There certainly is no shortage of these headlines going around. Not only aimed at consumers, but also aimed at Las Vegas REALTORS to jump into the short sale business and start taking listings to be a “Short Sale” expert.

Trust me, you certainly earn your money in these transactions and dealing with the bureaucracy of the banks that can be associated with these transactions can cause everybody involved (buyer, seller and the real estate agents) to all pull their hair out without a good understanding of the process.

Our company wide policy is we can not represent clients in these transactions without the proper training.

Trust me, that’s a very good thing because I’m been seeing some Las Vegas short sales out there that are a complete waste of time for everybody. Below is a perfect example of something that came up in one of my searches for the Las Vegas deals of the week in the 89052 zip code. (One of many actually but this one is just blatantly obvious and a big red flag to not get in involved in this transaction IMO.)

In the property description of a property that has a price that is WAY TOO good to be true is the following quote:

This is a HUGE SHORT SALE, sale is totally contingent on lender(s), NO GUARANTEE. I have the short sale application in hand — LETS TRY IT !!!!!!!!!!

Some real short advice concerning short sales. Not everybody knows what they are doing in these specialized transactions and there is no mandatory training for many real estate agents to get involved in these transactions.

Pricing Las Vegas real estate being offered at dirt cheap prices that will have no chance of being approved by the bank really is doing nobody any good. (Really cheap prices generate a lot of buyers inquiring.)

When we list Las Vegas Homes that are a short sale, we do have to provide the bank comparables to justify the price and they certainly check those numbers with their sources. Turning in bad comparables and poor hardship packages certainly is not going to help improve the chances of a Las Vegas home owner getting out from under their burden.

Just a couple of real quick tips to keep in mind for buyers and for Las Vegas Home Sellers:

  • Short sales or a “hardship package” are not Automatically approved by a lender just because you want to sell your home and it’s worth less then you owe on it. There are requirements that must be met and The hardship package should be submitted as soon as possible and not “in hand” waiting for somebody to “try it”. The bank has to approve it before agreeing to a sale and that includes the final selling price.
  • If the price is too good to be true, chances are just that. There are several popular non real estate agent services out there scraping the assessors records and advertising home prices that may just be liens being filed to sell you a list of homes that are in the foreclosure process. (A $40,000 home in 89052 listed as a foreclosure on one of these services does not mean somebody defaulted on a $40,000 loan and you have a chance of buying it at that price.)
  • Read the fine print on those prices being advertised for the advertised auctions. The concept of auctions is to get as many people together in one place at one time (much like the new Las Vegas home builders used to do in those so called VIP Grand Openings) to get the emotions running and prices bid up. The bank still reserves the right to accept or reject the final bidding price in an auction which is precisely why you’ll see riduculously low prices being advertised.

Las Vegas short sales can certainly be challenging but in a way, it can actually be a very rewarding niche since you really need to know what you are doing and not everybody can do them properly. I’d have to say the level of expertise to do them properly is certainly higher then just listing a Las Vegas home for sale at whatever price a Las Vegas home owner needs to pay all of their bills. (Which just ends up creating more bills.)

In the process, a Las Vegas home owner can get out of their situation and move on in life and it is possible for a buyer to get a really good deal. I can’t really say I’ve ever seen a seller intentionally trash a home they’ve gotten out of in a short sale. Something I certainly can’t say for Las Vegas foreclosures which should pretty much tell you something. And, in a way — the Las Vegas home seller that does a short sale is actually making money and certainly saving money by getting out of something that they can’t afford in the first place.

Lately though I’ve been spending a lot of time sorting through the gimmicks for our real estate buyers. Ridiculously low prices that have no chance of being approved by the bank, hardship packages that have not been submitted to the bank, no approvals on the sales price, etc..

I love making the great real estate deal for a realistic buyer and am more then happy to pursue a deal if it is realistic in the first place and an important part of this process is understanding marketing gimmicks and their desired intentions. Pricing Las Vegas homes that are a short sale $200,000 below the current fair market value does absolutely nothing worthwhile in the long run.

In my opinion, marketing games in the current market hurt more then they help especially in what can be a very confusing real estate market for the average consumer and even some real estate agents. There are some really good Las Vegas real estate deals out there and unfortunately they might be getting overlooked because potential buyers are chasing dreams.

If you are getting buried in debt and need to sell your Las Vegas home, you can use the contact information below to get in touch with me and we can discuss the process a little further to see if we can help. We have plenty of Las Vegas real estate buyers looking and maybe we can put together a good real estate deal.

Paul Francis, ABR,CRS | Coldwell Banker Premier | Las Vegas Real Estate | 702.592.3058