Just got off the phone with the law firm. Foreclosure auction rescheduled to March 1st. Sweet! I have some time to attempt a short sale.
The question is… should I do it myself or hire a competent real estate agent who specializes in doing short sales. My current agent has never done short sales. If I do the short sale myself I would keep my current agent as the listing agent but I will do all the paperwork and negotiations for the short sale with the bank. I would ask the current agent to take a discounted commission or ask him to reimburse me for the work I would be doing for him. If I hire a different agent that specializes in short sales I would ask the current agent to cancel the listing and I will re-list with the new agent.
Hiring a short sale agent vs. doing it myself:
PROS
- Outsourced – will save me time
- Will not have to figure out how to do a net sheet
- Short sale package will actually get submitted
- Establish relationship for future deals / referrals
- Third party representation so the bank doesn’t get a funny feeling about the borrower negotiating his own short sale
CONS
- Miss out on the learning opportunity of doing a short sale step-by-step
Hmm….
