Thomas Abraham, Esq is a real estate attorney who specializes short sales, foreclosure defense, real estate, and civil litigation at Abraham & Sweeney in Florida. He has been a practicing real estate attorney for the last 12 years and graduated from Nova Southeastern University with a law degree and a Masters in Business Administration and earned a Bachelors in Marketing and Finance from the University of Florida. He is a family man who grew up in the real estate business.
What did you do before real estate? How did you get into the business?
I grew up in the business of real estate with a family business of real estate development and specifically commercial real estate.
What are some challenges you face in the business?
Many of the challenges that we face are clients not seeking advice and help in a timely manner. Many times it is a scramble at the end to postpone a foreclosure so that a client can get resolution with a short sale. We also find that clients tend to watch the news, listen to friends and other sources of inaccurate advice. It is hard to cut through the noise so that a client can find the solution that suits them.
What motivates you ?
A feeling of accomplishment that we helped a property owner resolve their mortgages, debts and related issues. Many times this is helping a family avoid turmoil, avoid divorce, avoid depression and let them understand that feeling financial difficulty is not the end of the world but has a fix.
What gets you the most?
Getting a deal closed that’s a win win for all parties.
What technology do you use to run your business?
We use Clio for our practice management and Realty Commander for our short sale processing.
Has your business changed in the last few years? If so, how?
We have seen a change in the demographic of client. We have seen different areas of real estate being affected. For example, some of the hot spots around the county have yielded great gains in values which have helped clients that were facing foreclosure to be able to sell and actually pocket a few dollars.
How do you see your business moving forward in the future?
We see that the number of short sales are down, but the effect of this market might be a bit late to help as many people that would love to sell as a non-short sale. So there are many more clients to help.
What are your goals?
Our firms goal has always been the same thing which is to help our clients achieve their goals. We have surpassed 4,000 short sales completed since 2006 and we hope to achieve another 500 this year.
Would you offer any advice to someone just starting out?
Stay focused on what your are doing and why. This will help you stay focused when times are tough.
How long have you been using Realty Commander?
We have been a customer since 2009.
How is your business different before using Realty Commander?
Prior to using Realty Commander, we were using a mixed bag of software and paper which was not only bogging us down but limited our capability. Now our negotiators are located in different parts of the country and world and are able to work as a team.