About this Blog

About this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to educate real estate agents, related professionals and consumers alike about the short sale side of the real estate business; how does it work, what’s involved and what is it really like.

Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is not to provide legal or tax advise. Please be sure to check with your CPA or attorney if you have any questions regarding legal or tax issues. This blog is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

About myself

People call me “Mr. Shortsales” because I have without a doubt developed a high level of expertise when it comes to the short sale side of the real estate business. Not only am I one of only a few people who are simultaneously licensed as a Real Estate Broker, Mortgage Broker and Title Agent, but moreover I have been focussed on the short sale side of the business; as a result I know what has to happen to get a short sale approved.  My success rate is approx 3 times the industry average, and my goal is to share my expertise via this blog.

There is of course more to me than short sales alone, so here is a brief bio on myself…

I am what you might consider a ’serial entrepreneur’.

Originally from Germany I came to the US in the mid 80’s and have been an entrepreneur ever since.  In the early 90’s I became somewhat of an online marketing guru, publishing the “All in One Electronic Marketing Kit” which taught businesses and entrepreneurs about the Internet and how to utilize online services and usenet newsgroups for direct response marketing.

In the mid 90’s I founded the worlds first turn-key ecommerce and webhosting company, as well as the first domain registration service on the web. The business grew rapidly with operations in 3 continents and customers in 65 countries before I merged the company with another provider in 1997, with the new company going public in 1999.

In 1999 I co-founded iDigi, the first internet / technology startup incubator in the S.E. United States, where we launched a number of successful ventures. One of them was Networks which developed the first hosted Microsoft Exchange Solution. Microsoft loved it so much, they came and shot a video which they then used in their product launch:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MalpTWzCOI]

Another company was iDigi Wireless, which later became the pre-cursor to xG Technology, a leader in wireless innovation. xG went public in London on the AIM exchange in 2006.

In 2003 I decided to tackle the real estate industry, leveraging my technology expertise to create a new breed of residential real estate company, one that was to be totally paperless, extremely efficient and above all consumer centric. Bravo Real Estate was launched as the first consumer centric ‘next-gen’ real estate company with a business model very similar to that of Redfin. In the end however in midst of the real estate meltdown we were not able to raise the necessary funding for this company to make it viable.

Instead my partners and I decided to leverage the processes, technology and expertise into the fastest growing segment of the real estate industry today: Short Sales. GSS Title was established in 2006 and is now the premier provider of free short sale processing and negotiation services to REALTORS throughout the State of Florida, as part of our Title Services.

My personal focus has shifted towards my true passion: teaching and mentoring.

The Short Sale Money Machine (TM) is the premier training program for REALTORS and a book by the same title is due to be published by the end of the first quarter of 2010. In addition I am leading free home seller seminars and workshops designed to educate home sellers about how to avoid or stop foreclosure using a properly structured and executed short sale.

I also provide other short sale related training to real estate agents, short sale processors and home owners in distress.