Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alex Krumm on August 15, 2012 at 9:46am

Hi, Pat!  It's very difficult to get around Equator; all of BOA's ancillary companies use it and it's actually the best way to get a deal done.

In my opinion, buyers and sellers shouldn't negotiate their own short sales ... there's too much that could go wrong.  Bank of America is usually just the servicer for a loan that's owned on the secondary market by companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who have guidelines regarding real estate commission allowances; the commission amount shouldn't have an impact on the sale price (which is probably the motivation for not having a broker involved, I assume). 

Since you haven't initiated yet I would STRONGLY recommend contacting a real estate broker, real estate attorney, or short sale negotiating firm to take over.  It shouldn't cost either party anything and would dramatically increase your chances of success.

 

Alex Krumm

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Permalink Reply by Sara Pichelmann on August 15, 2012 at 12:13pm

Hi Pat,

 That is very true, Alex has made several points that are valid.

Permalink Reply by joe beauchamp on August 15, 2012 at 12:16pm

Have your seller sign a limited power of attorney for you to deal with all aspects of the sale/loan/property.  BofA does what it can to limit short sales, however, they are sensitive to the problems they can get into by ignoring a seller's legal rights and they can actually be reasonable (most of the time) if you have a POA.

Probably unlike most people here, I am annoyed that BofA gets away with insisting that only an attorney or a person who sat through 2 weeks of real estate school is allowed to deal with them in helping the homeowner. If they didn't depend so much on lawyers for everything they do and upon agents to bring them loans, I'm sure they would allow only one-eyed 47 year old druids in Devil Fork, AZ to deal with them for short sales.

Permalink Reply by Smitty on August 15, 2012 at 3:35pm

I'm with Joe.  BOA really has clamped down in the last year and made it impossible for anyone other than an attorney or agent to negotiate.  I'm in the same camp as Joe.  I think short sale negotiation should be based on experience and not having a license.  My 16 y.o. nephew can get a license to drive, but it doesn't mean he's good at it. 

Anyways, to answer your question, I'm not sure you can "get around it" - I've never tried, but I'd be very curious to see if you could push the limit with them to allow you to negotiate. 

Permalink Reply by Pat M on August 15, 2012 at 12:55pm

oh and I guess I should add.....Ive negotiated and closed a lot of short sales with all major lenders.....  Just aggervates me that BOA makes you get an agent or attorney to close a short sale.

Seller is selling FSBO-  found his own buyer. 

 

So I was just wondering if anyone knows a way around it.      

 

Joe-  Ill look into a POA.....  Just dont know how many homeowners would do that.

 

Pat

Permalink Reply by joe beauchamp on August 15, 2012 at 11:52pm

Because of not wanting liability and concerned that I wouldn't sign POA for everything so expected seller reluctance, I changed a regular POA to state only in dealing with the bank, etc.

I initially used this when BofA was going through another stupid insane stage of demanding that homeowners call in to set up an email address to put in their own information for equator. Thankfully, there was enough pressure for them to eliminate this obstacle to the short sale. Then I used it to get around their homeowner required to call into the sub-company for HAFA after they had called in to BofA to say that they wanted to do HAFA. Well, BofA HAFA has destroyed many more of my deals than helped, so I don't even know if they still have this requirement, I haven't started a HAFA at BofA in a long time. So, I don't use the POA much. The last time is when some pinhead troll in the bowels of BofA told the closing officer that he would not issue an approval because the file was not in the name of the listing agent in Equator. Another BofA attempt to stop experts of short sales from dealing with BofA.

I would really welcome an investor actually doing its job and stepping up to BofA and telling them that they must work to do the short sales and minimize investor losses, but it just doesn't happen. FNMA and Freddie are now focusing on sucking $$ out of the fed - and they are the biggest - who cares, it's only taxpayer money now..

So, my POA has only been used with BofA and really only to get around their stupid bogus hoops to delay or kill short sales.

I think the requirement that a real estate agent be involved in the sale is based upon reason - that a professional agent has a license to protect so will do things legally and work for a best price for the seller. I agree with this to some extent, but in NJ, that means that the person sat through 90% of 2 weeks of classes (really, the ONLY criteria of the class is that you sit in it and pay for it) then took the state test. But then I also feel that banks should do as directed by their bosses the investors and politicians should uphold their oaths instead taking money from banks to do whatever banks want, etc., too...

You probably can get around the real estate agent requirement with a POA - just as BofA doesn't require this if a lawyer is doing the short sale - because, as we know, there are no unethical lawyers so who needs a professional real estate person to..uh...sell real estate?  HA! Well, hey, whatever semi-logic BofA wants to use...