REO Insider Article
Robert Klein, Founder and Chairman of Safeguard Properties, was featured in a REO Insider article titled, Safeguard’s Robert Klein: Sights and smells key to selling REO.
Safeguard?s Robert Klein: Sights and smells key to selling REO
To close out Thursday?s SourceMedia loss mitigation conference, a panel addressed issues of loss mitigation in the REO process.
Robert Klein, founder and chairman of property preservation company Safeguard Properties, told the panel the stakes are much higher now when it comes to getting REO properties ready for sale.
Previously, REO properties were marketed as such. Since they sold for significantly less than other houses, that was all you could do, Klein said. But now, with the margin between traditional sales and REO sales more narrow, there is a greater emphasis placed on an REO property?s ability to compete with traditional sales. If you want to sell an REO property these days, you have to make it comparable to others on the market, Klein said. To do that, companies like Safeguard are stepping up their game.
?They?re doing white glove inspections on these homes, and I tell you what, it pays off,? Klein said. ?Every cobweb is going to cost you $5,000. If the potential buyer comes in, they?re going to come up with every excuse to lower the price.?
Any real estate agent ? REO or otherwise ? will tell you the way a house smells is important when you have a house listing. It?s the whole ?making a house smell like fresh baked cookies? concept. You have to make house hunters want to buy the property. Klein said it?s one of the easiest things to do, but not doing it can cost you.
?If it smells like an REO, it will sell like an REO,? he said.
Safeguard does somewhere in the neighborhood of 1m home inspections every month, Klein said. And while some of the names have changed ? ?trash outs? are now called ?maid service,? ?cash for keys? is ?relocation assistance? ? the guiding principles are still the same.
The changes can be simple, he said. ?What we want to create is something that a young couple can visualize taking the property and building a future in the home.?
To view the online article, please click here
About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with approximately 800 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
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