Where Banks Are Concerned "Loss Mitigation" is an Oxy-moron!

It is time to vent. I am a RE/MAX Associate Broker/Attorney representing home buyers and sellers in Oakland County Southeast Michigan. I have a short sale listing where the seller has already submitted the hardship package to the bank. We have recently had a flood of offers and I immediately submitted them to the bank. I then called three times during the week that followed and finally, after one week spoke to a "loss mitigator" who I could barely understand due to a heavy foreign accent. I suspect this bank is outsourcing this task to India. That said, they have ordered a broker price opinion after doing nothing for the first week.

I have also been working with a first time home buyer who has wanted to see some bank owned homes. They have all been disasters. Two had flooded basements and mold because the banks shut off the power and because of that the sump pumps did not do their job. In one instance, we were never able to see the house because Rinky Dink Realty does not answer its phone or have voice mail.

If the banks really want to mitigate their losses with regard to defaulting mortgage loans and bank owned properties, they need to overhaul how they are handling "loss mitigation". They need to hire more people who have experience in residential real estate to respond quicker to the short sale offers to avoid buyers walking away in frustration and list the properties with qualified realtors and maintain the properties so that their conditions don't detriorate further. Otherwise "loss mitigation" should be changed to "loss aggravation".