What’s with banks asking for a listing agreement for a SS. I have dealt with six of them so far but not all of them ask for a lisitng. What should it read? The amount you’re offering or close to it or do they just want to see that the HO has made an attempt to sell the house?
you can sometimes get around it.
If you have a lot of repairs in the home you can say it isn’t marketable in the condition it’s in.
Or if it’s over leveraged you can say there isn’t enough equity in the property and the seller has zero funds so realtors will not list it as they ahve no way of getting paid.
TG
I think lenders ask for a listing agreement because of varying reasons: 1) as you mentioned, they want to see an attempt to sell, 2) they believe that in having a listing agreement, it is more of an arms-length transaction, and 3) their investors are asking for it.
I have negotiated with a trusted realtor to do the listing for $500 if the deal closes. They don’t have to do anything except write up the listing agreement and wait for the check if the deal closes. I give them all the information, including listing price. And list price is my opening offer. If I need a realtor to help me sell the property afterwards, the same realtor gets first crack at listing it - although I never need this part 8).
turborocket-
Does your realtor list the property on the mls, which I believe they legally must do? What happens when some other investor sees that listing on the mls and puts in a higher offer than the listing price?
It seems strange to list a property for much less than what is owed on it when you do not even know if the bank will accept any reduced payoff. In the shorts I have been working I have had them listed at the owed amount plus commission. This amount is way more than the value so I can gaurantee no other offers. Though I am not sure this is the proper thing to do. I too wonder what is the best price to list a property I am working a short sale on.
Other thoughts?
Not listed in MLS. Listing contract has a clause that says realtor does no marketing except to her investor clients. Since I am one of her investor clients, all is square. My realtor is also the broker, and is also a real estate professor at a local university. The realtor is also an extreme stickler on details, so she thoroughly checked the propriety of listing properties in this manner.
Regarding listing a property at a price less than payoff even before you know if the lender will accept a short… it happens all the time here. The MLS listing comments (only seen by realtors, and not the public, generally) will say… “pending short sale approval from lender.”
That’s good to know. I’ve got a realtor on my team but was not aware that I could have her put in a clause only allowing “in house” marketing.
I ran into a problem during my first short attempt whereby others saw the listing and submitted much higher offers than mine.
Hi Bovine,
Yeah, like anything else, it is just weeding out the bad to get to the good. Finding the right realtor is not easy, but it is not hard either.
Also, just to comment on whether the realtor must “legally” list the property in MLS. I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think “legal” has anything to do with it. I think it is in the by-laws or the membership agreement of each local board of realtors that may make realtors think they have to list everything. Since it is a private orgranization, and a private database, there is nothing “criminal” about listing or not listing in MLS (unless it comes to taking up a practice that draws attention of anti-trust suits by the feds ;D). If it is written in the board of realtors membership agreement, the realtor risk losing membership; they wouldn’t risk losing their state-issued real estate agent license. Just sharing my perspective.
In the state of Nevada we do have an exclusion to listing in the MLS that the owner must sign which states they do not want it put in the MLS for a specified length of time. If the owner chooses to sell during that time, the Realtor’s listing contract is still valid. Check your state laws and see if there is a similar provision.
Vegas Agent,
Thanks for providing an agent perspective. I will know to check on that for my state if I ever need to use it.