Raking In The Green Stuff Via Active Rain Once Again!
It never ceases to amaze me how we can take it all the way with Active Rain. Don't miss the gravy train- get on board now! 
We just closed an REO that we got from a lender finding us on Active Rain!!!! We do the happy dance at every closing but I also do a happy dance every time:
- we get a phone call because someone found our blog on Active Rain and wants to list their home,
- have us negotiate a short sale for them,
- buy a home,
- refer business to us
- or call us to interview us for a news station
- or to interview us for the National Realtor® Magazine.
The REO lender called us and asked us if we would list a property for them. Nestor did the BPO and had to tell them the hard truth. They had it listed before about 200,000K over priced!
They already knew from reading our blog that we were experts in the Palm Beach County area and this listing was in Delray Beach Florida. As soon as we posted the listing on our blog, the calls started coming in. Within the first 72 hours on the market we had multiple offers, nearly all were over asking price. Out of 7 offers; 4 were ALL CASH offers. We listed and closed this property in less than 30 days!
The property was not without its' issues but the REO department was very good at taking care of title issues straight away. There was a $2500 lien from the water company. The water department refused to turn on the water for even 1 hour while the buyer did his inspections- so the bank sent down the money in order to satisfy the lien. They never asked us to pay for it in their behalf. The asset manager was great to work with, quick to respond and extremely respectful.
I promise you that if you:
- pay it forward first with an attitude of givers gain,
- blog consistantely on Active Rain with the right keywords,
- provide the answer to someone's problem,
- comment on other blogs,
- know you your audience is and
- then provide relevent content to that audience-
your phone will ring too!
And you can take that to the bank!
Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved " Raking In The Green Stuff Via Active Rain Once Again!" 
Congratulations..that is great news.
WoW!!! You found (or it found you) the one bank in a million!
Katerina, it's good to hear that the lenders are reading Active Rain as well as listening to you, their agent.
Great job! Being consistent must be paying off for you!
Katerina, Active Rain is simply the best tool in any Realtor's tool box if they know how to use it!
Congratulations! Isn't AR wonderful?
Great Job! Internet is a very important tool for us. It's great that people can make their selection of the agent they want to represent them, by reading the blogs on Active Rain. It's like building relationship and trust before meeting people.
You guys did an amazing job. It's a super duper bummer when they realize that they've been over priced by 200K. And then you get multiple offers over your list price. Lender pays off the water lien.. Great story.
Thanks for the great reminders Katerina. I've been curious, you mentioned within the past week or so you may have a special announcement. I've been reading trying to find out what the announcement was, but haven't seen it. Did I miss it some where, or did you decide to keep it private?
Great to see a happy story...keep the momentum going!
Great job Katerina! Always great to read about AR success stories. They are the reason all love to blog on ActiveRain.
Good stuff, Katerina! CONGRATULATIONS!
I LOVE ActiveRain!
Have a wonderful Sunday...
Jared- Yeah, I spoke too soon. Nestor is not ready for me to tell the world. There is an x in our lives that when that x picks up on it, well, we need to be prepared for a backlash. It is great news and we are all dying to share it. Nestor said he will let us all know when we can open our mouths. DARN!!!! I can't let the cat out of the bag yet and that cat is scratching!
Katerina - Great job! Congratulations! And, thanks for the reminders and encouragement. I've only been blogging a few months, but have picked up my first buyer who is now under contract. I love AR!
Hi Katerina -- As someone who has followed you on AR for quite some time, I am not surprised in the least. That was one smart lender to hire you! Congrats! You serve ALL your clients exceptionally well!
Hi Katerina...well done, and another Feature Post too. All my Buyers this year Came from AR and yes Listings too...we know it works :O))
Katherina, I like to read that lenders are researching local experts for their REO listings. Congratulations.
I have a question ...
Whay on Earth would there still be a lien from the water company after the home is foreclosed? All the liens should be cleared by foreclosure -- unless your state has some wacky rules.
Aaron- Nope- All liens are not 'lights out' at foreclosure. There are iens that survive foreclosure like property taxes and HOA fees. But in Florida- we are an asset state so there are only a few liens that can ever be attached to homestead property. The only ones are- IRS, State Property Taxes, Mortgages, HOAs and Mechanics Liens. Here your car loan can not put a lien on your house. Your credit card companies can not lien against your homestead either, like in Wisconsin they can. Texas is also a homestead state with some pretty good protections for property owners also.
But this property was owned by some mega drug dealer or someone like that. It was not his primary residence, it was an investment property and he is in prison. ALl of his property was seized by the DEA. So this was some special circumstance.
I have no idea how the water company got away with this. What is even crazier is that the water had not been turned on in 4 years. So when Nestor went to ask them how could this be, they said, that there is a fee every month for water even if you never turn it on or never use it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!
Well, the bank just needed to get it done, so they paid the bill and we moved on. Crazy! Katerina
@Aaron - we have liens here on REO properties, too, taxes, HOA fees, water, garbage - all of it. The foreclosure does not wipe it out here, either.
Katerina - I had a bank call me last year to list a foreclosure property - they found me on the internet, very wierd, they googled the neighborhood, didn't even know where Mesquite was - I was all over page 1 for that subdivision. I got a lot of business from that AR listing blog, too.
(I will say that they were jerks to work with, and I haven't listed a bank owned home since - I hate BPOs!)
But, thanks to AR, and thanks to you for being a great teacher!
Katerina,
I am glad for you. You really are doing a very good job, very consistent and very expertly. Congratulations
Congratulations on the success story. You are reaping what you sow and I am happy for you both.
Congratulations! That why I like reading your posts. You guys always have great stories to share. You cover the whole spectrum. I kook forward to reading about your announcement.
I keep reading story after story like this on Activerain and then wonder why more agents aren't blogging? What are they waiting for?
This is what it is all about... Congrats to you guys.. Hard work pays off! I always wonder as well why more agents are not blogging, but I guess what they don't know won't hurt us!
Great Story. Very inspirationl message to keep plugging away on Active Rain!
I've lost count of the amount of money that AR has added to my bottom line. Yesterday I had one listing appointment and one new buyer that came from the Rain. If you provide relevant information in a style that attracts other agents and potential buyers or sellers your phone will ring.
This is great news for you... By the way, I love the title of your blog!
Thanks for sharing ... It's great to know if you PLANT a seed it will grow.... Active rain is the BEST... Just BLOG it and they will come... I have alot of work to do.....
That is awesome! Congrats to you both and thank you for sharing your activerain success story!
Am I not surprise, my dear friend.
You are truly an inspiration to the rest of us. . great job!
I had an REO in 2008 that had a water lien as well-also not wiped out by the foreclosure. Not as big as yours but still needed to be paid before they would turn it back on. Congrats on a fast sale.
Yea! Another notch on your belts-hopefully, you will get more business from that bank because the REO's that are still in good condition here in South Florida are going like hot cakes!
Corinne- I was totally in shock when Nestor went to turn on the utilities and found out about this huge water bill! I was praying the bank was not going to ask us to invest in getting it turned on and then getting reimbursed for that! But they were really good to work with. In fact, we sent them the bill after we paid for the locksmith to change the locks and we got a check the other day from them to reimburse us!
George- It is like the 80/20 rule but with blogging it is the 90/10 rule! And then the agents who niche and specialize are only 3%!!!! This means there is a huge amount of money to be made and people to serve!
Barbara- Nestor and I were just talking yesterday about this. I was saying that I don't mind as a coach to teach the agents around us here because 0nly a super small percentage will apply what I teach and do what we do. Not only that, most of the agents here are my friends and some have hired me to coach them right out of real estate because it is not their passion. Then many of my friends just do it because they have the connections. It is not like a real solid business to them. Horses are all their first priorities, real estate is second only to their horse activities.
Lisa- They most certainly are in great shape and sell super fast with many offers. This unit was in great shape, gorgeous wood floors, steps from the DelRay Boardwalk and a stone's throw to the intracoastal and bridge to the beach.
Katerina,
I suspect that this sale would not have worked except with Nestor's truthful BPO. It has to be priced correctly for it to sell. As for the water, quite a number of cities are now charging a monthly fee to vacant lot owners when city water is available. I guess it is to encourage them to develop the lot. But you know government is going to get their's. Congradulations on this quick sale.
that is truly an awesome story. I am working with some clients now through active rain and I switched real estate companies because of my being on active rain - I definately believe in active rain!
Way to go Katerina! I got a listing yesterday from a loss mitigation dept who found me on AR.
Thanks for the great post. I'm still waiting for my first ActiveRain client...
Great News!! Loved Your Title for this Blog. This sure brings hope to us all.
From the desk of David Dee,
Katerina, congrats on the quick sale! 200k overpriced? That is a huge difference. Water not being turned on for 4 years is a long time.
What beautiful views and happy for your sale. I miss Florida, we sold our little place last Sept. in Ft. Myers. But, somehow, we'll do it again.
"There is an x in our lives that when that x picks up on it, well, we need to be prepared for a backlash."
No matter what you do, you will always have a backlash. I just know that your attitude mirrors mine and you will be fine with whatever you announce. Plus, I'll be there to defend you two! ;)
What a great success story!! Good for you!!
What could be better than them finding and coming to you for help with their problem. Congratulations.
Katerina, congrats on a job well-done.
That is great! I'm new to this and I just got my first listing
Always good t hear great stories such as this one.
It's obvious that you have made Active Rain work for you. I appreciate all of the information you provide to us in your posts that have taught me so much in my time here.
Hi Katerina,
It's wonderful to see such a wonderful success story. Those who have blogged consistently and with quality blogs end up gaining ground in difficult markets. The trouble for many new bloggers is that they are looking for a "quick fix." It isn't quick - it takes TIME and energy and you have to have decent writing skills! But it beats running around cold-calling people who resent you for bothering them!
Satar- This is great- you will be there to defend me:) and I also have Brian Morganweck to take my back when the media finds all my skeletons if I run for public office, LOL! We'll have a great team! I tried to get Nestor to let me just give a hint but he said he needs one more of our children to know first. And that may not happen for a couple more months!
Ruthmarie- Yes, it sure does beat cold calling, by a long shot. I would rather be blogging...
Katerina, great job selling Tony Montana's house!
I got a call from someone in NJ last week who found me on AR! Love it!!
This is sweet sweet news that I love to hear!
Katerina, Another AR success story - I'm glad it happened to yall! It is a boost for everyone to keep at the bloggin on AR and make the keywords count - you never know how the connection will be made but just know that it will!
You desire the recognition with all you post. I need to get my *** in gear and get blogging daily.
You desire the recognition with all you post. I need to get my *** in gear and get blogging daily.
David- LOL! One of the great lines from Scarface that Tony Montana said was: "I always tell the truth, even when I lie.":)
Congrats on your call! Katerina
You must be doing a lot of happy dancing - get on your dancing shoes!
Awesome job!
I have listed and sold many REO's in Defiance and surrounding N.W. Ohio counties... it is refreshing to hear/read a good REO story!!! Good for the asset mangager who could see a good thing when she/he saw it!!! I'm not so sure all Asset Manager's are that "in tuned" to the Real Estate Agent and the buyers of these needy properties... gotta love AR and the phone ringing:) Karol