"Experienced Short Sale Agent"

Short Sale Agents Try to Reassure

With short sales* proliferating the last year or so in the Twin Cities, short sale nightmares have, too.

The most common complaints: endless delays, no communication from the bank(s), Sellers who don't tell Buyers about accepted offers even as they solicit more (since they're all subject to bank approval, there's no risk of selling the home multiple times).

To counter the fear that any deal will be a time-wasting quagmire -- and otherwise reassure would-be Buyers and their agents -- more and more listing agents (representing the Sellers) are now promising that they're "experienced short sale agents" on MLS.

Which begs the question: are they?

It's certainly not hard to find out.

You simply go to the MLS database, find the agent's ID, then run a search on "closed sales" with the agent's number.

So, what did I find when I checked out the "experienced short sale agent" listing a home my clients viewed last weekend?

The agent had closed a career-total of three properties, all condo's, none of which were short sales.

*A short sale is a home where the owner owes more on their mortgage than the home is currently worth. To sell, the bank(s) holding the mortgage must agree to reduce the principal that is owed.