A little while ago, some clients of mine made an offer on an REO. Everything seemed to be proceeding according to plan.
A week had come and gone, and I still hadn’t had any concerns yet. Then after two weeks went by, and no response still, I knew something was going on. I called and e-mailed the selling agent religiously for three days, and still no response. Finally, as a last ditch approach to getting some type of response, I had to call the agents broker. They then turned me over to their assistant, and she did appear to have more knowledge then I had expected about what was going on.
Finally, after almost three weeks, I was emailed an extension agreement that stated we were requesting an extension due to the listing office opening escrow with the wrong company and not realizing it for two weeks. Two weeks? If I hadn’t called the broker with my concerns the listing agent would have just coasted along obliviously and incompetently until our deal crashed and burned.
Luckily I also have had some good experiences with bank owned properties. I did recently sell one of these properties for a property listed by an agent from Lake Arrowhead. Like before, it did take the bank quite awhile to open the escrow, but everything else was top notch. The agent I was working with was very good about keeping me updating, and her assistant was on top of it as well. I was then able to file all my paperwork in a timely fashion.
Since the agent I worked with was knowledgeable and on top of the situation, it allowed me to deliver outstanding customer service to my client. It is always a wise decision to ask your Realtor a couple of detailed questions about how they work so you can be sure you are getting the service you deserve. It is always beneficial to work with an agent that is full time versus someone who is only part time. Your Realtor should also be very intuitive about your local market and how it works.
If you are planning on buying in Big Bear, it is a very bad idea to use somebody from L.A. or Orange County. If you are planning on buying a Bank Owned listing, it is especially important to use somebody who is experienced in selling them. The banks do thing very differently and a Realtor who doesn’t know what they are doing can blow the deal or end up costing you a great deal of money.
Author Info: Ali Combs has much experience researching single-family homes for sale and realty overall. Check out her other articles on the internet.