KOBY's BLOG – MARKETING STUFF, Real Estate, Random Nonsense & a couple of beers.

Behold the power of SHORT SALE FAX COVER copywriting.

What a mouthful…

Anyway.

There’s a true method to the madness guys… right down to the first page of your short sale packet. Include the following on every one of you fax covers and increase your chances of a closing 10 fold (or something like that):

1- Logo & Company name on the cover page header. Important to have something professional looking & sounding. I’m Real Estate Solution Group, which I realize kinda reeks of investor – you may want to go with something more LLCish.

2- Go BIG & BOLD on the homeowners address, name & loan number – I put mine smack dab in the center of my fax and make it impossible to miss. On a side note, doesn’t hurt to have these 3 items on every one of your short sales packet’s pages.

3- State the Offer $ Figure, but always use the GROSS number on your fax cover, not the NET to lender. Because the dollar figure looks larger from the get go, your packet has a better chance of “moving thru the chain” a little quicker.

4- Request the lender waive deficiency against the homeowner. Pretty much a given in today’s transactions, but still NEVER SUBMIT an offer without this language in it. You could really, really, really put the homeowner in a terrible place if you do.

5- Ask that the lender to record mortgage as PAID IN FULL to the appropriate credit agencies. I like to think it’s part of my job to do whatever I can to help salvage the homeowner’s credit.

6- Request the lender waive deed restrictions. What this will do is help to overcome the “no 90 day flipping rule” that is very, very popular in Bank of America land. In a nutshell, the lender requires the title company report back to them if the property changes hands within the first 90 days of new ownership effectively crushing a simultaneous closing.

7- Ask that the bank not pursue promissory note against borrower/homeowner. Had a deal blow up a while back – see video – over the lender trying to place an unsecured personal loan against the borrower upon SS closing. They will try and sneak it into your approval letter. Review, review, review.

8- Go BIGGER & BOLDER with your contact info and your CONTACT FOR INTERIOR INSPECTION message. Make this message even more impossible to miss then the homeowner’s name and address. You want to get the BPO done as quickly as possible. “Ask for the sale” right from the get go instead of giving them all the time in the world to figure out why they don’t want to go forward with your packet. Get it in their minds early that you’re “ready to go” and you’ll have a far better chance of getting to the “ready to close” part of the deal.

Now be sure to keep in mind that just because it’s on the fax cover doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. What it does do, is give you ammunition in the form of documentation if something comes up down the line.

* Another side note – documentation is your LIFELINE to successfully CLOSING short sales. Document ABOLUTELY EVERYTHING that goes down between your company and the lender and the homeowner. Maybe this should be a whole separate post. hmmm….

Anyway, I’m done. That was a ton of typing and my head’s spinning.

Time for a beer…