The following is written to other Realtors. Not to upset but to emphasize a point.
When you are contacted by an agent informing you that the home you have listed has been foreclosed, don’t ask or expect to receive a listing cancellation. The fact your listing is executed by a party no longer in ownership cancels your listing.
If you really do not believe the bank’s listing agent, check with your client or the public records. Don’t waste a lot of time hanging on because somebody has an offer in to your seller. Your seller has no authority to accept it and the bank is going to want to complete their own valuation before looking at any offers.
Assuming the home is vacant, the bank will likely hire a company quickly to change the locks. It should not happen but often those fancy electronic lock boxes, are left hanging on the old removed handset. So, don’t waste any time if you are informed of a change in title. Not if you want to get your lock box back easily.
Speaking of lock boxes, we have over and over again worked in a spirit of cooperation to remove a lock box for the former listing agent and leave it somewhere that they can pick it up. When we do this we are not accepting responsibility for what happen to the lock box…so don’t wait a week to come pick it up.
Same can be said for your signs. We work with the former listing agent, but do not take responsibility and don’t have room in our vehicles to throw them in.
It is common for the banks to have a property preservation company that changes the locks, mows the lawns, and removes interior debris and furnishings left behind. A certain estimated value of between $300 and $500 is going to result in a personal property posting notice. Some Realtors have been known to add a few hand towels, kitchen and bath bric-a-brac, and fake flowers in the mode of staging. Chances are these are not going to cross the threshold of being saved as personal property. I have no idea what happens to these items, but please, when you are told the home is foreclosed, just come get your stuff and then confirm. I have seen this become a big issue in several cases where the agent did not want to stop showings because they were convinced that a sale was about to occur.
Last but not least, unless you really want to make some type of point that will cause you to have a bad name with the bank seller and have a complaint filed with your local MLS, go ahead and withdrawl your listing from the MLS when informed of the foreclosure. I realize this is the last line of defense. I have never seen a bank choose to keep the existing listing agent at this point so there is nothing but bad things to occur by taking this path.
I know it is hard to do, and I do have empathy, but the truth that needs to be accepted is that it is “time to move on”.
Tags: Bank Owned, Bank REO, Florida, Foreclosure, Foreclosures, Indiana, Indianapolis, REO, Wilmoth
