Ben's Short Sale Insights

 Credibility and believability are very important. When you are writing or communicating with a customer in print you have to keep this in mind. What would a customer think if we said the following in the normal course of a sales conversation or listing presentation?   “I’m the number one agent i...

 You sort your mail over a trash can, right? If we are sending someone a letter we have an uphill battle to fight to get our letter opened and read. Out of your mail, which letters do you open and read? Which do you throw away?  I can usually tell the credit card offers and other junk mail withou...

1. We are going to re-list with the same agent we had the home listed with.  Some people ask mean, in your face questions like “why would you do that? They didn’t sell your house did they?”  A better way to handle this objection is to ask them sincerely, “What is causing you to consider re-listin...

 I have been happy with the buyers we have converted off Craigslist and online. Buyer agency is the key to successfully converting buyer leads to a sale. One day I realized that we were so good at getting buyers to sign a buyer agency, but a lot of those buyers weren’t buying a home.  I went back...

 If you’re working with buyers, then you’ve got to get them to commit to working exclusively with you. How many times have we put the time, effort, and mental energy into a buyer only to have them purchase with the listing agent? It’s frustrating. That’s why I get my buyers to sign a buyer agency...

 My answer would depend on what type of market you are in and how much competition you have. On one hand you have the small towns with less expireds and less competition. On the other hand you have the big cities like Orlando, Florida with 2 million plus people in the entire metro area. Hundreds ...

 A lot of agents will only take a listing if it is priced right. Where does that leave us when we have a seller who is being transferred out of town and has to sell? But, they aren’t being transferred for 4-5 months and think their house is worth more than market. At least they want to try to get...

 I ran into a seller last week that owed $230,000 on her home. She had bought it in 2005. Guess what it is worth today? $200,000? $175,000? $100,000? Nope.  $65,000! I was a little shocked to say the least. That is a 75% loss in value. No wonder Wall Street is hurting so bad. I’m sure people have...

 Sometimes it seems like distress sales are the only way to make a commission in today’s market. But, we shouldn’t turn down normal listings. I have noticed that in my MLS, the homes in good shape sell for much more than the distress sales. But they take a lot longer to sell. I remember what it w...

 I’ve made a lot of money off of FSBOs. But, I have to say they are the hardest leads to convert. FSBOs are much different from an Expired or Pre-Foreclosure. They want to sell, but they don’t want to use an agent.   So you have to take a different tack with a FSBO, versus what you would do with ...