I probably should have sought some assistance from you folks sooner than now, but I'll at least put this out there for others facing this.
This transaction was doomed from the start, but the seller had little to lose, in their mind. A buyer made an offer on their listing several months ago. It was a good offer, coming in about $5k higher than the listing price. We got everything signed and the Short Sale package submitted to the lender. The lender, Chase, responds in normal time, but with a counter offer a little higher than the buyer's offer price. The buyer initially starts working to meet the lender's counter, but things stall and return contact from the buyer pretty much trickles away. They had asked for an extension on the approval, but they could never provide us with a loan commitment or any other proof that their financing was being pursued. The negotiator would not extend without some proof the buyer was making efforts. So, the contract falls out, and we put the listing active again, raising the list price by $12k to account for the lender's "approved price".
Fast forward about 2 months and we get another offer on the property. This time, the offer is at the new list price. Great! Then, we see that the buyer is the same as the last time. I tell the seller this and suggest they request a loan commitment letter from the buyer prior to accepting the offer. It takes several days, but the buyer finally produced something they called a loan commitment letter, but wasn't much more than a one page letter on mortgage broker letterhead essentially stating "this is a loan commitment letter." Not what I'm accustomed to seeing, but the seller accepted it and we moved on.
We get a new SS approval in short order, and throw it back the buyer, expecting things to happen in a normal timeline. Well, we get within 2-3 days, the buyer's agents calls to ask for an extension on the SS approval. They need another 3 weeks. Graciously, the negotiator extends it to Dec 21st and gives us a new letter, but tells us, "No more extensions after this."
Well, we get to within 7 days prior before the expiration date, but still have no clear-to-close. It doesn't even look close to getting one. The title company is getting very little response from the buyer's mortgage broker, and they seem to be hesitant to give much info. Based on that, the title co holds off on ordering the survey, because they doesn't want to get stuck with that cost if the deal doesn't close. They even ask someone from the buyer's side to provide a CC number to pay for it. No response.
Now, we're 4 days away from closing. I tried calling and emailing the buyer's agent, but get no phone call and no return email. I then call her broker to see what he can do. He takes my number and says he'll call to light a fire under her and hopefully she'll get back with me by end of day. Well, that never happened. So, that night (this past Thursday night), I send an email to all parties, including both RE brokers, the title co, and the mortgage broker contact. The only one from the buyer's side to respond was the mortgage broker contact. All he could say is that they have "full loan approval" but are awaiting the clear-to-close. Huh? I thought those two were synonymous. He also stated he knew of no problem with the buyer.
Well, Friday (yesterday) comes and goes. All the mortgage broker contact would offer is an email address to another person in their company. And, I still didn't get any further contact from the buyer's agent or her broker...well, until last night at about 7pm. After numerous phone messages and emails, all she responds with is this email message, "I apologize for any delays. Left town for the holidays g et with [mortgage company]. Thought this was handled". That was it. Nothing. I was driving when I got the email, so I couldn't respond. Honestly, I'm at a loss and don't know how else to handle it. Oh, and she conveniently stripped from the distribution list her broker, my broker, and the title company, leaving just me and the mortgage broker contact. I think I should forward her email response to her broker, just so he sees what she said.
So, here I sit, typing this message, having full confidence that this deal is dead. The contract is already past the closing dates, so the seller is entitled to the $5,000 binder, but that's really besides the point. It still leaves the seller with a property that's going to foreclose. That's binder deposit isn't going to change things. And, for me, I get nothing from a listing I've had for more than a year. That's the risk in this business, though. I'll eventually get over it.
What should I do next, if anything? And, I'm not even concerned about what's going to happen with the property. I'm asking about dealing with folks on the other side of this transaction. Clearly, these folks didn't do what they should have done, otherwise, we would have a closing by noon on Monday. That just ain't gonna happen at this point.
Thoughts?