Will bank owned properties (REO) cause agents to get lazy?

Tonight I was doing some research for a builder client of mine, Powell Homes, to see what the inventory looked like in a price point below where he is selling. The point originally was to compare how his buy down on an interest rate (to 3.875% for a 30-year fixed) would compare to what a person could purchase in the same area with the same down payment level. This property is priced at $399,950 and is a 2004 built 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home with 2200 sqft and some views from the kitchen and upstairs master bedroom and one small bedroom. At this low interest rate a 10% down payment could garner a payment around $2,250 including PITI and PMI.

The comparison of a person who might qualify for a 5.5% rate loan ($40,000 down) with a debt-to-income ratio that limited a payment to $2300 or less showed that this person would likely cap out at $345,000 in purchasing power. Then when I did a 1/2 mile radius check of properties between $300k and $345k to see what this person would be looking at being able to buy, I noted that of the 13 properties available ten (10) of them were either short sales or already bank owned. Yes, you read that right. TEN out of 13.

So, why does my post title refer to agents getting lazy? You should have seen how some of these properties were represented on the MLS. Crappy photos that did nothing to make the home seem interesting or marketable. Which is really doing the seller and the bank a huge disservice. I’m not suggesting that an agent go out and spend many hundreds of dollars on a professional photographer on a house that might be in somewhat questionable condition, but for heaven’s sake, can’t you at least move the vacuum cleaner out of the way of the shot in the kitchen; or turn the lights on in the room to make it seem less dreary and show the house better; or perhaps take a complete picture of the outside of the structure?

Whoa! Must have had an earthquake hit when this photo was snapped. And, really, does taking a picture of this person’s couch really tell us anything about the house?

Seriously, when I see stuff like this I wonder how the lenders choose the agents they use to sell the inventory they’re having to put on their books. You’d think they’d want someone who would at a minimum take the picture during the day. Truly, I am not kidding when I say that one of these listings had a picture that the agent took at night with their headlights showing on the house and that was it! It’s posted below.

Crazy.

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Will bank owned properties (REO) cause agents to get lazy?

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Will bank owned properties (REO) cause agents to get lazy?

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