Bank of America: The Untruth about Short Sales

On August 18, 2009, Kimberly Dawson (Bank of America Home Loans Vice President-Group Operations Manager Short Sales) participated in an audio conference hosted by Campbell Communications. During the conference, Dawson gave an overview of Bank of America’s Short Sale Timeline. This overview suggests that a typical short sale with Bank of America shouldn’t take any more then 90-days to obtain a final decision on a file.

I have been working on short sale transactions for over 3 years. In that time, I can honestly say that I have never received an approval from Bank of America in less than 4 months. Since the audio conference, I have asked 3 different customer service reps in the short sale department how long I can expect a typical complete short sale file to be processed. Two of the customer service reps told me they are seeing most files take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to reach a decision, after it has been assigned to a phase 1 negotiator. The 3rd customer service representative told me not to expect any answer in less then 120 days.

I currently have several short sale transactions awaiting approval from Bank of America. They are all at separate phases of the process, but each has already gone past the 90-days Dawson said is should take to get a decision. In my opinion, this indicates to me one of two thing; either the individuals at the top of the company don’t have any real grasp on what is happening down at the bottom, or the company doesn’t want to disclose the actual facts when it comes to their short sale process.

I have talked with other agents across the country, and have read agents’ blogs regarding short sales. The consensus I have been seeing, is that Bank of America is one of the most difficult company to negotiate a short sale with.

I have created a group on Active Rain in an effort to shed some light on the problems that agents like myself are running into when negotiating short sales with different financial institutions. This will be a place for other agents to share their short sale experiences with individual companies. If you would like to join the group, please follow the link below.

Short Sale Experiences

Should you have any questions or need further information,
please don't hesitate to contact me, (775) 220-1630
Or visit my blog at www.SellingNorthernNV.com

Joshua Talayka
Chase International
Office: 775 850 5900
Toll Free: 877 922 5900
Cell: 775 220 1630
Fax: 775 850 5901
985 Damonte Ranch Pkwy, Ste. 110
Reno, Nevada (NV) 89521