How to get Short Sale Listings

There are two ways to go about securing short sale listings. The first and most reliable is to obtain the listing directly from the seller. To find which properties are potential short sale listings. A Notice of Trustees and a Notice of Default can be obtained through a Title Company (The Notice of Default you may have to purchase.) The difference between the two is important. The Notice of Default is for properties that are one payment (31 days) late. The Notice of Trustees are for properties that are 3 months late on payments. Contact a local Title Company to obtain these lists.

Create a letter on how you, as a real estate professional, can help the property owner through a short sale. Once you have your list of potential short sale properties, distribute your letter using the the Notice of Default list. Most sellers at this stage do the worst thing possible and put their head in the sand. Your goal as a Real Estate Agent it to inform them of how you can help them. We can provide value to the transaction by: informing them of all their options, contacting lender for short sale approval, assisting in compiling the short sale package, and following up with the lender for status. We can show them the light at the end of the tunnel.

Why should a property owner consider a short sale instead of a foreclosure? A short sale does not harm a credit rating as much. However, there are some concerns that the seller has with a short sale. The chief among them is phantom income. This is income that the seller never receives but the seller pays income tax on. In addition, this has the potential to raise a sellers income tax bracket.

The second is to get the contact information for listings directly from the bank. This is more difficult and time consuming because it requires developing a relationship with the bank by doing BPO’s (Broker Price Opinion.) BPO’s are both time consuming and do not pay very well if at all. The benefit is that if you develop a long term relationship with the bank it can certainly pay off financially in the long run.