Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MD on April 24, 2010 at 3:07pm

Dawn, thank you for the reply. Ok...so, if the seller grants the bank permission to speak to me then I can contact BOA directly, right?

Dawn Maloney said:

MD, BOA will not talk to you since they are not allowed to without permission of the seller, but you can talk to your agent and ask if it's ok to get more updates from the listing agent.

Permalink Reply by Sam Purtle on April 24, 2010 at 4:53pm

MD

Bank of America does encourage phone calls and this site is full of examples of agents taking a proactive approach to short sale negotiations. Whether the short sale is being processed through normal channels (for VA and FHA, and other loans where the investor(s) do not want B of A using their new short sale processing platform - Equator) or is initiated and negotiated through the Equator.com website system makes a difference.

Bank of America is historically slow in their short sale dealings and it is not uncommon for the process to take six to even twelve months. They recently announced they are attempting to streamline their processes, so the vote is still out on that one. For your short sale to have been started in January and given the fact that someone went out a month ago to look at the property (either to perform a BPO or an appraisal) is a good sign. The listing agent should be in contact with the lender on at least a weekly basis by phone. This means calling the short sale department and inquiring about the status of the file and if no activity is noted then having the file escalated.

Certainly if the seller gives you written authority to contact their lender and you send that authorization in via fax, then you should also be able to ascertain the status of the file as well. This website can be an invaluable resource but certainly you should take all advice given as what it is... opinions, educated guesses or experience gained by many many hours in the short sale trenches.

Hope your sale/purchase goes well.

Permalink Reply by MD on April 25, 2010 at 2:21pm

Sam, thank you so much!!! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I will contact the seller to get a written authorization. The sellers agent continues to say the bank does not want him calling them and all he can do is fax them for an update from time to time....I understand he is busy.

It is very frustrating, especially as I read agents' blogs and how they are in constant contact with the bank. Specifically since our closing is the 30th of this month, we may be able to lease our place from the buyer as long as we have a date set on this other house. We would like to hold out for this short sale since we are the only offer on the table and the house meets our needs.

Even our agent was surprised to hear that an appraiser was going to be taking a look at the house. He was thinking that after that it could have been a month or two until we heard if our offer was accepted or not.

I will try to see if the seller can provide us a written authorization for us to provide to BOA in order to get updates.

Thanks again!!

Sam Purtle said:

MD

Bank of America does encourage phone calls and this site is full of examples of agents taking a proactive approach to short sale negotiations. Whether the short sale is being processed through normal channels (for VA and FHA, and other loans where the investor(s) do not want B of A using their new short sale processing platform - Equator) or is initiated and negotiated through the Equator.com website system makes a difference.

Bank of America is historically slow in their short sale dealings and it is not uncommon for the process to take six to even twelve months. They recently announced they are attempting to streamline their processes, so the vote is still out on that one. For your short sale to have been started in January and given the fact that someone went out a month ago to look at the property (either to perform a BPO or an appraisal) is a good sign. The listing agent should be in contact with the lender on at least a weekly basis by phone. This means calling the short sale department and inquiring about the status of the file and if no activity is noted then having the file escalated.

Certainly if the seller gives you written authority to contact their lender and you send that authorization in via fax, then you should also be able to ascertain the status of the file as well. This website can be an invaluable resource but certainly you should take all advice given as what it is... opinions, educated guesses or experience gained by many many hours in the short sale trenches.

Hope your sale/purchase goes well.