In my last post, I talked about how taking a short sale listing can be a challenge and something not everybody should do. In other words, taking a short sale listing just to get a listing is not in the best interest of the Las Vegas home seller that really needs help. The short sale listing agent really needs to have the systems ALREADY in place and have a thorough understanding of what they are doing before taking these on. Taking a short sale listing just to get a listing is in nobody’s best interest.
It’s really not so much about the ability of a real estate agent to sell a home, it’s more about having the ability to deal with the lender. Who to talk to, what to say and how to prepare the hardship package. Systems need to be in place and luckily, my wife is the most organized and systematic person I know that is very detailed orientated. That’s extremely important when it comes to working with the banks, if not the most important when it comes to Las Vegas short sales.
Even when it seems that there is a perfect scenario to make a short sale happen, this fascinating post about a current situation that a Real Estate Broker in California is having with handling a short sale with Bank of America really highlights the problem.
I have a seller who wants to pay Bank of America the shortfall difference on a short sale, but B of A says let it go to foreclosure. We don’t have time to talk about it.
Basically what that means is this particular home seller and client of the Real Estate Broker is willing to sign a Note to pay Bank of America back with the difference of what the home is worth in today’s market and the money owed on the Mortgage.
They’ve got a buyer, the appraisal has been performed to show that the home is worth around $100,000 less then the mortgage and the seller is willing to pay Bank of America back if they approve the sale. Sounds like a Win-Win situation for everybody. From the article:
The seller is willing to sign an unsecured prom note to Bank of America for many, many thousands of dollars. He would like to pay the bank the shortage. But Bank of America doesn’t want to take his money.
The scenario that this Real Estate Broker is highlighting appears to be the ideal situation that could happen in a short sale that is a win-win for everybody. It’s a fascinating and well written article detailing the chronicles of a short sale and what happens even when everything appears to be perfect.
I explained that this is not your ordinary short sale, that my seller wants to pay them back. But also, the buyer is going to cancel if we can’t get a short sale approval by next Tuesday. That’s the 60-day deadline. And if we don’t close, the seller is going to stop making payments, which means Bank of America will end up with this property in foreclosure, earning fifty cents on the dollar, if that.
Tony said to me, and I quote, “If it goes to foreclosure, it goes to foreclosure. My job is to process short sales.” He promised to look through the file, follow-up on incoming correspondence from two weeks ago (which I picture lying in a mountain of fax paper on the floor in some closet) and call me back today. He didn’t call back.
Even if you don’t care about real estate, you should probably care about the way the money is being handled by a major lending institution because at the end of the day, it costs everybody money in one form or another.
Regardless, the article above points out the challenges involved with a short sale process. They are not for your everyday real estate agent and certainly not for a Las Vegas home owner to handle alone. If you have a Las Vegas Home that is burying you in debt, you can use the contact information below to get in touch with me.
Paul Francis, ABR,CRS | Coldwell Banker Premier | Las Vegas Real Estate | 702.592.3058
April 10, 2008 at 2:00 pm
[...] problem may be in the banks themselves? Well, in a previous post we highlighted an article about a decision maker at Bank of America taking their sweet old time in approving a short sale where the seller was willing to sign a note to pay the difference. The [...]
June 5, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Update – Bank of America finally approved the Short Sale highlighted in the article – shortly after the article was written. The power of blogging in Real Estate?
September 10, 2008 at 11:55 am
I am also dealing with Bank of America on a short sale and have been trouble getting them to acknowledge receipt of the short sale package. They are in second position and had indicated 5-10% or $5,000 to allow the sale to go through. Today when I called they said the loan has been “charged off” and turned over to B of A’s Recovery Dept. When I spoke with them they said it was turned over to Nationwide Credit for collection. I called Nationwide and they said they don’t do business with Bank of America….sounds like B of A is changing their policies regarding short sales. Has anyone else had this experience?
September 22, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Hello Shirley,
We’ve come across all kinds of interesting situations with lenders across the board. You seem to have witnessed first hand where one department has no clue what the other departments are doing.
One question I have to ask is are you talking to the same person that is the “decision maker”? Sounds like you may have talked to somebody else that may not be in tune with your case.
Honestly, I don’t think the banks were prepared for this mess (who was???) so while it has been difficult… it is getting better. Our experiences have certainly improved but we are doing everything we can to make their jobs as easy as possible.
http://lasvegasrealestate4u.com/2008/09/13/are-las-vegas-short-sales-that-complicated/
Good luck and stop by and update us on what is going on — and how you got it resolved.
Thanks!
September 27, 2008 at 3:40 pm
My daughter is unfortunatley being forced to consider a short sale. Her dream home is now worth $140,000 less than when they purchased it. Considering this market & a family of 5, they may not be able to recover. They are hard working & have good credit. The debt seems to be unmanagable. The mortgage was with country wide, now owned by BofA. They are current on all debt. Daughter just lost job. They live in Woodland,Ca. Do you have any advise? Can you offer advise re: who might help in this area. Thank you! Very concerned parent.
October 7, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hello Val,
Since it’s California and pertains to B of A, read this –>
http://lasvegasrealestate4u.com/2008/10/07/too-little-too-late-for-banks-in-real-estate/
Phone numbers are in the articles (click on the links for specific details).