LawsonGroupMediation

I keep reading about the huge statics of homeowners, in the millions, who go through foreclosure, but in the thousands of short sales. There is a very large disconnect happening between the marketing activities of Realtors and the listings they obtain compared to the huge numbers of foreclosures. The marketing activities are just not reaching distressed homeowners in ways that cause them to respond.

A short sale is far, far better than a foreclosure or deed in lieu. A short sale connected to a bankruptcy even is much better than foreclosure or DIL. So, why is it so difficult to get the short sale listings?

First, my disclaimer. I am a lawyer by profession and only sold real estate for less than a year while my wife was in her residency in Indiana. I do not have that high “I” on the DISC profile agents are so verbal about. I am not a sales person. I do not have a sales personality and do not win people over with my personality.

However, and again I say, however, in my 20 years of practicing law I did start and build a successful law firm with a crowded waiting room. I may not have a sales personality, but I was able to draw and serve people in various forms of distress.

I do not sell, but I can solve problems. By focusing on solving problems, I developed a referral network that drew people to me who had problems that needed to be resolved. When, in selling real estate, I stopped selling and stopped holding open houses (where they would run the other way when they met me, lol), I started finding people who needed help and focused on solving their problem of selling or buying a home. It is a different mindset, a different method of locating clients and customers, and a different approach to communicating with them.

People in distress, I discovered in my law practice and when selling real estate, often become emotional frozen, or at least emotionally in slow motion. I used various techniques in my law practice to get clients to act before it was too late, but at least they were coming in to the office. When marketing to distressed homeowners, getting them to respond to the marketing is even more difficult. They may be getting many marketing pieces, but they are likely not responding to any of them.

So, how do you get them to respond? Some of you have very refined methods of marketing to distressed homeowners, but others may be meeting with various levels of ineffectiveness. However, even those of you who are successful are getting only a small fraction of the potential market. The proof is in the vast numbers of foreclosures versus short sales.

I would recommend first that you understand the homeowner in financial trouble. I wrote a chapter in my book about them to help you understand how to reach them. It is not difficult; rather, it is just different than marketing for normal listings. You have to focus on solving the problem, not selling your services. You have to help them visualize the future and provide them with something that they desire more than the fear of the present.

To move people emotionally frozen in inaction requires you, the agent, to stop selling and help them solve a problem. They must see that you are not after only the listing, but that you have a variety of tools in your toolbox to help them. You see, they expect a real estate agent only to want to sell the house and they stereotype that they cannot sell it, not understanding the concept of a short sale. They expect a lawyer to want them to file bankrutpcy. They expect an investor to only be wanting to rip them off. They have nowhere to turn, in their minds, because their stereotypical thinking limits the possibilities that professionals provide.

In my law practice, I advertised “Debt relief without bankruptcy” to break through that stereotypical thinking, and that spurred many people to action, to set an appointment to find out what options were available. Most people do not really understand bankruptcy, but I did indeed offer an alternative to it. So, too, you must find a way to trigger action in the distressed homeowner. I recommend reading that chapter in my book Short Sales & Loan Modifications: A Practical Guide For Real Estate Agents and Investors.

For those of you who are comfortable that you have the best approach to marketing for short sales, I applaud your success. For those of you who do not, who are not meeting with the marketing success you desire, we can help.

Best wishes,

Ken Lawson, JD

TheLawsonGroup Mediation Services