Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alisa Martin Pepper on April 7, 2010 at 8:48am

Hi Katerina,
I am very interested in how you were able to do this, specially after the short sale closed. Thanks very much!

Alisa

Katerina Gasset said:

That is not true. We have gotten a full release and NO deficiency. We also have been able to get BofA to waive their right to pursue deficiency after the fact.

Permalink Reply by Diane and Doug Briggs on May 3, 2010 at 1:00pm

Hi Katerina, How did you get BofA to give a full release and remove the deficiency language from their approval letter?

Alisa Martin said:

Hi Katerina,
I am very interested in how you were able to do this, specially after the short sale closed. Thanks very much!

Alisa

Katerina Gasset said:

That is not true. We have gotten a full release and NO deficiency. We also have been able to get BofA to waive their right to pursue deficiency after the fact.

Permalink Reply by Catherine Gheen on May 6, 2010 at 4:57am

There are factors that make the loan recourse or not? If the seller refinanced the home then it is no longer purchase money and does not qualify for mortgage debt forgiveness act. However the new HAFA guidelines make a principal residence non recourse. So if the home is their primary residence you need a letter from your seller to send to the negotiator stating they want to be part of the HAFA program in this short sale.

Most negotiators do not have the training or authority to issue the letter you are asking for. I include an addendum stating the bank will not pursue a deficiency against the seller. If necessary a seller may need to file for bankruptcy after the sale is complete. They can file bk at any time during the year as long as it is done before the taxes are filed for that year. You can get their credit cleaned after. That is what I do for my clients.

Permalink Reply by Vicki Pedersen on May 21, 2010 at 12:34pm

We've been trying to get Bank of America to waive the right to seek a deficiency judgment in the approval letter for our clients. After several e-mails, the negotiator called me today and stated that the approval letters are generated by the system and that there is no way to have this change made in the approval letter - unless we start the file all over again from the beginning. I know that some have had success getting B of A to do this. How have you gotten them to do this?

Permalink Reply by Elva Branson-Lee on May 21, 2010 at 4:16pm

I simply ask for full release in my cover letter when submitting the short sale package, and so far it has not been denied. I use the exact language contained in our Georgia Association of Realtors short sale special stip. If you have a short sale disclosure, there may be good usable language there. Even in Equator, you can upload a cover letter and request what you want.

Permalink Reply by Anna Boyd on May 23, 2010 at 2:41am

My understanding is that B of A does not own the majority of their loans. They service them, thus they are forever being able to get out of following HAFA, continually reducing commissions because it's Bank of New York, or it's Deutsche Bank and those investors along with a slew of others have not signed on, thus they can routinely do anything they want. B of A
just follows their instructions - and reduces commissions and doesn't give moving allowances and doesn't do anything they should in the spirit of HAFA,.

Permalink Reply by Terrie Leighton on May 25, 2010 at 6:16am

Adding the request with your short sale letter is a great idea. I think I will have to add that to my next letter and see how that goes. Definately worth trying. Very smart.Thank you.

Elva Branson-Lee said:

I simply ask for full release in my cover letter when submitting the short sale package, and so far it has not been denied. I use the exact language contained in our Georgia Association of Realtors short sale special stip. If you have a short sale disclosure, there may be good usable language there. Even in Equator, you can upload a cover letter and request what you want.

Permalink Reply by Paola Martinsen on June 16, 2010 at 12:44pm

I'm curious to know has anyone gotten a response back from Katerina as to how she got the deficiency clause removed?

Permalink Reply by Dee Garcia on September 23, 2010 at 4:21am

Hi Catherine,

I am curious to know how successful are you getting the bank to waive the deficiency with the addendum. Also, it will great if you could share the wording you include in the addendum. I would love to try it to see if it works for me as well in helping my client with the deficiency judgement! Thanks in advance for sharing!

Catherine Gheen said:

There are factors that make the loan recourse or not? If the seller refinanced the home then it is no longer purchase money and does not qualify for mortgage debt forgiveness act. However the new HAFA guidelines make a principal residence non recourse. So if the home is their primary residence you need a letter from your seller to send to the negotiator stating they want to be part of the HAFA program in this short sale.

Most negotiators do not have the training or authority to issue the letter you are asking for. I include an addendum stating the bank will not pursue a deficiency against the seller. If necessary a seller may need to file for bankruptcy after the sale is complete. They can file bk at any time during the year as long as it is done before the taxes are filed for that year. You can get their credit cleaned after. That is what I do for my clients.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Eisenhauer on October 12, 2010 at 1:24pm

Yes I have a letter I can e-mail to you from BOA that has this verbiage. I have only seen it once and the only thing I can think of is my client has mortgage insurance. But other than that, they haven't waived it since...????

Permalink Reply by wuzzupcuz on November 1, 2010 at 11:10am

I'm not an agent. I'm just a dumb home owner...

I short saled a 2nd property (not my primary residence in CA) in Texas. Texas is a recourse state.

After careful research, I decided to forego an RE attorney for counsel. The reason?

I was convinced that B of A would never issue a "waiver of deficiency judgement". I just never saw an instance where they gave up that right without consideration. Why should they give it up? They're driving the bus!

There are people, here, representing that they got a waiver it for their clients. There are attorneys representing same...

Ask yourself: Why won't they reveal to us how they got it?

Answer: They didn't...



Anywho, my agent found a SS buyer, short sale was approved and completed in August 2010. I told my wife to swallow hard and wait for the hammer to drop...from B of A...from the IRS...from the Franchise Tax Board...



Received in the mail, last Friday. "Release of Lien" stating the following verbage...

"...does hereby acknowledge that it has received full payment and satisfaction of the same, and in consideration thereof, does hereby reconvey, without warranty, to the person or persons legally thereto,...yada, yada, yada..."

We owed 140K. Net SS proceeds to B of A: 41K

I ain't the brightest bulb but it sure smells like teen spirit to me...



My rationale was thus: The motion to pursue a deficiency judgement is a judicial action and if the smucks (us) have defaulted on the mortgage in the first place, maybe B of A surmises that it will be throwing good money after bad by paying lawyers to try to squeeze another ounce of blood out of the turnip. Capice?



This post is for troubled homeowners wrestling with this gut-wrenching decision..."Should I pursue the short sale when the bank won't provide the waiver?"

My answer: I don't know...

We rolled the dice and, now, it looks promising (but I will never stop looking over my shoulder)...

What I know is I conducted my business in good faith, found a reputable RE agent experienced in SS, found a experienced title agent (great source of SS information, too!), did not pay an RE attorney because I could not find one who could guarantee a waiver in hand...

And trusted one very important piece of advice I got very early in the game...

B of A is, presently, an organizational mess with no departments providing creditable information to the other.

Note: After the short sale was completed in August, we received a NOD on the property in September and then another one three weeks ago...If that aint throwing good money after bad for Christ sakes: We don't even own the property anymore and they're still foreclosing!!!



Under these circumstances, I believed it was right to move forward with the SS with no guarantees from the bank that they would not come after us for the defficiency.

This was my insane logic dealing with an insane system. I hope this helps someone out there in need of help.

Deal in good faith, be a shonest as you can, and try your very best. It may not work but, hopefully, you'll sleep better at night. Hope this helps!

Permalink Reply by Dawn Jones on November 2, 2010 at 3:51am

Yes, I have had success with this!!! At the bottom of the approval letter there is a toll-free number to the closing department. Their job is to CLOSE THESE DEALS! Contact them directly and plead your case. It works! Good luck!

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