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Permalink Reply by Beverly Cibulsky on December 9, 2011 at 3:06pm

Well, everyone have a good time suing! For what, spend legal feels, and probably get a judgement. If it attaches to the property, great! Stand in line for your money!(what the saying, "you cant get blood from a stone".  This an unfortunate situation, and your are not the first it has happended to! The short sale has probably delayed the foreclosure in it self. Everyone needs to move on! It is very sad for the buyer, yes, however Buyer's should be counciled in advance as well.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on December 9, 2011 at 3:32pm

Hi  Beverly,

It's funny you mentioned that phrase, "you cant get blood from a stone".  About 10 years ago I was serving jury duty once when a defendent mentioned something very similar to a judge. He said, "your honor, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip"  The judge replied, "true, but I can take the turnip".  And then, he proceeded to put him away in the tank for a little while.

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Permalink Reply by Cindie Schulz on December 10, 2011 at 5:55pm

That was good Richard. I know the chances of us getting our commissions are very slim. I've moved on but the selling agent is still pursuing her options.

Permalink Reply by Katherine Torres on December 12, 2011 at 6:38am

Hello Cindy, I have had similiar situations and I am cuurently involved with a seller that does not want to close. She has a sale date coming Dec. 30th 2011, the buyers have the loan funded and she is ignoring the closing. I know how frustrated you are but I have moved on. I know I cannot force her to sell even though the home will end up being foreclosed on.

My advice is to ask the lender if you can list the home once it is forclosed since you alredy have a history with the property.

Good luck , Katherine Torres 213 598-4889

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Permalink Reply by Richard on December 12, 2011 at 11:29am

Hi Katherine,

I'm not an agent but I was just wondering, is there is any law or regulation that deny the lender the option of selling this house to the buyer once the lender foreclose on it?  If the buyer is willing to wait, then the lender can unload the property and possibly save some money.  You can't force her to sell, but the lender can foreclose.

I'm curious if lenders ever entertain this thought.

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Permalink Reply by David Hill on December 11, 2011 at 3:01am

I would also find out who they spoke with and what was said. I have been in situations where another attorney gave them bad advise so they would do a bk with him. You should drive to the property and sit down with the seller. Go back to the original motivation and figure out what has changed.

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Permalink Reply by Cindie Schulz on December 11, 2011 at 9:52am

It's been difficult because she won't return my phone calls. I only received one email and she said she wasn't ready to move right now. The buyer's are willing to accept an extension but the seller won't even communicate with me now.

Thanks,

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Permalink Reply by Simone Mancuso on December 11, 2011 at 3:15am

I've been doing short sales for over 4 years now and have had this happen a couple of times...not fun.  If I'm not mistaken, with a real estate contract, you can sue the seller to perform...they must sell.  When you go into contract on something that is considered a one of a kind (i forgot the legal term) the seller must sell.  They can't just say they changed their mind since the buyer can not go out and buy the exact same item (a house in this case) somewhere else.

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Permalink Reply by Cindie Schulz on December 11, 2011 at 9:53am

You are right. But the seller did and it seems there is nothing I can do now. :-(

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Permalink Reply by Katie Mitchell on December 11, 2011 at 3:28am

Cindie,

I had a similar situation this year with a short sale listing.  My sellers had not been contacted by a BK attorney, but a scam artist/"investor" who said they would pay them money directly if they cancelled our current contract and allowed them to purchase the property.

We only figured out this situation when the out of state sellers refused to go to the title company to sign the closing documents.  As the listing agent, I did have a current listing agreement and a signed MARS disclosure that stated I could go after them for the commission since we had a fully approved short sale that they had signed and agreed to with Chase.    I notified the sellers of the consequences they faced from Chase, the buyers, buyer's agent and myself if they defaulted on the contract.  I also had the Chase negotiator get involved and contact the sellers directly instead of being the middle man.  (Chase told the seller that if they did not close this transaction they would not agree to any other short sale with them and they would foreclose in the upcoming auction.)

None of these things seemed to phase the sellers and I was advised by my attorney to walk away from the transaction.  Personally I wasn't going to waste my time going after the commission--not worth the time, money or stress.  

However, the buyer wasn't willing to walk away and they hired an attorney who sent multiple letters letting the seller know that they would be pursuing all of their options if the buyer defaulted on the contract.  After a month, this seemed to do the trick and the sellers signed an extension to the contract, Chase extended our short sale approval letter, and we closed on the property.

Best of luck on your transaction!

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Permalink Reply by Barbara A. Reagan on December 11, 2011 at 4:06am

Unfortunately, I have just had this happen.  The seller got the name of the president of the bank before we ever listed the home and so it was being handled as a high priority by the top loss mitigation specialist from the bank from day one.  We got an approval within a little over a month.  The buyer did not like the condition of a promissory note and did not like having to close within 30 days.  He requested an extension of the time for short sale approval and requested that the promissory note be waived.  The bank agreed to both, but would not agree to a second postponement of the foreclosure sale (now set for Dec 21).  The seller decided he was better off not accepting the short sale from the lender and will either declare bankruptcy or will let it go to default.  Unfortunately, the attorney spoke to him and I spoke to him and he just does not want to move out of his.  So I believe he will declare bankruptcy or let it go to default and will allow the bank to evict him!  As upsetting as this was, the buyers walked and I had to just move on.  Sometimes, there really is nothing you can do and at the end of the day, no matter how stupid I think the seller's decision is, it is up to them at the end of the day!  Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Brown on December 11, 2011 at 4:18am

Yes,  I had this recently happen to me.  The seller would not sign final papers needed to get final approval and informed me that friends told them to talk to their lawyer and the lawyer told them to do bankruptcy.  They were approved for HAFA and tried to explain to them and this  lawyer but they refused to return my calls.  I later found out that this lawyer is buying up short sales and selling or renting.  I am watching the property very closely to see if his name ends up on title.  You cannot give legal advise and I advised my client to speak to another lawyer but they told me they got the same answer.  These lawyers charge an upfront fee and 3 told them that the banks would go after them for a deficiency I cannot believe that the seller chose to do bankruptcy and I quote the seller "we don't care about anyone else we don't want to do a short sale"  I am sorry but what comes around goes around.   You just have to walk away.  Once I walked away I have to admit I was relieved to be away from the drama of this particular deal.  I explain all options upfront before taking a listing but in the end the seller still has the right to walk.  It would be nice if the bankruptcy judge was privy to the knowledge of the seller choosing to walk but I know that they will not disclose this information.  Sad.  Move on and learn from every deal. 

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