Hi All,

 

I'm wondering what your experience has been in waiting for HAFA to issue an approval or rejection to a seller?  Specifically, how long are your sellers having to wait before receiving a decision?

 

I ask because have some buyer clients that would like to purchase a specific home, and the seller is waiting for HAFA to give them a solid yes or no.  I'm told: It's been over 9 weeks since they initiated the process, they've turned in all required docs in a timely fashion, and have escalated the file 7 times (though I'm not sure through what channels).  One purchase money loan with BAC....

 

Any thoughts on how long a typical HAFA approval is taking these days?

 

Thanks!

 

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Replies to This Discussion

Sean,

 

If you haven't already, contact the Fannie Mae Resource Center:

 

http://www.fanniemae.com/contact/crc.jhtml?p=Contact+Us

 

Also, send a tweet to @FannieMae and @BofA_Help 

 

You will get a call from someone at Fannie Mae and they will take this file over. I did it, and got my file moving. Wasn't a HAFA, but a company called AMS Loan Servicing screwed up my file and borrower didn't qualify for HAFA, now its a regular short sale...but it does get the file moving.

 

Thanks,

 

Sameer

Thanks Sameer, much appreciated! I'll suggest this to the Listing Agent.  Is there a somewhat standard length of time you expect your sellers to wait before receiving a decision from HAFA?  Or is 'standard' just completely non-applicable here?

Escalate the file to the Office of the President- they helped me get the file out of "underwriting" and actually to the 3rd party processor for BOA. 877-498-7226  I had 2 files that were stuck in "underwriting" for 4 mos...once they got involved they were out, assigned to a specific HAFA negotiator and one has been approved and the other should be approved this week. Good Luck!

 

That's kind of a loaded question.  It all depends on the servicer.  In you case that is BAC and your in for a long wait.  If the seller pre-applied for HAFA with BAC it is likely their file was outsourced to AMS Servicing.  AMS is totally overwhelmed and screwing up files left and right.

 

I have 2 such files that are nearly at 6 months.  BAC is great for straight short sales on Equator but HAFA is another story.  Pre-applications are taking forever and I never recommend pre-applying without an offer with them unless you have no choice, such as Freddie Mac or a pending foreclosure.

 

Many files that are submitted for HAFA approval with an offer are going to LRC which is doing a better job.

 

Just the BAC underwriting review part is taking 6-8 weeks.

Well, sounds like the seller isn't approved for HAFA yet, so I'm not sure they they even did a bpo to determine what minimum net proceeds they want? Thats usually the first step after the seller has been qualified for HAFA over the phone. If its Bank of America, they use a company called AMS Loan Servicing, and to be honest, they have no clue what they are doing.  Just google, "AMS Loan Servicing" and you will see my blog posts at the top results of google.  

 

Assuming they did the bpo, they say it shouldn't take no more than 45 days to get a short sale HAFA approval out to the sellers with the minimum net proceeds they want. 

 

You probably already know this info, maybe the listing agent doesn't but here are the minimum guidelines for HAFA

 

You may be eligible for the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program if:

the property is your current principal residence, OR the property has been vacant or rented out for less than 12 months, and you have not bought another principal residence during that time.

the amount you owe on your first mortgage for your property is equal to or less than:

  • $729,750 for 1 unit
  • $934,200 for 2 units
  • $1,129,250 for 3 units
  • $1,403,400 for 4 units

you owe more on your home than it’s worth

your current mortgage was taken out on or before January 1, 2009

you are experiencing a hardship (such as a job loss, divorce or medical emergency) and are unable to afford your current home loan

 

Thanks,

Sandy - Thank you for that phone number.  I'll pass it on to the L/A as well.

 

Sean - I'm not sure if this is a Freddie Mac loan or not, just know that L/A seems certain they cannot handle an offer until HAFA approves or rejects the seller. 

 

Sameer - Yep, seller definitely qualifies, under these standard guidelines.  No BPO done yet.   

 

Thanks for all the great answers!  Hopefully the L/A can use some of this info to get the seller an answer.

Once it is in the pipe with AMS they will not look at the offer at all until the seller is approved for the HAFA and the short sale agreement is back signed
Thanks for clarifying that Sean.  It sure would be nice to experience a successful HAFA Short Sale, at the very least from the Selling Agents side.

Sandy,

Do you have a name or trick to get through the calling tree?  It only gives me the option to dial the first few letters of someones name or an extension.  No operator or anyone will pick up either.  Help! Thanks,

Jed Shuler

Sandy Skover.redwood city.ca said:

Escalate the file to the Office of the President- they helped me get the file out of "underwriting" and actually to the 3rd party processor for BOA. 877-498-7226  I had 2 files that were stuck in "underwriting" for 4 mos...once they got involved they were out, assigned to a specific HAFA negotiator and one has been approved and the other should be approved this week. Good Luck!

 

It took over 2 months for my client to be approved for a HAFA short sale with B of A.  Then the appraiser came out, spent 5 minutes at the townhouse, and took just over 2 months to upload his appraisal.  Then another month goes by before we get the SSA mandating a list price of $126,072, which is $3,000 MORE than my client paid for it in 2007, the height of the market.  Repeated phone calls to AMS to get a list price reduction are infuriating.  They say we can't dispute the list price until we get an offer.  Well, we won't get an offer when the list price is so HIGH that we can't even get a showing.

BPO is now over 90 days old, but we have no 120 sold comps to provide.  Between a rock and a hard place.  I keep telling the AMS people that they are dooming this guy to foreclosure.

 

Any ideas?

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