Recently I heard another agent yelling on the phone with a loss mitigation rep for a short sale. She was screaming “you better take this offer or your bank will go under and you’ll be out of a job”. Well in a few weeks, the home was foreclosed on and the agent was out of a sale.
It is not their fault that the mortgage terms were unfair, or that borrower can not pay the loan anymore, they are just hired to make the best of the bad hand that was dealt. They do like being yelled at, criticized, or bad mouthed for things out of their control. They, like us represent a client, “the investor” and they have plenty of job security, so if your short sale is rejected because you treated them like a bat boy in a farm league, they’ll still have a job. But, you might not!!
Let’s get back to basics, a broker once told me “treat everyone as if they had $5,000 to give to anyone who treated them nicely.” We give our clients our best face, so lets share that with the banks. I try to find out where my loss mitt rep is from and make some small talk. Find a common bond and smile. Yes, I smile, and though the poor, underpaid, mistreated, often verbally abused bank employee on the other end might not see it, but they feel it.
So, I would bet you that if you were just nice to them, you would be closing more, quicker and you might just start having fun again.
Need more information, call me !
Mike Sher,
Office: (248) 644-4700x242 Fax :(248) 499-1020 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 E-mail: mike@mikerealtor.com
CDPE (Certified Distress Property Expert)
MCAR, Short Sale Trainer
Max Brook and Real Estate One Short Sale Specialist.
The Mike Realtor Team Blog - Metro Detroit/Oakland County
Servicing in Southeast Oakland County, Auburn Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Canton, Clawson, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Northville, Novi, Pleasant Ridge, Plymouth, Royal Oak, Rochester Hills, West Bloomfield, Troy, etc. We worked with: Bank of America, Country Wide, HSBC, EverHome, Litton, GMAC, Chase, Wells Fargo, Flagstar, Fifth Third, Charter One, Comerica, Am Trust, US Bank, National City
Good point, MIKE, we can all use this each day...sometimes I hear realtors yelling at their clients--and I think, "wow, I wouldn't take that!" Thanks for the reminder!! PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!
You are so right-it goes back to the basics treat others as you would want to be treated. I know sometimes this is hard but it is important to remember.
Great points here Mike. The loss mitigator did not put the borrower in this predicament and why would they push for an approval if they are being yelled at?
Mike, Files get lost, or put back on the bottom when the person on the receiving end of an agent rant decided to punish the abuser.
You are correct. When I see agents doing this to ,literally anyone, I really think, they loose others respect. Being nice is always good.
You are right, although short sales can be stressful. We must take a deep breath and treat them the way we would like to be treated. I just recently sent in a short sale packet to a bank. I used the fax cover letter they provided and followed all directions. To only find out that they still wouldn't speak to me because they wanted the 3rd party Auth letter to go to a different fax number. Which was not anywhere to be found on any documentation that they provided me or my client. URRGHH!!! But deep breaths do help.
PS...Don't take the deep breaths into the phone...:)
LOL Mike...
That yelling agent won't be seeing much from that bank. The mitigators are making a list of names and checking it twice :)
TLW...ROAR!
I yell....after I hang up. LOL
But, on the phone I am sweet as sugar.
Who knows how many agents yell at them all day?
My momma taught me early on, "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I think the nicer you are the more they are wiling to work with you! I hang then yell!!
Mike - I think being nice is always the way to go, even if it's not easy. :)
Excellent post. What's the saying about flies and honey? Besides --- how we treat people says more about us than about them.
Hi Mike -- Well said. I can get better service at McDonalds than I have been treated by some agents in the past when I was a consumer.
I try to be really nice. I promise I do--but sometimes, just sometimes. I was on hold for almost 2 hours a couple Friday's ago, getting bounced around a not-so-favorite lender, and then the customer service rep decided I was impatient (ya think?) and called me a name. I took that opportunity to remind him that we are recorded---and then asked for written transcripts of all phone conversations over the past year having to do with this particular address. On hold again, and then--bam! Great service! Amazing, -- and they have been terrific on all files ever since. Nothing short of a miracle and I am very, very thankful!
Very thankful!
Mike, this rule applies in general in our life both personal and professional. Great post!
Mike,
I go back to that movie Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze and he's telling the employees, "Just be nice..."... and so above all else, I try to be nice.
Our broker told us, anyone bringing us an offer, good bad or ugly - is our very best friend and you know, as long as I look at it like that, things don't feel so tense. It's not a winner/loser venture - if done correctly, EVERYONE wins... I get the sold listing, the seller can move on, the buyer has their new home and the selling agent gets paid too! Gee - how can it get better than that?!?!?
Thanks for hitting that nail smack dab on the middle...!
Jen
Mike, great post! We should use that advice when dealing with not only loss mitigation officers, but other Realtors, mortgage lenders, etc.
Jen - I was just thinking of that line from Roadhouse also!
I need to apply the rule more often. Especially to all those mortgage guys that aren't getting the job done.
I LOVE the $5,000 line! Besides, most of these negotiaors have piles and piles. If you send in a COMPLETE and I mean everything, plus follow up and ask how you can help, who do you think will get their file negotiated first?????
This applies in every day life too. For some people it can be difficult to be nice.
Back to basics is right, Mike. Everyone's mother had a version of "you'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" I guess! Maybe because it's the truth. Those of us who do a lot of short sales & similar things better be patient. The person on the other end is just doing their job too & needs a little kindness. We might end up with the same loss mitigation officer again. Our shortness on one call could make short work of a lot of short sales.
Janice
Mike: I like to to business with nice people and so do others, being a bully has no place in this business, it's kinda like biting the hand that can feed you.
Mike- Nestor always says, you can sweet talk your way to anything you want and that especially holds true for loss mitigators and bank employees. Nestor goes out of his way to be nice, even when he had to make a point, he does it in a nice way. Of course, there have been a few times, ( the more you do this biz, the more you will meet all kinds) that we have run across some of the ones that really need to prove they are so much better than realtors.:) Katerina
Yelling seldom works in any context. But yelling at a bank negotiator is absurd.
My husband works for a large bank and I'm embarrassed for our profession when he tells me how real estate agents yell, threaten, curse and act in other absurdly inappropriate ways. There's even an agent in California who is notorious with the banks for sending the same threatening letter for each one of her short sales. Pathetic!
Tina in Virginia
Great blog, short sales are tough and being rude is not going to get you anywhere... Kill em with kindness!
You know, I always wanted to be a real estate agent, but some how I began in mortgages. After all the dopey agents I met on the phone, I decided I had a chance. I've never regretted my decision to leave that industry and move into real estate. Of course, I treat lenders with the utmost respect! Great reminder!
Mike, I would even take this one step further. Not only do you treat everyone like they have $5,000 to give, I would challenge that we should make that number ten times as big. If you are nice, people remember and will refer you business. And loss mit reps can refer business and make agent recommendations to REO departments...
There is an old saying about honey and vinegar -- and one working best -- humm,, perhaps in this case it would have been a good idea.
I agree with Missy - more flies with honey than vinegar.
It serves absolutely no point to yell at the loss mitigators other than to aggravate them, but that's pretty much true of anybody.
Mike, I couldn't agree with you more when it comes to treating short sale negotiators/loss mitgators with courtesy and respect. A little kindness can go a longgggg way!
I can definitely understand the frustration that happens with a short sale, but that agent sounds like he/she needs a vacation! If you're at the point when you're screaming at people, it is a BIG SIGN that it is time to take a step back and pull yourself together.
Completely Agree! The honey & vinegar analogy proves true again. Yell all you want when you hang up the phone but never to someone with whom you need and expect something from. Great post!
Mike,
These short sales will drive a realtor to yelling and screaming. I have been in the middle of one for almost 3 months now.
A Realtor once told me that he tries to maintain his composure when dealing with loss mitigators because, more than likely, he's going to have to deal with them again on another short sale.
Mike, I'm sure there are thousands of us talking, screaming, pleading with banks right this second. It's frustrating when you work so hard to help a seller, a buyer, and a bank to the best possible outcome and, after hours and hours of hard work and money, the bank simply doesn't do anything.
I say make it up in volume. I have 17 in process received two short sale approvals this week and that feels better than having one deal on the board and your career riding on it.
And, hopefully this agent isn't expecting to be considered for an REO account...
Yes . . . it is always best to attract bees with honey and not vinegar. There is no betterapplication of this philosophy than in the negotiations of a short sale. (Starbucks cards work very well, too!)
Mike - Yelling really does not make sense whatsoever, it's best just to try and work together to solve the problem.
Mike - with what is going on in the Motor City (and everywhere else) these days, I'm sure she is beginning understanding the need to change her behavior!
Ty McSwain
I"m with ya Mike........that kind of behaviour has no place in our business or personnal life. Makes you glad you're are YOU, right!
Hi Mike;
Great post! Being nice to others is always the way to go.
The advise from Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse, "Be nice -- until it's time to not be nice." comes to mind.
Loved that line.
Thanks,
Richard
Mike, I'm with you....one might be suprised how well things can turn out with a little kindness.
I had one agent who insisted that I tell the bank that the seller wants his share of the gov't bail out money and that they should release the seller from the short sale liability (an amount that was in excess of $250,000). It's definitely a wild, wacky world out there! LOL