First Pluto now Mars

The FTC recently announced that it will Not Enforce Provisions of the MARS Rules Against Real Estate Professionals Helping Consumers obtain Short Sales.

The flood of short sales has in our experience been a Tsunami that first hit the coasts and has now spread inland across virtually every part of the county. The first reaction of many people and agencies is to panic and in a sincere attempt to help the public over legislate with new rules and/or over interpret existing regulations.

While there will always be scam artists who try to take advantage of situations like these the vast majority of professionals including Realtors are sincerely try to help people make the best of a bad situation. Apparently the FTC has realized that MARS was a law that actually hurt consumers by trying to limit what Realtors and other professionals could do to help them.

The litnus test for all of us involved in short sales should always be the question "what is the best way to help my client?".

The way we do short sales is a win for all parties.

The seller wins by avoiding foreclosure and we are often able to get their deficiency forgiven and even get them money at the closing.

The Realtor wins by being freed up to do what they do best and still collect their full commissions.

The Buyers win by gettting some great deals.

The lenders win by not having to take back more REO's.

One of my favorite quotes is "life is not about avoiding the storms it's about learning to dance in the rain". Wherever you go in this country it's raining short sales and it is unlikely to let up any time soon. Let's all continue to work together to do everything we can to help each other make it through the storm!