Three Short Sale Offers -Some Buyers Agents Don't Get It!!

This week I had three offers on short sales. Despite my MLS instructions to allow 120 days for approval, each has a 30-45 day closing! In addition, each asked for ALL THE CLOSING COSTS to be paid by Bank of America. BOFA WILL NOT PAY ALL CLOSING COSTS. When I told one of the agents I had probably sold 100 BOFA short sales, and they DON'T do that, she emails me BOFA brochure that states: "Frequently Asked Questions" How flexible is Bank of America in paying closing costs? Bank of America allows for the payment from sale proceeds of those closing costs that traditionally are paid by the seller (i.e. commissions, appraisals, taxes, etc.). Bank of America will, in some circumstances, allow closing costs that traditionally are paid by the buyer to be paid out of sale proceeds. All costs are included when Bank of America considers whether to accept a Short Sale offer. Of course, I know from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE this is NOT the case, and I've told her, but her buyers refuse to adjust closing costs. How do you handle buyer agents who just don't "get it"?

Geanne,

May be different states - different results. I have been so told by BOFA higher ups at one time. When I foolishly tried this in the past, of course, the HUD's were sliced and diced. If a buyer does not have the money, I am not going to recommend my seller take the property off the market (required by my MLS) for four months while I bang my head against a wall and then the offer is rejected because of closing costs. Four months closer to foreclosure for the seller, all time wasted. As I told Jeff, I'd rather go in with the 95% chance of success, instead of 5%. Thanks for sharing your info.

Geanne Pack said:

Hi Wendy,

I've closed several short sales with BOA and they have given 3% to recurring & non-recurring closing costs as well a pest and home warranty. In my humble opinion you only get what you ask for and if you don't ask it won't happen. As for the close of escrow period 30-45 days is a normal closing period AFTER YOU RECEIVE APPROVAL from the bank as time periods don't begin until then. Once you have an approval from the bank, the buyer should be able to close 30-45 days depending on type of loan.

Hope this helps,

Geanne

Replies

Anthony Count May 28, 2010 at 10:49am

I think you are rather mistaken. I've dealt with and have heard of many others who've dealt with Bank of America on short sales and have in about 70% of the cases succeeded in getting them to cover buyer closing costs or most of it.

It all depends on how "deep" the short sale is and what the bottom line is. The bank will evaluate on overall cost - not necessarily any one factor like closing costs, etc.

Besides, it's in the seller's best interest to accept a reasonable offer - let the bank renegotiate later if they find the buyer's offer to cover closing costs to be objectionable. I would recommend leaving the offer with the buyer's closing costs covered (to reduce the risk of the offer failing or rejecting it prematurely) then negotiate if necessary with the bank and buyer later on. That's been working out really well in Vegas.
Andy
Janine Margaret Nielsen January 6, 2010 at 6:07am

A majority of my short sales have been with B of A . As your fully submitted file waits with a very clean and concise HUD1, they use the time to change what they will and will not pay. I have had to change a HUD1 3x with the same buyer and am still waiting for approval. 4 months into this process and the HOA goes to collections(they are being sent sooner and sooner to collections in so. cal.), I've stripped the HUD1 to nil hoping to get B of A to pay the ATTY. fee for the HOA. I will be an agent that refuses to back down with this atrocious Lender. Anyone else on board?
Joshua Holt December 7, 2009 at 2:35am

I talk with my seller, explain the situation, and let them choose. Most of my sellers will just wait for another offer.
Kathy Batterton November 22, 2009 at 12:51pm

I know some banks are giving a concession and some aren't. I just wrote an offer on a BofA and asked for $6500 toward buyer closing costs. Will BofA not just look at the bottom line on this? Help me Wendy!

My question would be "why are all the banks allowing this on foreclosures but not on short sales? Doesn't make sense to me....Any answers out there?
Wendy Rulnick November 12, 2009 at 5:26am

Clayton - But YOU are GOOD!!! I really enjoy working with you- very professional! For those who don't know, Clayton and I have a short sale deal going, he brought the buyer!
Clayton Bonjean said:
Wendy,

I commend you for educating your buyer's agents on the front end, it forces them to educate their buyers. The main issue with short sales is long approval times and by requiring the 90 - 120 approval time line your are weeding out alot of "Buyer Walked" situations and this helps everyone involved.

I now write up every short sale offer with language requiring the seller to pay doc stamps on the deed (standard) and seller pays title insurance and related expenses (not always standard). This has not been a problem yet. I avoid mortgage related expenses because they can change and blow a deal at the last minute when the lender refuses them. I like to keep it very simple because confusion seems to slow things down.

Clayton
Clayton Bonjean November 12, 2009 at 4:38am

Wendy,

I commend you for educating your buyer's agents on the front end, it forces them to educate their buyers. The main issue with short sales is long approval times and by requiring the 90 - 120 approval time line your are weeding out alot of "Buyer Walked" situations and this helps everyone involved.

I now write up every short sale offer with language requiring the seller to pay doc stamps on the deed (standard) and seller pays title insurance and related expenses (not always standard). This has not been a problem yet. I avoid mortgage related expenses because they can change and blow a deal at the last minute when the lender refuses them. I like to keep it very simple because confusion seems to slow things down.

Clayton
Jeff Payne November 10, 2009 at 1:20pm

I would guess that they are using some sort of lingo for investor review. Ask the negotiator what it means, you do have a negotiator assigned?
Word of caution, don't get too optimistic, BofA can take 6 months to approve these, sometimes longer

Corine Holland said:
Hello, I currently have a buyer with an offer in on a BOA short sale and they file has been in "SPO Review" for 3 weeks now and no one including the listing agent can tell me what that means. Have you ever heard of this before and if so please give me some insight as to what it means. This is my first short sale with BOA so I am not familiar with all of their terms. We had the first bpo done and they received it. We submitted the offer in September and they say that we should have a response by 11/24 do you thank they will actually keep that dead line?
Corine Holland November 10, 2009 at 1:12pm

Hello, I currently have a buyer with an offer in on a BOA short sale and they file has been in "SPO Review" for 3 weeks now and no one including the listing agent can tell me what that means. Have you ever heard of this before and if so please give me some insight as to what it means. This is my first short sale with BOA so I am not familiar with all of their terms. We had the first bpo done and they received it. We submitted the offer in September and they say that we should have a response by 11/24 do you thank they will actually keep that dead line?
Wendy Rulnick November 10, 2009 at 3:11am

Geanne,

May be different states - different results. I have been so told by BOFA higher ups at one time. When I foolishly tried this in the past, of course, the HUD's were sliced and diced. If a buyer does not have the money, I am not going to recommend my seller take the property off the market (required by my MLS) for four months while I bang my head against a wall and then the offer is rejected because of closing costs. Four months closer to foreclosure for the seller, all time wasted. As I told Jeff, I'd rather go in with the 95% chance of success, instead of 5%. Thanks for sharing your info.

Geanne Pack said:
Hi Wendy,

I've closed several short sales with BOA and they have given 3% to recurring & non-recurring closing costs as well a pest and home warranty. In my humble opinion you only get what you ask for and if you don't ask it won't happen. As for the close of escrow period 30-45 days is a normal closing period AFTER YOU RECEIVE APPROVAL from the bank as time periods don't begin until then. Once you have an approval from the bank, the buyer should be able to close 30-45 days depending on type of loan.

Hope this helps,

Geanne
Geanne Pack November 9, 2009 at 4:48pm

Hi Wendy,

I've closed several short sales with BOA and they have given 3% to recurring & non-recurring closing costs as well a pest and home warranty. In my humble opinion you only get what you ask for and if you don't ask it won't happen. As for the close of escrow period 30-45 days is a normal closing period AFTER YOU RECEIVE APPROVAL from the bank as time periods don't begin until then. Once you have an approval from the bank, the buyer should be able to close 30-45 days depending on type of loan.

Hope this helps,

Geanne

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