Today I’m going to cover the topic of building your dream team. In order for you to build a successful short sale business, we need to develop a team of professionals that can help. I’m going to discuss each team player and their purpose. One of the most important people on the team should be a real estate agent. A real estate agent can perform many functions, including, providing comps on the property, allowing access to the MLS, dealing with the homeowner, marketing and selling the property, and if you train them correctly, many are even willing to manage a clean out and cleanup of the property prior to marketing it for sale – definitely one of the most valuable team members you can have.
Next is a title company. When you start working with the property, one of the most important things you can know is all of the information regarding the title. Having a relationship with a title company can allow you to receive free preliminary title reports, and understand any issues that may be associated with the property. The title company can also help you resolve these issues and give you valuable tips in doing so. Once you have a relationship established with a title company you can expect prompt service and as many free preliminary reports as you need.
An escrow agent or closer that understands your business is invaluable. They can fix last-minute issues that arise, and they also have relationships with many title companies, other real estate agents and brokers and even some underwriting lenders.
Many people underestimate the need for a mortgage broker. When you have a good mortgage broker on your side you can understand the current lending trends and what your buyer can and can’t do based on the current market. For instance if you know that it’s very difficult to get 100% loan, and your buyer submits an offer that states they are getting a 100% loan, you certainly know that you need to question this offer. Additionally there may be times when your buyer’s mortgage broker can’t find the correct financing to finance your type of transaction. Many times you can refer your buyer or your buyer’s mortgage broker to your mortgage broker who can smooth out the transaction and make things happen. Don’t underestimate the value of a good mortgage broker on your team.
The paperwork and forms that we use in this business are crucial, not only for getting a deal done correctly, but for protection as well. A knowledgeable real estate attorney that understands your transactions is an incredible resource. Make sure you develop a relationship with an attorney that you trust, and pay whatever it takes to have them review documents before you use them. Make sure that you never, never use some boilerplate documents out of a course, or something that you downloaded from the Internet until you have your attorney review them to make sure that they’re applicable in your area.
Don’t forget a competent tax professional. When you’re dealing with buying and selling real estate there are potentially some very large tax implications that you need to be aware of. Having a relationship with a qualified tax professional will help you to be prepared should you need to pay excessive taxes because you’ve made large amounts of money. Don’t get caught short on this one, start early.
We’ll discuss more about correctly using all of these team members in later posts.
