Short Sale Interview Questions

Statistics tell us that the average person that is selling is selling via short sale and that those people tend NOT to interview. This is a travesty and a shame and probably the single reason why so many people fail to sell their home via short sale. Short Sale Interview Questions was designed to help those that actually plan to interview their agents before trusting such a life altering event into their hands.

So what questions should you ask your agent?

1. How Many short sales have you closed while representing the seller? – This is important as it’s likely that an agent of any value will have participated in a short sale transaction in Georgia, but might not have closed any short sale transactions on the seller side.
   Our Answer: Over 100
2. Who negotiates/processes your short sale files with the bank? – This is a trick question in a way.  We’ve come across many agents who have never done a short sale and will never work one either, but instead they send your private financial documents to a third party, often one that they have never met.  This is dangerous, period.  The correct answer should be that they have a trained staff, do it themselves or have a very close relationship with a very unique attorney.  If they say the latter, it’s time to hang up and call that attorney and start with question 1.
   Our Answer: We have a trained staff and a an attorney on retainer
3. What is your closing percentage? – Assuming they answer the first short sale interview question well, you might want to ask them their closing ratio.  A good short sale agent will know this off the top of their head.
   Our Answer: 90%
4. How quickly are your deals closing? – This short sale interview question is another tricky one.  A good short sale specialist will know timeframes of different banks, but might not be able to give you an average.
   Our Answer: Most close in 90 to 120 days depending on the bank.  Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are closing faster, while Suntrust is still taking decades.
   
5. Have you dealt with [Bank Name]?  – A good short sale agent should be able to answer all of your short sale interview questions with ease and this one is no different.  They shouldn’t hesitate, either they have or haven’t.
   Our Answer:  We’ve dealt with most banks and servicers, from Greentree, Ocwen and Nationstar to the big ones like Bank of America, Suntrust, Chase and Citi.
   
6. Do you have your own short sale package? – Top short sale agents will have their own package. At the very least they’ll have a collection of documents for you.
   Our Answer:  We got one!  Just request it by filling out our stop foreclosure form. 
   

BEWARE! There are some real estate agents that have gotten some designations that have absolutely NO experience helping owners avoid foreclosure.  The classes and “designations” are good education, but a far cry from experience.  Would you want a surgeon fresh out of college to operate on you if they had no experience?