Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thom Colby CA Brkr 888-391-5245 on November 22, 2010 at 12:37pm

First, if this is a short sale, the bank does not own the property so they are not going to do anything about the power / utilities / winterization issues. They actually cannot do anything about that until the foreclosure has taken place and they become the legal owner.

Second, the bank will not talk to you about one of their debtors (the current homeowner) unless that person has given you written permission to speak with the Debt Settlement Company (aka, the bank)

Most likely, this sbort sale is one of the troubled assets stuck in the robo-signer mess if they are looking for the original note. Also, it is likely owned by an investor and likely Wells Fargo is "non-delegated" to make the decision on the short sale. The investor and/or the Mortgage Insurance Company still need to make those decisions.

Continue to work with the REALTOR representing YOU (not the seller). Only that person can assist.

Best of luck,

Permalink Reply by joe beauchamp on November 22, 2010 at 12:42pm

Pretty much not going to happen - the buyer is pretty much out of the loop for everything. You have no right to the seller's financial situation, have no authorization, and if you did, you are likely to confuse the bank - they do not deal well with multiple points of contact.

You really don't know if the bank is sitting, if the seller is stalling, if the listing agent is lazy, and if you are not the buyer's agent, that your agent isn't ignoring any work. You are at a long line of possible problems and have only the partial control of the contract. Any one of those stages could easily be telling you whatever is a convenient story. IF you were able to get an authorization to talk to the bank, and you actually called in, they would be ticked that you want them to tell you all about everything. They would be more likely to say that you should talk to their point of contact instead of them and stop wasting their time.

Also, generally, banks are overzealous about winterizing and will break into properties where they have no right to. They can also send people who are clueless about winterizing - resulting in damage. I wouldn't be anxious to get them out there to do anything to the place. If they haven't, it is unlikely that it is close to being an issue yet.

Permalink Reply by Dan Larson on November 22, 2010 at 12:54pm

From what I know...

The seller signed the papers immediately and they went to the bank.

There was a note on the door, I looked up the "VP" who signed it and there are dispositions from him in the robo-signer allegations. So I guess that could explain the note issue. However, couldn't they contact the title company and get a copy of the note? The house was only sold 4 years ago.

As far as winterizing goes I got a note from the agent today that the owner is supposedly going to winterize it tomorrow. It is currently 18F with a low of 2 tonight; there is a blizzard warning for the county. When I was there on Saturday there were frozen puddles outside but residual heat was keeping the house from freezing.

I won't get involved with the bank, it makes sense that would just irritate them. I'll just prod the agent more.

Thanks for the advice, I'm just getting rather annoyed with the lack of communication from the bank and needed another outlook on the situation.

Dan


joe beauchamp said:

Pretty much not going to happen - the buyer is pretty much out of the loop for everything. You have no right to the seller's financial situation, have no authorization, and if you did, you are likely to confuse the bank - they do not deal well with multiple points of contact.

You really don't know if the bank is sitting, if the seller is stalling, if the listing agent is lazy, and if you are not the buyer's agent, that your agent isn't ignoring any work. You are at a long line of possible problems and have only the partial control of the contract. Any one of those stages could easily be telling you whatever is a convenient story. IF you were able to get an authorization to talk to the bank, and you actually called in, they would be ticked that you want them to tell you all about everything. They would be more likely to say that you should talk to their point of contact instead of them and stop wasting their time.

Also, generally, banks are overzealous about winterizing and will break into properties where they have no right to. They can also send people who are clueless about winterizing - resulting in damage. I wouldn't be anxious to get them out there to do anything to the place. If they haven't, it is unlikely that it is close to being an issue yet.

Permalink Reply by Thom Colby CA Brkr 888-391-5245 on November 22, 2010 at 1:03pm

Unfortunately, you'll need to be more patient.... I have 2 short sales that are both more than 2.5 years in process. Many others close within 3 - 5 months of an offer and the high-end proeprties ($ 1 Million+) close within 30 days of an offer.

Hang in there. If it's a property you want and the price is right, you will have a great property at a good price....

Best,





Dan Larson said:

From what I know...

The seller signed the papers immediately and they went to the bank.

There was a note on the door, I looked up the "VP" who signed it and there are dispositions from him in the robo-signer allegations. So I guess that could explain the note issue. However, couldn't they contact the title company and get a copy of the note? The house was only sold 4 years ago.

As far as winterizing goes I got a note from the agent today that the owner is supposedly going to winterize it tomorrow. It is currently 18F with a low of 2 tonight; there is a blizzard warning for the county. When I was there on Saturday there were frozen puddles outside but residual heat was keeping the house from freezing.

I won't get involved with the bank, it makes sense that would just irritate them. I'll just prod the agent more.

Thanks for the advice, I'm just getting rather annoyed with the lack of communication from the bank and needed another outlook on the situation.

Dan


joe beauchamp said:

Pretty much not going to happen - the buyer is pretty much out of the loop for everything. You have no right to the seller's financial situation, have no authorization, and if you did, you are likely to confuse the bank - they do not deal well with multiple points of contact.

You really don't know if the bank is sitting, if the seller is stalling, if the listing agent is lazy, and if you are not the buyer's agent, that your agent isn't ignoring any work. You are at a long line of possible problems and have only the partial control of the contract. Any one of those stages could easily be telling you whatever is a convenient story. IF you were able to get an authorization to talk to the bank, and you actually called in, they would be ticked that you want them to tell you all about everything. They would be more likely to say that you should talk to their point of contact instead of them and stop wasting their time.

Also, generally, banks are overzealous about winterizing and will break into properties where they have no right to. They can also send people who are clueless about winterizing - resulting in damage. I wouldn't be anxious to get them out there to do anything to the place. If they haven't, it is unlikely that it is close to being an issue yet.

Permalink Reply by joe beauchamp on November 22, 2010 at 1:07pm

Youch - you are in a cold place - here in south jersey, by philly, you pretty much don't have to worry until jan and the real cold is in feb.

I see banks "looking at/for" lots of crazy things. I don't know how much is real and how much is covering that they don't want to tell you that your file is at the bottom of the pile and they haven't gotten to it yet.

You have so little control over the situation that I would recommend concentrating on your alternatives. You can make your edicts clear and known to the agent(s) and seller and at the same time, go hunting for an alternative. A good many of my buyers are out of contract by the time the bank gets around to approving. I also lose buyers tired of waiting. That is a problem of bank slow processing, etc. So, watch out for yourself - if you can line up what you want to do if this goes south, you are at least prepared - and also in a stronger position to object if they, for instance, suddenly decide that your offer needs to be $40K more, etc.

Threatening to walk is the only thing you have going and, as I indicated, I and the banks hear that ALL the time. It is more frequent than "good morning", so it means little except to possibly slightly motivate an agent who might be sitting around instead of making the calls to the bank.

I only process short sales - it is a very time consuming process. The bank is not your friend and the majority of agents go in thinking that the bank is going to help and this will be easy - for about 5 minutes. If your listing agent is in that category, he is hoping to get paid and wishing that he never heard of "short sale". Here, again, I can't advise for much because you are so far out of the loop. Maybe that little insight is helpful..