Jackie Nary

I have been dealing with Chase as a second lien holder on a short sale. Needless to say, it has been a nightmare. Let me give you a bit of history. This home was listed in May. I received an offer the end of May and it was submitted to both lenders, Bank of America and Chase.

In August we received approval from BOA with a close date of 30 days. They did agree to pay the commission that was arranged on the listing agreement. Chase meanwhile hasn't given any indication that they are anywhere close to approval. We pushed and pushed and finally got a negotiator to work with. Here is the email corresponsdence that went back and forth between myself and my negotiator. I have taken out the identity of the person, just know he was not very pleasant to work with.

After many attempts to get an approval, here is the dialogue.

October 23rd. me to Chase

I have tried to contact you regarding the status on this short sale. We received approval from Bank of America back in August, but need approval from your lender to move forward on this. The buyer is ready to walk away due to a lack of response. Please provide me with an update on the progress. Thank you. Jackie

October 29th Chase to me

FNMA countered. They want 4K.

Thanks.

Dan

October 29th me to Chase

The first is only offering $2000. We cannot reopen the file with BOA at this stage of the game. The seller does not have funds to bring money to the table. Can we just get this done? It has been in front of your lender since May so this is late in the game to be asking for more money. See what you can do to get this done before we lose the buyer. Thanks, Jackie

October 29th Chase to me

FNMA wants 4K. I suggest that between yourself, the buyer's agent, the buyer, seller, and the title company you come up with 2K.

That's 500 per party.

Thank you. Dan

October 29th me to Chase

Can't do. This is a very low commission property to begin with. Jackie

October 29th Chase to me

You can present it to all parties concerned, or I will inform the client that his approval is jeopardized because of a $500 reduction in commission.

Thanks.

Dan

October 29th Me to Chase

Is this considered blackmail??? This is ridiculous. Jackie

October 29th Chase to me

No. I am going to call attention to any action you take that places the interest of your commission above your client's interest. You have the option to resolve this yourself. If you feel you are acting in your client's best interest arguing over a slight reduction in your commission while allowing your client's property to go into foreclosure, you can contact your client yourself and explain your position.

Thanks again.

Dan

Can you believe That????? This is a commission that they are not even paying. If I reduce my commission, BOA gets more money, not them.

Long Story short, The negotiator DID call my client and tried to strong arm her. He told her my commissison needed to be reduced to save her home or she would have to pay it.

I had quite a talk with his manager and hopefully by now the negotiator has a new job.

WE got the approval, buyer is paying the additional $2K and hopefully all is well with the world.

Happy Selling, Jackie

I had a meeting the other day with my Congressman's representative regarding the delays we are encountering with short sales. I certainly didn't feel as though I accomplished anything as my Congressman is a Republican and he said anything they might propose would not go anywhere because of that. I am a short sale listing Queen and currently have 16 offers in at the banks in all stages of approval. One as long as 14 months.

The 14 month offer is actually buyer #5 because 1-4 got tired of waiting and moved on to something else. I do not understand the reason why these banks can't decide if they like the offer or not. The offer isn't getting any better as they sit and decide. The one that I have been waiting on for 14 months, was submitted to Fannie Mae the end of August and they are still "waiting" for Fannie to decide if it is good or not. The bank gave me a net amount, commission structure etc on 8/20 and we resumitted a new HUD to the negotiator who in turn sent it to Fannie. Fannie must be sitting in her rocker hoping this offer somehow gets better. The reality is, it is now an offer priced offer. The sad situation is buyer # 5 may walk because we can't give them any information on the progress.

The entire time these lenders are "working" on the short sale, they are continuing to get "paid" to service the loan for the investor. They really do not have a motivation to sell this home and lose their income until it gets really close to foreclosure.

Ok, got that off my chest, now I can have a good weekend. Happy selling...

I got a new listing the other day. The client hired an attorney on the east coast of Flordai after reading his blog on Active Rain. This client has a second home that he bought for his parents to live in. (5BR home) As usual in this market, it is way upside down. He has it rented, but the rent is not covering the expenses. Anyway, I met with him and his wife, went over the listing agreement and short sale issues. He met with the attorney and they came up with a game plan. The next day I met with the clients to sign all the listing documents. The attorney had his own short sale addendum and other documents to be inculded not only with the listing, but the future sale too.

I normally have a clause in my listings that allows me to be in control of the listing price and make adjustments as I see fit. He would not allow that. His attorney said we needed to start the listing at way over the value and we would drop it as time goes on. Come to find out, we were $100,000 over the most recent comparable sale. The client said we would be dropping 7% once a month. I would be February before we get to the price point we need to be at today.

I informed both the attorney and the client, that I could not sit around and wait 4 months to finally get to where we could possibly be a price point that would generate some interest, then sit for possibly another 4-6 months waiting for the bank to approve.

I am in the business of selling homes and working though the short sale process, not playing games with the lenders and the clients attorney. The bank will work off of the comps in the area to determine the value of the home. The fact that it was on the market for 4-5 months at an unrealistic asking price does not really matter.

So hard lesson learned, make sure you are dealing with a realistic seller before agreeing to the short sale. I don't get paid until I close this deal. I now have invested 9 hours of assistant time doing paperwork, listing entry, lockbox, photos, visual tour etc, now updating the listing to show terminated and I have nothing but a story to write.

Over two years ago I decided to become a short sale listing agent. I have spent countless hours talking with banks and learning all I could about short sales. I continue to learn with each listing I take and contract that successfully closes. The world of short sales is anything but consistent. Each listing, sale and bank is different.

I have discovered that one thing that needs to be consistent is my attitude, desire to help sellers and management of each and every file. I have started to use a third party negotiator and that is still a work in progress. I like to have control of my short sales and I don't always feel that I know what is going on.

One thing I find absolutely necessary is to keep the buyer's agent informed of the progess, so they can keep the buyer engaged. Nothing worse than loosing a buyer as you approach approval. I try to give them a weekly update to keep them hanging in.

Lately, I have found some banks are really getting their system in order and processing short sales in a systematic way. Other banks can't even seem to get the paperwork in order to start the process. With all of the stimulus money the government has infused into the banking industry just for the purpose of helping out the housing market this is unacceptable to me. Most of the banks blame it on lack of personnel.

Good news is in SW Florida our under $150K market is almost a seller's market now. Multiple offers are the norm on well conditioned, well priced homes. Let's hope this continues and spreads to the upper price points.

Hang in and Happy selling.

Often times when I am talking to a potential seller, they bring up the possibility of renting instead of selling. That is always an option, however, one that needs careful consideration.

When you purchased your home and took out that large mortgage, did you tell the bank this was going to be your primary home? The bank could easily come back and change the conditions of your mortgage as you are not living there any longer. Of course, the insurance coverage you need to carry now will be different and most likely more expensive. If you move out and the home is vacant for a while, you need special insurance for vacant and unoccupied homes (expensive, especially if you have a pool!) Homestead exemption? If you aren't living there, you will need to change that, which will increase your taxes.

Now, let's assume you find a tenant. Are they going to take care of the home the way you do? Of course they are the type of people who take the rental car in for a detail before they return it to Avis! I am sure they will clean your carpets when they spill something and touch up the paint on that nick they put in the wall. Oh yes, and the weeds will all be pulled from the garden and the a/c filters will be replaced each month to keep the a/c unit working properly. Don't worry about the grout on the tile, it will be cleaned regularly and looking clean and bright. Oil drips in the driveway?? They must have been there long before the tenants. With all of these wonderful things going on in and outside of your former home, you are cash flowing it, right? No............. you mean it is costing you money to have someone live in your home, make a mess, all the time we are in a down market and the value of your home continues to go down??? How could that be??????

Well, the lease has run it's course, the security deposit doesn't even come close to covering all the costs you have to get your home ready to sell, and the value is WHAT??????

Please give renting a good long look before you jump on the landlord train. The ride is not what you might think.