Your CSSE Action Plan: It’s Time to Turn Your Training Into Business

The Opportunities Are Growing.
What Are YOU Doing to Take Advantage of Them?

We’ve covered a tremendous amount of information in this month’s newsletter.

The real estate and mortgage trade publications are finally talking about the return of short sales. Lenders and servicers are preparing for increasing distress. Serious mortgage delinquencies are rising, more homeowners are losing equity, and the conversations taking place at industry conferences are confirming much of what we’ve been telling you for the past year.

But here’s something I want everyone to remember.

Knowing what’s happening in the market doesn’t do you much good unless you’re doing something about it!

One of the reasons we developed the Certified Short Sale Experts program was to give agents and brokers the tools they need to actually generate short-sale business.

Not just understand how to process a transaction.

Not just earn another designation to put after their name.

But to identify opportunities, find homeowners who need assistance, establish relationships with referral sources, market their services and build a profitable business.

You’ve already invested the time to learn the business.

Now it’s time to put that training to work!

Here Are Eight Things I’d Like Every CSSE Graduate to Do This Month

1. Get Your Short-Sale Marketing Started – NOW!

If you haven’t already begun marketing yourself as a local short-sale expert, this needs to be your first priority.

Update your website, professional profiles and social media pages.

Make sure people know you’re a Certified Short Sale Expert and that you specialize in helping homeowners who may be struggling with their mortgage or who cannot afford to sell because they don’t have sufficient equity.

Start publishing educational information about short sales, foreclosure alternatives, HOA liens and the changing housing market.

And don’t just post something once and forget about it.

Consistency is what builds recognition.

The agents who establish themselves as the local experts first are going to have a significant advantage as the business increases.

2. Start Looking for Business Before It Reaches Foreclosure!

Don’t limit your marketing to foreclosure notices and lis pendens filings.

By the time those appear, the homeowner may have been experiencing financial difficulties for months, and you’re going to be competing with everyone else who monitors those same records.

Start researching HOA and condominium liens in your market.

Find out where they’re recorded, how to search them and whether you can receive regular notices of new filings.

Also begin identifying neighborhoods where property values have declined and where recent low-down-payment buyers may have little or no usable equity.

Remember, some of the best opportunities are homeowners who aren’t even in foreclosure yet.

The earlier you identify a homeowner who needs assistance, the more options they may still have available.

3. Build Five New Professional Referral Relationships!

We discussed this in detail earlier in the newsletter, and I’d really like everyone to make it a priority.

Identify at least five professionals in your market who may encounter homeowners experiencing financial problems.

They might be bankruptcy attorneys, divorce attorneys, probate attorneys, housing counselors, mortgage professionals or other real estate agents.

Contact them personally.

Introduce yourself and explain what you do.

Don’t just ask them to send you business. Offer to be a resource when they encounter a complicated real estate situation.

And follow up!

The relationships you develop today could become some of your best sources of business over the next several years.

4. Review the Updated HOA Lien and Negotiation Training!

We’ve expanded the HOA training in response to what we’re seeing in the market.

Associations and their collection attorneys are becoming increasingly aggressive in some areas, and unpaid HOA assessments can create serious complications during a short sale.

Make sure you understand how to identify these liens, research payoff amounts, communicate with the appropriate parties and negotiate resolutions when possible.

Don’t wait until you have a transaction scheduled to close before discovering that a relatively small HOA balance has turned into a major problem.

Review the training now so you’re prepared when you need it.

5. Make Sure Lenders and Servicers Can Find You!

This is something we’ve emphasized repeatedly because it’s so important.

Log into your Equator profile and make sure your Certified Short Sale Expert designation is properly displayed and your completion certificate has been uploaded.

Check your coverage areas, contact information and professional qualifications.

And don’t stop with Equator.

Update your other asset management, servicing, referral and professional profiles wherever credentials are permitted.

Add CSSE after your name where appropriate.

If a lender or servicer is searching for qualified short-sale professionals, you want them to know you’re trained and available.

Completing the course is only the first step.

Making sure the people who assign the business can find you is just as important!

6. Attend Our October 22 CSSE and Equator Webinar!

We’re holding another live webinar with Equator on Thursday, October 22.

We’ll be reviewing the latest distressed-market developments, the growing short-sale pipeline, opportunities for agents and brokers, and strategies for identifying and generating business.

Even if you’ve attended our previous webinars, I encourage you to join us.

The information continues to change, and we’re constantly updating our presentations as new reports are released and we learn more from lenders, servicers and other industry professionals.

And please invite other agents and brokers who could benefit from the information.

The more professionals who understand how to properly handle short sales, the better it is for the entire industry.

7. Connect With Other Certified Short Sale Experts!

One of the things I’d really like to see more of is our graduates working together, sharing ideas and developing professional relationships.

As we discussed earlier, Ken Knoke recently organized an informal CSSE gathering during the NADP Conference in Tampa.

I thought that was a terrific idea!

You don’t have to wait for a national conference to do something similar.

Reach out to other Certified Short Sale Experts in your area or neighboring markets.

Share what’s working in your marketing, discuss challenges and look for opportunities to cooperate.

As coordinated sales and institutional assignments increase, having relationships with qualified professionals in other markets may become especially valuable.

And if you’re attending Housing Intelligence Exchange in Fort Worth in November, please let us know.

We’re working on the possibility of putting together a private CSSE discussion and brainstorming session while we’re there.

8. Set Some Actual Business Goals & Measure Your Progress!

Here’s something I’d like everyone to do.

Instead of simply saying you’re going to start doing more short sales, put some actual numbers behind your plan.

For example, over the next 30 days:

• • Publish at least four educational short-sale social media posts.
  • Contact five new professional referral sources.
  • Research at least 20 properties or homeowners who may have equity or financial difficulties, using lawful and appropriate sources.
  • Introduce yourself to five other real estate agents who may need a short-sale specialist.
  • Review and update all your professional profiles and marketing materials.
  • Schedule follow-up conversations with the people you’ve contacted.
  • Follow & Like the Certified Short Sale Experts – CSSE Linked In Page & Facebook Page For Current Updates

These aren’t enormous goals.

They’re things almost every agent can accomplish without spending a fortune on advertising.

But imagine what happens if you continue doing them month after month.

You’re building a database.

You’re developing relationships.

You’re establishing your professional reputation.

And you’re putting yourself in a position to generate business while many of your competitors are still waiting for the market to change.

Don’t Confuse Being Busy with Building a Business!

I’ve seen this happen throughout my career.

Agents will spend hours reading articles, attending webinars, watching market reports and talking about everything that’s happening.

And there’s nothing wrong with staying informed.

But at some point, you have to turn that knowledge into activity that actually produces results.

How many new referral relationships did you establish this month?

How many homeowners did you help evaluate their options?

How many meaningful marketing contacts did you make?

How many new listing opportunities did you identify?

How many appointments did you generate?

Those are the numbers that matter.

And keep track of them!

If you’re spending money on marketing, you should know what’s working and what isn’t.

If you’re developing a referral network, you should know who’s sending you opportunities.

If you’re generating short-sale leads, you should understand how many are converting into appointments, listings, approvals and closings.

A successful short-sale business doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because you build the systems, develop the relationships and consistently do the work.

The Advantage You Have Right Now Won’t Last Forever!

This is probably the most important point I want to leave you with.

For the past year, we’ve been explaining why short sales have returned and why agents needed to begin preparing.

Now we’re seeing the rest of the industry paying attention.

More articles are being published.

More training programs are appearing.

More conferences are discussing short sales and alternative resolutions.

And more agents are beginning to recognize the opportunity.

That’s good news, but it also means the competition is going to increase.

Right now, you have an advantage because you’ve already invested in specialized training and have been following these developments.

But that advantage doesn’t last forever if you don’t use it.

Six months or a year from now, you don’t want to be competing against dozens of agents in your market who have already established their reputations, developed their referral networks and started closing transactions.

You want to be the agent they’re trying to catch up with!

My Challenge to Every CSSE Graduate

Before the end of October, I’d like you to be able to point to something concrete you’ve accomplished.

Not just another webinar you attended or another article you read.

I want you to have started a marketing campaign, established new referral relationships, identified potential short-sale opportunities or taken some other meaningful step toward building your business.

And remember, this isn’t only about making money.

The homeowners we’re talking about are facing some very difficult financial situations.

Many don’t understand their options.

Some have little or no equity left.

Others may be approaching foreclosure without realizing that a short sale or another resolution could still be available.

They need knowledgeable professionals who understand how to help them.

That’s what your Certified Short Sale Expert training is supposed to prepare you to do.

The market is changing. The opportunities are growing. The industry is finally waking up.

Now it’s your turn to get moving!

Let’s make October the month you stop preparing for the short-sale business and start building it!