Central Florida Short Sales: February 2010

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Hi Folks. Richard Zaretsky wrote apost earlier this week titled SHORT SALE MARKET EVOLUTION - GMAC SOLUTION TO FALSE BUYERS  If you haven't read it pop over and do so.

Richard's post spawned an article by Bill J Archambault titled Successful REALTOR Or Failed Social Reformer.

Bill's post got me thinking about this one. Funny how that works!

Here is the language GMAC wants if you have a short sale with them as the lender:

2-3% earnest money must be agreeable to buyer. Contingencies must be removed 14 days after we issue approval letter and earnest money becomes non-refundable. If buyer walks, buyer and seller must agree in writing that earnest money will be wired to GMAC.

GMAC is interfering with my listing agreement and interfering with a purchase agreement.  This is, in my opinion***, Tortious interference. They are NOT a party to either of these contracts and have no right dictating the terms.

GMAC's new "deposit language" is interfering with my contractual right, as per my listing agreement, to a percentage of the deposit when a buyer walks. Why? I didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I spent time, effort and money during the pending status of the contract and have the right to be compensated if the deal kicks due to the buyer walking. GMAC wants to steal my money.

And what about the fully qualified buyer that doesn't have 2% to 3% to put up as a deposit? They could be purchasing the home using VA or USDA (100%) financing but may not be in a position to place 2% to 3% down as a deposit. Now due to this GMAC requirement they are blown out of the water. And of course these are exactly the buyers that are willing to pay a premium for a property.

Make no mistake about it this is just one more step towards banks dictating the real estate market.

Banks are now:

• Limitting how much I can charge for my services.

• Preventing me from being compensated for my time and effort.

• Dragging property values down even further by limitting the buyer pool.

You can be sure I will work the system to my advantage. BUT...dictating how I can charge for my services is a violation of anti trust laws. GMAC can certainly choose to not accept a short sale. That is their decision. How I get paid is my business and they are interfering with my contract. GMAC is not losing money. They are the servicer. They get paid whether payments are made or not. This new verbiage is not to lesson their losses it is to increase their profits.

I wonder if they pass the claimed deposit off to the investor? I doubt it.

Short Sales Suck and I Ain't Doin' Them!! Agent Training.

Hi Folks. I went out last week and did a photo shoot for a property I sold back in late 2005. It sold for $170,000. Now it's a pre-foreclosure Short Sale and will be going on the market for around $50,000.

When I first listed this property back in 2005 the owners were so proud of it. It was their little peice of paradise and it was in immaculate condition. It was purchased by an Investor in September of 2005 By early 2006 the market had crashed and this house has sat empty ever since.

The difference between what it looked like then and what it looks like now is striking. Sad.

What does it say about a real estate market when I won't even place my sign in the yard?

.......you can't sell people on trust...you have to build it.

And that's all I have to say today, so....check out this stuff..

I found this to be an excellent article "Who are you trying to impress?"

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