Comment

Comment by Mike Linkenauger on March 30, 2010 at 11:31am

Terry, I couldn't agree with you more. We had a "CDPE" actually ask us a few weeks ago how to write a short sale offer for one of our listings!! A weekend training class OR online training program will never make somebody an expert. Experience will. Even after creating what I've created here and closing what I've closed, "Expert" is a term I'm cautious against using!

Teri, while I love doing work with investors, be careful of short sale investors. While there are some good ones, there are many sharks out there when it comes to short sales!

Comment by Teri Jo Fox on March 30, 2010 at 8:50am

Kim, thank so much for taking the time to introduce yourself and provide some words of wisdom. I greatly appreciate it. You never know I might contact you in the near future for some more, actually more than likely will. LOL... I have been thinking about signing on as a preferred member and believe I will, I need to be sure to have all the resources available to me when I need them. I would love to gain referrals. Lastly, I believe working with Sellers is what I will end up doing most from this point forward. I have been working with both, B's & S's, and truly don't mind either. I really like working with investors. I am getting more and more excited about working Short Sales and the public I am going to assist in hardship. I'm a little stressed about the experience, but that will come in time. I have decided to go forward and take the SFR class, as well as the course SSSN offers. You can never have too much education.

Terry, thank you for taking your time and commenting on my Blog. I'm so glad I found this site and the people on here have been so gracious with there comments. I definitely do not believe that I am an expert and probably will not be there for awhile. Your advice on having my future clients contact a CPA or Attorney is going to stay with me and be consider regularly. To tell you the truth I am not aware of any other agents in my area that are advertising Short Sale experience. Everyone has kind of gotten hung up on the Foreclosures and how to be in each of those networks. So, right now I feel blessed that I have decided to take this approach while it is still fresh.

Thank you again, Kim & Terry for your time and advice. It will always be welcomed. Best Regards, Teri Jo

Comment by Terry L. Osburn, SFR on March 29, 2010 at 11:31pm

The CDPE designation has come up many times over. From my understanding it is a good program. As mentioned on other posts my concern is with the word "Expert" at the end....due to the liability. If you had to go to court and there was some issues the courts do not give much leeway to someone who advertises themselves as an "Expert". Perhaps it is because California is such a sue crazy state that this is a concern for me...Knock on wood I have never been sued. But I chose to advertise myself as a SOURCE for consumers in distress .. Short sales are not open and shut cases.
It is imperative that consumers realize they have an obligation to themselves to seek legal counsel and/or touch base with a CPA to ensure a short sale is in fact their best option. You might want to team up with a seasoned short sale agent and pay them a referral fee of sorts just to get the experience.

Comment by Mike Linkenauger on March 29, 2010 at 4:42pm

You'll also see alot of agents around here with several short sale/distressed property designations. Never hurts to get all the training you can!

Comment by Teri Jo Fox on March 29, 2010 at 3:18pm

Thanks for answering my questions Mike. I greatly appreciate your time and I plan to make a decision today on what course I feel comfortable with taking. I definitely learn more from hands on, but I feel I need to know the basics before jumping in and working with peoples futures. I would hate to ever mislead a client or not know the information prior to needing it. I am excited and plan to do BIG things here in East TN. Thanks Again, Teri Jo

Comment by Mike Linkenauger on March 29, 2010 at 2:59pm

We get a good bit of referrals in ALL areas of the country. We definitely give all agents in our network a shot, and do show favoritism to agents who are on top of things. I think our preferred partners post on here gives a good idea at the bottom about how many referrals to expect. Alot of it depends on YOU!!

While CDPE may be a little more detailed that our course, when you put our training course together with preferred partner membership at compare the two, there are many things that we have that they dont:
1.) We have a list of 60-80 companies willing to pay for BPO's. Agents can make a living off this alone.
2.) We provide MANY more forms that are editable and customizable that no other course offers that I have found
3.) Preferred partner and our designation put together is still $100 less than CDPE
4.) We actually refer out motivated sellers to list with our preferred partners. As you see from our testimonials, agents get between 75%-90% of these referrals to list.

Our course also gives pretty good training on how to generate the business, another thing lacking in some of the other courses. I would suggest checking out the training course first, and you could always add the preferred partner membership at the discounted price in the future.

As far as other courses go, SFR I hear decent stuff about, but CDPE is probably about the best around from what I hear.

Me? Never had formal training to some degree, and many of the top agents on our site haven't either. There is no substitute for experience. Once agents pass our course, even novice short sale agents, we definitely know we have created a good enough program to where we can refer them prospects and have confidence that the agents who earn the designation can handle them.

After all, we make most of our money off referral fees at closing! The training and preferred partner sites are mainly created so we can have BETTER agents in our network!

Comment by Teri Jo Fox on March 29, 2010 at 12:52pm

Thanks Mike... So far, I love the site. I believe I have read at least 24 hrs worth of discussions, blogs, and other material since I joined. I am debating on whether or not I should become a preferred member & take your course or if I should start with the NAR SFR class (which I have heard doesn't provide all the information you really need to get started), or even the CDPE. I wonder what the CDPE & the CSSG differences are, any idea? Can you tell me weather or not you have started advertising in the East Tennessee area? Trying to get an idea of how many referrals would possibly come my way when joining. Thanks, Teri Jo

Comment by Mike Linkenauger on March 29, 2010 at 10:28am

Hi there Teri Jo! Welcome to The Short Sale Specialist Network. Even without our training and referral programs, our site is hands down the best resource on the net for short sale information. That's definitely a start!

I'm a little bias when it comes to the training and referral programs (obviously), but I know there is nothing out there like what we have here. As far as our new training and designation program goes, one of the most unique things we talk about is how to get short sale listings galore. The thing that separates us from many of the other training programs is that I've been effortlessly listing 15-20 short sale listings/month, and teach you how to do it. Our training program is geared towards agents who don't have much experience in short sales, but are looking to "get in gear" and learn how to be able to do them in mass!

We also have the preferred partner membership as well, which will give you listing referrals in your area as well as many resources (another thing the other programs don't offer). Again, I'm a little biased, but we have what you need to "get started" right here!

We just launched the training program Thursday and don't even have anybody who has completed it yet to give feedback. BUT, our preferred partner program has been in swing for some time and you will find many agents who make a pretty good living off the referrals we send them!

Either way Teri, welcome again to the site! Hope you find it an excellent resource and tool for helping with short sales. There are MANY others on here as much or more experienced than myself who are always happy to answer ANY questions you may have about the process!

Comment by Teri Jo Fox on March 29, 2010 at 9:20am

Thanks for commenting Michele. I am very excited to learn more about Short Sales. I have been reading about them for months, taking in as much as possible. I love this network. Have you taken any course for SS? I am not sure if I want to take the CDPE, CRS online for the NAR SFR, or the 1 on this site the CSSG. Do you or anyone else know which one would be better to start with? I might end up taking all of them sooner or later, but I know I need to start with at least 1. Let me know. Thanks, Teri Jo

Comment by Michele Adkins on March 29, 2010 at 2:59am

Yes, Teri Jo, I am right there with you. I really want to help, especially now that so many lenders are telling us they want to short sale their properties rather than foreclose. I guess the best thing to do is to go door to door and tell people that very thing when we introduce ourselves. I am new, but we have an expert short sale person in our office that works side by side with us on each one. I am sure I can learn more here. Thanks, Mike, for the invite.