Northern Michigan-Real Estate

After another crazy Monday I am amazed with the amount of work there is out there if you just keep positive and striving forward.

I am an average guy who came from a lawn care background that took a very big risk and this past fall(07) I decided I was not going to go back to my full time job in early 08. I will try my hand at this real estate game full time.

If I wanted to keep my hopes in not going back to my secure job I had to work very hard and quickly. I had a mentor with EXIT Realty who showed me that knocking on doors could be a great way to get leads in a down market.....the road less traveled, right? Well, my mentor ended up leaving to try something different and I was left out to dry. He left some of his listings that I was know in charge of selling.  I was super excited! The one that turned up the heat on my business was a little ranch home in a transitional neighborhood that was going into foreclosure.

This is the first time I had heard the term short sale and thought, "This seems like a lot of work." I ended up closing it rather quickly! "Could they all be this easy?" UH NOOO :) Nevertheless, the term short sale became a big part of my vocab. From that moment I started my education in short sales and how to find them. In a short amount of time I have helped many families avoid foreclosure and work myself into the 10% of all agents in our board through May!

I am now getting the calls from the lenders and banks to list their REO's! Man, getting listings without marketing to them......this is awesome! What other business could a 24 year old guy get so much respect so quickly?

I think if anyone is having a hard time with this market, I would just say hang on and be positive. I am having quite a bit of success in the "normal" market as well, so it's not like I am ONLY selling foreclosures and short sales. I wake up everyday thankful for my family and the ability to go to work and do something I truely enjoy doing.

Have a great Day and Happy Selling!!

Matt Hodges

Well.....It's another day in the short sale world!

I have been working on many short sales this year and have been quite successful, but some of these deals seem to really test the limits of my patience.

I took a listing on March 28th and had a good offer by April 2nd. So far so good, right? The lender immediately received all of our documents pertaining to this short sale so there was to be no confusion or delay. Unfortunately, like many prior, the lender "misplaced" the faxes and emails I was sending. We also didn't get to chat with the "negotiator" (I use negotiator loosely with this lender because of their inability to communicate very well,) until the end of April. The last time, prior to yesterday, I talked to the lender was May 2nd! I was supposed to get the approval that day or within a couple of days from then.

After MANY messages and calls to the dept I finally got fed up with the "run-around" and called nearly every hour and left messages on every supervisors voicemail hour my negotiator was dealing with this loan and how I needed an answer today. I am not a guy who pushes the lenders to make a decision, mainly because I think that they will put me to the bottom of the pile if I get snappy with them, however, in this case it seemed to work the other way.

It is funny when you put someone in a corner how quickly they will wiggle out. As I say in all short sale cases, be persistent and most cases very nice and professional, but when in doubt get a bit aggressive. If you are at the point of aggression it probably means the buyer/agent is getting to the point that they are going to walk and you don't have anything to lose anyway:)

Happy Selling!!

Matt Hodges