Here are the top 8 reasons to register for VAR’s 88th Convention & Expo:

1. It’s the Perfect Opportunity…for a tax deductible family vacation.
2. You like hanging out with geeks
3. You want to know the REAL REASON people talk aboutyou.
4. You have less money for holiday gifts this year and our exhibitors want to give you FREE stuff.
5. VAR’s special counsel Lem Marshall makes the connection between football and bankruptcy (and there’s no bookie involved).
6. You want to know how speed dating can help your business.
7. You want to give a piece of your mind to the people who forgot to schedule VAR’s convention in Virginia.
8. Laptops work anytime, anyplace, but there’s only one chance this year to have coffee with the best in Virginia real estate.

Register online before July 18 and save up to $80 instantly at www.VARConvention.com.

Lem Marshall, Special Counsel for the Virginia Association of Realtors gave a presentation this morning called “Advanced Short-Sales”. It proved to be an excellent presentation that probably should have been called “What Realtors REALLY need to know about short-sales to successfully deal with one”.

Some of the things in the presentation that Lem covered were:

• The history of economics and lending in America, how credit markets work and why we’re in this mess.
• Prices may not be at the bottom yet. It may take another 12 to 18 months to get there.
• Knowledge is the key. Make sure you get everything out on the table regarding the seller’s financial and personal situation. You can not properly help them without knowing all the facts and their overall situation - past, current and future.
• Make sure you get the borrower’s permission, in writing, in order to publicize the fact that it’s a short-sale. You must have the seller’s permission to disclose personal and financial information about them, which is what you’re doing by publishing that it’s a “short-sale” or stating “subject to third party/lender approval”.
• Make sure that you correctly word the “subject to third party approval”/bank contingency. How you word this will directly affect whether you face potential issues in the future or not.
• If the bank says that they want the commission lowered from what you’ve agreed upon with your client, don’t give in so easily. Many Realtors in attendance said that they said “no” to the bank’s request and that the bank was okay with it.
• If the bank insists on lowering your commission, try asking them to counter at a higher price that covers both your and the Selling Broker’s commission.
• Remind the Selling Agent (Buyer’s Agent) that the process of approval by the bank can take 60 to 90 days, if not longer. This will help alleviate an upset agent and buyer down the line.
• Short-sales can be messy. Be prepared to do much more work than a traditional resale or even a foreclosure.

There were many other great points that Lem made that Realtors can use on a daily basis when dealing with short-sales. I recommend watching the video of Lem’s presentation once it’s up on the Dulles Area Association of Realtors’ web site sometime next week. I’ll publish a quick post when it’s up to alert everyone so you can go check it out.

VAR Standard Forms are expertly crafted and time-tested to best serve REALTOR® needs throughout the Commonwealth. They are protection for your business. Beginning with this issue, we’ve asked our special counsel Lem Marshall to regularly take a close-up look at specific portions of VAR’s Standard Forms.

Acceptance provisions in purchase agreements can cause more angst than warranted, so it’s worth a moment to remind ourselves of a few important things. When a buyer wants to goad a seller to prompt action on an offer, he will sometimes include a provision such as that found in the VAR Form 600 purchase contract:

“This…offer shall remain in effect unless earlier withdrawn until ______. If not accepted by such time, this offer shall be null and void.” The first point to note is that this provision does not obligate the offeror (typically, the buyer) to keep the offer open until the stated date and time. Any offer may be withdrawn at any time until it is accepted. Second, if the stated date and time arrive with no acceptance having occurred, the offeree has nothing to accept, and the offeror who wants to keep the deal open will need to reauthorize the offer, usually by changing the effective date and time or re-executing the contract.

In some parts of the state it’s becoming common for buyers to add, after acceptance language like that set out above, the words “at the option of the buyer.” I guess this means that the offer dies at a certain time and date if the buyer decides it does. But how does the buyer manifest this intent? How does seller know if the offer is still there to accept? Nothing but confusion and ambiguity can arise from such language, and I hope brokers will educate their agents about the danger of such provisions, and that listing agents will be alert to such silliness. Acceptance provisions can be useful, but we need to remember that once the time comes and goes without acceptance, complications can arise. Unless you’re sure about how to use them, it might be best to leave the offer open.