One of the most common questions I have received in the last 10 years of doing short sales in the Tucson area is, "Sean, what are we going to have to pay you or how do you get paid for performing this service for us?" It’s actually really simple but first of all I want to caution you about talking to an agent that wants money up front or on the back end to complete your short sale.
Number one, you’re talking to the wrong agent and number two they may be engaging in illegal activities. The state of Arizona has made it pretty clear that there are very specific rules for agents that want to collect upfront fees. What I’ve found is that most of them aren’t playing by the rules. My team and I have never collected an upfront free from a homeowner that is in distress. The way we get paid is by collecting our fees as part of the short sale from the short sale lender; the short sale lender agrees to pay us as part of the terms of the short sale. Not only do they pay us, they also pay your property taxes, the title and escrow fees. In ninety-nine percent of the short sales we complete, the seller pays nothing. The only time the seller actually pays something is when the short sale lender comes back and says they’ll approve the short sale but they’ve noticed the borrower does have a certain amount of money available. The lender will sometimes request that the borrower contribute a small amount of money to get the short sale completed. If it makes sense for the homeowner to do, then typically they’ll oblige but if the homeowner isn’t comfortable in doing this we can go back and renegotiate with the bank.
The long and short of it is that if you need short sale help come to me; I completed more short sales than any other realtor in Tucson. We have never charged any one any money upfront or on the back end. All of our compensation comes from your lenders. So, please remember that I’m here to help you at your bank’s expense and not yours. Please give me a call or get in touch with me today; I look forward to hearing from you.
