Meet Michael Morton, Metro Brokers Realty Oasis Real Estate Divorce Specialist (REDS)

Interviewer: Today were talking with Michael Morton from Metro Brokers Realty Oasis and Michael, welcome to the show.

Michael Morton: Hi.

Interviewer: Thanks for being here.

Michael Morton: Thank you.

Interviewer: So how long have you been in real estate?

Michael Morton: Ive been in real estate for, this is my tenth year.

Interviewer: Interesting market youve seen over the last couple of years?

Michael Morton: Yeah, its been quite up and down its...

Interviewer: Because I imagine if we take a look at the last 10 years, youve had a little bit of everything, youve had probably the very best and the very worst.

Michael Morton: Sure, sure, it can be a roller coaster ride at times.

Interviewer: All right, so any tips on how you make it through that?

Michael Morton: Well, you just keep pushing forward.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Michael Morton: Try and find a definite niche, something like that, to work with.

Interviewer: And youve found that?

Michael Morton: Yeah, yes I have.

Interviewer: So tell me, what REDS is, R-E-D-S?

Michael Morton: REDS is a designation for Real Estate Divorce Specialist.

Interviewer: And I say wow because, you know, I know theres a lot of designations out there, but I didnt know you could niche it down that much.

Michael Morton: Sure. Well, yes, you can.

Interviewer: And why did you decide to do something like that?

Michael Morton: Well, Ive been through a divorce myself.

Interviewer: Okay.

Michael Morton: Fortunately or unfortunately.

Interviewer: Right.

Michael Morton: And I also volunteer for a local nonprofit that helps with support for people going through divorce, and one of the things that I found was they were needing help with liquidating or negotiating the resolution of their property, their family home.

Interviewer: Yeah, so talk a little bit about that. I mean, when you go to meet with a husband and wife who are splitting, obviously in very rare cases its probably amicable, but in most cases, its not.

Michael Morton: Right, unfortunately.

Interviewer: So what's going on there--I mean, what's the skill set that you need to handle that dynamic?

Michael Morton: Well, theres a lot of different dynamics going on that you need to be aware of, within the family, between the two people. So generally I can meet with them together; I can meet with them separately. I met several times with people with their divorce attorney, because this also relates to how their final orders are set up, as far as liquidating the house or having one of the parties stay and the other party move on.

Interviewer: You know it's funny, if you talk with buyers, what the buyer's primary concern is they didnt buy low enough. If you talk with the seller, you say what's the seller's primary is that they sold for too low a price, but when youre talking with divorced people, I imagine one of the top primary concerns is, who is my real estate agent really representing? Is he representing me or is he representing my wife?

Michael Morton: Right. Well, its hard to stay in the middle, but I do have some mediation skills. I also have a couple of designations as a certified parenting instructor and within those two certifications, Ive learned the dynamics of a divorce and how the family reacts, and how the two partners react, and its really about making them both comfortable with what youre doing.

Interviewer: Yeah, final quick question wrapping it up, but do you find that now, given the current economy and circumstances, were seeing not only the difficulty of divorce but were finding now divorced couples under water?

Michael Morton: Well yeah, there are a lot of short sales involved in this, and I have been doing short sales for pretty much the length of the 10 years Ive been in the business.

Interviewer: Oh, okay.

Michael Morton: So, and I have also have experience with fixing and flipping houses on my own and things like that. So I understand also those dynamics of working with the banks and being able to get people out in the shortest period of time with a short sale instead of a foreclosure which is, could be, another whole show here.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Michael Morton: But there are just several things to think about. There are also tax consequences and things like that, that usually, its so emotional during a divorce that youre not thinking about that.

Interviewer: Yeah. Michael, thanks.

Michael Morton: Thank you.

Interviewer: Appreciate you being here.

Michael Morton: Appreciate it, thank you very much.

Posted on February 23, 2010 10:28:34 by Blog Author