Thread: Negotiator for house purchase

You need a buyers agent that has experience in short sales.

One quality of a good buyers agent is the ability to negotiate.

The problem however is that most people don't really understand what negotiation really means...especially buyers.

3 elements of negotiation, process, behavior, and substance, don't really exist in a short sale.

Process: You have no access to the actual negotiators at the bank other than your offer/HUD 1 Statement.

Behavior: You have no access to directly persuade the investors at the bank.

Substance: The property itself is an asset, performing or not, that has a concrete value attached to it by the investors. If you don't like their price or terms, there is very little you can do beyond submitting counter offer after counter offer to see where they finally say no.

Basically, there is little persuasion that can be done in a short sale. I'd focus more on finding the agent who can facilitate and work a short sale process more than I would focus on who can negotiate.


Lastly, when it comes to real estate negotiation, there is little room for negotiating on irrationality or principal. Most negotiating is done based on facts. Concrete market data just might rob you of any "smoking deals" that you or any other buyers may feel entitled to.

At best, in real estate, good negotiations will result in both parties either making a sacrifice OR both parties making a gain. Rarely does one (with good representation) get taken complete advantage of by result of 'good' persuasion.

I agree with you "BoiseRealEstateSoup" that most of the buyers are not aware in negotiation and most of them are thinking that a buyers agent is a trickster.They don't really appreciate the importance of a buyers agent in this kind of business.

You might want to keep looking for a property. It is very rare that a short sale with a second mortgage succeeds.

Damn! Excellent response Boise! Now all you have to do is get every buyer of Short Sales in the country to read that, and Realtors may not have to tolerate the litigious cry babies who make offers that get rejected and blame their Realtor or their broker, or their grandmother, or the mailman.

Ya know, I'm beginning to see your point regarding blogs and how people want to self-educate. I'd be interested in reading more of what you had to say (blog) about other RE and financial matters. You've peaked my curiosity.


CM

The best variant for you is to hire an agent who is going to present you at the negotiations as agents have such kind of experience and knowledge.

well then Boise RES, it seems to me, despite the consensus blessing upon your good advice, that the path to getting this property at its market value (more if their is a competitor and roughly on it if there is not a competitive bid) lies thru a trip to the planet mars... green men, green paperbacks perhaps. the latter i would hope, but the layers of people to go thru: LA, owners who want to avoid tax consequences, mt everest of bureaucracy at the banks makes even that an unreliable mutual ground at least for market price or even market price plus some padding.

i did find an agent who specializes in distressed properties. she got more out of the LA in one phone call than my broker has in 5 months. an offer by that specialist encouraged what ethics in the LA to contact my broker and, well, she talked to her but gave her different information which contradicted what she told the specialist.

little room for "principal", would that include paying the 2nd lien holder funds to permit the short sale?