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We've been hearing it a long time, but today a Chase representative actually initiated one of our files into equator today. Chase files will be initiated into equator similar to how GMAC does it. One cannot initiate it into equator themselves and will need the assistance of the short sale department. Let's hope their equator system moves smoothly!

Brett@ishortsalenow.com

www.ishortsalenow.com

310-564-6389

My short sale file was shut down over an "E"!!!!

I guess this is one of those times where I truly wish the buyer's name was Linda Green!! Go figure.

Click the image below to check out an awesome power point presentation on Robo Signing.

Hi folks. Today I want to clear up one big misunderstanding about the Equator.com system. For those of you that aren't familiar with Equator, Equator is the online portal that Bank of America and GMAC use to help expedite their short sales. Quite often I hear from agents, buyers and sellers that......"Equator accepted our offer" or "Equator denied our short sale." In fact, here's a question I pulled off of www.ShortSaleSuperStars.com this morning.

• "Equator accepted our counter. Then 5 days later said it "made a mistake" and rejected our offer, after it accepted. Has anyone seen this before?"

MY RESPONSE:

Equator is nothing more than a software program to help lenders/servicers process short sales. They don't have negotiators nor can they make decisions about short sales.

When a short sale is entered into Equator, the servicer (usually Bank of America), is looking at the deal and trying to negotiate a short sale that they feel the investor (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others) AND the mortgage insurance company (MI) will accept. Once a short sale in Equator is "accepted" it is then passed on to the next entity (investor and/or MI) for their approval. This entity may very well come back and continue to negotiate or even reject the deal that was already "accepted" by the servicer.

• ***Until an actual written short sale approval letter or denial letter is issued the transaction is still being negotiated and the terms and conditions can change.

When you receive a counter offer in Equator the Seller has 3 options.

• Accept: If you accept the deal is passed on for final approval (or counter).

• Reject: If you reject....the file is closed and you have to start over. ***Warning Will Robinson!!*** NEVER reject!!! Rejecting in Equator is not something that can be retracted. If you choose that option in a fit of passion you have to start over. DON'T DO IT!!

• Counter. Unless the deal is acceptable...counter. Countering is where you have the opportunity to dispute a cash contribution, or a promissory note. It's also your opportunity to dispute the value of the property by uploading market data.

But whatever you do, just remember, you are NOT negotiating with Equator. Make sense?

By the way, here's a sample offer and counter offer from the Equator system. Hopefully this will help.

Sample Equator Counter Offer

Are you facing foreclosure in Florida?

My seller has a first and second mortgage on their primary residence. We are in short sale negotiations and have an approved offer from BofA. My sellers are nervous about signing the def judgment waiver to allow BofA to pursue in the fuure. This only pertains to the second, since it was not purchase money. The amount of $44,000 is low, so I have been told that if the seller just waits 3-4 months they can contact the second lien holder and negotiate a lower settlement, say up to 10%, they would then receive a settlement letter and would be clean of any possible DJ in the future.

Does this sound valid?

Started one on Equator first part of December. Seemed plausible. Then went to HELD status.

Called in several times in regards to HELD status.....Customer service reps kept saying all looks good, yes we have everything, negotiator is working on it....

NOD had been filed unknown to me when I took the listing. Nothing showed up in Foreclosure Radar. Title company did not see anything. (Seller forgot to tell me the letter came in after I put on MLS) OOPS!

In either case, multiple phone calls to negotiator as well as emails and to his manager and no response. Every time I called Equator everything was peachy keen.

Then a week ago monday I found out about the Trustee sale, called the title company again, who for some reason did not see it right away but eventually found it and emailed foreclosure radar as to status since they did not show anything---they finally found it, and updated their system....told me there was nothing else I could have done has they had to have their plant do a thorough research before they even found it........sigh.......Title company had to research it several times........I do know there is a backlog due to layoffs and hours cut back at the county .....perhaps part of the mayhem.......

So since the negotiator was over 6 weeks late in completing task with two escalations I emailed the office of the president. They responded promptly assigned a new negotiator this week BUT the investor will not call her back but she did look at notes and the investor will not accept anything below a certain amount.........fine except the comps do not justify that amount. Negotiator tells me on thursday the 12th ,wants buyer to raise offer to price investor indicated in notes (I think these notes are from the prior offer!) Which tells me that the first negotiator DID NOT properly send in my new information.

The 2nd negotiator kept asking me you are not the original agent ? NO, I am not.

Buyer says no to increase in purchase offer, cancels.(WILL stay in if the offer is accepted at price originally provided)

Backup offers will not go that high.......comps do not justify.

Oh , did I mention the trustee sale is this coming tuesday the 16th?

Background of this condo, seller had listed with another agent approx year ago who had offer rejected by BofA.

Again, appraisals were not based upon the current market value of several of the units sold in this particular complex but compared to luxury condos elsewhere.

Seller, starts communication with bank and tries to work something out and calls me in November to relist as short sale again.

BofA was given all of this info upfront and that I was a different agent and agency.

Instead of just letting us know up front and/or giving us the amount they would accept they allowed 3 months to go by and wasted everyones time and efforts. (The homeowner by the way, has kept up their HOA fees )

So to BofA I say this-You wonder why agents think poorly of you? Go back and read above.....simple communication at the onset could have avoided the lengthy wait.......Playing games and instructing your customer reps to mispresent the facts is inexcusable.

The majority of realtors and agents try to operate in fair play and expect the same back.

I do not think Equator is a bad thing...I even took the ReoTrans Gold Certification...it does have some bugs and if you get lost up front in the system it is hard to rebound. In fact, the recent conversations I have had with the powers to be suggested the same thing. I know of several agents who have closed transactions. That is a good thing.

When you call in and ask specific questions and are led to believe that all is peaches and creme I really take exception to such......It has nothing to do with the thousands of short sales you state you have......Regular short sale dept would not talk to you as it was loaded in equator.

It has everything to do with proper training, communication and honesty and letting the investor know up front an offer that came in and not wait til the very end to let the investor know about an offer ... particularly after NOD was filed.

Plain and simple......let the listing agent know the facts up front and not dump on them at the very end.

Please know I have closed several BofA transactions....the longest took up to 9 months.

Now someone tell me about all of the negotiators that are buddy buddies with various investor groups who hs a special relationship with various investor groups to come in waaayyyy below market value and close the short sale? I understand some of these negotiators make bonuses working these various investors......

I saw the title of the Equator group....."muddling through the process" is certainly accurate. I have an offer long overdue to get approval or a response from B of A and as always seems to be the case with B of A, they seem to want to do everything to sabotage the deal. I thought Equator was supposed to solve their internal confusion and all it seems to do is make it worse. B of A is the 2nd on this one and we have now had approval from the 1st for over a month and it's due to expire soon. I have now uploaded the payoff demand into Equator 4 times and was told by the negotiator just this week that the reason for the delay was that she still needed the payoff demand. After explaining that I've now sent it 4 times (1 directly to her email address) that "another department" uploads that file so she doesn't have access to it. How is it that I have access to it through Equator but she doesn't? Seriously?

Is there someplace on Short Sale Superstars that might give me someone to get in touch with at B of A that can actually make a decision.

This is the second go around on this same deal and it fell apart last November as my negotiator was on vacation and nobody could offer a 7 day extension in his absence. Unbelievable.....no I take that back....when dealing with Bank of America it's perfectly believable.

Hi Folks. Recently I have had two Buyers balk at providing mepersonal info I need if they want to purchase a Bank of America ShortSale. I really do understand where they coming from but....most of thebig lenders including Bank of America and GMAC are now running most oftheir short sales through http://www.Equator.com.

Supposedly the Equator system will help to shorten the time involved withgetting these Short Sales approved. From what I'm hearing Bank ofAmerica is giving approvals in 60-90 days as opposed to the 6-9 monthsthey were taking. That's a good thing.

TheEquator system is asking for some personal Buyer info. Iassume this is to make sure transactions are "arms length". If theBuyers want to purchase a Bank of America Short Sale then we have toenter the data.

The reality is it's less data than what the closing agent willwant and far less than they would have to provide if gettingfinancing. What Equator is requiring is simply:

• Date of birth
  
• The first 5 digits of their social security number.
  
• The Buyer's address.

That's all we need. No big deal. Of course the Buyers always have the option ofjust not buying a Bank of America Short Sale. I just hate to see themmiss out on a good deal over something so minor. What say you?

Here's the screen shot from Equator.

Hi folks. If you deal with short sales on a regular basis then you probably know by now that most of the major lenders are now requiring the transaction to be
processed through the Equator
system.

Have you had the opportunity to use Equator yet? If so what was your experience? Did it help? Was it frustrating?

Supposedly the system is designed to "reward" due diligence. In theory, agents that are on the ball and perform their tasks not only on time but completely will be "rewarded"
by having their short sale file move through the Equator system faster.

If the system truly work this way then personally I see it as a good thing as I am a very organized person. But I guess time will tell.

Anyway......here's a question for you. If you were able to ask the CEO of Equator a question what would it be?

Ask your questions in the comment section of this post and maybe.... just maybe....we'll get them answered for you.

And check out the Equator Group over at www.ShortSaleSuperStars.com