Joshua Jarvis - Georgia Realtor's Blog

In the world of Short Sales not everything is as it seems.  You might have an agent that has no idea what they are doing or you might have a pro that is keeping things from you, you could have a bank change their policy, fire someone or completely do a 180 on you at any time, and you might even have prices that go up and down for no apparent reason.

On average, our short sale process in Georgia is taking 5 months.  The fastes we've seen one move from meet (sit down with the seller) to closing has been 90 days.  That one we had help from the seller who had an early start.

If it takes us just 5 months to negotiate for a potential successful closing then the days on market are going to be at least 150 days!  

So the next time you call me and say, "Gee, this short sale has been on the market for a while..."  you should change that to... "how many offers do you have by now?"

See, it's not the days on market that is important to a short sale.  It's the number of offers and the progress I make with the bank.  I usually need 5 offers to sell one short sale, since the process takes so long.

My homes may sit there for 6 months, but we always have mutliple offers!

I was prompted to write about the best deal in town after a trulia question where the buyer stated that Auctions where the best deal. In some cases they be, but here's my brief break down on them.

• You've got REAL foreclosure auctions held at the county courthouse steps, which require cash (cashier's check) to make the bid.
  WHY? - Can sometimes find a gem of a deal. The bank likely knows less than you and the other liens will "drop" off. 
  WHY NOT? - CASH! You often can't inspect the inside.  It's more common to see Foreclosed properties that go back to the bank appear on the market for less then the foreclosure auction start bid
• AUCTIONS by Third Party Companies - These are held at various tent events or sometimes at the property.  Often these auctions are bulk buyers who bought as part of a hedge fund.  They usually get these for around .20 on the dollar.  They then mark them up to .50 on the dollar and sell them. 
  WHY? - Could be a great find.  No cash required.  Bypass somewhat cumbersome foreclosure and short sale process.  Flexible terms sometimes.
  WHY NOT? - Not always market ready.  Sometimes overpriced.  Often over-hyped.  Sometimes hard to find - not enough inventory.
  

Other options for the "BEST DEAL"

• Post Foreclosure- Foreclosures - What people generally mean when they say they will buy a foreclosure.  They can be HUD homes, bank owned, REO, Freddie mac and Fannie Mae.  They all have little wrinkles.
  WHY? - Flexible financing for the most part, very traditional (now) - plenty to choose from and more every day. 
• Short Sale - Pre-foreclosures - These are often the BEST DEALS hands down that I have ever heard of.
  WHY? - Growing and plenty of inventory.  Often the bank will give you a better deal than lose a ton of money on the foreclosure process. 
  WHY NOT? - Long tedious negotiation process with the bank.

Sure the Real Estate contract defines part of a Buyer's Agent Job as finding the home.  I just don't think that's it all.  I'm sorry Real Estate Commission, but we all know that most buyers can find most of the homes on their own and need very little help from agents other than...

1. Getting Pertinent Market Information
2. Getting into the home
3. Getting Localized information

Of course, only getting into the home is part of the battle but most buyers and the Commission (big C) have the wrong idea. 

So what is a Buyer's Agent Good For?

It can all be summed up in Fiduciary Responsibility.   In Georgia, Realtors have a Fiduciary responsbility to their clients.

What does that mean?

• It means that my job isn't to find you the home... NO, it's to get you the best deal on a home that matches the criteria based on your needs that you gave me.
• It means that I'm a consultant and will COUNSEL you on the decision. 
• It means, GOOD OR BAD, I'm going to tell you the outcome of your decisions. 

Bottomline it means I'm going to look out for your best interest or as some people say, "I've got your back."

Oh and by the way...  Anyone who thinks that I have my own interest at heart... is dead right!

I see the value in a long relationship, because that equals more referrals.  Pushing your price range up, showing homes with higher commission, and other tactics are a big no-no.  It's just silly business practice to go after a few hundred extra dollars when having a happy client could be several closings a year!

If you're reading this chances are you aren't from around here.  I'm specifically talking about Winder, GA 30680.  That city that was doomed to be caught in the sprawl until the Real Estate market took a different turn and saved Winder, from becoming... Known.

A quick look at Trulia will reveal that Winder, GA is one of the most affordable places to live.  Looking under $100K, no problem.  Want a high end townhome for less than $150K, here you go.

Known by the locals as a place where one "grow'd up" or a place where you live because you "haft" to, Winder offers relative convenience of being almost exactly in between Atlanta, and Athens.  It's not too far from I-85 and has easy access to highway 316.  Most of the people in Winder, did "grow'd" up there, but it's becomming more of a destination because of the values.

Stalled briefly by the gas prices, Winder is a viable option with homes that have up to 3,000 square feet under $150K.

Be sure to see all the homes in the Metro Atlanta Area

Amid the bailout talks and economic ruin that is blasted on our wonderful media outlets (note the sarcasm) a glimmer of hope stands there in the wilderness.   Real Estate.  Hmmm, just a thought, although prices have plummetted up to 50% in some places, you still need a roof over your head.  It may very well be the best place for your money.  I've long called real estate a "forced savings account."  Unless you bought your home in the last three years, at least for those in Georgia, you won't even notice that there is a real estate market shift in the works.  If you did purchase in the last 3 years, then you're likely part of the statistics.

In a recent conversation with my loan officer we were discussing some clients that had made the statement that they are going to wait for prices to continue to come down.  As I posted on my Georgia Real Estate Blog, you can't time the market, and you can't predict the bottom. 

Long ago there was a myth propogated, one that made the ultimate sense. The myth was that Days on Market are not available to Realtors because it would give them an unfair advantage in negotiations. Afterall, if I knew the seller's home had been on the market for 12 months then I might have a wee bit smaller offer than if it had just been listing.

Makes sense.

Well, I found out today that I was WRONG! Yes, in fact, we have the tools to look up how long your home has been on the market. SELLER BEWARE! I know how long you've been on the market and furthermore know when, if any changes have been to the price and so forth.

I found out through this great question here: In my original response, I had said that no one knows the Days On Market and anyone that does, might not know what they are doing. This stems from the Days on Market that other sites display.

Well, less than 5 minutes from that original response, I get an e-mail from Mr. Owen:

    Dear Joshua,   
    In your Trulia answer to Keith (a homebuyer in 30102) regarding finding out how long a home has been on the market, you made the statement, "Anyone claiming to be able to tell you EXACTLY, simply doesn't know what they are doing." Instead of using this forum to in a positive manner to answer questions and provide information, you have used it to undermine another agent's answer and hold yourself out as being more knowledgeable, when, in fact, YOU are incorrect.     Using the Archive search function in FMLS, you can see the date and time each listing was entered into the system, the same for each price change, expiration, withdrawal, under contract, back on the market, and closed.     I expect you see your correction of your answer shortly, with proper credit given. If not, I will correct your misinformation myself. (not sure what is meant by that)
Sincerely,

Warren Owen

Again, thank you Mr. Owen, I'm wrong! Thanks for the tip.

The truth of the matter is that days on market is such a small piece of the negotiation pie that it's good to know but if anything tells us that we either have a stubborn or un-motivated seller as opposed to someone who desperately wants to sell. In any case, special thanks to the Owen Family for giving me this great information.

A just for the record: My answers are not meant to undermine others, my answers are simply my opinion of what the right answer is. I rarely even read the answers of others (except the most recent or best).