Short Sales

Good morning all,

Has anyone hard of Renee Merlo from California? Woodland Hills area? I am a licensed Real Estate agent in Houston Tx. I handle quite a few short sales on a monthly basis. This individual contacted me, via email, interested in investing in short sale/ preforeclosure properties. I sent him some available properties to review. His response to me, fully aware that he is communicating with a licensed agent, was to have the owners agree to vacate the property, sign a authorization for him to communicate with the lender. He claims he will put a tenent in the property and then mortgage the property to them. My respone was: “It aint gonna happen” I informed him that I have authorization, I negotiate, we close. I offered him the chance to submit an offer on any property. He responded with persistance that he was an “Expert” in Short Sales (I doubt it) and is looking for someone (Agent) to turn over their listings to him and he will handle everything. There is probally an agent out there unwittingly, who will partner up with this guy and eventully find themselves in trouble.

I don’t really understand the “Why” behind the “Why” What is he attempting to do?

Why would he insist on an authorization letter and be the negotiator?

Why have the tenant vacate so he can put a customer in the home before the sale?

It’s really fishy, I am looking for some understanding of what he is attempting. I have never heard or seen this before.

Thanks!

James

Sounds like he wants you to find the properties for him and then he will steal them from you once he has the authorization letter.

He wants to bargain directly with the REO Bank to increase the potential profit of the short sale.

Putting in a tenant cum homeowner in place of a traditonal tenant increases the investor’s bargaining power, particularly if he combines this with a provision to allow the REO bank to finance/service the new would be homeowners.

My advice—play this guy’s game to get a peek at the authorization letter—if it isn’t exclusionary from a profit standpoint and allows you to outsource some of the more costly processes, it might be worth a further look…

Regards,

Scott Miller