Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tim Schmitz on December 31, 2009 at 7:43am

I am working on a BofA 2nd right now.....I submitted the package on 12/15, called on 12/24 to find out that they wanted a different BofA submission form than what was given to me and a different HUD1 and to leave out alot of the items I originally submitted...........including the purchase and sale agreement, listing agreement, listing history, and some other goodies.......I cannot believe they wanted so little......my fax went from 66 pages to 11 pages......I refaxed the same day and yesterday 12/30 received a fax from them stating to reduce commissions to 5% and get rid of some reconveyance fees that they say are not allowed, but my escrow company will not waive......so we lumped them on top of a different fee that escrow was charging........I refaxed and now I wait............but all in all, I think that 6 days to get a response with Christmas and the weekend being in between is not bad.......we'll see how the rest of it goes

Permalink Reply by Susan Neal on December 31, 2009 at 8:44am

I have one with 1st and 2nd both BofA (former CW) loans. I originally submitted package in late May and received approval in late October (a few days after I learned that the buyers had bought something else - their agent never called me to let me know). Right away I submitted a second offer, a bit better than the first, and we still haven't heard anything. Now I'm just about to lose my second buyers. Groan.

Permalink Reply by Katerina Gasset on December 31, 2009 at 10:36am

Tim- They are really trying to get their act together according to their VPs.
But that situation you just stated sound really weird.
We just got a new listing, the homeowners stopped paying, BofA called to collect, homeowner tell BofA they are listed for short sale. BofA says they get 90 to do the short sale, 30 days to get an offer- if not- they will offer them a deed in lieu!
This is I think because they are trying to implement the HAFA program and have not been trained correctly on how to effect the HAFA program on each file.
Your situation with the 5%. Are there two different agents? Did you check on the Freddie and Fannie websites to see if they are the owners of the note? Is there a first and a second? Who owns the notes? We always want that info up front before we even take the listing so we know what the commission is going to be from the get go. That way we can get the other 1% from the sellers if they are well to do or a strategic short sale. Katerina

Permalink Reply by Bob Wienk on December 31, 2009 at 1:58pm

Katerina:

Are you telling us that BofA is still a lender who will only pay 5% on a short sale? I have a BofA short sale listing and I assumed that now all the lenders were paying 6% since Fannie and Freddie, and the new HAFA guidleines all permit 6% commissions. (Assuming two different brokers are splitting the commission.)

Bob Wienk

Katerina Gasset said:

Tim- They are really trying to get their act together according to their VPs.
But that situation you just stated sound really weird.
We just got a new listing, the homeowners stopped paying, BofA called to collect, homeowner tell BofA they are listed for short sale. BofA says they get 90 to do the short sale, 30 days to get an offer- if not- they will offer them a deed in lieu!
This is I think because they are trying to implement the HAFA program and have not been trained correctly on how to effect the HAFA program on each file.
Your situation with the 5%. Are there two different agents? Did you check on the Freddie and Fannie websites to see if they are the owners of the note? Is there a first and a second? Who owns the notes? We always want that info up front before we even take the listing so we know what the commission is going to be from the get go. That way we can get the other 1% from the sellers if they are well to do or a strategic short sale. Katerina

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Burnham on January 1, 2010 at 8:25am

6 months is GOOD to average... figure 6-8 months... remember, if you get approval in 6 months... it will take 30-45 days to close your more-than-likely FHA loan.

Permalink Reply by Tim Schmitz on January 1, 2010 at 9:57am

Well, HAFA hasn't actually taken effect yet and won't until April 5th. But, BofA in my situation is a 2nd lienholder and although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying 6%, I don't believe the second MUST abide by those guidelines. In my case, the first mortgage is not getting shorted at all............and BofA is getting almost 20% of their balance in the short sale, so although I don't necessarily agree that they should cut my commissions, but I do understand why, since they are paying about as much in realtor commissions as they are getting in proceeds from the sale, with the first mortgage not kicking in anything at all.

Bob Wienk said:

Katerina:

Are you telling us that BofA is still a lender who will only pay 5% on a short sale? I have a BofA short sale listing and I assumed that now all the lenders were paying 6% since Fannie and Freddie, and the new HAFA guidleines all permit 6% commissions. (Assuming two different brokers are splitting the commission.)

Bob Wienk

Katerina Gasset said:

Tim- They are really trying to get their act together according to their VPs.
But that situation you just stated sound really weird.
We just got a new listing, the homeowners stopped paying, BofA called to collect, homeowner tell BofA they are listed for short sale. BofA says they get 90 to do the short sale, 30 days to get an offer- if not- they will offer them a deed in lieu!
This is I think because they are trying to implement the HAFA program and have not been trained correctly on how to effect the HAFA program on each file.
Your situation with the 5%. Are there two different agents? Did you check on the Freddie and Fannie websites to see if they are the owners of the note? Is there a first and a second? Who owns the notes? We always want that info up front before we even take the listing so we know what the commission is going to be from the get go. That way we can get the other 1% from the sellers if they are well to do or a strategic short sale. Katerina

Permalink Reply by Bill Schallmo on January 4, 2010 at 7:01am

My experience with BofA has been pretty good compared to some of the other banks we deal with. We submitted our short sale package on a 2nd (91 pages) on 12-08-09 and got a call on the 21st of December requesting we submit to their Equator system. I called as a result of a problem with Equator and got all my questions answered. In addition, they asked me “how do you like our new system”? This was shocking!

One thing to keep in mind throughout the transaction is that banks have needed to “switch” form an origination mentality to a liquidator of over encumbered properties mentality. This transition has a considerable number of real estate rookies dealing with professional licensed Realtors that, for the most part, have so much more knowledge about realistic values in our respective areas.

Secondly, most of the bank asset managers our salaried employees (22-27 years old) that see our commissions and get somewhat resentful of the money we make on a transaction. And, do not completely understanding our broker splits, marketing and overall operational costs to run our respective businesses.

Third, they are all overworked for what they are paid. Could you imagine having 300-400 escrows going at one time? OMG! I think I’d lose my mind! Unfortunately, the banks have done a poor job of providing adequate support for the short sale departments.

Lastly, they blame us for the problem in the first place. The media has done a pretty good job of portraying Realtors’ as “making” buyers get into properties they couldn’t afford. I know, it was the banks that gave them the funds, but they don’t see it that way. We’re the bad guys and each deal requires us to be a “problem-solver” for each asset manager we deal with.


Tim Schmitz said:

Well, HAFA hasn't actually taken effect yet and won't until April 5th. But, BofA in my situation is a 2nd lienholder and although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying 6%, I don't believe the second MUST abide by those guidelines. In my case, the first mortgage is not getting shorted at all............and BofA is getting almost 20% of their balance in the short sale, so although I don't necessarily agree that they should cut my commissions, but I do understand why, since they are paying about as much in realtor commissions as they are getting in proceeds from the sale, with the first mortgage not kicking in anything at all.

Bob Wienk said:

Katerina:

Are you telling us that BofA is still a lender who will only pay 5% on a short sale? I have a BofA short sale listing and I assumed that now all the lenders were paying 6% since Fannie and Freddie, and the new HAFA guidleines all permit 6% commissions. (Assuming two different brokers are splitting the commission.)

Bob Wienk

Katerina Gasset said:

Tim- They are really trying to get their act together according to their VPs.
But that situation you just stated sound really weird.
We just got a new listing, the homeowners stopped paying, BofA called to collect, homeowner tell BofA they are listed for short sale. BofA says they get 90 to do the short sale, 30 days to get an offer- if not- they will offer them a deed in lieu!
This is I think because they are trying to implement the HAFA program and have not been trained correctly on how to effect the HAFA program on each file.
Your situation with the 5%. Are there two different agents? Did you check on the Freddie and Fannie websites to see if they are the owners of the note? Is there a first and a second? Who owns the notes? We always want that info up front before we even take the listing so we know what the commission is going to be from the get go. That way we can get the other 1% from the sellers if they are well to do or a strategic short sale. Katerina

Permalink Reply by Simon Hahn on January 10, 2010 at 5:37pm

I had one with BOA approved in 27 days in Oct 2009. No kidding.

I had one with BOA (formally Countrywide) loan approved in 6 months last week. Countrywide part of BOA is taking at least 4 to 7 months for me these days.