A trend I am noticing in my Sacramento short sales is buyers who try to negotiate on my short sale listings end up back at my list price. I don't know if I am flagged in a computer-based network somewhere as an agent who knows what she is doing as a Sacramento short sale agent, but many banks are accepting my list prices. I'm getting counters if the buyers didn't offer list price. And those counters are at my list price.
Then, the buyers get ticked off. Hey, I never told them to offer less than list price. They aren't my clients. I have no fiduciary with them. I will fight tooth and nail to get their offer accepted at the bank, but that's so my seller can get short sale approval. It's pretty simple, if we don't get short sale approval, we don't close escrow.
I am getting counter offers on Bank of America short sales, Wells Fargo short sales and Chase Bank short sales. In some cases, I work up a CMA to send to the buyer's agent to help them out. That's because the first thing I know a buyer will do is think, hey, I can buy something else. Screw you. But they can't. So, it's just good business to show the buyer he or she can't buy another home like this one.
Many short sales are priced under market, without value to upgrades but right at that sensitive mark that a bank will accept. It's picking that sensitive mark that's an art. The rest of it, if you really want to know, is sheer luck.
I feel empathy for today's buyers. They're wandering around aimlessly in a sea of foreclosures and short sales. They don't know what's real and what isn't. Some REOs are selling over list price with multiple offers. Buyers don't know why they should offer over list price because they haven't heard a good explanation from anybody. They also think those short sale prices they see are indicative of value.
Those short sales prices often mean nothing. And that's why some Sacramento buyers are making multiple offers on multiple short sales and, as a result, they are not buying a home.
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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.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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