Banks Giving Agents Short Sale Leads!?

        Yesterday I read an article at floridarealtors.org entitled “Banks Giving agents short sale leads”. When I read I thought to myself “WOW… This is great news!”

        It means banks are starting to realize that short sales are a win win situation for everyone. The lenders contact the borrowers first and then pass on information of those willing to cooperate in a short sale to local real estate professionals. They are actually providing brokers with pre-screened “warm leads” for short sales! I don’t know about you but I think this is great news. What could be a better referral source than the short sale lender itself? Also, when you contact that seller and tell them that their lender recommended you to help them out, do you think that you’ll get that deal?... If you don’t, then you’re in the wrong business. I don’t know how they go about choosing which agent to send the lead to but I’m pretty sure that agents with the best track record in closing short sales for them would be at the top of the list. I know that’s how I would choose.

       Lenders are doing this in order boost the number of successful workouts and it’s working… Banks that are participating in this have reported a twenty percent increase in short sale closings. Although the article didn’t mention what banks are doing this, I really hope that this becomes a growing trend in our industry. How do I get them to send me some leads? You may be asking. Well... It couldn’t hurt to ask the negotiators that you are currently working with especially if you've already closed a few with them. We’ve actually received several REO listings just by creating some rapport with the negotiator and asking questions.

       At the end of the day, we’re not working with big banks we’re just working with regular people that work inside of big buildings and the stronger the relationship that you can build with them, the better off you’ll be.