REMERGE
Transaction Coordinators

February 2005 Volume 2 - Issue 2

Full Service Real Estate Transaction Coordination for California

22691 Lambert St. #154

Lake Forest, CA 92630

Web site: www.remerge.com Phone: 949-582-5812
E-mail: info@remerge.com Fax: 949-582-7885

According to Thomas N. Jacobson, Esq.

"During the past year the real estate industry has experienced significant increase in claims by Buyers and Sellers suing their Agents and the Agents of the other parties. Experts attribute several reasons to this sudden and dramatic upswing in lawsuits, but all too many of these lawsuits are caused by poor communication and less than currently acceptable office practices."

TRAINING: YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO SKINNY OR TOO SMART!

GOOD ADVISE BEFORE YOU NEED IT, IS CALLED EDUCATION!

There is no substitute for continuous education and on-going training. As you go from listing or sale to close of escrow, you need to fully understand the real estate process and the reasons for the forms and volumes of paper the Buyers and Sellers must review and sign during a transaction. You also need to explain the process to your clients.

Your local Board of Realtors is your best resource for training. Your Board is the host of many legal seminars throughout the year that help keep you current with changes in contracts and supporting documents. You have pre-paid for these seminars in your membership dues. Go to legal seminars! Go often. It is not redundant to attend 3 seminars on the same contract given by 3different lawyers. (It may be hard to recognize that they are working from the same material.) Every interpretation is information that is important for you to know for your work.

Thomas N. Jacobson, Esq. says "GET IT IN WRITING"

"One of the all-too-typical scenarios in litigation is the plaintiff telling the story of what the Agent told them. This is obviously disputed by the Agent and the jury must then decide whom to believe. This problem is avoided if the agent takes the time to put things in writing. This can include a letter or memo format that reviews for the client important matters discussed. If the memo covers most of the important events of the transaction it will make it difficult for the client to later have credibility that the agent made a statement that is not reflected in writing. The file should contain adequate notes and memos authored by the agent setting forth each time the agent and client got together and what was discussed, what documents were reviewed and the time spent doing each item. There is no better protection than a well-kept file."

THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HAVE A "WELL KEPT FILE"

1. Don't say or do anything you don't want to see in print.

Your job description as an Agent is to list, market, show and negotiate the sale of property, honestly. There is plenty for you do to fulfill your professional obligations within this narrow description. Stay within the scope of your licensed duties and do not venture to interpret the results of reports from other licensed professionals. Le t the pros explain their work.

AGENT SAYS: "That crack in the patio concrete is probably due to settling. It's very common in California."

IN FACT: The roots of the tree in the middle of the back yard were sprawling underground for years. The Sellers had a repair done for an unrelated problem, some time ago, that diverted the roots in the direction of the patio area. The roots were now under the patio. Even by the close of escrow, the roots were not yet the visible cause of the hairline crack in the patio concrete.

2. Send REMERGE any and all paperwork pertaining to the transaction

REMERGE takes care of all the standard disclosures forms, waivers and then some. However, you may generate or come across paperwork that is not a standard disclosure, or you may have notes and memos that are important to the file. Remember to fax or e-mail them to your REMERGE Coordinator so that she can date the receipt of it and make these notes and memos part of your final transaction file. Hopefully, you'll never need them.

3. The REMERGE AGENT LOG

The AGENT LOG is a feature of the REMERGE program that gives you a location in your web site file to log information, conversations, discussions and events that occur that do not get written, yet are pivotal to the file. Do you trust you will remember the transaction on 123 Main Street 6 months from now or 5 years from now? Why take the chance? Keep a running diary of the transaction from open to close. Good things merit a memo too!

Go to: www.remerge.com

Click: Check My Files

Enter: Password

Click: Agent Log icon far right of the Main Menu page

Or

Click: Property Address to access detail file

Click: Agent Log at the top of the open file.

PREPARE TO LOG

Bring the Agent Log up on your computer screen before you call your client. That way, you can take notes or accurately summarize your conversation and observations as they occur. Check your Files on-line regularly. Review your Agent Log notes and add more as the transaction progresses! At the close of escrow, review and edit all the notes. The AGENT LOG is always active. You can add notes even to transactions in "Closed" status.

REMERGE PLUS

Do you want more than just superlative transaction coordination service? Are you a new Agent who wants someone to teach you the paperwork and be available to walk you through the process of your first few transactions? Are you a real estate Broker of a virtual office who needs back up mentoring support for your virtual Agents? Are you a mortgage Broker who is not familiar enough with the real estate process to allow your loan officers to sell real estate? If you answered "YES" to these situations, you can probably think of other situations where it sure would be nice to have an experienced Realtor by with whom to discuss listings and sales negotiations and the unforeseen, oddball curves that are thrown during a transaction.

The PLUS IS MENTORING

Complete mentoring service comes at an unbelievable additional fee of only $100 when REMERGE Transaction Coordinators manages your file. Mentoring encompasses anything from initial training of brand a new agent to back-up support to Brokers managing other Agents. You can order Mentoring, per file, when you register a Listing, Listing/Sold or New Sale. For more information regarding individual or office based REMERGE PLUS, call Shelly Gorenstein: 877-4 REMERGE.

THE PORTABLE REMERGE

REMERGE Transaction Coordinators is a unique professional service that you can rely on, every time. We are experts in the California real estate transaction because transaction coordination is all we do. REMERGE service is available to any Agent from any office, anywhere in the state of California. So, if you move from one office to another, you can take us with you!

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS?

E-mail to: Shelly Gorenstein, REMERGE Gazette Editor shelly@remerge.com

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