Misconception about agents and the work they do?
Today, I'm feeling a little sad. I had a woman contact me a while back and ask for some advice on selling her home. She wanted to do a For Sale By Owner, also known as an Unrepresented Seller. I helped her along the way, but of course I wasn't actually selling her home for her.
As time passed, I got to know this woman and her circumstances and the short version of it was that she was about to lose her home to foreclosure for many reasons. I tried to explain to her that it would be to her benefit to hire me to sell the house for her and that there were many things that could be done with experienced representation to avoid a foreclosure.
She did not want to hire me. She did not want to hire any agent. She wanted to do this on her own. Her house was foreclosed and she lost the home AND now will have trouble buying another home with a foreclosure on her credit history. It's about the one thing that you can't work around when getting a home loan!
The house was foreclosed, sent to an agent to resell it and it sold.
It makes me sad because I wasn't able to make her understand that as an agent, selling homes is what I do EVERYDAY. I know the ins and outs of how to deal with the banks when banks won't listen to the homeowner. If I could have only gotten her to understand how it went for some other clients of mine last summer....
They came to me about to be foreclosed, had used another agent unsuccessfully and were now just ready to get a rental place and let the bank do it's work. I was able to explain that I could talk to the bank if they wanted to hire me and try to work out a sale for them.
The bank (as is usually the case) was not interested in having the PROPERTY back. They really wanted it SOLD. So, I presented my marketing plan, and showed them that I have a 72 day average on market time over the last three years. They gave these sellers 90 days to sell the home. The sellers lived there without making a payment and the bank, took less than they were owed to complete the sale (it's called a SHORT SALE in the industry). Now, my sellers didn't get much out of the deal. They were given $1000 from the mortgage holder to "start over with" and the house sold for about $8000 under what they owed (not considering the agent fees and closing fees). The buyer got a deal and the seller got to walk away.
THOSE sellers were able to walk away WITHOUT a foreclosure on their record so they WILL be able to buy another home when their situation changes...and it WILL WITHOUT A DOUBT CHANGE!
So, I am thinking that the general perception is that agents are more of a "What's in it for me?" group. And it's just not the case...sure there are some like that but those people exist in all walks of life. Sometimes it really IS about helping someone. I just wish I could have helped this woman that I started the story with.