Thanks everyone who came to the class! It was great to have a good turnout, especially since the school said we only had 3 people signed up.
If you would like to download the slides from the class, you can find them here on my jasonhershey.net website.
I also want to say “Thanks” for the feedback you turned in. We’ll give the forms to Sky Valley Schools, but I want to cover some of the things quickly before that.
Everyone seemed happy with the basics of the course. I thought it was interesting that almost everyone found out about the class from flyers at the local library. We’ve done some web promotion of the class (including search advertising), it was posted in the Monroe newspaper, and of course there is the Sky Valley School mailer. I’d be interested in hearing your ideas on how to get the word out to folks who want and need to know about this class and our others.
One person asked for more information about finding lists of bank owned and government owned properties. That is a pretty big challenge, even for us real estate agents. We mention it in the slides, but in this class we only glossed over the issue. In our MLS (Northwest MLS) there is no one where agents who list REOs for banks/gov’t can/should say “this is a foreclosure”. There are some clues that agents can use to search. For example, there is a place to note the name of the owner… and that field will usually have “owner of record” or “bank owned” or even the name of the bank (like “Countrywide”) or agency (like “HUD”). Kathi and I use another method… we know who most of the agents are that get the listings (there are not that many…. Kathi and another agent at our company are part of the group!) I’ll be sending everyone the list of properties we had at the class. In fact, here is the link (which will remain available for about 30 days): View Listings
If you want to look specifically for government owned properties, along with the links in the slides there are links on my other website under “Blogs, Links, Etc.”. By the way, that website has a Google-powered search that is great. It allows for a full-text search of the entire NWMLS, so you can search for those words mentioned earlier to find bank-owned properties. You can also search for “pre foreclosures” and “short sales”.
For lists of properties that are about to go into foreclosure (for which a notice has been filed) one of your best sources is a title company like First American, Chicago title, Ticor, etc. There are plenty of other services out there that sell lists, but its all based on public info. And of course, you can go to the courthouse and see what is scheduled to happen. But, just keep in mind the issues and dangers of buying before foreclosure.
Other feedback:
Someone suggested signs around the school to point to the class. Great idea! I think next class we’ll bring some of our “Open House” signs and set them up to make it easier to find us.
A couple of folks asked about a class on Credit Repair. We’ve done this in the past, so maybe its time to start it up again. Look for in next semester. In the mean time, Jeff Nance has the materials so contact him for more info (he will be emailing those 2 people who asked about it after class).
Again, thanks for attending the class!
Jason, Kathi, and Jeff
Leave a Reply