Short Sale Leads
For those realtors and mortgage professionals left in the industry, no doubt you are now working with a good percentage of short sales. These elusive deals can be a dream come true or a nightmare depending on many factors. Hopefully the smallest issue you have to contend with is where to find your short sale leads. While many marketing agencies claim to be able to attract those interested in a short sale, the qualifications are stringent – in other words, not every homeowner is going to qualify for a short sale. The most important thing to consider in a short sale is the hardship and equity relationship – or at least that is how the bank sees it. For example, a homeowner with a lot of equity and a lot of hardship will not get a short sale, only those with a lot of hardship and very little equity or negative equity will be qualified for a short sale.
To qualify a vendor for short sale leads, you are going to need to consider the ability to filter for both equity and hardship. How do you filter for hardship? Easy – think 30, 60, 90, 120, 150+ days late on the mortgage. Most short sale deals happen in the 60-120 day range but some happen even later. A homeowner that is 30 days late more often than not is a technical difficulty - either a missed payment or a lapse in judgment/short term money problem that is cured within the next 30 day period. That is why 60-120 days is usually the best way to filter for short sale leads, unless you are in a state where foreclosures happen quickly and without delay (this is right now for areas that are on the mend versus areas still inundated with foreclosures).
Every bank is different and yet every bank has the same basic mandate – shift bad assets off the books and make room for better quality collateral and borrowers. This incentive is why banks will even take a short sale in the first place so understanding the basics is key to starting your marketing efforts.
To generate a quality short sale lead via TV or radio, your short sale option will also have to most likely offer mortgage modifications because you will not get
enough interested sellers – you will need to augment your marketing to attract modification and other types of business related to distressed real estate. Even foreclosure avoidance and debt settlement/credit counseling are great alternative cross-disciplines that will help you maximize your revenue and return on investment with each inquiry that comes through your firm.
Marketing to concentrations of distressed homeowners or becoming a short sale expert of X city or metro area is also very important in building trust with the banks and with the homeowners. Your reputation as a politician of sorts is what will build the bridge that will help you develop other avenues for short sale leads in the future.
