Real Estate Agents who let listed home go to Foreclosure auction

[Belinda Lopez]

What do you folks think about RE agents who have homes listed that are about to go to the Foreclosure auction but don't actively try to sell the property or let their clients know about alternative solutions? I've had several cases where I find homes on the upcoming auction lists (I'm in Texas) and find the home to be listed for sale with an agent. I usually send the owner a letter and contact the agent offering to take over payments, and/or buy the property quickly using "subject to" structuring.

I'm finding that most agents have no idea how to help a family about to lose their house other than traditional sales. It just makes me sad to see these families trying to actively sell their homes only to have an agent who does very little to help them.

I had a case last month where I contacted the agent with basic questions like, what are the monthly payments? how far are they behind on payments? She had no clue and I told her we would make up the back payments, stop the foreclosure and buy the property for the loan balance. She only called me back once and still didn't have any info, b/c she was 'busy.' I explained there was only about a week left before the home went to Foreclosure and she said she knew but then nothing. I know if I had been able to talk to the homeowners directly we probably could have worked something out.

This has happened several times over the past year with various agents and each time, the agent just seems unconcerned that the family is losing the house and will now have a foreclosure on their records. The agents are all just "too busy" to work on any alternative deal. I wonder if it's b/c they think they will lose their commission but geez, you'd think having a home listing that gets foreclosed on with no action by the agent should put some kind of blemish on the agents record.