Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by tanyafranzen on November 15, 2012 at 4:58am

Tom - my first reaction is a bit snyde... pawn this one off on an agent your don't like... Flagstar is darn near impossible... and if you are unfortunate enough to couple it with an FHA loan... get ready to settle in for the very very long haul.. and you might want to advise the buyers as to the same.

I closed a Flagstar FHA short sale last March after 3 separate buyers came and went and a total of 13 months before the approval!!   I called 2 times per week... sat on hold for 45 min. at a time before I could even talk to a customer service person who could ultimate tell me nothing... I swore off Flagstar altogether and started declinging any shortsales with Flagstar as the servicer.....

......until....a past client asked for my help.. against my better judgment I agreed, however I told my clients up front the following things to set their expectation:

1) Flagstar is difficult to deal with as a servicer - FHA is severly backlogged... be preparred for this to take a very long time and also be prepared for Flagstar's Loss prevention department to continue to call you even when we have a contract submitted and are waiting for approval.

2) I need you, the seller, to be immediately responsive... Flagstar has no qualms about closing out a file if they don't receive requested info within 24-48 hours and it takes far to long to get it re-opened.   I need a copy of EVERY paystub and bank statement AS YOU GET THEM. - I send them into Flagstar as I get them from my client, but also keep copies in an orderly fashion in a digital file so I can resend them everytime they get lost by Flagstar.

3) Along with the rest of the standard short sale disclosure stuff.... risk of foreclosure, damaged credit, etc.

 

I will say that this time around things have gotten better on the customer service side... You don't have to sit listening to hold music for 45 min anymore.... and now I am even getting phone calls FROM my Point of Contact at Flagstar on a weekly basis.   That being said... it does not seem to speed up the process at all.... we have had an offer submitted since June... and it has not even been submitted to FHA yet... rediculous!   

 

Also I must note that Flagstar has recently changed over to a new system, which means we have a new negotiator and we had to start all over with the Servicer review, Financial review, etc..... no effeciency...

 

All I can say is that if you decide to take on a Flagstar File - set EVERYONES expectation to "VERY long term" - and keep your buyers updated... my weekly reports to the buyers agent look like this week after week:  " Contacted Flagstar, spoke with Sarah the POC, still in line for reivew, noting to report".   At least then they know that you havent' forgotten about them.

 

BEST OF LUCK!

Tanya