Short Sale Done ABSOLUTELY Wrong

Well, after fighting and hanging on for over 9 months, it (Citibank) finally pulled the plug on a short sale listing I was involved in. This post is not a rant, rather a story to share with buyers and sellers that sometimes, no one wins when the property goes into foreclosure. Worse still, after having multiple offers as well as a very good solid offer waiting for 9 months.

Now that it's behind me, I'm going to take this opportunity to spill out the guts of this transaction. Very sad and most of all, I feel horrible for having a very disappointing client.

I represent the Buyer. We went into contract after the property was on the market for 6 months. When we submitted the offer, the listing agent advised us that her client has stopped making mortgage payments on the house that very month. This was February 2009. Okay, nothing alarming - in my opinion.

The owner of the property was deceased and her mother was the executor of the estate. The mother lives in Illinois while the property was located in Allen, TX. Just the perfect house for my client.

This was a regular sale when we went into contract. We inspected the home and my client worked on getting his loan. There were some property condition issues that came up that had to be a part of the loan approval process. This went on for almost 2 months. Something in my gut feeling told me to stop and wait for the seller's side to sign off on the repairs.

That was when we found out that the loan amount on the property now is more than the sales price. Very quickly, we found ourselves that we were in a "short sale" situation, but not by much.

Before you know it, 1 month has elapsed and the property was slapped on Forced insurance and attorney fees on Citibank's side because they were planning to take the property into foreclosure. This is probably our 3rd month into the transaction. It is mid-April by then.

The Seller's attorney demanded for payoff information - to which he has constantly been getting the run-around. No one at Citibank seems to have a clue who is the Asset Manager or who has authority over this property.

Every month then on, the property would be posted for foreclosure, but every month, the buyer and seller re-signed the amendment to show Citibank that there is a willing, ready and able buyer for this property - who has first not shorted in payoff by too much.

June, July, August, September and October passed. Every month, the same thing. The listing agent, bless her heart, worked so hard on this transaction because we are talking almost every other day. We are like sisters now.

I received a phone call from the Seller's attorney. He said, "Loreena, I'm sorry. The property was sold in foreclosure just this past Tuesday. I'm so sorry. I know how much your client wants this house. We fought so long and so hard but it still didn't work out".

You know, everyone in the transaction was doing the right thing especially for my buyer who patiently waited for 9 months. We knew that the Seller could just turn the keys in, wash her hands and walk away since it was her deceased daughter's estate. The mother made many months of mortgage payments until she decided

she couldn't do it anymore. She kept utilities on and did everything a proud mother would.

I had to be the deliverer of the bad news. I hate that. But my client is taking this news well. We know it happened for a reason.

I don't want to begin my posts on Short Sale in a negative tone. But it's been on my heart that I want to share it. I didn't like the fact that it didn't have to be this way for both the Buyer and Seller. My buyer waited 9 months for the property. The seller wanted to clear her daughter's estate with a good name even though there was no equity. Everyone was doing the right thing except - you guessed it. Citibank!

I believe big banks like Citibanks can be huge and very inefficient. And here we are wasting our tax dollars to fund stupidity and inefficiency that didn't need to happen. I'm sorry. I'm going to say it one time.

This is bull crap #$&*$$^&*TRR^*((**
BOO Citibank!

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Contact:

Loreena Yeo
Realtor®/ Broker of 3:16 team REALTY
(214) 783-2210
loreena@loreenayeo.com

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Copyright © 2009 by Loreena Yeo (3:16 team REALTY)
Short Sale Done ABSOLUTELY Wrong