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Why are homes listed in the MLS at much lower prices than the “secret†amount available only to registered agents?
I have an MLS account and can see all those private remarks. It feels like bait and switch. But it is not as bad as you described it though. More than often in those situations, it's a short sale and the Listing Agent simply tells buyer agents what is owed to the bank. The ones that tells you what the bank wants to take for the home is usually the other way around. Example, Listed at $520k, but the bank only wanted $500k. Alternatively, there are situations where in the private remarks, the listing agent will tell the buyer agent that bank #2 wants an additional $15k in cash at closing that is not disclosed to buyers. I was always under the assumption this is illegal. But it's so common to see these types of requests in the private remarks now.
I also frequently see Listing Agents stab their clients in the back by giving away the lowest price they will accept that seems only agents in the trade can see. For example, I am a home seller, and got an agent to list my home. I list it for $500k, but based on conversation with the Listing Agent, he/she knows that I will take as low as $430k. When he/she lists it in the MLS, he/she will put the price as $430k, and immediately do a price increase to $500k. Agents see this. Buyers do not, and sellers do not either. This tactic helps buyer agents.
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2010 Jul 13, 8:21am
She overpaid for the home and she put her "life savings" into the first-loss position.
Refiing the $250K to a 4.x% fixed should be possible via the gov't programs, and if she can't pay that then she's just over her head on this deal IMO.
I posted the following under "Realtor Rant" and two very kind posters suggested it needs its own thread. And that my aunt needs a lawyer. But if you have any additional thoughts, or comfort or indignation, that's welcome too. Basically, my questions are: Is this a case of an agent making a quick buck off an impossible case? Why are homes listed in the MLS at much lower prices than the "secret" amount available only to registered agents? And could a bank stonewall a modification when they know they wouldn't lose anything by foreclosing?
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I'm sorry for being an ignoramus, but having admitted it, could someone help me to understand this? A close family member has applied for a modification (working on it since January, bank consistently says “You haven't sent in the paperwork,” she replies, “I have the signed receipts that your company received it,” they answer, “Well, send it in again”) and Friday she gets a notice that her house is going to be auctioned Monday (yesterday).
Panicked weekend. She paid $1,000 up front for services of realtor person to help shortsale or fight the foreclosure (I know, risky move there; she was just frantic). She didn't sleep for 2 days, researching comps in the area. So when she meets with this guy and she has reams of data on housing prices for a short sale (thinking she was “helping” him), he politely made her feel like a retard. There will be a listing, say, for $199,000, for a 4 bed, 2 bath within .15 miles of her property. But in the private realtor comments on the MLS, he showed her that it says the bank wants $350,000. Houses in her neighborhood aren't selling at $275k!
How is this not bait and switch? Or false advertising? Apparently before some of these properties are listed they already have a buyer and they are listed as “Sale Pending” before anyone else gets a chance. On the other hand, trashed junkers are listed low but have those hidden REAL prices. Are the realtors trying to hang onto power by having cheap listings to reel in the suckers but a higher price for the real idiots? How can a service like Trulia or ZipRealty go along with this? How does it benefit the bank to make it impossible to resolve a case? Do they think they can artificially create a market based on what price THEY set, rather than what someone wants to pay? Oh, on that point I know the answer: they were already made whole and the foreclosure thing is just the icing on the cake, right?
In her case, she put down half the sales amount (back in 2006, it was supposed to be the home where she'd retire) and so she “only” owes $250k, and has seen that much “value” evaporate, but the bank could probably recoup its “loss” by selling it for that much and she'd be out in the cold. Do you think that's why they won't modify it? She's not trying to get out of paying it, she's trying to get a lower monthly payment over a longer period of time. She has her life savings in it. After 5 phone calls yesterday, her “agent” managed a 10 day reprieve from the auction while the bank ignores the modification request some more. Is any good ending possible here?
What a deal, when the agents who promised such great things in the bubble are now the saviors of the shipwrecked. Hallmark should put out a card: “With Sympathy in the Loss of Your Home.”
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PS Another reason she needs the modification is that her hours have been cut. This is the Inland Empire (I know...groan...) At this point I don't even understand why a short sale was suggested, other than a stalling tactic?
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