based on a previous thread, i claimed that short sales are a good way to get listings this year--this is not a new idea..but many realtors do not want to mess with them. i think they will become more popular as banks choose to do short sales instead of go into foreclosure-

when i first started real estate i was told to FARM an area---that would have taken years. then i was told to send out flyers..again--a lot of money with little results..
so, i bought the local paper and got on the 'horn'(for those who like my colloquial ways) and became the #1 listing agent in my office of 80 agents--in 90 days..
so I think 2010 money in real estate is weaning off bpos and into short sales and back into conventional real estate—many will not be here in 2011 because of the shift -IMHO!
I say—find sellers via short sales—
ONE way to find good buyers is to find investors—they are always looking for good realtors to bird dog for them!
so i ask--how would YOU find buyers and sellers in 2010?

How did buying the local paper help you generate leads?

Be prepared to spend a lot of $$ in training certs and advertising. The banks are going to start picking the agents that short sell their homes just like REO.

Short sale assignments from the banks have already begun in my market!

Got a Short Sale assignment from the loss mitigation department at a Bank we work with the other day. Bank said they would accept Fair Market Value no matter what loss they inccured just to get this off the books. Met the owner at the property and the first thing he wanted to know was how much money he was going to make in the sale. Tried to explain to him that at best, the Bank was going to occur a 70k+ loss on the sale. He decided to let it go to foreclosure.

i bought the local paper and called the homes for sale by owner---
i was getting listings every week.
i had the cheapest marketing budget in the office-.35 cents a day-
out of the whole office-1/2 of the listings were mine-(my secret was i found 3-4 investors to feed me)
it got so bad-people said they did not believe the listings were real--so i told them, "make me on offer and we will see"-no body took up the challenge-
of course that is not so easy now-
that is why i brought up the short sales thing--banks are making deals and a lot of people are under water and behind in payments--there is still a lot of money to be made out there--
but i am sad to say--not enough in bpos and reos for us all!
those who take on short sales -will not be sorry!
peace-

Yep...
Banks Are making deals
Lots of people are under water
Lot of money to be made
...Amazing Isn't It?

As confused as I am about the poster and what this thread is about, what I am sure of is that this is in the Wrong Forum, I will move it from the BPO, REO, Foreclosure forum.

work expired listings. With the sales market going down, many homes are sitting on the market and not selling. The sellers then become frustrated with the agent and look for a new agent to sell their home.

I agree with Region, within a very short time this strategy has worked for me. Looking forward to more input on this thread from experienced hands.

This is a great topic.

Region & Maui do you have a system in place when working expired listings?

TIA