Every day agents complain about the lack of response and poor service they are getting from banks with short sale and foreclosure offers that are being presented .  It doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re representing the buyers or sellers. You could argue the banks don’t discriminate.  They’re giving the same lousy service to everyone.  These same agents will spend hours and hours working a deal only to have it fall apart because buyers get tired of waiting and move on, or because the banks refuse to move forward.

 

There’s good news. The banks are provided excellent services to one group of clients; the attorneys that are representing buyers and sellers. Think about it.  If a seller calls their bank as a client, they get nowhere fast. If you call as an agent representing a seller, forget it!  And a buyer, what chance do they have, even if it’s their own bank.  Even bank employees aren’t successful negotiating a transaction because the bank has to prove an arm’s length transaction has taken place.  Not so, if you’re an attorney and you call. These calls receive the highest priority and rightfully so. If an attorney goes into court with documented ineptness on the part of the lending institution or servicing corporation, the judge is likely to take a very hard line with the institution.

 

There’s a key message here.  Instead of fighting a losing battle using a failing strategy, why not let the experts that have winning strategies handle the transaction for you. This approach could save you dozens of hours of frustration. The savings will allow you to spend more and more time on 20% activities that make you even more money. Best of all, the attorneys will get responses from the banks that are beyond an agent’s capabilities.

In the future, keep in mind that the big money is made successfully negotiating contracts. That’s your job.  But, once the agreement is put together, turn the responsibility for getting the contract closed over to the real expert and spend all that extra time on meeting more people and generating even more business!