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9 Ways Virtual Assistants Can Help Real Estate Agents Who Negotiate Short Sales

The “short” in short sale simply means that the amount paid at the sale of a property on behalf of the borrower for an outstanding mortgage is less than the amount owed. But there is nothing “short” about the process. In fact it should be called “long sale” because real estate professionals who specialize in short sale transactions are well aware that - patience, diligent follow up and a long wait - is the name of the game.

The current Real Estate Market

Due to the increasing numbers of distressed homeowners, there has been an upsurge in the number of potential short sales available to real estate agents. Many of these homeowners need someone to negotiate their short sale once they have decided that it is the best option for them to use to avoid foreclosure. The sheer amount of documents to be prepared as well as the time spent on the phone going back and forth with lenders makes investing in a Virtual Assistant (VA) a strategic decision.

Now, “How can hiring a VA ensure that each short sale negotiation is carried out more efficiently and effectively?” To answer this question, let’s go through the entire process and then point out crucial areas where a virtual assistant can complement the agent’s efforts.

The Short Sale Process

Short sales usually follow the same sequence of steps for those real estate agents who handle the entire process from start to finish; it begins with the agent marketing for prospective clients, screening them, signing up the listings, getting the lender’s specific requirements and instructions, sending in the Authorization to Release Information document to the lender, listing the property on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), scheduling showings and following up with potential buyer agents, preparing and submitting the short sale packet, following up with the lender once it has been initiated, getting the short sale approved by the lender and finally, getting the buyer to close on the transaction.

1 - Marketing for clients: Agents have various ways to find clients such as sending out direct mails, going door knocking, internet marketing and so on. The VA can assist the agent by handling all the calls that come in as a result of the marketing effort. The VA can also schedule time for the prospects to speak with the agent in order to get all their real estate specific questions answered as well as follow up with them prior to an appointment to confirm their availability.

2 - Screening potential clients: To start off the process, agents usually have to screen potential clients to find out if they meet certain conditions that qualify them to sell their property as a short sale. These conditions are:

a. The home owner is experience a financial hardship.

b. The current value of the property is less than the amount owed to the lender.

The VA can do the screening process for the agent, so the agent only spends time explaining the entire short sale process to the client and the steps to be taken. This allows the agent to save time.

3 - Preparing the listing documents: Once the homeowner has decided to move forward with a short sale, the VA can then prepare the listing documents. This step frees the agent from to spending time putting together the required paperwork. Once the paper work is done, the agent can meet with the homeowner to sign them up as a client.

4 - Getting the lender’s short sale requirements: During the first call to the lender the VA can get all the necessary information such as the fax number to send the authorization, the fax number to send the complete short sale packet, the status of the loan and pending foreclosure and so on. Since the lender may not have already received the “Authorization to Release Information” document from the homeowner giving them the authority to speak with the agent and the VA, hence the VA can set up a three-way call whereby the lender gets to speak with the VA while the homeowner is on the line. The agent doesn’t have to be on the phone to do all this because it’s usually the same set of questions that each lender will be asked so this can be systemized and delegated to the VA.

5 - Sending in the Authorization to Release information: After the first call to the lender the VA can immediately get this document from the homeowner and send it in to the lender’s designated fax number. The authorization has to state that the homeowner has given both the agent and the VA the authority to talk to the lender on their behalf, its also necessary for the VA to send it in as soon as possible because it takes time for the authorization to take effect with the lender.

6 - Placing the property on the MLS: This step is self explanatory; essentially the VA enters in the listing information into the MLS along with the pictures of the property in order for it to be exposed to buyer for offers. The agent sets the property price at a level that will bring in a flood of buyer quickly, while the VA can takes care of all the time consuming data entry required to list the property on the MLS.

7 - Scheduling showings and following up with potential buyer agents: Assuming the agent listed the property at the right price, it won’t take long for buyer agents to start calling to take their buyers to see the property. The VA can take these calls and give the buyer agent all the necessary information for them to get access to the property. If the property is not vacant, the VA can find out from the homeowner the best time for the buyer agent and their client to come out to see the property. If the selling agent needs to be at the property during the showing, then the VA can make sure that the showing is scheduled at a time that is convenient for all parties. Also the VA can follow up with buyer agents after the showings to get instant feedback from them to see if their client is interested in buying the property.

8 - Preparing and submitting the short sale packet: Once the agent gets a suitable offer from a buyer and the homeowner accepts it, the VA can prepare all the necessary documents required by the lender for the short sale and then send it to the designated fax number. This process can be very time consuming because it is of utmost importance that the complete short sale packet is turned in. Hence it can be a benefit to the agent to know that they don’t have to be bugged down by this task because the VA can handle it.

9 - Following up with the lender once the short sale has been initiated: A couple of days after the short sale packet is submitted the VA can begin the process of regularly calling the lender to find out the status of the short sale. This is a very monotonous process because it involves being on hold for quite some time until someone picks up the phone. When this happens the VA can then transfer the call to the agent to find out the current status of the short sale. The initial follow up process continues for another period of time until the lender assigns a Loss Mitigation officer to the case. It is at this point that the agent actually begins the negotiation process. The loss mitigator then orders a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) to determine the value of the property and establish the amount the lender is willing to net as a result of the short sale. The entire short sale negotiation process can take typically between one month to four months (or more) depending on the lender hence the VA can handle all the follow up calls so the agents only gets on the calls once someone representing the lender is available.

Conclusion

As an agent, the most productive activities is getting new listings, negotiating contracts and closing transactions. As a short sale specialist two additional activities needs to be added to the three above which is ethically influencing the BPO so that the final value reflects the the current value of the property and also negotiating with the loss mitigator to approve the short sale in a timely manner in order for the buyer to close on the deal. Everything else in the short sale process can and should be delegated to the Virtual Assistant. By dividing the short sale process into those task that are most important and those that the VA can handle, it allows the agent to focus on what matters most - developing a track record as the “go to” agent for getting short sale negotiated and approved successfully.

Owen McGab Enaohwo provides Realtors® with trained Real Estate Virtual Assistant who assist agents with getting their time consuming tasks done. To subscribe for more free tips and advice on how to hire the right VA or to watch the video and download the audio of this particular article then please go to: http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com/blog

The Secret Rent to Own Strategies Tenants Can Use to Become Homeowners

Do you want to own your dream home? Of course, we all do. With the cost of living continually on the rise many individuals find themselves wondering if they will ever be free from the clutches of their landlord. Through a rent to own (also known as a lease with the option to buy) you can begin the journey to becoming a homeowner even if you have bad credit.

First of all, what is a rent to own? A rent to own is when a tenant makes an arrangement with their landlord which allows him or her to buy the property from the landlord over a period of time by applying a portion of their monthly rent towards the final purchase of the house.

With tighter mortgage requirements and banks experiencing a serious credit crunch many prospective homeowners find that they are unable to qualify for a home mortgage. It would seem all hope is lost but there are secret strategies that tenants can implement to make a rent to own work for them.

One might ask, why would I even want to implement these strategies and what are they? The answer is simple. You want to implement these strategies because you want to become a homeowner and put your hard earned money towards something that will one day be yours, instead of filling up your landlord’s wallet each and every month.

First of all, you need to truly examine your credit. One of the deal breakers that prevent banks from giving you a loan is bad credit. If you have credit problems, you should look into hiring a credit restoration company to work on improving your credit and remove as many negative statements from your credit report which in turn helps to increase your credit scores. As crazy as it sounds, your landlord might even agree to pay for it, all you have to do is ask.

Secondly, you need to have landlord report your monthly rent payments to the credit bureaus. There are companies out there that will actually help your landlord report to the bureaus on your behalf. There are two benefit of reporting your payments. The first is that you will be adding a positive payment history to your credit file; the second is that you now have proof to show the bank that you have been paying your rents on time.

Nowadays lenders want to see that borrowers with past credit problems can make timely mortgage payments. Implementing the strategies above will help you create a solid case when seeking a mortgage from the banks.

The main advantage of purchasing a home through a rent to own agreement is that you can live in the home of your dreams right now, while working on getting your credit fixed so that you can qualify for a mortgage from the bank.

Owen Mcgab Enaohwo is a Solutions Provider (Real Estate Investor) at ZENITH PROPERTY SOLUTIONS LLC. Through our marketing, we are able to locate sellers and landlords who are willing to sell their property for a fair price through a rent to own agreement. We negotiate favorable terms with them and then put the property under an assignable contract. We then locate a buyer (tenant) and then assign our interest to the buyer.

If you are looking for rent to own homes in Maryland, District of Columbia and the Northern Virginia area, we can help. Visit http://www.ZenithPropertySolutions.com/ownyourhome

How to Market and Drive Relevant Traffic to your Real Estate Website in an economic crisis.

How to Market and Drive Relevant Traffic to your Real Estate Website in an economic crisis.

Now that there is an economic crisis throughout the world and banks have tightened up on credit, it has become absolute necessary for Real Estate Professionals to reduce business expenses. It’s now even more important to make use of the internet as a tool to market your real estate business and drive targeted traffic to your website. The future shines brighter for those who wish to venture into the real estate market. The crisis has allowed both full-time and part-time Real Estate Investors to find valuable real estate at greater discounts and sell quickly to home buyers using creative financing. Those who can harness the power of the internet for both finding sellers and buyers as well as networking with other real estate professionals stand to create a successful niche for themselves.

In a recent interview conducted with Peter Kolat, a real estate marketing strategists who specializes in using the internet as a driving force for all aspects of his business, numerous ways of utilizing the World Wide Web for real estate marketing were discussed. By using even just a couple of the techniques explored, one can triple one’s real estate marketing power. Let’s discuss the top avenues which you can use to promote your real estate business online.

Advertise Locally

When it boils down to it, marketing real estate properties is and should be local. Signing up for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns such as AdWords by Google is recommended. Through these online bandit signs, you can advertise instantly for a minimal fee. Furthermore, these advertisements are targeted toward the exact people whom you want to find you, based on their inputted keywords. So if you’re doing a business in the state of Ohio, and someone searches for “real estate investor Ohio”, they’re bound to find you.

Conduct Search Engine Optimization

In a recent survey by a group of realtors, it was discovered that more than three quarters of the people looking for homes conduct their research online before they go out with their realtors to check out the homes. Unless you can afford to keep shelling out the money for PPC campaigns, chances are you’ll eventually need to have prospective clients find you naturally and for free on the search engines when they type keywords that are related to your niche. That is why search engine optimization (SEO) works. By optimizing your website for big search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, you have a higher chance of landing in the first page of their results when people search for a home. SEO can be done both on-page (e.g., through concise keyword research) and off-page (e.g., by establishing back links to your site from other websites).

Customize Landing Pages To Directly Address The Needs Of Clients

Having the right mindset is important in running a real estate marketing on the Internet. Keep in mind that marketing offline is completely different from marketing on the Internet. Put yourself in the buyers’ shoes and make sure to answer their questions and give them what they’re looking for right on your landing page.

Establish Trust And Credibility With Clients

It is also good advice for you to hang out in well-populated real estate websites, such as ReiClub.com and CreOnline.com, amongst others. Sign up for websites such as these and start sharing what you know and possibly even providing useful information for free to the website users. Selling Properties right away is a no-no. Instead, building trust in these communities is a proven guarantee to success in the realm of real estate marketing on the Internet.

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These are only a few ways of enhancing your real estate marketing power on the Internet, shared by a proven expert in this field.

If you wish to be on the road to being an online real estate marketing guru, visit http://twurl.cc/7hu to get a copy of the full interview with the real estate Internet marketing expert. The interview is available in different downloadable formats – for FREE. For other interviews with experts in various business fields http://www.ZenithPropertySolutions.com/blog