The buyer's agent says : "We would like to see what the letter is offering, that shouldn't make a difference and really no reason to hold it from us...Right? I have never had an agent hold the letter received from a bank before waiting for the others, is there a reason we can't have it?"
Listing agent says "I’ve never had a buyer’s agent ask me for copies of the letters. All they wanted to know is whether or not the short sale is approved. The conditions of the approval is between the lender and the borrower. "
The first letter states
1) what they want to net after expenses, and
2) that the basis of this approval is on a sales price stated in the contract.
Because second lien holder is not yet received, no one knows what the payoff for the second will be, what expenses will be paid out of the difference between what the first wants to net and the sales contract.
Both loans with Chase.
Do you share approval letters as they come in? Do you share them at all?
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I ask my seller's permission first before sending any documents such as this to anyone.
When I send it to the other agent, I remove phone numbers, account numbers and other identifying details.
I didn't always do this - then I had a batty, half-crazy buyer's agent call the negotiator assigned to the file off of a counteroffer letter using the loan # and negotiator's contact info and proceed to cuss the negotiator out. After that, our negotiator went from responding promptly to hardly at all. The file never closed - the home went to foreclosure.
I understand the buyer's agent likely needs the letter but I will never again put myself or my sellers at risk by giving contact info, loan numbers etc, to them.
In Arizona we now have a standard form for agreement notice that is used by the listing agent to notify the buyers agent that a successful negotiation has been reached after the seller and lien holder(s) have reached an agreement on the terms of the lien release. These terms are stated in an approval notice that forms a contract between the seller and the lien holders. If there are differences in the purchase contract terms the seller and buyer had previously agreed to then those changes in terms must be documented by an addendum signed by the seller and agreed to by the buyer. Legally these are two separate contracts as defined by our state association legal teams and recent case law. The buyers agent, buyer, mortgage company, or anyone else has no right to have a look at the confidential contract (approval letter) entered into by the seller and lien holder(s). Technically without the written consent of the seller to disclose the approval letter from the lien holder(s) it is a violation of confidentiality. Buyers lenders only need to see a legal and completed contract. Then to complete escrow as a normal course. If someone writes an addendum, has their client sign it and presents it as truth about a lien release when it is false for any reason, I can think of more ways then 1 to have their license suspended and maybe some jail time. Lets not jump on the anything goes bandwagon because it is a short sale. Just my 2 cents.
I'm the buyer's agent and almost all of my buyers are investors. I would like to have the approval letter/letters to read the terms to make sure if my buyer purchases the house, they can rent back to the current owner if the current owner still lives in the house. I did see one approval letter stated that the max. date the cuurent owner can rent back the house is 90 days. I don't want to do anything illegal and I don't want my buyer to do anything illegal, so I always request to have the approval letter/letters emailed to me. Besides, most buyer's lenders request the approval letter/letters anyway.
In California, it is required to provide the Short Sale Lenders' approval letters to the Buyer within 3 days of receipt. Andalso , this removes the short sale contingency. It's clearly spelled out in the Short Sale Addendum.
I provide the approvals however, I redact certain personal information first.
I also provide the letter. I cant meet the contingency without doing so and I dont really see the big deal. If the approval letter provided enough info that the buyers side could start calling the lender and get information, I may edit that out, but it has not yet been an issue.
I provide the approval letter.
Agreed. As I previously commented on this topic two years ago, I still stand strong recommending that the listing agents send the short sale approval letter to the buyer's agent. I do this every single time when I receive the approval letter from the short sale lender.
We even have a form here called "Lender Short Sale Approval Addendum" that we use. I provide this form to the buyer's agent along with sending them the approval letter. Basically, the seller signs off on this addendum agreeing to the terms of the approval letter. Then the buyer must sign off on it agreeing to the terms of the approval letter as well as releasing the contingency of "short sale approval" from the transaction. This allows the transaction to move forward without the short sale approval being a contingency any longer.
We found that prior to having this additional addendum, the short sale approval wasn't really looked at as a contingency to the deal, even though it was. Many agents would say that the seller is responsible for selling the home, even without this contingency being met throughout the transaction. So this form just cleared things up for everyone and it also makes the transaction more firm once all parties sign it and agree to move forward with the approval letter terms.
Send the approval letter as proof for the buyer's agent and so the buyer's agent can also see the terms of the sale, especially if the short sale approval is considered a contigency in your area. Just my opinion.
I am going to assume that everyone who thinks that the buyers agent needs a copy of the approval letter also asks for a copy of the sellers payoff amount from the sellers lender. Afterall, how would you know that there are enough funds to cover the closing? If the seller has to bring money to closing for a sale, equity or short, are you also asking for a copy of the sellers bank statement or for their proof of funds? Seems to be the same to me.
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