Friday, 1st of August 2008 at 03:00:01 PMLast night I received a sad eMail from another agent that I worked across the table from on a transaction. She has chosen to get out of the business and find something that will actually pay her money. As she put it, she’s paying $3,000 a month to have this job and she hasn’t made any money in quite a while.
A few months ago, agents were happy to see a down market because it would mean that agents that weren’t very good would be leaving the industry and I was one of them. I was tired of working transactions with agents that just didn’t know what they were doing or unprofessional/unethical. So I agreed, we would see them going. Well last night, I saw a good agent leave. She was one of the few that I didn’t have to call/hound to get work done. She had a system that worked and it was a good thing for her and her clients. I was seeking out opportunities to do more work with her because it was more success and happiness for my clients.
After reading her eMail I called her to try and offer some support and any encouragement that I could. She shared the plight of one of her clients that was just one example of her struggles and the reason for her decision.
The agent, which we’ll call Mary and her client we’ll call Lisa, have been searching for a home for a couple of months now. Lisa is a single mother that is just trying to find a nice safe home to raise her daughter in. Mary was able to find several homes that met her criteria and that Lisa wanted to make an offer on. Mary made the offer (full listing price with Down Payament Assistance), inspections were good, everything was progressing just fine until the apprasial, the best that could be done was $13,000 too short and the sellers couldn’t sell.
So Mary cancels the contract and continues to help Lisa find another opportunity, which she did and Lisa makes another offer. Before Mary submits the offer, she checks with a couple of aprrasiers and learns that it should apprise just fine. Mary feeling bad about the first contract offers to pay for the inspections, which were also good. Then just weeks from the offer (and discussions with apprasiers), the apprsial is in, now, the value is marked at $40,000 below contract price.
Let’s check the score. The home price is about $200,000, so in two weeks, it drops $40,000, that a 20% depreciation of a home value in just 2 weeks, 2 weeks!!! According to the apprasiar, it’s because a couple of short sales closed in the time period between the offer and the apprsial. Did I say 2 weeks??? Short sales are becoming worse for home properties than a freeway going through, or nuclear waste dump in a neighborhood. Two weeks???
So now Lisa is frustrated (and obviously Mary is too), and decided to quit trying to live the American Dream and continue to rent.
After hearing this, and learning that her other clients are going through this situation (as sellers), I can’t blame Mary for getting discouraged and wanting to leave the field that she not only enjoys, but excells at.
Mary, I wish you all the luck, and if there is anything that I can do to help, please call me!!
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