This past Saturday I watched the Florida Gators play Mississippi State. It was painful to watch, all the way to the very end where we had a few seconds left and a field goal would have tied the game and given us a chance at redemption. Kicker Chas Henry steps up and… MISSES!!! Game over. Gators Lose. Cameras focus in on the defeated face of Henry and you can see in his grimace that he knows he just lost the game.
You see, he’s actually not a field goal kicker at all! He’s a punter (and a really good one at that!) who’s filling in for the regular kicker who’s out with a back injury!
Besides… could he single-handedly have lost the game? NO WAY! He missed the chance to pull it out, but the whole team together lost the game.
Or did he?
And what does this have to do with a short sale?
Sometimes we as Realtors feel like that replacement kicker being brought in at the last minute to try to save the day. When you’re brought into the game just a little too late and a client is hoping that you’ll be able to pull some miracle out of a hat, is it YOUR fault if the property goes to foreclosure? (well, maybe, but that’s another story! J) Did YOU stop paying your mortgage a year ago and wait until the very end to get help?
When an agent that understands short sales is brought into the “game” early enough, and a good “coaching strategy” of pricing, marketing, file submission and follow up is used, the closing rate of short sales is actually quite high.
If an agent doesn’t understand this strategy and prices the property too low or too high, doesn’t market the home aggressively to get a reasonable offer early in the process, submits a shoddy financial package and doesn’t follow up with the lender regularly and escalate when needed… then it doesn’t matter how early they’re brought into the game… they’re most likely going to lose anyway.
However if the property already has had a hearing and an auction date has been set, no matter HOW great you are at your job… that last second field goal attempt is going to miss most of the time.
Don’t take it personally. Don’t dwell on the failure. Focus on the families that DID come to you early enough that you WERE able to help. Focus on next week and the new family you’ll meet that needs you. You’re not a last minute kicker… you’re an important part of their team that needs to be in on the coaching decisions BEFORE the game even starts!
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