Lately, I have found myself in a bit of a moral dilemma of which I would like to hear the opinions of my fellow "Rainers."
My phone has been ringing off the hook with short sale sellers wanting me to list their properties. I say "properties" instead of "homes" because a large majority of these calls are from investors who are looking to get out of their underperforming investments. We can do it and we have shorted many investment properties in the past but I have to wonder what the effect is on our Vancouver WA estate market.
Should I be saving my powers for Goodness?
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When you choose us to handle your Vancouver Washington real estate needs, you choose a team of realtors® who care about you and your family. Buying or selling a home is always more enjoyable when you work with professionals who will listen to your needs and who will work together with you to achieve your objective. We are very familiar with all types a real estate in Clark Countyand we specialize in Vancouver, Ridgefield and Battle Ground. We are also very experienced with new home and custom home construction having assisted several local builders in selling new neighborhoods in the Vancouver Washington area. Additionally, we have helped numerous families build their own dream homes. We are dedicated to helping you make intelligent, informed decisions and to providing you with exceptional service.
Hi Mark,
That is a tough one, if they are in a position to pay the difference on a short sale, they should be.
If they can't, then it is better to short sell and have the bank get market price, rather than foreclosing and having them get less.
All the best!
I'd say you need to come to a happy medium. You want to get some of those properties listed so you can use your goodness to help buyers get into those more affordable homes.
Best of luck!
Kind Regards, Nicole Weidauer
The Egerer & Weidauer Team, Keller Williams Realty North Seattle
I say help them now and then show them how to become a good investor and put them on the road to correct investing unlike their previous agent.
Ohh! Like they said! I think we can help the potential short sale sellers by counseling them on the long term costs of their short sales, help people buy now into a lower price, and guide the investors in the future so that they have less likelihood of having a short sale.
I had a 'for sure' listing, but really, after talking with the client, he realized that it's not the best idea for him to take the loss by selling the home he's in. As for investors - well, I think that the banks that loaned to them made business decisions - no? And if they (the bank) accepted the risk, then they bear the brunt of the consequence. On the otherhand, the choice between 'practical business decision' (by the investor) should not ever take a back seat to 'ethical and moral business decisions'. I'm never accused of being very socially competent, and I'm afraid that's what I might tell someone - when you accepted the loan, you made a promise to repay money and that promise wasn't predicated on "unless I don't feel like it". I'm not a rigid moralist, and I see your delimma - I hope you will rest easy knowing it's not your promise being broken, and it was the bank's business decision to bet on the investor. Just don't bank on any promises from those clients ;>
Mark, good post and you are right it is a dilemma. The problem is the more homes that we have on the market the longer they all will take to sell and the prices will have to drop to gert rid of the inventory. We are recommending to our sellers that unless they really need to sell their home right now to take their homes off the market. Investors though are in a different situation, take the listings and continue to do what you both do best helping your clients.
Thank you all for the responses.
Actually I have been quite busy with this exact situation lately. (Some of you may have noticed that I have been M.I.A. for a few days!) I have taken 5 new short sale listings in the past 30 days. My listing portfolio is now 88% short sales! My crystal ball is predicting a whole lot of time spent on HOLD with the banks in my near future! Wish me luck!