Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Short Sale Process: Finding A Good Short Sale Buyer's Agent

The short sale process is usually a great choice for home buyers. Nevertheless, not all short sale listings are the ideal deal - some are priced too high, many too low and a few are just right. Aside from the pricing, there can also be plenty of traps in a deal. The most typical and complicated is there are instances when the seller has more than one loan against the property. First-time home buyers will greatly benefit from working with a buyer's agent that has working experience selling short sale listings.

In soft or plummeting real estate markets, a great number of buyer's agents find the bulk of sales consist of bank-owned homes and short sales. If you can seek for a busy buyer's agent (not an agent who closes 3 or 4 deals a year), in all likelihood this agent will represent lots of short sale buyers. Here are strategies to find an short sale buyer's agent:

Referral From Friends, Co-workers or Family members to Short Sale Agents
It's likely that somebody you know has recently obtained a home. Ask for a suggestion to that agent, then simply call to inquire about short sale process working experience. Referrals are the ideal and most popular method of selecting an agent.

Contact an Agent Friend To Inquire About a Short Sale Referral
Agents who don't negotiate lots of bank-owned or short sale deals frequently know which agents do. Plus, agents frequently pay out one another referral fees, which means the referring agent has an additional incentive to ensure that you land in the best hands.

Chat with Agents at Open Houses
Whether or not the sponsor of the open house is the specific listing agent or any other agent in the same office doesn't really matter provided that you are not there to get that particular house. Open houses give potential buyers a laid back, non-threatening environment to speak with other agents. You can ask the agents to go into detail for you a recent short sale process experience to find out how many of these sorts of transactions the agents typically close per year.

Find Short Sale Agents On the Net
Many agents write blogs and forums regarding their experiences. It's as though looking through a journal because you're provided an inside glimpse at exactly what goes on behind the scenes. Ask direct questions, you needn't be afraid or even timid.

Sort MLS records by REO and Short Sale Agents
For those who have a friend in the real estate business with having access to MLS (multiple listing service), do a search by constraining the results to short sales, and access the closed sales for the past six months in your chosen ZIP code or neighborhood. Lookup the buyer's agent name on all of the sales, after which look at that agent's web site for more information.

Finding a professional agent? Visit: short sale process