Trying to figure out what price tag to slap on a short sale can be tough at times, especially if there are no comparable sales. I just closed a short sale in Sacramento that was very hard to price. Before I took the listing, I studied the area extensively. I found one comp that would justify a price over the half-million mark, but I needed more comps. So, I studied another market of similarly priced homes -- luxury homes that were once valued around a million. After picking apart the upgrades, adjusting for lot size, I came up with a price.
The real estate agent down the street wasn't thrilled. He had a similar home listed as a regular real estate transaction, not a short sale. His listing was priced for considerably more, a lot more. It wasn't selling. So, I ignored his listing and concentrated on my own.
See, the thing is the short sale list price has to be good enough in this declining market to attract a buyer who is willing to wait for approval from the bank. But it also must be high enough to satisfy the short sale bank. It can be tricky. The seller had this home listed before with a different agent who had tried to sell for several years. So, by the time she got to me, she was a little bit exhausted with the process and most likely somewhat leery.
But we sold it. It closed on Monday. Buyers fought over it. The first buyer wrote a clean and straight forward offer, which the seller accepted. During this time, a second buyer had been talking with his agent about making an offer. I gave his agent all of the information she needed to write an offer and expressed my concerns about urgency, but that buyer dragged his feet. By the time he finally got around to writing an offer, the home was already under contract. He unfairly blamed his agent. Then he contacted me and asked me if I would represent him.
You know, sometimes I can do dual agency without feeling like it's a conflict. It's rare but possible. I stood to lose more than $13,000 if I turned him down. I am paid by commission, you know. I realize lots of other agents have no problems whatsoever with dual agency -- because money can sometimes distort the picture. Much as I hated to do it, I told him no. I was too close to this seller and too vested in the transaction. I could not be objective. Therefore, I told the buyer that if he wanted to submit an offer, he needed to go through his present agent or find some other agent.
Along came buyer #3. This buyer wanted to submit an offer, too. Now we had an accepted offer, plus two back-up offers. As it turned out, like it sometimes does, the first buyer could not get her loan. Buyer #2 closed escrow after all. Probably the nicest thing was Bank of America was so accommodating. Although we had approval from the first buyer, Bank of America pushed this back through its system and emerged with a brand new short sale approval letter for the second buyer that kept the original closing date. How is that for service? I love Bank of America short sales.
---
Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
