You need to be prepared for the calls and e-mails you will get. You need to have a property information sheet to gather the correct info on the property. You are going to get calls from underwater homeowners whether you are marketing specifically for them or not. When people hear that you have rental property or they know that you buy and sell houses, they will find you. I personally do not run marketing specifically for pre-foreclosures because I keep busy enough with what I’m already working on. However, I have learned what needs to be done for short sales so that I can gather the proper information and either work the deal myself or refer it out to someone that specializes in negotiating short sales. If you want to focus on this type of investing, you need to get a good education on handling these deals.

1) First and Foremost, find out where the homeowner is mentally. What do they want to do with the home? Do they want to try to stay in the home or have they thrown in the towel and just want to move on? These are TWO EXTREMELY different cases. You can not in most areas and should not charge the homeowner anything upfront for either scenario and there are specific laws that may determine what you can do in your area to help these homeowners. Consult with a knowledgeable and experienced Real Estate attorney in your local area to help guide you in the right direction.

Paperwork needed to work a short sale deal.

1) Property Information Sheet
2) Financial Information Sheet – lien holders, account numbers, employment/income information, anything that you may need to help work with the bank.
3) Hardship Letter – written by the homeowner stating what their hardship is that caused the house payment to fall behind. Some lenders refer to this as a “Hardship Letter” some even call it a “Sad letter”. Very important, this needs to be a real letter, not some canned letter, and it needs to be written by the homeowner and signed by them with a date on it.
4) Pictures of the property and condition report
5) Purchase and Sale Agreement

After you gather the information on the property, determine if it is a deal you would even want to pursue. Most of us would like to be able to help EVERY single homeowner that calls. It is in our nature as compassionate human beings to want to help others, but we have to be realistic with ourselves and our potential customers. We do not have enough time in the day to help every single person calling. Now, you could try to get close, but your business would have to get significantly larger to handle all of the calls.
So the name of the game is to focus your efforts on the most important deals. It’s all about sifting and sorting your leads. Do you have a process to determine what leads you are going to work on today, tomorrow, next week? This is something EVERY business needs. If you don’t you will be spinning around chasing your tail not getting very far.
This was not a comprehensive list. I have gone through several Short Sale courses to learn different methods to work shortsales. If you would like a reference for a great short sale course, add a comment and also, while you are at it, join my newsletter mailing list.

Happy Investing

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