Last week was beautiful business! It was a mad dash to the Tax Credit deadline and we had multiple successful closings. Some say we’re lucky, I say we work darn hard. Those designations after my name aren’t just initials, it’s education. Effectively winning a client a place at the closing table today is nothing short of spinning plates while doing the Latin Tango!

We’re balancing double-digit decline in property values, the complicated intracacies of short sales and foreclosures AND  the recent tightening of the lending institutions on the buyer’s side. It’s not a job for the weak. In order to win your place at the closing table, you simply must have an experienced, effective agent to represent you. Thankfully, I can dance

There is no time to bask in that afterglow this week, I’m moving on to the next opportunity to help a client…or at least I’m trying to.

Case in point…I’ve been trying to get in touch with an agent for *two days* to tell him I have an offer on his seller’s property with absolutely no response. So, unfortunately for his seller, we’re moving on. I’d like to send this article from MSN to his client…but I won’t.

7 ways to avoid a crummy real estate agent

Does your agent never get in touch, fail to offer advice, or work only part time? Well, it’s about time you ditch the dud and find someone who is effective.

By  U.S. News & World Report

This is probably the same guy who makes fun of me for having my Blackberry “glued to my ear”. Whatever dude, and good luck with your future.

This: “73 % of homeowners that go to foreclosure do so without ever asking for help.”

This statistic kills me. The ramifications of foreclosure can be devastating and in most cases,    it is so unnecessary! People who have worked hard for what they have their whole lives and because they don’t know what to do, they do nothing, leading themselves into the worst possible consequences. If you or someone you know is in this position, they’re often too tired or overwhelmed to ask for help. Send them this link.

Real Estate is my passion, helping people is my purpose, and negotiating…now that is my Olympic event! I’m sitting right here with my Blackberry in my hand, 248-840-3434. No excuses…

I lost on two fronts yesterday by being honest. I could have had a sale and I could have had a [momentarily] happy client. Instead, I volunteered the truth…œif you love it, you can buy it, but this house is not a good investment. My clients are so disappointed that they didn™t even want to look at houses today. I™m sorry you two, you may even think I over-stepped by making that statement. I can™t help it, it’s the thing that defines me.

I have had several defining moments in my career, I™m sure you have too. It™s that   moment in time when an opportunity we™ve been diligently working for suddenly appears before us, like a shiny red apple, ripe for the picking and finally within our grasp…only it comes with a little, tiny, teeny, weenie condition. You can make this sale, get this promotion, win this client, whatever the opportunity, if you just tell one tiny little lie. Well not a lie, really, a white lie. Not a white lie, really, it™s just a fib. Well, not even a fib, really, it™s just œpuffing. It™s not even œpuffing, is it, when you just withhold a little bit of information? I mean, you™re not saying anything untruthful, you™re just not saying the whole truth. You know what I’m talking about.

My first defining moment came when I had been a licensed realtor for all of 4 months. I was all fresh-faced and optimistic and on a mission because when we bought our first house, we had somehow gotten hooked up with a dishonest or less than honest realtor who sold us a complete money pit. Several years, dozens of fights and too many blisters later, I was on a mission to single handedly save œmy buyers from the same heartache of making uninformed decisions. (Risky decisions are ok, as long as you know up front, that™s called adventure!)

Four months into my valiant quest to save the real estate universe, I still hadn™t sold a single home. I hadn™t had a paycheck in six months and things were getting a little dismal and I was sick and tired of eating Ramen Noodles. I had cut many corners already, furnishing my whole working wardrobe from a resale shop and my cheap business cards even without a photo. I was working with my first buyer and they looked at every single dwelling for sale within a 10 mile radius; even things they knew they didn™t want, just to see œwhat they looked like. They had specifications for everything not just the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. No white kitchen cabinets, hardwood floors on both levels, mechanicals within 5 years of age, no wood trim, etc. After about 30 houses, I finally found them a great house; a brand new listing that was well priced!

Into the office we went, to write up an offer. My hopes of Roger and I eating something other than Ramen noodles the next month were soaring! Then the thing happened¦the buyers still wanted to offer another 5% below the already great price. I showed them comps, explained the sellers market and the risk in multiple offer situations. They still they insisted on writing low but would œcome up if the seller countered. So, write the stinking offer I did, I delivered it to the listing agent, then waited to see if my Ramen noodle diet was over.  

While I waited in the office for word on the offer, my broker came in and asked how the offer went. The conversation went like this:

Broker: So did you write the offer?

Me: Yes, I wrote it. But they won™t get it.

Broker: Why not?

Me: They wrote too low.

Broker: Why didn™t you just tell them they were up against another buyer so they would have written higher?

Me: Blink¦Blink¦

There it was. The moment. The broker, my trainer, was looking at me waiting for an answer as to why I didn™t think of the obvious myself. Then I wondered too. I was pretty close to desperate having been without a paycheck for over 6 months and finally, here it was, my golden opportunity, and I had blown it. Everyone within earshot of the copier could hear our coversation. I felt green and foolish. If I lost the sale, the broker lost his part of the sale too. He wasn’t happy.

Broker: It™s not too late. Call them up and tell them that the other agent just called and they have competition, that they should increase their offer.  

Me: (heart pounding at such confrontation) but, there isn™t another offer¦that would be a lying.  

Broker: It™s not lying; it™s a œgray area. You™ll be doing them a favor. They want the house.

Me: But I don’t think I believe in gray areas.

Broker: If you don™t use these gray areas, you™ll never be successful in this business. Buyers don™t know how to make house-buying decisions. You have to help them.

There it was, then. The gauntlet. Would I or wouldn™t I? They did want the house and it was well priced, they wouldn™t have been overpaying a penny. In fact, with the housing market soaring they would thank me in 6 months and send all their friends and family to me! Oh just think of it, and no more Ramen noodles!  

AIN’T. NO. WAY. flushed over me like a heat wave. I won™t say I didn™t think about it, I did, for a split second. Call it a white lie, a fib, a gray area, a half-truth, a little withholding of information, whatever. Dress it up any way you™d like, but in the end, it was still dishonest.

I™d like to say I said that out loud, made a righteous fuss about integrity and made them all feel like slug bait. I™d like to say that I showed them all and the good guys won that day¦but that™s not real life, or my real life anyway. My clients did not get the house. The seller was mad at them for their low offer so they rejected their offer, countering at full price. My clients were crushed, I was called a little œPolly Anna in my office and I ate Ramen noodles for the next couple of months.  

I wouldn™t realize it for a even a couple of years, but something so much larger than a first sale was at stake back then. The framework by which I would build my entire business had been set on that foundation.  

Today, I measure my success not by sales numbers, although they are good to me, but by the fact that 98% of my business comes from the very people to whom I have sometimes been the bearer of bad news. Over the years, they have referred their family and their friends and in many cases, now their kids. A couple of dozen years and real estate cycles later, I™m still in the business of sometimes delivering bad news, especially during these difficult times.

We believe the only bad decision is one that is uninformed or misinformed. If you come to our real estate practice looking for a “yes” girl, you’re at the wrong place. I’m opinionated. Ask any one of my clients. I’m probably going to speak my mind whether or not you ask, I assume that’s why you were referred to me. And after I give you bad news and you get mad, I want you to know I have your best interest at heart, not mine, and then get over it and still love me. Whether or not you still buy the home is completely your decision, now it’s just an informed one. Ok? Ok.

Know what else? Sometimes I still have to eat Ramen noodles, only now there™s a certain satisfaction in eating them.

Gwen Daubenmeyer, CDPE

Associate Broker

email me!

Re/Max in the Hills

Re/Max Hall of Fame

www.MichiganDigs.com

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I’m writing this post through gritted teeth. I am a mad realtor on a mad rant. If you are looking for a Polly Anna story about a successful, uplifting sale I had then go here, because this is not the post you’re looking for…

Let’s just get it out in the open that I’m an obnoxious “i” dotter in my business. I pay attention to details, I’m a rule follower and I want things done correctly. (which is why I welcome edits to my posts, I’m no english major. But I digress…)

I received an offer on my listing about 7 weeks ago. I did everything right…I insisted on a Pre-Approval letter not a weak Pre-Qualification letter, it was from a reputable lender, by an experienced loan officer who has been in the business a couple of decades. I went a step further, because now Pre-Approval letters are not good enough, and called the loan rep directly and asked the important questions that every good realtor asks:

• Did you run the buyer’s credit report already and verify that they are credit worthy?
• Did you verify that the buyer has sufficient funds to close?
• Did you examine the debt balances to makes sure that his debt-to-income ratio qualifies the buyer for this loan?

“Yes, yes and yes” the loan rep says, “the buyer is gold”.

Seven weeks later…FAIL…mortgage denied due to no FICO score. Huh? what happened to your “gold” buyer? I feel completely deceived and am ticked. To heck with privacy rules protecting the buyer, she owed both my seller and myself an explanation. Here’s an excerpt of that explanation:

The FHA mortgage product has always, in the past, allowed a family member to sign for a primary borrower if he does not have a FICO score, or sufficient income.   We updated our FHA guidelines last month to match the new changes issued for FHA financing, which require all borrowers to have a FICO or alternative credit.   I, nor my manager, nor fellow loan officers with xxxxxxxx, did not interpret this new guidelines to apply to our unique situation.  

Really? Did you miss “all borrowers” up there in your own statement? Let me get this straight…You’re the loan rep. The lending guidelines for the FHA loan you are representing are changing in the same month you gave me a “gold” status and pre-approval letter. And you didn’t know it applied to this buyer? I’m sorry, I thought that was your j-o-b? I assumed when you issued a Pre-Approval letter in the same month the lending guidelines were changing, that you had taken said changes into consideration. FAIL.

Just do a google search on “FHA changes” and see how many articles come up. Heck, I’ve been reading about it since last June. I guess I should have ordered the entire lenders guideline summary and read it myself.

Secondly, you are being dishonest when I asked you all of the pertinent questions above, because you answered me regarding only ONE party to the contract. FAIL.

I make mistakes…I can understand a mistake…this was no mistake. And what did all of this accomplish? I’m still mad, the loan rep has lost her reputation with me big time. She has a buyer that is devastated he did not get his dream house and I have a very disappointed seller. BIG  FAIL.

I was thinking about this situation and how I could handle it differently in the future to see that none of my clients are ever in this position again. I still don’t know of any way I could have prevented this from happening; this type of thing drives me crazy! It ocurred to me then that as times get tougher there will be more and more lenders and agents carelessly slapping deals together, without any regard to the ramifications of the parties involved, in hopes that they might close.

I can promise you one thing…come hell or high water, I won’t be one of them. I’m not playing.

Oh and yes, subject loan rep, in answer to your question, I did keep your business card in consideration of future business…yes indeed…FAIL.

Gwen Daubenmeyer, CDPE

Associate Broker

email me!

Re/Max in the Hills

Re/Max Hall of Fame

Top 3% of Agents Nationwide

DISTRESSED PROPERTY DIVISION:

www.GwenCanHelp.com

According to Forbes, we win! We have the dubious honor of having our property values here in the Detroit area fall more than any other city in the midwest. As if we needed Forbes to tell us we’ve earned this gloom we feel hanging over our heads. There is, however, something satisfying about seeing in black and white, what we’ve been saying for two years.   I say…let’s have two minutes of mourning and gnashing of teeth and then let’s do what we Detroiters always do…claw our way out!Let’s begin with some damage control. Some reports state that more than 30% of homeowners here in metro Detroit are behind in their house payments. If this is you or someone you know, Roger and I have positioned ourselves to help. As a CDPE, (Certified Distressed Property Expert) I have implemented a distressed property division for Oakland and Macomb county properties. It is important to us to be a part of the solution to this current housing crisis. Foreclosure is a personal and financial tsunami; there are other, much better options and at no cost to the seller. Call us for a free, no obligation consultation. We can help!

Oh, and there is a silver lining…Prices are so low that you can snag your dream home for a fraction of it’s market value. Homes are moving, we’ve sold three just this weekend. Our clients are getting some awesome deals! Add to that, Buyer Tax Credits for both new and current homeowners and we’ve just given you a reason to smile, Motor City.

Call us, we’ve been here through thick and thin for over 25 years. There’s no where to go but up!

Gwen Daubenmeyer, CDPE

Associate Broker

email me!

Re/Max in the Hills

Re/Max Hall of Fame

www.MichiganDigs.com

Distressed Property Division:

www.GwenCanHelp.com

The truth is…short sales are frustrating. The good news is…CDPE’s like myself spend our time and resources dedicating ourselves to making a difference in this process. You’ve all read and heard about the difficulties that some people are having with Bank of America (B of A) and short sales. CDPE’s are at the forefront of this struggle, determined to do our very best for our clients. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with the Regional Director of the Short Sale Division of Bank of America. I, um…had a lot to say.

I realize that a short sale is major ordeal for everyone involved. After all, we’re asking the bank to cancel all of a debt that is owed. I get that. [Ed Note: But does it have to be this mind-boggling, hair-pulling, poke-my-eyes-out-with-a-No.-2-pencil difficult? Really?! ok, tantrum over.]

I don’t mind working hard, but when I’ve put together a spectacular short sale package complete with every document and comp under the sun to support the short sale and it STILL takes 150 days to get an approval from the bank…then it’s *their* problem.

To give Mr. B of A credit, he started the meeting with “no question should be left unasked.”   I doubt he realized that was like saying œsic ‘em to a dog. And I did! He said 56 days is B of A’s average for closing short sales. 56 Days. Really because mine are running 4-6 months! This is the only time in my life I would settle for average. In fact, I’d be ecstatic with average.

I was astounded when he told me 70 percent of B of A short sales are not approved. Want to know why? FIFTY PERCENT of them are fraudulent, unqualified short sales, that™s why. Fifty percent, 5-0! Who are the agents participating in and facilitating these transactions I wonder? I can tell you that agents filing these unqualified short sales are just clogging up an already overtaxed system, causing further delay for those of us who are representing families in legitimate trouble. Every file has to be carefully audited for fraud and this takes time, but too much time in my opinion.

Well, B of A is listening and they’re working on it, Mr. B of A says. Currently in process: a software program that allows me to upload my short sale packages directly into their system myself and then monitors the progress and communication through their website. I like this A LOT! Then the information I give my sellers will be directly from the file as entered by the processors and negotiators, not read to me and interpreted by whoever happens to answer the phone. The new program also promises to discover missing documents or those that need updating, such as bank statements and pay stubs, so they can be input in a timely manner.

Personally, I love B of A on the lending side. My mortgages go through without a fuss. The short sale side, however, has left A LOT to be desired. That said, I truly appreciated Mr. B of A™s time.   This kind of opportunity, to address the decision makers directly, comes rarely. We happened to catch him in Detroit for one day, in between flights from Minnesota to Ohio. Even though he could not answer many of my questions, he did offer to find the answers for me. I’m happy to say I think CDPE’s like myself are making a difference.

In the end, Mr. B of A got the message…and I got his direct line. Don’t think I won’t use it, Mr. Regional Short Sale Director Guy.

I’m blogging on the fly but I just discovered an awesome little mobile tool I thought I’d share with you!You can call 1-800-2CHACHA from your mobile phone, ask any question you’d like in conversational english and get a text answer on your cell. To learn more, click here: http://chacha.com .

If it did, we’d all qualify! Over and over again we’re showing homes listed in the MLS as “shortsale”, waiting through the lengthy response time required by the bank  only to have the offer denied. The reason? There’s no hardship! The only basis for the shortsale is because the owners are upside down on the value of their home. This is unfair to the seller and misrepresentation to the buyer.There must be a real hardship before the bank will allow a shortsale. In some cases this can be insolvency or medical issues it doesn’t always have to be a loss of a job but being upside down in the value doesn’t cut it.This market is difficult enough to navigate without agents who do not know what they’re doing just throwing a listing up as shortsale because they know that  the seller’s cannot possibly sell and break even. I’m going to be asking a LOT of questions about the sellers situation before I write an offer on the next short sale I can promise you. If the agent doesn’t want to divulge the personal cause of their shortsale then fine, its their prerogative but I can certainly move on to the next “shortsale” listing  whose representing agent  will give me enough information to advise my client accordingly.  

A few days ago, EIGHT to be exact, I received a most unusual gift from a client. It was a zip lock bag of…I’m not sure exactly…a whitish creamy substance along with an instruction sheet. She told me it was “Friendship Bread”. Ei yi yi. She told me I’m to leave this…substance in the bag on my counter. Un-refrigerated. For TEN days. Well, I’m no Martha Ray or Rachel Stewart but I know this is just not right. The instructions say every day I’m supposed to simply “mash the bag”. “The bag” she says, “will create a little gas occasionally from the fermentation(!) and when you see the gas causing the bag to bloat just burp the bag”. This is sounding strangely familiar to another experience I’ve had somewhere deep in the recesses of my memory. I don’t think I enjoyed it so much back then either. The instructions tell me on Day 6 I need to add some stuff. That the instructions assume I actually have such stuff in my pantry was annoying. Flour, sugar and milk? in the house all at the same time? Seriously?  I thought about just throwing the bag away. I even tried once but I dug the bag back out. I just couldn’t do it since 1) I received the bag from a client that I love and 2) I had already mashed and burped the bag every four hours for 6 days. I couldn’t just give up now. I left for the grocery store feeling a little fear and trepidation…geez,  does flour still come in a bag? and will I recognize it? I’m a realtor for goodness sake. My dream home doesn’t even have a kitchen it has a carry out window. After being directed to the correct isle, I made a corporate decision to get both “multi-purpose” and “self-rising” flour together in one bag. It seemed like a bigger bang for the buck. Later, it felt like such a relief to check off “feed the bag” and “burp the bag”  as completed tasks in my Top Producer. At this writing, the bag sits warm and slightly bloated on my counter at day 8. I’m going to continue the mashing and burping thing until day 10 when “bake the bag” will gloriously appear on my schedule. Much to my wonder, my family is very supportive; they even want me to set up the webcam so they can watch me turn the oven on. With the amount of gas this thing keeps creating I’m going to keep the fire extinguisher close at hand. Then, I’m going to send out an email to my database reminding them of how grateful they should be I only give them calendars and stuff. Oh and Suzanne, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, but I think you misunderstood and this bread is really called “Test Your Friendship Bread”! I wondered about that mischievious look on your face when you gave it to me.

The class I attended at the beginning of October was to earn my CDPE “Certified Distressed Property Expert” designation. It is the first designation of its kind and I believe he said the class I attended was the first offered in the state of Michigan. I was hesitant at first because the class was well…a little expensive, it was two whole days of information and I had already had it up to my eyeballs with “experts” who had a little book knowledge but had never been successful personally at handling short sales and foreclosures. Then comes Alex Charfen of Distressed Property Institute, LLC. I decided to pony up for a couple of reasons. First, his company is based out of Florida, ok, he knows a tough market. Second, he and his wife Cady have actually made a very successful life and living helping sellers avoid the financial disaster of foreclosure. He wrote the book, literally. It will be published this December. That is exactly what I wanted to do in this market, to help people avoid foreclosure. Sign me up!I drove well over an hour each way to this class for a name I didn’t recognize and I was not disappointed! There was a wealth of information and although I know my stuff on the retail end of real estate, much of what he was teaching was completely unfamiliar! None of the classes I had taken before on short sales and foreclosures had addressed this real estate crises in such passionate detail. Clearly Alex loves the industry and is committed to people first, things second which is my mantra. Alex took us all the way back to the Savings and Loan crisis and why they failed and continued with data, graphs and trends right through today. There was a ton of information, questions galore which he was always willing to answer and it’s funny now, but Alex talks so fast I remember thinking he must have brushed his teeth with gunpowder! It was a tsunami of the most accurate, intelligent and practical information on the subject I have ever heard. Not only did he give us the information–but the why and the how  of it!  By the end of the second day, he had managed to connect all the dots for me. I now have the knowledge and tools that will enable me to really help people in these crazy days. *Grabs her cape* Gwen Daubenmeyer, Associate Broker, Certified Distressed Property Expert. Of all the designations and classes I’ve taken, this just might be the most important one to me. It’s good to be a part of the solution for people in need again…and that’s what I’m grateful for today. You?