Real Estate Brokers Thriving in Short Sales

A rising number of real estate brokers are thriving in short sales despite the wide perception that short sales take a long time and are difficult to work out and complete.

Analysts, including Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com, believed that more lenders agreed to short sales in 2009 as the Obama administration included short sales in its options for preventing foreclosures.

Out of the more than 2.8 million homeowners that received delinquency or foreclosure notices in 2009, over 871,000 ultimately lost their homes while the rest – about 1.9 million – were able to save their properties either through loan modifications or short sales or by simply paying their arrears and restoring their accounts to current status.

In many cities, short sales are increasingly accounting for a bigger portion of total home sales. In Indianapolis, according to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors, as of the first week of January, 8.2 percent of home sales available for sale are properties in short sale.

In the Elk Grove section of the Sacramento area, foreclosure sales fell year-over-year by more than 46 percent in December while short sales shot up by 114 percent.

Recently, several real estate brokers in Chicago completed their training to earn the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation to be able to handle more competently short sales and take advantage of the sharply rising market for short sales.

Brokers who are trained in handling distressed sales know what lenders expect and know how to negotiate with them. Additionally, as short sales oftentimes involve deep emotions on the part of homeowners, brokers are better equipped to understand owners and to walk them through the short sale process.

In New Mexico, broker Deanna Dopslaf, president of counseling service Southwest Foreclosure Alternatives, strived to become one of a few certified default resolution experts in the state because she saw opportunities in specializing in the short sale niche. She admitted that short sales take months to complete and that commissions are uncertain, but she has discovered that she has the ability and compassion to help distressed homeowners.

In another report released by Point2 Technologies, real estate professionals throughout the U.S. said that they are optimistic about the housing sector in 2010. Real estate brokers who participated in the survey said that foreclosures and low appraisals will continue to batter the residential market, but they hope that the market corrections taking place will soon stabilize the real property sector.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 9:22 am and is filed under Real Estate Brokers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.