We have a company doing major marketing with this pitch. They say they'll buy it if it isn't sold in 70 days and no commission. Of course this leads to a lot of questions but how is this done. Sort of thought I'd ask here before I called them to ask for a job.....(joke) They are doing quite well as I look at the MLS solds.

That's a very old marketing scheme that gets revived over and over again.
There's usually a pretty complicated agreement that indentures the seller to a price considerably lower than list price:

Here's a link to Bill Gassert's blog on this subject:
http://www.agentsonline.net/forums/ubbth...ess.html#UNREAD

He's in the west suburbs of Boston

That link you posted is to this thread... fyi.

Yes this is an old marketing scheme and one that ERA used for awhile. ERA used to act like a relo firm and buy properties at discounts.

In my area I've seen numerous variations on this where the agent says they will buy the house, or forego thier commission.. or even pay the seller $1000 cash if it doesn't sell. Of course there are protections for the agent in fine print which usually make it so that agents never have to pay a dime... and it can be very misleading to consumers.

We had one broker in our area actually buy about a dozen houses and the market turned and they went bankrupt. They had some kind of 100% financing deal with a lender, but that lender also went out of business.

Sorry about that -
Here's the link:
http://massrealestatenews.com/sell-your-massachusetts-home-in-70-days-guaranteed/

And we wonder why the public compares us to "back slapping" used car salesmen.

I think we should all work with motivated clients (realistic), but a thorough interview of their needs, motivation, and timing should determine how to price their house to accomplish a sale that is good for them. We should (and many do) use their situational circumstances to HELP them, not to take advantage of a desperate seller.

I agree, people are so fearful when their homes are threatened with anything and they will take the first nice speaking salesman to "save" them....Fear is the motivator for these schemes to work.

My average market time for my REOs is 52 days. I get the seller price them right when I do the CMA. If the seller is not motivated then you have to motivate them. It is your job as an agent to do so. Otherwise you risk sitting on a listing while it goes stale and chases the market downward.

Much of this stuff is Craig Proctor. When nobody was doing it in a market you would get noticed.Now it is old hat.

Most won't take the offer but it gets you phone calls to get in the door and get the listing.Kind of like a car dealership having a car on sale for 6,000 and when you get there they only had 2 in stock. Some buyers would walk away but many would STILL BUY SOMETHING.

Just a scheme to utilize numbers of leads...there is generally a line or two in the contract that would state something along the lines that "if this, this and this do not occor (or do occur) then what we say does not have to happen"

They are just trying to get as many leads as possible and sell the ones that are the most motivated.

Yeah.. we have a Broker in our neighborhood who sells houses super fast. Yep! Thing is, he gets Sellers to List at way below market, and most the Sellers don't even know that's why their house sells in days or weeks.