Jim Lee, Seacoast Realtor Portsmouth, NH, Jewel of the NH Seacoast

Over this past weekend, I wrote an offer on one of my listings which is going to be a short sale. I thought it would be interesting to keep an online journal of the process to see how it shakes out and if the lender will approve this price.

Today is Tuesday, March 30th, 2010, I have just faxed to the lender (who shall remain nameless) all the documentation they requested. As of today they have asked for:

1. A HUD 1 closing statement detailing all the charges and net proceeds to seller/lender.
2. The Purchase & Sale Agreement
3. A copy of my listing agreement with my seller
4. The listing history of this property (it’s been listed twice before at higher prices).
5. A hardship letter from my sellers explaining why they’re unable to pay their mortgage.
6. I also sent another copy of a letter signed by my sellers authorizing the lender to talk to me about their loan.

So the short sale process is underway. I’ll keep this post updated as we move through the process.

UPDATE: April 6,2010 Called lender for update and status.

Lender: “We don’t have your authorization form to talk with you about this short sale.”

Me: “Yes you do, I’ve faxed it to you twice now and a third time when I submitted this package on March 30th. Happy to send it again if you like.”

Lender: “Oh wait, here it is. OK, what do you want to know?”

Me: “Offer status”

Lender: “In 3 to 5 business days you will receive a call from the negotiator that’s has been assigned to this transaction. They will take it from there.”

Me: “OK, thank you, I’ll look forward to hearing from someone by next week.

So 8 days later that’s where we are. Stay tuned for the next update.

UPDATE: April 13, 2010, Realtor called and said she had been asked by lender to furnish them BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion). I told her to go ahead into the property.

UPDATE: April 16, 2010. I called lender to follow up on negotiator not contacting me in “3 to 5 business days” like I was told last time I called.

Lender: “Don’t know who told you that but blah, blah, blah.” We did get the BPO back and I am sending it right now to the RMV (Reconciliation Market Value) department. Once they complete their analysis you can call back and talk to the negotiator”

Me: “OK, that’s nice, when should I call back?”

Lender: “Call back next Tuesday.”

OK, so we’re now waiting for next Tuesday to call back and talk with the negotiator. Stay tuned for the next installment.

UPDATE: April 21, 2010 Negotiator called me today and said short sale was approved subject to several conditions. All minor and acceptable subject to “management approval” from negotiator’s boss, we’re going to closing. So, not too bad for short sale approved.

I believe the lender is taking about a $30,000 hit on this sale so it’s not a huge loss for them and certainly more than they would net if they foreclosed and had to start from scratch marketing this property.

Now to see how fast I can get this one closed; stay tuned for update.

FINAL UPDATE: June 9, 2010 Today was closing day so it’s finally done. I didn’t do any updates in May because there wasn’t really anything related to the short sale going on. The new buyer’s lender was processing his loan and all the stuff related to a ‘normal’ transaction.

We did have to ask for and receive a 2 week extension on our short sale approval because of the time frame in getting the new buyers loan approved. I called Gus, our bank short sale contact and he granted the extension on the spot.

The original contract date is March 30th and we closed June 9th so about 70 days total from start to finish. The whole process went pretty smoothly:

• The original lender took about a $30,000 hit letting the sale go through for that much less than the mortgage balance. However who knows how long it would have taken to foreclose and what they could have sold for.
• The sellers salvaged some of their credit and can rebuild it quicker than a foreclosure.
• The new buyer got a pretty good deal on the house and their lender now has a new, paying loan on the books.
• And I got paid for doing my job; listing and selling houses.
• A win, win, win, win for all.

Please call or email if you have a Knoxville property you’re thinking of selling.

Visit www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see all of Knoxvilles Realtor listings for sale.

For some strange reason the post below I wrote several years ago popped on a Google alert. After re-reading it I decided it was still very relevant to today and hopefully you will find it worthwhile:

I just received my July/August issue of “The Real Estate Professional”, a great magazine sent to all REBAC (Real Estate Buyers Agent Council) members.

A feature story is titled “Technology and Home Sales: How the Internet is Changing the Real Estate Industry”. Boy, ain’t that the truth.

I found some of the technology do and don’ts for using technology in your listings to be especially relevant.

1. I think a lot of us don’t quite realize yet is that most buyers (and sellers) are way more tech savvy than the average Realtor. Probably something to do with their average age being in the 30s and ours being in the 50s.
2. The time to make a first impression is shorter than ever before. This is especially important on your websites. You have very, very little time to catch and hold someone’s attention before they’re bored and/or ready to move on to a site that gives them what they’re looking for. In order for your website to be effective it must be:

1. Easily findable by consumers. No matter how wonderful your website might be; if no one can find it, no one will contact (buy or sell) with you from it.
   
2. Able to deliver the content they’re looking for; typically listings. You have to cause consumers to want to stay once they've found you and they're there on your site.
   
3. Filled with compelling reasons to cause them to contact you to do business.