In today’s real estate market, everyone is looking for an edge… everyone… Buyers, Seller, Realtors, everyone is adjusting to the new dynamics of the hyper-competitive Seller’s market we’re in. With inventory of homes for sale at all-time lows, Buyers have realized they’ve missed the bottom of the market, and are scrambling to buy before prices and interest rates climb too high. Realtors working with buyers have few homes to show their clients, and if they do find a home their clients want, it’s not unusual for their offer to be competing against 10 or more other offers.
There’s almost a sense of panic from buyers, and it’s not entirely unjustified. According to DataQuick, the SF Bay Area home median price is up 24.6%. If that isn’t tough enough news for buyers looking to finance their purchase, it appears that a record 31.9% of homes sold in February were paid for in cash. That’s up 28.4% from the month before and 31.5% over last year.
So, what do you do if you’re a buyer that needs a loan, or a Realtor working with buyers and struggling to get offers accepted? If you’re a lender, how do you help your clients compete, and win, with our tough market dynamics? What are you going to do? If you’re Zack Cooper with Commerce Mortgage, you smile a lot, because you know that the greatest challenges bring the greatest opportunities. As a “recovering” Civil Engineer by education and trade, viewing challenges as opportunities is natural for Zack. He says, “I became a lender because I enjoy problem solving. Engineering was great experience, however I wanted a career where I could work with people. I enjoy helping clients with the biggestinvestment of their life.”
Zack loves challenges and loves to succeed where others either can’t, or won’t. He’s often called on to save deals that otherwise would have been lost. Desiree Bilich, a Top Producer with Keller Williams in Walnut Creek has happy clients today because of her relationship with Zack, “I have a long time client who was buying a $1M property. They had started with their own bank and thought they were all set with their loan, but about 10 days prior to closing, their lender said they couldn’t do the loan and suggested they wait another year. They were devastated, so I called Zack. He took over the loan, and in about 15 days, was able to get the loan approved and closed.
This was not an easy deal, but Zack’s perseverance, knowledge and around-the-clock work got my clients into their dream home.” Zack understands, while home values are appreciating, there are many factors that contribute to a successfully accepted offer besides price alone.Sometimes, the strongest competitive advantage you can have is based on the relationships and reputations of the people you’re working with. Now more than ever, it’s important to choose people who enjoy solid local reputations and positive relationships with their peers.
According to Zack, business today is all about relationships, “The current market requires a strong realtor-lender team to get buyers’ offers accepted. Realtors use us because we deliver. We close loans on time, communicate quickly and often, are committed to accurate numbers, answer our phones, and we solve complicated loan scenarios. We are committed to building life-long relationships one transaction at a time.”David Kelly, top producing Realtor and buyer specialist with J. Rockcliff Realtors in Walnut Creek, agrees, “I can say with 100% certainty that my buyers’ chance of getting their offer accepted is greatly improved when teamed up with my lender Zack Cooper.”
When teaming up with Zack, people are also teaming up with his support team. Monica Kappl and Lindsey Stevenson are both Sales Coodinators and fully trained on all the programs Zack offers. Zack and his team are excited about the opportunities and challenges this market brings.They’ve been working hard on expanding the options they can provide, and part of that expansion includes a new partnership with Commerce Mortgage. Working with Commerce Mortgage dramatically increases the solutions they have to work with to help structure successful offers and purchases. In fact Zack and Commerce Mortgage are rolling out several new programs designed to address a variety of challenges facing Realtors and buyers today.
The Bridge to Listings progam helps buyers who need to sell their current home in order to buy, and are concerned they won’t be able to find the home they want in our tight market. It is a great tool for Realtors to capture more listings. Carl Batistte of Keller Williams in Danville says, “with Zack’s Bridge to Listings Program I am getting more listings by showing my clients creative ways to buy now and sell later. This program is a game changer if you want to capture more listings.” If you’re a Realtor focused on getting more listings, you need to call Zack. He personally gurantees a new listing as a result of using this program.
The Buyers Advantage Program helps buyers succeed in todays market. Dave Kelly, with J. Rockcliff confirms, “using Buyers Advantage has definitely got my clients more accepted offers.” RealPro is a specialty proprietary program that will also yield more business. It is a way of maximizing your listing to create more buyers for Realtors and their teams. Realtors, call Zack and he can discuss your eligibility for the program.
It’s no surprise that Zack’s passion for welcoming challenges and building relationships are major factors in his success. It’s also no surprise these traits play a huge role in his personal life as well. When he’s not working, Zack is an avid outdoor athlete and self-described “adrenaline junkie,” who enjoys wakeboarding and snowboarding. It’s likely that Zack’s biggest relationship success story will occur later this year with his upcoming marriage to fiancée, and love of his life, Terri Errecart. Zack smiles as he says, “Not sure how I got so lucky, but we are very happy and very much in love. We travel, laugh, enjoy people, and try to not take life so serious. I definitely dated up.”
To increase your odds of having a successfully accepted offer, choose a team that understands what it takes to be competitive in today’s market, call Zack directly.
Zackry Cooper, Loan Advisor
Loan Advisor, Commerce Mortgage
925-648-5244
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- JouJou Chawla: Blackhawk’s Best Realtor - February 22, 2016
- Khrista Jarvis: The San Ramon Valley’s Top Agent - February 19, 2016
- Nadr Essabhoy: Where Knowledge Counts - February 10, 2016
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