Socialebb Strategies and Solutions

Yvonne Coelet is a REALTOR in the White Mountains in northern Arizona. Yvonne is the incoming president-elect of the Arizona Women's Council of REALTORS and one of the first Trulia Pros in the Trulia Voices Community. She has a growing social media presence, including a new White Mountain Foreclosed Properties business page on Facebook.

What does an early adopter do to leverage her social media presence across platforms?

She marries them! Yvonne created a spotlight ad in her Trulia Pro account and pointed the link to her Facebook Fan page! Check it out and don't forget to click the YouTube tab at the top of the page ... This lady is pretty handy with a Flip camera!

Don't have a Trulia Pro account yet? Get one now ... and enjoy a FREE month of service on Trulia.

TUCSON, AZ, June 26, 2009 – The flavor of real estate foreclosure web sites changes dramatically with the launch of WhyteSmoke.com  by veteran REALTORS Kate Ryan and Nicole Brule-Fisher of Realty Executives of Southern Arizona.

“WhyteSmoke.com signals the beginning of many changes in our world, our nation and especially our community,” said Ryan. Both Ryan and Brule-Fisher are accomplished REALTORS in Tucson’s Real Estate Community and they pledge to blend their experience and proven talents to breathe new life, a higher level of professionalism and renewed compassion into an industry itself in the midst of sweeping changes. It is no coincidence that we launch this site in June, when we celebrate National Homeownership Month.

“As REALTORS, we see the sweeping impact of the housing market and it’s translation of pain in a down market to members of our community. We are here to move in a new, healthier and meaningful direction. We wish to revive and renew our community. Our mission is to help homebuyers and sellers understand what it is they can do to green those properties. This will be a new and fresh look at restoring our community and our homes, our dwelling. This is a bright new look at what we can all do, collectively, to reduce our impact on our environment AND live more comfortably, more simply along the way,” they said. 

“Further, as a significant commitment to our community, we wish to SHARE the needed help and attention with those homeowners that wish to remain in their homes by supplying information and support and guidance to those entities who can truly help.

“Alternatively, we are also equipped to help those homeowners choosing not to stay in their homes,” they continued.

“WhyteSmoke.com is here to assist owners of property, including lenders and their facilitators, (i.e. asset managers, etc.) in creating expedited sales of their properties while assuring the buying public professional and authoritative care,” said Brule-Fisher. “WhyteSmoke promotes our intention to share ideas in Greening up our homes and communities to insure a safe and caring environment for all.”

“WhyteSmoke.com is built on a platform for change. We invite the public and guest bloggers to share their gifts. We will offer time sensitive resources to consumers from those ‘in the know.’ Watch for the continued signals of change!”

Contact: Kate Ryan or Nicole Brule-Fisher

Realty Executives of Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Phone/KR 520-979-2098   Phone /NBF 520-465-5770

1.  Are you a foreclosure "expert"? "Almost overnight, companies have sprung up offering you the chance to become “certified” as a specialist in short sales or REOs. Although some of the programs might provide good training, you can invite trouble if you go overboard and market yourself as an expert," said Chuck Kasky, director of legal affairs for the Maryland Assn. of REALTORS at the Mid-Year Meeting of the National Assn. of REALTORS this week.

Certified Distressed Property Experts is a new designation with an educational curriculum focussed on short sales and REO sales. There is scant attention paid to home retention solutions. Are REALTORS with good intentions about helping consumers opening the door to lawsuits for themselves and their brokerages? Mission statement: "To provide education to licensed real estate agents that will allow them to efficiently and effectively help homeowners in distress avoid foreclosure and sell their properties."

2.  Adding loan modification services as ancillary service. "...giving advice to homeowners about seeking a loan modification before they try a short sale ... [a] practice that might be challenged as either unauthorized practice of law or otherwise outside the scope of sales associates’ license." Kasky said.

"If you help home owners navigate a loan modification, be aware that your E&O policy might not cover your actions if you’re sued", said Michelle Lind, general counsel of the Arizona Assn. of REALTORS. Providing such help is considered the business of housing counseling agencies, not brokerages, she said.

3.  Flipping and Double-Dipping. Investors and investor networks are partnering with real estate agents and brokerages. The following scenario was outlined at the RealTown Short Sale Srtategies Group by Dr. Keith Allison, a Tennessee real estate licensee:

"The Realtor refers the potential short sale to Quick Cash. Quick Cash arranges the short sale with the lender and pays for the home. (In his example he used a home valued at $200,000 .. .paying the lender 130,000 and the Realtor's commission for the referral. Next, he turns around and puts the home back on the market listed with the Realtor and sells it for 160,000.) The Realtor never touches the paperwork, yet collects commissions on two transactions."

Think the bank has a cause of action here? How about the homeowner? Maybe the real double dipping is going to happen in court!

4.  Selling Bank Properties (REOs). Lenders are shifting liability of REO (real estate owned) sales to listing and selling agents with addenda that pose greater risk than ever before for buyers of bank owned properties, according to Holly Eslinger (shown at right), broker of Exclusive Homes and Land, and 2009 president-elect of the Arizona Assn. of REALTORS. (Eslinger spoke to REALTORS at the group's Winter Conference in Prescott in March.)

Lind concurs with Eslinger about REO liability: "If you handle REOs for a lender, be sure your E&O policy covers property management activity," she said. "Many of your tasks in selling REO properties are property management functions: getting utilities turned on, keeping the property secure if it’s vacant, even evicting people."

5.  Commissions and Antitrust. Real estate agents complain mightily about an ever popular custom of banks cutting commissions, sometimes right before settlement. The discussion raises their ire in online communities and foot-in-mouth pandemic is growing. Consider the following remark from a Massachusetts REALTOR who bills himself as a Loss Mitigation Certified Specialist:

"I always submit for 6% and so far, have always gotten 6%. When the lenders even breathe the notion of cutting the Realtor commission, I tell them that the Realtor commission is non-negotiable. Plus I suggest alternatives as the situation presents."

The commission is "non-negotiable." Really? Tell that to the DOJ! (Brokers, Do you know what your agents are saying online?)


7.  Does your marketing cost people their homes? Consider the postcard at the right. "Avoid Foreclosure and Save Your Credit. Curious About Short Sales?" There is a web site address on the card, AvoidForeclosureInAustin.com. Is it any surprise that home retention is not a major focus of this agent's web site?

When a distraught and financially strapped consumer receives a postcard from a certified expert and pursues a short sale option without speaking with an attorney or a HUD Certified Counselor, is the real estate agent and brokerage at risk?

I recently attended a Foreclosure Fair in Tucson where a leading attorney in Arizona told attendees that credit profiles are often better served by bankruptcy in many cases. This postcard and web marketing campaign are designed by Pro-Step Marketing. Here is a recent pitch by that company to REALTORS at Facebook:

" .. we are offering a LIVE webinar on "How to Market To Sellers Facing Foreclosure". Special guests will be attending including the instructors for the National Certification Course for Short Sales (they are speaking on the NAR lpanel at MidYear conference) as well as agents who have learned how to take a marketing strategy to their market and generate business from this niche ... "

The instructors for the National Certification Course for Short Sales had center stage at a conference for the National Assn. for REALTORS in Washington, DC this week. Their consumer facing web site is called America's Home Rescue. I wonder how Kasky and Lind would weigh in on agents wearing expert status to hawk commissioned short sales.

Is fiduciary served in the absence of HUD Certified counseling and expertise?

Tom Teece, a REALTOR in Florida, weighed in on Facebook this week:

"Agents should protect themselves by advising the homeowner to get their hardship qualified by a HUD-approved counselor. This should be done before discussing any possible sales transaction. If the homeowner can stay, then the agent is not wasting their time with a listing. If the homeowner must sell, it must be listed with an agent, the hardship ... Read Morewill already be qualified, and the bank will accept the 3rd party verification from the HUD-approved counselor.

"Is NAR not encouraging this responsible action?

"Agent don't need to be foreclosure counselors. They just need to to know how to direct homeowners to the pros. The counserlors become part of the agen't team. Don't try to do everything yourself!"