What does everyone think of the post "How To Keep A Buyer A Party To A Short Sale Transaction Without A Signed P&S Contract" since comments are not allowed on that post?

Smitty May 18, 2011 at 11:28am

Andrew, You can use a Massachusetts Standard Purchase and Sale form without using an attorney. You can use a standard form and many realtors do that. Having said that, a realtor cannot on behalf of a buyer or seller negotiate terms, or add provisions other than what is in a standard form. A buyer or seller (individually) can add provisions on their own accord, but any other 3rd party who is not an attorney cannot engage in the unlawful practice of law.

We don't necessarily involve attorneys all the time.

Again, I'd rather get my ducks in a row up front, than be down to a deadline and THEN start negotiations with lawyers.

Jeff Payne May 18, 2011 at 9:57am

Andrew, thanks for the clarification, it really helps us to understand your post.

Andrew Coppo May 18, 2011 at 8:44am

Darlene, as the author of the post, I apologize if you understood the article to mean that you don't need a valid contract before submitting the short sale package to the lender. If you read the post again, and more specifically the comments herein, you will see that in Massachusetts, a signed Offer to Purchase is a valid contract and is accepted as such by all lenders. The point of the article, and perhaps one that I could have stressed more clearly, was that there is no need to go to the Purchase and Sale stage, one that requires attorney participation in Massachusetts, in order to receive short sale approval. As someone who negotiates dozens of short sale transactions every month, I was merely proposing a solution to those agents that may, like me, have difficulty finding attorneys to draft and negotiate a P&S for free on a transaction that may never close. Again, this method may not apply in other states, but Massachusetts is an "attorney" state and therefore restricts the drafting and negotiating of real estate purchase and sale contracts to attorneys. I, like you, would never start working on a short sale without a signed contract.

Darlene Krause May 18, 2011 at 8:07am

I wouldn't start working on a short sale without a signed contract. Further, the lenders we deal with require a signed contract as part of the short sale package. If it takes 7 days to get a contract signed, then it takes seven days. That seven days is not going to make or break the timeframe on a short sale.

Janice MacMillan May 17, 2011 at 12:50pm

Jeff,

This document you have explaining the short sale process, is this a Florida form or something you created? Mind sharing?

If you will can you email me a copy at janice.macmillan@mchsi.com

Andrew Coppo May 17, 2011 at 9:33am

Smitty:

You're right, I should clarify that the legal advice to which I was referring in the italicized excerpt was that of California Attorney Ron Ballard. If I could edit a "comment", I would and if I quoted him in my "Blog", I most certainly would credit my source.

Smitty said:

Andrew,

I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, but merely for the reasons I pointed out, I would rather do my homework up front, than take a chance that I couldn't get an extension should two lawyers not agree to the terms of the purchase contract. Your method works for you and that's great, but I have had those 10 day approvals and literally had the Ocwen approval last month that only gave my seller and buyer two weeks to close and the financing still needed approval. Imagine if I had to wait a week for two lawyers iron it out, and then go forward to get financing?

An agent that takes a higher offer after a previous offer has been executed risks huge liability. I agree. I follow Mr. Ballard and think he's the most cutting edge short sale attorney I've seen. He's not scared to stand up to the big guys. I do think you should edit your post and put a crediting link to his site though...

Jeff Payne May 17, 2011 at 9:08am

Janice, we also have an document that is uploaded to MLS that explains the short sale and what it entails and that it can take 90 to 120 days to close it. The buyer has to acknowledge it which means the buyers agent had to explain it to them instead of glossing over the fact that it can take some time to close

Janice MacMillan May 17, 2011 at 9:06am

Jeff,

I had not thought of making the EMD non-refundable. That is quite frankly a brilliant idea! I have only had a couple of buyers walk, and they did early right after the 30 day mark. I try to make it very clear that in most short sales it is going to take 60-90 days to get approval.

I do blame part of it on the buyers agent who has not properly informed their buyers of the process.

Smitty May 17, 2011 at 9:04am

Andrew,

I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, but merely for the reasons I pointed out, I would rather do my homework up front, than take a chance that I couldn't get an extension should two lawyers not agree to the terms of the purchase contract. Your method works for you and that's great, but I have had those 10 day approvals and literally had the Ocwen approval last month that only gave my seller and buyer two weeks to close and the financing still needed approval. Imagine if I had to wait a week for two lawyers iron it out, and then go forward to get financing?

An agent that takes a higher offer after a previous offer has been executed risks huge liability. I agree. I follow Mr. Ballard and think he's the most cutting edge short sale attorney I've seen. He's not scared to stand up to the big guys. I do think you should edit your post and put a crediting link to his site though...

Jeff Payne May 17, 2011 at 8:29am

Having to use an attorney to write the purchase agreement would SUCK big time. One more thing to delay the process. Who pays the attorney fees typically and how much do they normally charge to do this? Do they also close the transaction?

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What does everyone think of the post "How To Keep A Buyer A Party To A Short Sale Transaction Without A Signed P&S Contract" since comments are not allowed on that post?

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