The Best Part for a Short Sale Agent

I’ll cut right to the chase. The best part of a short sale for a Sacramento short sale agent is at closing — but the reason why it’s the best part might surprise you. A fellow short sale agent friend in Virginia says one of her associates reports that she dreads closing a transaction. This agent says when a transaction closes, it means she is in the unemployment line. Out of work. Searching for new business. Depressed. That’s crazy. Because closing is the best part of the short sale for the short sale agent.

It’s not the money. Heaven knows it’s not the money. Short sale agents do 2 to 3 times the work in a short sale over a regular equity transaction for the same amount of money. Why would anybody in her right mind do 2 to 3 times the work for the same amount of money or, even less, because sometimes in a short sale an agent has to discount her commission or kick back some of it to make the deal work for the bank and the seller. What kind of fool would willingly do that? Who knocks herself out like that?

For starters, it’s because that’s where much of the business lies in Sacramento. Something like 1 out of every 3 escrows is a short sale. So, if an agent doesn’t work in the short sale end of the business, she’s missing a lot of business. If an agent specializes in short sales, like this Sacramento short sale agent, she gets a lot of business.

One thing is identical across the board. When the short sale closes, and I get to make that last phone call to the seller to say it has closed, well, that is truly the best part. I can hear the sighs of relief over the phone. The giddiness that it’s over. The happiness of being able to put the ordeal behind.

Because I am in French Polynesia right now, I have missed calling my sellers at closing. I have no cellphone in this part of the South Pacific. My TC calls to let them know; I send an email. But sending an email is not the same thing. It’s especially rewarding the last few days of the year, when sellers are worried about year-end reporting and income taxes like now. I had 4 closings on Friday and I’ll have another 6 or so on Monday. So, my TC gets all of the fun at the moment. She deserves it. She works just as hard and rarely gets to hear first hand how happy sellers are when a short sale closes.

Photo: Sunset in Rangiroa by Elizabeth Weintraub