Today I took an online class about Short Sales. You might remember that after the Great Recession in 2008, Lloyd Trimble and I got heavily involved in short sales, and for a couple of years, it was our specialty.

We knew the process well, which allowed us to help a lot of folks avoid foreclosure. Because we knew it well, we were invited to speak at several conferences and often consulted with other agents to help them.

As Covid-19 wreaks havoc on the economy, I expect a housing market correction that will be followed by an increase in short sales as mortgage forbearance programs come to an end. It’s been a while since I’ve had a short sale transaction, so I figured the class would be a good refresher.

In my first one, I made every mistake in the book. These transactions were new to most brokers, there were no rules, and certainly no rule book.

I sent the paperwork in, and it was rejected for not having the loan number stamped on every page.

I sent it again, stamped this time, and it was rejected for lacking a HUD statement.

I sent it again, and it was rejected. Again and again.

When the paperwork was finally accepted and sent along for processing, the sale was denied. We had to go through several rounds of negotiations, all of which had to be approved by the bank.

After an eternity, we reached a deal that satisfied the lender and set a closing date but, somehow, I'd failed to inform my clients that they had to move before we could close. In the chaos, they had gotten the idea that they would be able to stay in the house!

When we finally got to the closing table, the settlement statement showed that the total commission approved by the lender was 50% of what the seller had agreed to pay me. As is typical, I’d charged the seller a fee of 6%, and through the MLS, I had offered buyer’s agents half of that for representing a buyer.

When the buyer’s agent saw the statement with both us having our fee reduced to 1.5%, he wanted nothing to do with it. See, our rule is you have to pay what you offer. So, by the rules, I owed him 3%, and he wasn’t interested in one penny less.

So, I paid him, and by the time it was all said and done, I actually lost money on the transaction.

Like I said, every mistake in the book.

But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. While I was making those mistakes, I was also learning the process very well. I succeeded in helping my client avoid foreclosure, even if I did fail to earn any money doing it.

I’m good with that.

Failure is no big deal; life is full of failure. The thing that matters is what you do with it.

I see it not as defeat or as a lack of success, but rather an opportunity to analyze what went wrong and decide if I want to try again.

Usually, I do.

And when I do, I’m always better than I was before I failed at it.