We process lots of short sales here in Central Ohio. Recently in about the past 4 months we have seen the landscape of short sales changing quite a bit. These things have happened in the past but not in such high frequency. It seems the banks and investors are becoming anti short sale. Please let me know if any of you short sale experts out there are experiencing these same issues.
FHA Short Sales - Buyer is denied immediately because house was vacated. No variance sent to FHA. Bank is offering seller $3,000 to do a deed-in-lieu instead.
FHA Short Sale BoA - After ATP was issued the bank refuses to review file. We escalated through FHA and FHA couldn't get the bank to respond to the offer either. We escalated through BoA and that didn't help. ATP finally expired. Lost buyer after 4 months.
BoA Co-op - Had an approved co-op with BoA. Had an acceptable offer. BoA would not send to Fannie Mae for final approval. They passed the file from escalation manager to escalation manager 4 times until the property foreclosed. We escalated through HomePath and BoA. No results. The last escalation manager named Maria Rubio thought Fannie Mae was spelled " Fanny May" This file sat for 6 months.
High BPO Values - Several listings are sitting with no offers because of high BPO's. We have disputed all of these but can not get a fair market price from the investor. We spoke to people who did the BPO's and their values were not as high as the investors.
3rd Party Authorizations Lost - This is happening on several files. We send the 3rd Party form and talk to the bank. The next week the 3rd Party is gone. We resend it gets lost again. It seems they are losing them intentionally.
Other Paperwork Lost - We send a full package and then we verify that everything is received. Then suddenly what we verify is there turns up missing. This is happening on several files.
In general it seems the banks are making it more difficult and intentionally trying to mess up or delay the short sale so the property can go to foreclosure. Am I the only one feeling this way? Please share your thoughts?
Replies
Thanks everyone for the input. It helps to know that other people are seeing the same recent changes in short sales that I am seeing. I can now look at my business plans for the future with better confidence and I hope these posts have help other agents on the fence about continuing their short sale business.
As for Ron I appreciate your feedback from the banking point of view. I wish all the other lenders worked like your company. I would probably continue to work short sales. Unfortunately all the other banks are becoming very anti-short sale.
Precisely why I decided to give these up two months ago. I have one left to close and then I am done. I've gone back to working with buyers. I managed to close 112 short sales in the last few years and am grateful for the experience, but it's time to move and start making a living again.
I don't want you to be out as you are a great contributor here. I agree with most all of what you are saying about the changes in short sales. I still believe, as I always have, that the short sale guidelines at these banks/investors/servicers make little sense and that they are designed to daze and confuse and discourage short sales. Their actions speak way louder than any of their words.
Did she really just remove her entire profile because I asked her to be civil?
@Ron and @Mary Ellen, lets keep this civil. Obviously the real estate agents for the most part see this very differently than Ron's camp. My opinion... Over the years the banks have kept the "real" short sale process very much in the dark and have had an adversarial approach to real estate agents, in return the RE agents fight back and become very bitter due to being left in the dark and feeling like we are the problem and not the solution.
Working together would be so much better.
BTW, I am seeing the same changes that everyone else here is experiencing.
@Ron Scribner you seem like a guy who cares about what he does and cares about helping homeowners and educating agents but I have to say you are one in a million because we get little or no help from other lenders
If Ron is on the inside, I think he would be beneficial to all. That is if a successful short sale is a benefit to his employers.
agreed, we need Ron to give us the real inside of the short sales.
That's like citizens swearing to tell the truth to congress, of all people. Lol. The world is upside down.
Since banks don't "LEND" money, they don't lose any in a short sale or a foreclosure. It's all a profit center for them. If they're just servicing, they want it to go on forever. If they take a property in a foreclosure, the tax payers will foot the bill, they will then sell and make money on money they never lent.
Fractional banking and the open window at the FED, which funds most deals, gives the banks profits in any market or house "lending" situation.
Remember the year they got bailed out, check and see how many in millions and millions was given out as bonuses. They know they're untouchable by anybody.
Sad.
For a lot of you that have done a lot of short sales and have customers that lost their homes more than 12 mos. ago you might be able to put them in a new home . Some may know this already but FHA as of the 15 Aug. will finance a loan under certain a new guide lines . I have the new guide lines and they are not to hard to meet. Could create a lot of new deals!