If you are a real estate professional that is hitting the wall because the market has slowed to a crawl, you need to develop some new skills. If you would like some straight answers on the Short Sale process, you need to read this article.

There was a statistic published locally here in the Central Florida area that only 65% of the agents and brokers in the greater Orlando area renewed their annual membership at the end of October 2007. Can you imagine a 35% decrease in membership in one year to the local medical association; that would be bad news that would be worthy of front page news.

Imagine if 35% of the attorneys dropped out of the BAR association come renewal time and the celebration that would cause? All joking aside, it is never good news when people lose their jobs or their means to earn a living, be it doctors, lawyers, or real estate professionals. I have been laid off or fired and that was involuntary. The fact that my job situation was someone else's decision still did not diminish or make me feel better, I was still without work.

When you stop and think about 35% of a work force in a particular industry making a decision to not work in their profession and look for work elsewhere, you have to stop and wonder if the exodus could have been avoided. Maybe yes and maybe no, I'll let you decide.

There can be no ignoring the real estate market has taken a very big hit with the sub-prime mess that is sweeping the country. The ripple effect is just beginning with the 35% mentioned above. The home building market has also begun to slow to a crawl and the mortgage brokerage business may be even in worse shape.

For real estate agents, brokers, and mortgage professionals there may be a solution. Like many solutions, it does not come without a price. But the price must be weighed against doing nothing and hoping for things to change. Hope is never a good business strategy.

So what does someone do who has worked the real estate business all or a good part of their lives when suddenly the good old reliable ways of making money has all but dried up? When your income is based on commissions or fees generated from your services, how do you turn on the spigot again and get some money flowing your way instead of out of your bank accounts?

For some, obviously the answer was to get out of the business altogether. For some it has come down to learning new skills. The new skills I am talking about here is learning the process known in the lending world as the "Short Sale." My name is Clyde R. Goulet and I am uniquely qualified to tell you about this new way to keep making money and stay in the game.

I won't get into the reasons, but back in the early 1990's my wife and I went through our own foreclosure and it was an experience I would not wish on anyone. I was blown away at how poorly we were treated by the lender we were dealing with and the things that were said to me over the phone in an effort to intimidate me. I wanted to relay to others what I had learned and what I have learned since then while working with property owners going through the foreclosure process.

I even wrote a book about my experience and it has been for sale on Amazon.com for a couple of years now. "The Survival Guide To Foreclosure" will never be on the N.Y. Times bestseller list, but then again that is not why it was written. I wrote the book to give something back and in fact give away far more copies than I sell. I thought that based on all my experience in the world of bank foreclosures and real estate, I would come up with a Short Sale manual to help real estate professionals stay in the game.

I have been working Short Sales since about the year 2000, and it has basically made my income recession proof. Short Sales are offered by lenders in both good times and bad in the Real Estate business. There is absolutely no reason to get out of the Real Estate business if there are resources out there to aid in your education and you can use those resources to stay in the game.

With the real estate market upside down and more and more of these pre-foreclosure homes coming down the road all the time, you simply MUST educate yourself for the benefit of yourself and your clients. I also have to warn you that if you are expecting a quick and easy fix and think the Short Sale process is going to be the magic pill, then perhaps you shouldn't bother.

The Short Sale process is in fact a long process and it means that you will have to roll up your sleeves and get busy. I am an advocate of always learning because if you are not keeping up with the changes in your market, you are certainly falling behind. What better way to keep up with those changes than to learn a new skill that will guarantee your success now and in the future.

If you think about the skills needed to be successful as a real estate professional, it is all about how we deal with people on a daily basis that determines how successful we are. A little luck helps once in a while, but luck, like hope is not a business strategy to hang your hat on for the long haul.

By gathering some good information on the workings of Short Sale deals you can virtually guarantee that you will never again be the victim of slow markets. Knowing the ins and outs of Short Sales will enable you to make money regardless of what is going on around you in the market. There have always been foreclosures in both good times and bad, knowing how to make money on even upside down properties will carry you when other agents and professionals get out of the business and taking jobs at Walmart.

I urge you to please consider learning about the Short Sale process today, by all indications this Real Estate market will continue to sputter for at least another year. I wish you the best of luck.

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