers if you can help them to get approved for this government-backed program that offers 3k in relocation assistance at closing.
- Major Lenders and the Processing Times and Procedures. Did you know that most Bank of America and Wells Fargo short sale packages are processed through Equator, the online short sale processing platform? Have you set up your account yet and watched a few webinars or tutorials?
- Preliminary Title Report Information. Understanding how to read this report and the impact that liens have on the closing, will go a long way towards your short sale success While this may not be news to you, if there are too many liens attached to a property, then it will be extremely challenging (maybe impossible) to process the short sale—especially if these liens come from non-intuitional lien holders.
There has been a lot of hubbub in the news lately about a continuing shift away from foreclosures and towards short sales. If you want to make short sales your niche for 2013, mastering these five areas may just be the way to go!
