Hey guys, I am posting this for a friend of mine who doesn't want his name used because you never know who is reading these sites. My friend and his wife made an offer on a short sale house in CT and now they can't get a response from the listing agent. The following is a time line of what has happened so far.
The house is in CT and is a cash offer.The banks involved are Bank of America and Chase.
1. 1/4/12 viewed and walk through of house
2. 1/14/12 after thinking and researching have home inspection done and make offer $35,000 less then asking price.
3. 1/19/12 seller accepts offer and signs contract
4. 1/23/12 documents and contract sent to Bank of Amercia
5.2/6/12 Bank counters full askin price,they counter same offer with inspection report and comps sent in
6. 2/8/12 Bank accepts offer
7. 2/10/12 escrow opens with $5000 earnest money deposit
8. 2/13/12 they are told there is a second mortgage from Chase bank they asked L.A. how many mortgages or liens on property before viewing house and making offer they were told only one.
9. 3/12/12 update their agent tells them bank is in negotiation with Chase.this was the last information they recieved from L.A. after repeated phone calls from them and attorney buyers agent says L.A. never responds to her messages and would prefer they have direct contact with L.A. Buyer agent has not returned messages left for the last week they talked to L.A. broker they were told to call L.A. as she is handling sale.
They tweeted @Bofa_Help three times. The help team called L.A. and askerd her to call and update buyers she never does in the meantime closing date that was set by bank has come and gone their money is tied up in escrow and they can't get a response they know their getting a good deal on house just want it to get done, Lawyer says he has never seen anything like this happen.He does say they could ask for some of their money back and redo contract with lesser deposit as this might get someones attention higher up. Can anyone advise as to who else they can complain to to get this deal moving forward as they don't really want to back out,as they are concerned that seller may try to bring suit for breach of contract. They are going to try one more time with listing agent broker and will be meeting with their attorney later this week. Any information will be helpful in this matter thanks.
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Thanks for all the responses,i have more information this is a hafa short sale,the Owner is receiving $3k in relocation fees,but doesn't live at property has been renting it out for the last five years.House has been on market for almost 3 years now.The L.A. still hasn't returned any calls they tried to meet with broker but hasn't been successfull,Their attorney has gotten in touch with the sellers Attorney who says that he and L.A. are suppose to be negotiating but she has been of little help so he is the one making contact with bank negotiators but hasn't heard back from them for 3 weeks now,So my friend gave him the Bofa_Help link,Turns out this is the cast of Rookies in short sales,No one involved has actually done or closed a short sale before,So with the help of this site my friend is the most knowledgable one involved not sure if this is a good thing for him,
In response to Harry Clay Questions i am not picking on you just have more questions that may be helpfull for all getting into a short sale as to what to be asking to avoid what is happening here.
1. No preliminary title search was done
2. They were only notified after escrow was opened of the second lien they did ask before viewing and making offer was told no by L.A. even the sellers attorney was unaware of the second
3. L.A. said everything was fine and done offer accepted and they had 48 hours to open escrow per banks guidelines,so no they weren't jumping the gun just following what was told to them by L.A. and Buyers agent.
4 Yes they are still waiting for the second to approve.
As to all the other questions L.A.and Broker are not returning calls and it seems L.A. has put seller attorney in charge of negotiations which he has never done before.
Hopefully this deal gets done my friends are very optimistic and looking forward to owning their first home together,
The Seller may not have told their agent that there was a 2nd lien on the property. It depends upon when they ordered the title search as to when they would have had the opportunity to see the title commitment to see any additional liens. It doesn't benefit the LA to blow off a Buyer, so not sure as to why you would not receive a response, other than the LA doesn't yet have the 2nd's approval letter but doesn't have a "good enough" update for you. Sorry that the LA is not responding in a timely manner, though. Hopefully, you will receive a copy of the 2nd's approval letter, shortly! : )
Going to the listing broker is the answer. Also it looks like the listing agent was unable to get approval from the 2nd lien holder. Confirm this and see what is the reason. You have experienced people here who can guide you with any possible problem.
Utter negligence. The listing broker needs to step up as the listing agreement is between the brokerage and the buyers brokerage. I would threaten to report the brokerage and LA to the commission. I bet you see some action at that point!
If this short sale is approved, there is little that you need from the listing agent, does the closer have the approval letter? if so, get it closed!
If this is a real scenario... the listing agents broker owns the listing and can take care of this.
Can the buyers go to the property and chat with the sellers?