Bank of America Backs Down on Short Sale Request Due to Social Media

Being persistent is the only way to get short sales to close but when I got BOA's latest request I was floored.

Sign Purchase Contract for both real estate agents - No - against contract law in IL

Have individual names on Hud-1 - Against IL Real Estate Act 2000 - only sponsoring brokers can get commission.

I posted on this short sale forum and also wrote on my Active Rain blog. It pays to express your opinion especially when you have the facts to back it up. Received call yesterday from Bank of America representative who had read one of my blog posts and my case was put into an escalationg team. Received call from negotiator's supervisor who after many words admitted that we did not have to sign contract since in IL it's against the law. A compromise was reached on having individual names on the Hud-1 - names will be in parenthesis after our brokerage names.

I do everything I can to meet bank requirements on short sale documentation. I will send the paperwork as many times as they requested even if its a waste of time but I will not break the law for the bank or anyone else.

If we don't stand up for ourselves who will? Bank of America admitted that their checklists are not state specific and that they will work on that going forward as they try to make the short sale experience better for everyone.

Out of curiousity if you know of any state in the country that requires real estate agents to sign the purchase agreement/contract please post as a comment.

Use social media to correct issues that you have not reached by normal escalation.

I blogged on my Active Rain blog, this short sale blog, and another short sale blog and then facebooked the blogs, twittered the blogs and did Google Plus. I have been using Twitter to get movement on the file when the negotiators would not respond to my messages. The twitter social team is good for pushing the negotiators to respond. Normal escalation is just having the short sale customer service send negotiator's emails and the supervisors the same so that does not seem to phase many of them.

Whomever saw the blog put together an escalation team and that prompted BOA to research IL state law regarding the issue with signing the purchase contract and also having our individual names on the HUD-1. The person who contacted me last week which supposedly was the negotiators' supervisor said that the negotiators have a 122 point checklist which is not state specific or something to that effect.

I told him that the only research that BOA needs to do is contact their mortgage divisions in those states that they service and their underwriting department would be able to provide them with the "real" world scenario of how a real estate transaction is done.

Moral of the story - is escalate with what ever means you have at your disposal to protect your short sales from unreasonable requests from the banks.

Replies

A. Mary Ragard March 17, 2013 at 4:59am

So what EXACTLY did you do with the social media? Where did you post? How did you generate a reaction? BOA has been immune to comment/threat/criticism from my experience.
- Evelyn Santiago > A. Mary Ragard March 18, 2013 at 7:43am
  
  I blogged on my Active Rain blog, this short sale blog, and another short sale blog and then facebooked the blogs, twittered the blogs and did Google Plus. I have been using Twitter to get movement on the file when the negotiators would not respond to my messages. The twitter social team is good for pushing the negotiators to respond. Normal escalation is just having the short sale customer service send negotiator's emails and the supervisors the same so that does not seem to phase many of them.
  
  Whomever saw the blog put together an escalation team and that prompted BOA to research IL state law regarding the issue with signing the purchase contract and also having our individual names on the HUD-1. The person who contacted me last week which supposedly was the negotiators' supervisor said that the negotiators have a 122 point checklist which is not state specific or something to that effect.
  
  I told him that the only research that BOA needs to do is contact their mortgage divisions in those states that they service and their underwriting department would be able to provide them with the "real" world scenario of how a real estate transaction is done.
  
  Moral of the story - is escalate with what ever means you have at your disposal to protect your short sales from unreasonable requests from the banks.
- Lillianne Echevarria > A. Mary Ragard March 17, 2013 at 5:30am
  
  I always post to @BofA_Help when I have comments, need escalation or simply need my file to move. Post Property Address, your phone number and best time to contact you and if there are characters left add a short tagline of what the issue is about. They always respond within an hour or so and after calling you will send 'slap in the hand' email to whomever is involved in the transaction with the issue at hand and will copy their supervisor and their supervisor's supervisor. I got copied on the email by the negotiator once...
  - A. Mary Ragard > Lillianne Echevarria March 20, 2013 at 3:23pm
    
    Lillianne, what do you mean you "post to @BofA_Help" Is this an address of some sort?
    
    Can you let me know?
    - Bryant Tutas > A. Mary Ragard March 20, 2013 at 11:08pm
      
      ***Need Help? Try TWITTER HELP:
      
      LOG INTO YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT and TYPE: @BofA_Help Call YOUR NAME RE: PROPERTY ADDRESS, YOUR TEL NUMBER
      
      or go to escalation.tool.support@bankofamerica.com
      
      http://social.bankofamerica.com/
      
      For TWITTER Do not place LN# or borrower name in the message. Just a brief: 'Need help with a HAFA short sale" will suffice. Make sure to mention short sale. Also, each file should to be a separate tweet. If you have issues with 4 files then send 4 tweets. They will respond very quickly.
  - Evelyn Santiago > Lillianne Echevarria March 18, 2013 at 7:45am
    
    I have been using the Twitter Social Media team for several years but they only prompt the negotiators to contact you they are not advocates on the processing details.
    
    You have to sometimes take "out of the box" action to get the banks to back down on requests that are illegal in your state or make no sense to the actual processing of the short sale.
    
    Unfortunately, the National Servicing Center for HUD was outsourced to a company that has not trained their employees in the small details of such things as RESPA rules.
Kathy Fuhriman March 17, 2013 at 3:06am

In Utah only the buyer and seller sign the purchase and sale contract as the Realtors are not a party to the sale. The Realtors only sign the listing representation and buyer representation agreements. It is not acceptable to insert language into a P/S regarding brokerage commission and the commission must be paid to the brokerage and just one check for the total amount is sent even if two agents from the same office are involved with each side.
Caroline Simmons March 17, 2013 at 1:13am

In Georgia, the agent signs the contract on behalf of the Broker. Glad to see BofA sees the error of their ways in this case.
- Evelyn Santiago > Caroline Simmons March 18, 2013 at 7:36am
  
  So I understand this correctly, the agent signs the purchase contract on behalf of their sponsoring broker? What is the purpose behind this?
  
  I sign the listing agreement for the sponsoring broker but since the buyer and seller are the ones on the purchase contract we don't sign that.
  
  Thanks for the information!
Simon Campbell March 15, 2013 at 2:45pm

Once again BOA has dropped the ball. A lender that is just too big to work with area legalities or common sense. If BOA reps are reading social media then perhaps every time they drop the ball on foreclosures, illegal loan requirements or snail paced short sales, we should speak up the social realm. With enough bad publicity, they may just have to start playing fiar or their business is going to go elsewhere.

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