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Anyone with experience in short sales and REO's know the bank requires proof in writing that the buyer has the necessary funds for the purchase of the property. If the buyer is paying cash I have always advised them to obtain a letter from their bank stating they have the necessary funds for the transaction.

In a recent short sale where I had the listing, the buyer submitted a letter from his bank signed by the Vice President of Banking which included his contact number and email.

The negotiator with the bank would not accept the letter as proof of funds and asked for a copy of the buyer's account statment. His reason was the wording "access to cash currently on deposit". He said the buyer could move these funds from this account into another account at any time. I responded by saying the buyer could still move funds from an account after he gets a copy of the bank statement. He simply said "A bank statement would be different".

I understand an actual copy of the bank statement is a harder proof of funds, but if there is any issue, the negotiator could call the Vice President and get clarification. If the letter was truly a fraud then what would be the end game? Not closing? I don't understand why banks are making the process more difficult than it has to be. In this case, it ended up being an acceptable offer and went to closing.

Indymac...wow...

I was having trouble with Indymac. First it was sending and resending ALL of the documents for the short sale. After 4 events of this, they finally said they have them. I started sending them the documents on October 4th. On November 4th, they said they have them. Then they decided to play legal counsel. They started with, we want the state of Minnesota added to all of the pages, we did. That change was made and after getting ahold of the seller who was out of town, we finally got the doc's changed and initialed. This in itself took a week to get done. Then, 1 week later they said they were not going to proceed with the file the way it is because they wanted another change and another initial. I couldn't stand it anymore. No one should be dictating legal advice from another state (or country as far as I know) to a real estate agent, especially a very experienced agent that trains agents on purchase agreements and short sales processes.

I emailed 26 Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents at 3:22 PM and informed them I would also send the next email to the Office of the Comptroller. At 4:22 PM I was emailed from OneWest Bank to send the Purchase Agreement to a ceratin party and they would order a BPO to get done. Huh. Hopefully this will be the end to a long and frustrating journey.

If anyone needs help with Indymac, let me know.

Keith Maahs

Coldwell Banker Burnet

Coon Rapids, MN