Good morning all. Just a very quick post to remind everyone that you will NOT get away with slacking on utility connections. I realize that this may seem to be a post with a very obvious meaning but I have to tell you that this is probably one of the biggest hangups that AMs have to deal with. I would roughly guesstimate that at least HALF...yeah HALF of the REO properties that I visit DO NOT have utilities activated. I also know with absolute certainty that almost ALL Master Listing Agreements contain a special section regarding broker responsibilities, specifically, ACTIVATING UTILITIES. I was reminded of this sore subject by an email received from a client today, that listed all of their bank owned homes in the state of GA that DID not have utilities on. The list was MASSIVE. What really amazes me even more than the size of the list, is the ignorance of REO brokers, who seem to think "they'll never know". Listen, if you think this way then you need a serious "checkup from the neck up". You should look yourself in the mirror, grab a marker and write "LOSER" right across your forehead in deep blood red ink! Trust me, that's exactly what you will eventually be when you get all of your assets pulled. And when you hit that DNU "Do Not Use" list...words spreads. The business of foreclosures is a VERY small world my friends. When I travel, I see so many AMs bouncing from one Asset Management company to another and believe me they are good "yappers". You either get talked about as a hero or a zero.-Don't let your self be the latter because you are lazy. And if you are not turning on utilities because you can't afford to....DON'T TAKE THE LISTING. You are better off having a smaller inventory of properly serviced listings than getting all of your listings pulled because of your lack of proper servicing. There will be plenty of time to build your business on merit and staff up to handle the volume that you will be rewarded with. Good brokers are hard to find and when an AM sees you doing all the right things all the time and consistently making their job easier, you will be on the short list to receive tons of listings when you are ready. I can GUARANTEE that! So how exactly did this client "discover" the shortcoming with all of these listings? They are not receiving requests for reimbursements on any of these. No requests for repayment=no utilities on-duh! Please don't think AMs are stupid. They are not. BS will be spotted a mile away. Heck, these guys didn't even need to visit the properties to catch this garbage. REO is super task intensive and it carries a lot of responsibility. So you want to know how to get REO listings and how to keep getting them? Be properly staffed, systematized and accountable by inspecting REOs regularly and all will be well. 😉
How to KEEP Getting REO Listings...What Asset Managers want to see.
