Negotiate your Contract

I know it can be hard when you are trying to get an offer an the clock is ticking loudly behind you with a pending auction date. Don't let your sense of urgency override your responsibility to your seller.

I see so many Realtors uncomfortable with advising the seller to counter the offer made by the buyer on their short sale listing. In the end it is your seller's choice but don't scare them away from the process of negotiating the price and/or terms of the offer. Remember that a lower offer approved by the seller's bank may potentially mean a larger exposure to the balance of the debt if that same bank decides to come after the owner for the balance at a later date.

Know your local contract!

Even without the existence of short sales it is important as Realtors to know our contract well if we are going to do a good job. Not that I can give it more importance due to short sales but not knowing your contract can put everyone in a bad place. Short sales take longer giving more opportunity for a loosely negotiated contact to give way to some very big problems.

We recently had a long and very drawn out negotiation with Countrywide (1st) and Wachovia (2nd). Actually both banks were fine to deal with, very professional during the transaction and giving us approval to close. As we got closer to closing and per our local contract we kept pushing the buyer agent for the release of the financing and appraisal contingencies. We were in a tough spot because our only course of action if they say no or keep delaying it is to void the offer, which we did not want to do for obvious reasons.

The morning of closing we get an 'email' from the buyer agent stating the buyer is unable to come to closing and the offer is void. < < insert cold sweats and panic heart rate here > > But because we know our contract and my exceptional negotiator, Jacqueline, properly documented the agreed closing date each time it was moved or delayed we were okay. You see our local contract automatically removes all contingencies at midnight prior to the closing date. So her having documented and having all parties sign and acknowledge the date we were able to protect our client. If we were lazy about all of it and left it as a verbal then we would have been in a bad spot for our seller. Long story even longer after about a week delay from the original date the buyer did come to the table and sign the papers to purchase. << Thanks to Jacqueline for doing a great job and saving a $360k sale but more importantly helping our seller avoid foreclosure! >>

Know your contract, document everything as needed and never take bad news as the end. There is always an answer if you stay calm and think it through. Okay sometimes things just crap out on you. But more often than not difficult and seemingly impossible situations can be overcome by stepping back and thinking it through.

Best of luck!