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I Am So “explicative” Over It!

I am sick of agent calling me to ask, “Will your property 666 Money Pitt Ln, you know, the one with busted pipes, will that go FHA?”

I am so flabbergasted at the question that I can’t figure out a creative yet, flagrant way to respond without coming off hostile or sarcastic.

When I am not sick of these agents calling me with these kinds of questions, I am tired of having to deal with agents who are too lazy to do their own research or at least, have a working knowledge of your profession.  If you are going to be an agent, work with buyers, you might want to have some kind of knowledge of lending products….just saying.

So, in other words, I am sick and tired of these lazy agents….I am. I have been in this business for 9 years, my 10 year anniversary comes up this September and in that 10 years, I can honestly say I have only met a handful of agents who seem to get it. It’s truly sad that our industry is comprised of so many who don’t see our industry as a profession….filled with professionals.

For goodness sake people, what other profession can you tell me that helps consumers make the biggest financial decision of their lives? Now….when you come up with some of those professions, stop and ask yourself, do those professional industries have the same amount of nincompoops in their profession?

Maybe I am just venting…maybe I have just leapt off the wall of reason, two feet into pure insanity but, I am just so done with idiot agents. I am…..I am over it.

Another example, last week, I had an agent ask me, “What should I tell my client?” I almost flipped out. I really almost had a Jeff Lewis flipping out moment. It took everything in my strength not to go off on this agent. I took about 3 seconds, centered myself, and replied, “You tell them the truth, exactly what happened.” She just couldn’t come to terms with it….”the truth”…she said, I said, “Yes”….and her reply was, “I could lose her as a client.” At this point, I wasn’t able to contain myself so, I just got quiet…didn’t say a word….an awkward silence fell on the phone call and after about 8 seconds or so, she just hung up on me.

Our profession is filled with less than professional people. Somewhere down the line, we got caught up and have somehow confused the definitions of Professional and Professionalism. What I mean is, some people think it’s not professional to tell another agent to do the right thing. In both these situations above, I got calls from Managing Broker who thought they were being nice to call me and tell me their agent wasn’t happy with me or that I cost them business. …..ooohh….Let’s just say, don’t call me to complain about me when the just of your complaint is, “Well, maybe you could have been nicer”.

I am not in the business of being nice. As a colleague, I will provide you professional service, I will provide you with quality customer service and that includes telling you when you are wrong. That include telling you, plainly, simply, without ambiguity what needs to happen. If that hurts your feelings, if the truth causes you some compulsion to cry or run to your Broker with a complaint…..well, go and talk with Judge Judy or Gordon Ramsay and see what they would say.

Now, at times….I will admit, my patience is thin and the day has been long and hard so, I can be less than my chipper, over the top friendly self however, I will go out of my way to help you. People who know me, know this to be true…I will help you but, I can’t fix stupid.

So….what do you need to know about me.

1. I can’t fix stupid: If you are suppose to know something as a professional…..you better know it.

2. I can’t work with liars: If I smell a lie….I will find it and in and…yes, I will be pissed so, don’t expect any empathy from me.

3. I will not do your job: If I am not your Broker, don’t expect me to do your job. If I am your Broker, I hired you because; you know how to do your job.

4. Be accountable: Don’t be afraid of accountability, you won’t grow and become a better person without it.

5. Keep open to learning: None of us know it all, even I learn new stuff every day but, if you shut down to learning, if you shut your mind down to instruction, I have no time for you.

Agents / Realtors, let’s be professionals, let’s hold each other accountable, let’s stop doing others jobs and create an environment of honest discussion, free flow of ideas and most importantly, an environment where don’t have to worry about hurting feelings when truth is spoken. Sometimes the truth hurts…it just does.

As many of us know, from working in the real estate industry and widely reported over the years, the majority of Americans carry their wealth in their homes. In short, every time Johnny Home Owner paid his mortgage, he was essentially making a payment into his savings account. The number one problem with this practice is, it locks up your money because, it’s not liquid cash, it’s equity. And as many of us have learned, you can’t drawn on that equity when credit markets tighten and home values drop. So for many Americans, they saw their savings account dwindling……dwindling and now, almost 25% of all Americans owe more on their home than it’s worth and therefore, nearly 25% of all Americans have lost the single largest money account they had…..their home.

As reported by the Associated Press on June 9, 2011, average home equity has plunged from more than 61% at the start of 2001 to 38% in the 1^st quarter of this year. For many homeowners, they are looking at average home prices that are reminiscent of 2002.

What is really hard on the average American purse strings is the fact that now, 25% of us are paying down our mortgage however, we aren’t see a return in higher equity….it’s like we are burning money. For this reason, many people are now starting to engage in strategic defaults or strategic short sales. In short, these are people who don’t have equity, see no value in paying for a home they will net them nothing in the short term so, they just stop paying, declare a hardship (which for some bank, having no equity is a hardship now. ) and short sale or foreclose.

My point here is, a very large portion of this country ….. approximately 25% of us have lost almost all of our wealth because our only real savings of wealth was in the value of our homes. Sadly, for many of us, we are deciding to stop the bleeding by simply walking away and starting over. Unfortunately, this action doesn’t do anything to help the rest of us who are struggling to make ends meet and sticking with our obligations.

If any lesson is to be learned here, it can be summed up in one word…….diversification.

This I have to say is an odd business model that RES.NET has currently. I don't know who has advised RES.Net to not disclose or make easily available the banks that utilize their services.I would think the thought would be to have as many Realtors sign up for their services at RES.Net as possible to make sure that Realtors are already familiar with their services and using the system before a bank contacts the Realtor and when asking the Realtors they are contacting and asset manager would want to hear that they are using the service or at least familiar with Res.Net. functions.

I had posted on Wordpress that I had renewed my Res.Net AMP subscription which I also had a simliar post on ActiveRain and on here on REO PRO but Wordpress had fed to my Facebook and Twitter accounts which received some responses via email from other Realtors.

The main question is do you get business from RES.Net and what banks use RES.Net

I have read through post on ActiveRain and REO PRO members through the searching options on both sites and I found  that the following banks use RES.NET according to members.

Suntrust, GRC, Goodman Dean, IAS, Keystone,Beal,Capstone,PMH,FAS,Excelle,SAM and PNC.

If you know of any others that use Res.Net please leave a comment on this post so other members can know when looking at signing up for Res.Net who all the banks are they may have a chance to get a listing from.

The ACLU (The American Civil Liberties Union) filed a petition with a Florida appellate court this month.

The 20th Judicial Circuit Court in Lee County, Florida.They are trying to stop the court from pushing foreclosure cases onto a mass docket that was designed to quickly handle an influx of foreclosure cases.

I couldn't believe with the problems of the last year this could even be a thought in anyones mind. We have to make sure all the foreclosures are heard fairly that is why we have a court system.

All of this at a time when there are reports out that the OCC is set to announce a foreclosure settlements the settlements are with major mortgage servicers over recent foreclosure problems and this will entail from multi-billion dollar fines to forced principal reduction and stricter emphasis on pursuing modifications.

OCC according to Wikipedia:

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is a United States federal agency under the Department of the Treasury. It was created in 1989 as a renamed version of another federal agency (that was faulted for its role in the Savings and loan crisis). Like other US federal bank regulators, it is paid by the banks it regulates. The OTS was initially seen as an aggressive regulator, but was later lax. Declining revenues and staff led the OTS to market itself to companies as a lax regulator in order to get revenue.

The OTS also expanded its oversight to companies that were not banks. Some of the companies that failed under OTS supervision during the Financial crisis of 2007-2010 include American International Group (AIG), Washington Mutual, and IndyMac.

The OTS was implicated in a backdating scandal regarding the balance sheet of IndyMac. Reform proposals from Henry Paulson, Barack Obama, and the U.S. Congress have all proposed to merge the OTS with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Fannie Mae recently launched WaysHome, an interactive video to educate homeowners about their options to avoid foreclosure, motivate them to make the right decisions, and encourage them to seek help. WaysHome is part of Fannie Mae's Know Your Options initiative to help today's struggling homeowners. Check it out at: www.KnowYourOptions.com.

Overview
WaysHome, a unique and innovative learning tool, allows homeowners to put themselves in real-life situations facing today's borrowers, make decisions, and see the consequences of their actions. Through WaysHome, homeowners can:      

• Participate in an interactive video simulation.      
• Select a character and go through the simulation "playing" that character.
• Follow characters as they encounter financial hardships and challenges that affect their ability to pay their mortgage.      
• Choose different paths based on real-life situations.
• Experience the positive outcomes or negative consequences of their choices, i.e., if they avoid taking action, foreclosure may be their only option.      
• Learn about options that may be available to help.      
• Discover the right paths to avoid foreclosure, know their options, and find their way home.

Agent benefits:
Our research shows that many homeowners still don't know about or understand their options to avoid foreclosure, and many homeowners who are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure have little to no contact with their mortgage company. WaysHome is designed to encourage homeowners to take action before it's too late.  

If you or your clients have questions or would like to order free copies of the WaysHome DVD, email ways_home@fanniemae.com.