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"Don and Wendi Sheets did a great job at selling our house. We had it on the market for a year and half when we hired them, they came in and gave us realistic advise and ideas. We nearly lost the house to foreclosure but they helped us through a short sale situation and saved us $30,000 in process. They are a no nonsense team with a ton on knowledge in short sales. We are very grateful for all the work that was put into selling our house. Thanks, Don and Wendi!" Burgess, Milford OH

Well this one was not easy. Sun Trust took 11 months to approve this Short Sale! Nine of those were
waiting on the file to be assigned to a negotiator. During this time we
lost 2 buyers and finally found one to stick.....I thought. About 3
weeks ago I received the approval to close. Even though I had
communicated with the Buyer's agent every week for the last 9 months I
found out a week before closing that the Buyer had changed his mind!!!

So....I had to place the property back on the market as an "approved short sale".

We needed a cash buyer that could close in 7 days at the full asking price. Luckily we found one.
Lolita' Clay from Exit Realty brought a full price cash Buyer and they
closed today. 3 days before the Short Sale approvals expired. Way to go
Lolita!!!

Property:

4 bedroom 2 bath condo in Legacy Dunes. Legacy Dunes is a Short term rental community about 5 minutes from the
main gate of Disney World in Orlando Florida. The condo was purchased in
July 2006 for a whooping $335,400!! We sold it yesterday, 4 years
later, for..........$60,000!!! That's a decrease in value of 82%.

Hardship:

Loss of income

Liens:

1st with Sun Trust for $269,150. Settled for $62,183 or $.23 cents on the dollar.

2nd with Sun Trust for $30,350. Settled for $10,973 or $.64 cents on the dolllar

HOA lien for $6,000. Received full payment from the Seller.

Details:

The Seller had to contribute $17,500 to Sun Trust plus had to pay the $6,000 to the HOA. No promissory note and Sun Trust issued a Waiver of
Deficiency for both liens.

Another successful Central Florida Short Sale by Tutas Towne Realty!!

Are you facing foreclosure on your Sun Trust Mortgage? If so........

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

Beautiful 3 bdrm/ 2 bth family home with rocking chair from porch originally sold on July 19, 2010 for $109,829.00. Our short sale approval timeline is as follows:

June 9, 2010 - Submitted short sale paperwork to lender along with offer and preliminary HUD-1

July 15, 2010 - BPO assigned to area agent.

July 22, 2010 - BPO received by lender.

July 23, 2010 - File assigned to negotiator.

July 27, 2010 - Negotiator conducts phone interview with seller.

July 29, 2010 - Short sale approval received!!!

Original Loan Amount - $ 109,829.00
Short Sale Purchase Price - $ 48,637.00
Amt of waived deficiency - $ 61,192.00

For years, the term “short sale” has been the antithesis of the real estate market….from holding your breath for seemingly an eternity waiting for a loss negotiator to let you know whether or not you’ve reached their “golden figure” to wondering whether or not the listing agent is acting as an automatic offer vessel funneling as many offers to the lender as humanly possible. Let’s face it, for so long it was the “Wild, Wild West” of the real estate industry.

Then, all of a sudden, lenders (and Realtors) began to actually conceptualize the idea that the notion of selling properties for less than the actual mortgage note could actually work…..as long as processes were made SOP on the lender’s end and education became more common throughout the real estate industry. Since I’m a HUGE fan of the FHA Pre-Foreclosure Sales Program, I’m focusing on the benefits of this program from a different angle….the buyer’s perspective! Here are a few ways that this program works to assist the home buyer:

1) Upfront terms – One major benefit, from a buying standpoint, is that these sales are “pre-approved”. Not only that, but HUD has mandated a “sliding scale” of what their net profit would have to be based upon the length of market time! Now, the selling agent is able to adequately calculate exactly where your offer needs to be in order to get the deal to the table!

2) Closing costs assistance – Although HUD advertises that they’ll concede up to 1% of the purchase price for closing costs assistance. Ask your negotiator to request a variance for up to 3% in closing costs. It can be done and most of the variance requests are APPROVED as long as their desired net is met.

3) Appraisal costs – If you’re purchasing an FHA Pre-Foreclosure sales program property with an FHA mortgage, then you can bet your bottom dollar that an FHA certified appraisal has already been completed on the property. In fact, since that appraisal has already been assigned an FHA case number, then it’s married to the property for the next six months. The bottom line is that your buyer can save the expense of the appraisal since one has already been completed on the home!

It’s pretty clear that we’ll be dealing with an increased number of short sales for the next few years. So, removing the stigma is a must so that we can reduce the number of boarded abandoned properties and maintain a semblance of communal appeal within our neighborhoods.

here is my horrer story...

2 banks were involved, placed an offer on october 2009 on this short sale property. this property was orginially in the market as a short sale from june 2009,

at one point 1st bank ordered a BPO ( internal), and 3 weeks letter they ask us if we close in 4 days ( that was end of april 2010). we were not ready, however at the same time first bank reealize that there is 2nd bank involved.. i am not sure why sellers agent did not work with 2nd bank before??

anyway, finaly we negotiate with 2nd bank and got ther approval which is good until end of the month.. they might extend it.. when we got the approval letter from 2nd bank we provided it to first bank and ask the approval from their side ( remember, at one point they wanted us to close in 4 days, however, at that time they did not gave us an approval letter).. it has been 3 weeks since we are pleading first bank to give us an approval ( at that time the negotiator ask our ( buyer) finiancial statement and check if the seller has any other loans ( which i belive he has none) and we realize that last week they completed seconed BPO ( internal). which was done on sunday.. ( On top of that the negotitor of the first bank had no idea about this BPO, so i guess some intertnal department of bank orderd that)

now how long it will take to get the approval from the first bank? or will they approve or not??

in this case what should i do to expediate this sale?

what can my agent ( buyers agend) should do and what can sellers agent needs to do to get this thing done?

i feel like i will have heart attack.. it has been more than 9 months.

help please.... belive me i am dieing but at the same time i am thinking i have spend more than 9 months waiting for this? should i walk away?

help please

Has anyone worked or closed a short sale with Primary Financial Services, LLC based in Phoenix AZ? They are the collection company Wells Fargo Home Equity sells off to. I'm working a file where Wells is the 1st and PFS is the 2nd. Wells has agreed to pay 10% or $8K to PFS, but PFS wants 20% or $16K. I'm looking for a good contact to escalate to or for any ideas you may have. This is a CA purchase money deal so there is no recourse against the seller. PFS stands to lose a lot of money if this goes to foreclosure. Your comments are appreciated.

Thanks!

Ryan Smith

Again, we were shocked but excited by the Short Sale Approval letter language waiving Bank of America’s and its investor’s right to pursue further judgment or deficiency after the short sale. In the interest of educating and of determining what type of Bank of America short sale may result in a deficiency waiver, let’s take a look at the details that lead to the approval.

The original loan amount was $220,562.00 and was taken by two sisters in order to purchase a Fort Myers home. Early in 2010, one sister lost substantial income and was not able to contribute her share of the payment. The other sister could not afford the entire payment on her own. Because of the hardship, the sisters listed the property for sale in early June. The received an offer on June 7, 2010 and the file was initiated through the Equator system on June 11. Incredibly, the file was approved in just 29 business days from the date of the Equator initiation!

A copy of the approval letter has been made available. In it you will find that the approved offer price was $60,000.00. Total closing costs were not to exceed $7,003.17, including realtor commissions capped at 6% or $3,600. Bank of America’s investor’s approved net was $52,996.83, or roughly 24% of its original loan. The approval letter contained sections dedicated to Promissory Notes and Cash Contributions; but neither were applicable in this situation and the sellers were not required to sign a Promissory Note or make a cash contribution at closing.

We have also made available the only Deficiency Evaluation Tool (DET) we have ever seen. In fact, we just Googled “Deficiency Evaluation Tool” and got only one unrelated hit. We are working with Bank of America to find out more about the DET, but on its face its title seems to do a fine job of describing the DET’s use. It seems that Fannie Mae (FNMA) and/or Bank of America will use this tool and its questions to determine whether it should waive the approval’s deficiency language or not. Here are the questions along with the answers related to our transaction:

1. Select state in which property is located (ok…not really a question, but it’s there!) [Florida]
2. Owner Occupancy: Was the home owner occupied at the time of the origination? [Yes]
3. Purchase money: Did the first lien finance the home purchase? [Yes]
4. Is the first-lien investor non-delegated? [No] (we do not understand what this means and are working on an answer)
5. Is there a BAC second lien? [No Second Lien]
6. Is there a mortgage insurer (MI)? [No MI]
7. Is FNMA (Fannie Mae) the investor? [Yes]
8. Have we received an appropriate contribution, or has FNMA agreed to close without a contribution? [Yes]

Based on the DET we received and the answers provided, it may be safe to create a checklist for determining the likelihood of deficiency waivers for Bank of America-servicedFNMA loans.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at (230) 985-4142.

- Chris

Until 7/21/2010, our office had never received a Bank of America short sale approval letter that relieved the borrower from future liability or from the pursuit of the deficiency after the short sale. In what hopefully marks a meaningful shift in Bank of America’s handling of post-short sale deficiency issues, Winged Foot Title received a Short Sale Approval Letter from Bank of America that waived its and the investor’s “rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.”

If you have been involved in an approved Bank of America short sale, then you are likely aware of what has been the company line on borrowers’ future liability. To wit, the standard language has been: “BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP and/or its investors may pursue a deficiency judgment for the difference in the payment received and the total balance due, unless agreed otherwise or prohibited by law, if the short sale closes on the loan referenced above.”

The deficiency language in the letter is significantly different. It reads:

“Upon receipt of the agreed amount, BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, and/or its investors will waive the remaining balance due on the above referenced loan and release the borrower from further obligation therein, and waive all rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.”

We were admittedly shocked by the language in this letter. Winged Foot Title’s Short Sale Title Solutions Team has orchestrated a hundred or so Bank of America short sales over the last two years. Because of the previously standard deficiency language, we have made a point to make available to listing agents and their short sellers copies of prior approval letters from Bank of America so that the sellers’ expectations would be set correctly in advance of delving into the short sale process. This letter, unique as it may be (it is the first and only we have received), may signal a shift in Bank of America’s deficiency standards. At this point, we are hard pressed to shout that out loud. What we can say with confidence is that under certain circumstances, Bank of America and certain investors may at least be making ad hoc deficiency evaluations and determining on a case by case basis whether or not to retain the rights to pursue further judgment or deficiency.

Winged Foot Title is busy compiling the details leading up to this potentially groundbreaking approval letter and will share them as quickly as possible.

Stay tuned...

Finding the Short Sale Superstars have been like taking a deep breath of air. I have read till I'm seeing double and still want more. The knowledge that is shared on this site is priceless. I get the reassurance that I really do know what I'm doing. I just needed to bounce it off of someone that has had the same experience. As you all well know, there's not ever one deal the same, but close. So when you question yourself, just ask one of the Superstars and you'll get the accalades that you deserve. No one else knows the pain and joy we feel helping our clients.

Thanks Superstars

Hi ..We are looking for a really good SS management software program?

Ideally we would like it to have the capability to track the sale and a calendar timeline with reminders, have a running communication log, forms to access. file information and documents storage, analysis spreadsheet, contact database and maybe fax capability ...etc. Dreaming about that program that has all the buzzers and bells...maybe could cook dinner too!! ;-)

This looks like a great group for networking about Short Sales.

How can I tell how many members are here total as part of Short Sale Superstars?

Chad.

The person who negotiates with a lender on behalf of a homeowner needs a license, either under NRS 645 or NRS 645F. In the case of a real estate licensee who maintains a license under NRS 645, that licensee must be part of a real estate transaction with the homeowner. Any other person - even an unlicensed assistant in the brokerage office - who negotiates with the lender would fall under NRS 645F, and needs a license from the Mortgage Lending Division.

This has been an issue here and I'm sure it will continue to be since short sales are here to stay.

It's vitally important that all licensees, and especially brokers, who are dealing with short sales understand the limitations on unlicensed assistants, and the licensure requirements for third parties providing services between sellers and their lenders.

SOURCE: Direct from GLVAR Go HERE to Read the Article

Division Reminds Licensees about Short Sale Negotiations
By Deanne M. Rymarowicz, Esq.
GLVAR Legal Counsel

what is the deal with hafa short sale versus regular. I am submitting mine through equator and when does it give me the option of going hafa or regular?

Please advise. Thank you

"The balance amount on the loan is $259,405.33. 20% of this amount will be $51,881.07 the lien will be release with no deficiency balance or 10% $25, 941.00 for lien release only."

Loren Hill

Collection Manager

Focus Receivables Management, LLC

Direct... (678) 228-0010

Fax... (678) 228-0018