Bank of America's policy on allowing third-party negotiators to work short sales
I am a third party negotiator that the agents and homeowners select to assist with the short sale process. For a year I have been negotiating with lenders through the Equator system, this past week I was told that I was not an agent or attorney and that I was not allowed to be working on the short sales. Has anyone else encountered this? Also how is Bank of America able to tell the homeowner whom they can have negotiate the short sale for them as long as I abide my our state laws (which I am). Most agents don't want to spend the extra time it takes to get a short sale approved and closed and that is why they come to me. I had 4 BofA short sales that have been being worked on for 3 months get denied and closed due to me not being an agent. I think that if the government investors were aware of this issue they would not be ok with it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smitty on
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Harry, not ONCE have I ever had a buyer's lender ask me as a negotiator if I was licensed. The funny thing is I have very LITTLE contact with the buyer's lender. The TITLE company or closing attorney deals with the buyer's lender so residential lending has nothing to do with experienced short sale negotiation.
The homeowner DOES get to choose WHO they want to negotiate ... whether it's someone licensed or not. I will say most homeowners don't know what to even remotely ASK a negotiator. The most important thing to me would be HOW MANY APPROVALS have you gotten? I may have been asked that 3 times.The IRS takes taxes if your licensed or not. Short sale licensing has nothing to do with your TAX ID registration. I'm sure Kristin pays taxes on profit she makes from negotiating, or pays taxes somewhere...again that has nothing to do with how well you can negotiate a short sale. Guess what?!?!? I bet "consutants" pay taxes.
A license is only as good as the experience that goes with it. I've seen MANY 3rd party negotiator who have MUCH more experience than their licensed counterparts.Oh, and VERY FEW states in the country require a license to be a short sale negotiator. I think I know of 5 states off hand. I mean seriously...MARS was enacted for the scammers and even the FTC has backed off.
I'd hire someone who was unlicesed with 20 short sales under their belt as opposed to someone with a new license and 5 short sales. Lawyers are licensed to negotiate short sales and to be honest, I've only seen ONE good licensed short sale lawyer (it's not to say there aren't more, but I've only seen one in my area that gets results)
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Oh and just so we are clear, I personally think there should be licensing requirements up and beyond a real estate license, for short sale negotiation. I think there should be a completely separate type of licensing and MUCH MORE education and stricter guidelines to get licensing than real estate.
Anyone with real world experience could get credit towards their licensing too. Just like when a military person comes out of the military, they have real world experience and credits towards a degree.
Short sale licensing should be completely separate from real estate licensing.
Unfortunately, as I said, most states don't require specific licensing for short sale negotiation.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Payne on
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Agreed, the licensing requirements need to be tough, nothing easy since a short sale could make or break a persons future. Real Estate licensing is too easy which means that it is too easy to take a short sale listing without any experience.
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Permalink Reply by Richard on
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Jeff,
Here's something that struck me as strange. According to a website that I was in a week ago, it claims that you don't have to be an Arizona resident or have a high school education to get a license here. I would hope that they would at least require an equivalency education, but I'm not sure. Here's the link: http://www.realestatelc.com/faq.php
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Permalink Reply by Natalie Arndt on
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There is not specific licensing but there are many classes you can take and learn on your own.
When most of us first started in real estate we have not had any experience in selling homes but we learned. It is the same thing with short sales. Every decent accomplished realtor is extremely capable of doing short sales if they take classes and learn and what is most important DO NOT GIVE UP.
There is a lot to learn when it comes to short sales and I wish more realtors took time to educate themselves.
Striving to become our best equates in serving our clients the best.
Natalie Arndt
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Actually Harry, you read me all wrong, I actually said that my personal feeling is that a real estate agent, preferrably the listing agent, should be handling the short sale or not take it at all. I will go one step further and state that I think the listing agent either needs to be experienced or have someone close to them to refer to and be ready to NEVER GIVE UP on the short sale.
I do agree with Smitty that just because someone has a license, it does not mean that they are proficient at an equity sale or a short sale, experience is what will dictate that.
And yes, I do believe getting a real estate license is way too easy. A 56 hour class and a state test and you are now ready to handle the largest financial investment in most people's lives? A few silly continuing education classes that you can take online in a few minutes? I think that a real estate licensee should at very minimum require a 2 year associates degree or something equal to that. I got my real estate license and then my brokers license in Indiana before I ever sold one single property. I also think that licensing should be more expensive, similar to Canada to thin the herd and leave this business to those that want to work it full time. Would you hire a part time attorney?
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Permalink Reply by Thom Colby CA Brkr 888-391-5245 on
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It certainly is interesting !
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Permalink Reply by Paul Francis - Vegas Short Sales on
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I'll agree with this statement except for making it more expensive.... and I'll take it a step further in the education requirements. Not just two years of basket weaving but two years of Econ, Finance and Accounting classes from an ACCREDITED college. (At least 48 credits in Business specific courses and not from an education mill.)
The licensing expenses and costs to be a CPA are less then being a real estate agent.... but as we know it's far harder to be called a CPA then a real estate agent. The same goes for many other professions.
You don't need to make licensing to be a RE Agent more expensive because it's already more expensive then many other professions.... you just need to up the ante on the education requirements to thin out the herd.... and ultimately make it a more respected profession.
Personally... I think the system is set up the way it is right now just to collect licensing fees...dues... etc..
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Permalink Reply by Joseph Alfe on
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And Joe says an RE license does not qualify you to do short sales. There should be a separate short sale license needed.
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Kristen,
Whose E&O Policy covers you if there's an issue?
As Harry said, in California and in most other states when negotiating anything to do with Real Estate - including settlement of a debt (short sale) - you likely must be licensed in that State.
Any lender has the right to determine who they will negotiate with on the debt they are owed. I expect BofA and others are checking licenses and only dealing with licensed individuals.
As for Brent's comment "It's a pain, but have the agents you work with sign up for Equator and work there files under their login" - that could be considered deceptive practice or even fraud. (Back to the E&O issue)
Just because someone knows how to drive a car doesn't mean they can if they don't have a license.
Thom Colby
Broker & Negotiator
Newport Beach & Palm Desert CA
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Thom what a wonderful analogy on cars. I believe that current licensure, being member of NAR, and being properly insured are minimum requirements to be engaged in real estate transaction.
I am amazed that some real estate brokers would place their license in jeopardy by hiring unlicensed people.
Wow!
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