Remember, if you want to stay in your home, you can either bring your account current, or you can modify your loan to make it more affordable. Loan modifications are a personal choice that should be taken cautiously, and with an eye to the future. Also remember, the payments will go up again, and you may be in the home for quite awhile.

Now, for those who can't keep their homes there are other options to minimize foreclosure damage. Today, we'll deal with one option, and that's a short sale.

A short sale is nothing more than selling your home for less than you owe the lender. You are asking the lender to allow you to do a "short payoff" or short sale on the home.  Here is an example.

If you owe $250,000 to your lender on your home, and you can no longer pay, you can get permission from your lender to place your home on the market at the current fair market value and find a buyer.

In Arizona, negative equity is tremendous, and it's not uncommon for a home like this home to be listed on the open market for $120,000. Once an offer is secured, this offer is submitted to the borrower's lender, and the lender agrees. They'll allow you to sell it for $120,000.

However, there is still $130,000 left on the loan balance. What will happen to this "extra debt" you owe the lender? Many times, the debt is simply forgiven and written off by the lender. Of course, there is more to this, as there are lots of legal, credit, and tax pitfalls to look out for. We'll deal with those in future episodes, but remember, these are serious topics for qualified professionals.

The question begs itself at this point: why would a lender do that? Why wouldn't they just foreclose on the home and sell it themselves? It's a good question, and one that we'll answer in a moment, but first: why would a HOMEOWNER do a short sale? What are the benefits to THEM?

First, for homeowners facing foreclosure, a short sale can

1.) Minimize credit damage resulting from foreclosure

2.) Avoid a foreclosure on credit and/or public records.

3.) Make the foreclosure process less disruptive to personal life.

4.) May allow the borrower to make a new home purchase much quicker.

Now, as to why a lender would do a short sale, it helps to understand the inner workings of the foreclosure process from the lender's perspective, and it's ALL about money and finance.

1.) First a lender has to spend LOTS of money to remove a homeowner from their home.

2.) Second, lenders will have to spend thousands on maintenance and holding costs.

3.) Third, lenders can SEE what a home is worth TODAY, but cannot know what the home will be worth later. If prices continue to fall, lenders will lose even more money.

4.) Finally, every time a lender forecloses on a family, it causes further depreciation of the market and THEIR OWN loan portfolios.

A short sale actually benefits both homeowners AND lenders, and is probably the best idea if you simply can't stay in your home. Let's take a look at eligibility requirements.

1.) First, any homeowner who has a verifiable hardship can pursue a short sale.

2.) Second, the home has to have negative equity to pursue a short sale.

These really are the ONLY two requirements to pursue a short sale. However, how a short sale is processed and how it works is considerably more complex. One of the most serious complexities is the tax, legal, and credit considerations. Let's look at those briefly.

1.) Sometimes, due to special circumstances with second lien-holders, insurance companies, or a HELOC, the homeowner may be asked to contribute to the loss, either up front, or with a promissory note.

2.) For some, the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007 may not protect them from having to pay taxes on the discharged debt from the lender.

3.) In rare cases, the lender may demand that the homeowner waive their rights under the Arizona Anti-Deficiency Statutes.

4.) The credit damage arising from mortgage default can also be substantial in cases where short sale processing is anything but "short," and drags on for almost a year.

These are SERIOUS potential consequences, and you absolutely MUST protect yourself.
1.) First, always talk to trained, certified, professionals about your specific circumstances.

2.) Seek a real estate agent with short sale experience, and at least 3 short sale references from clients with completed short sales.

3.) Know and understand the tax and deficiency laws in your state.

4.) Never pay anyone for help. Almost ALL reputable loan counselors and short sale agents DO NOT charge ANY fees to the client, ever.
Now, this has been a brief overview of the short sale, and in our next installments, we'll break down short sales even further. Next time, we'll deal with verifiable hardship, and the immediate actions to take when hardship comes.
Please, if you have questions or concerns about loan modifications, I encourage you to call our offices, or simply send an email. We are always here to help. Also, remember, these broadcasts are just my own personal opinions. The things I say should NEVER be construed as specific legal, credit, or tax advice. If you have questions regarding your specific set of circumstances, I encouraged you to call my offices, and also to seek the appropriate professional counsel.
Until Next time, this is Allen Butler, Managing Director of The Realty Butler LLC, and agent of West USA Premier Properties, signing out.

PART II: Pre-foreclosure Options (Modification)

Hello again, and thank you for joining us today at the Butler Blog. As always, I am your host, Allen Butler, Managing Director of The Realty Butler LLC and agent of West USA Premier Properties. Before we get started, let me remind our audience again regarding pre-foreclosure options: there are really only two; you can work it out so you can stay, or work it out so you can leave. Today, we’ll discuss your options for STAYING in the home, and there are two: either rectify the loan, or modify the loan.

Now, before we get too far ahead, I want to go back for just a moment here and pull the timeline of foreclosure, and review the “Action Zone” for homeowners. Remember, the quicker you call for help, the more options you’ll have. And, you’ll feel better knowing that a plan is in place for dealing with the problem.

Now, the reason for you loan “delinquency” is very important, because it determines your options in dealing with the foreclosure. There are two reasons for delinquency.

One reason is Hardship. This can be any number of things, from death to divorce to illness to military or job transfer. Notice that these “certifiable hardships” are something over which the homeowner has little or no control.

The other reason for delinquency is Strategic. This is where homeowners CAN pay their mortgage, but simply don’t want to because the house is too far “upside – down.” Whether fortunate or not, there is no help for people who have the money to pay, but choose not to.

Now, if you have a verifiable hardship, you have two options to STAY IN YOUR HOME:

1.) First, you can bring your balance current. If your hardship was temporary, or you have some way to come up with the money to clear the back payments and fees and continue the payments, you CAN get yourself our of foreclosure, right up until the home is sold at auction. Obviously, this will not be an option for many.

2.) Your only other option to stay in the home is to request a loan modification from your lender. Let’s examine these loan mods, and how they work.

Earlier this year, the US Treasury Dept issued the Home Affordable Modification Program or “HAMP” for short. The program has guidelines to determine eligibility for a loan mod, and it identifies four methods of doing loan mods. We’ll deal specifically with HAMP, as 85% of all mortgage servicers in the US use it, or a program like it, to modify loans.

Now, the primary goal of HAMP is to make loans more “affordable,” and it identifies an affordable mortgage as one that is not more than 31% of monthly net income. It is important to note that all modifications are on a trial bases for 90 days, and if the payments are made in full and on time, and all requested documents are provided to the lender, the modification will be “locked in” for 5 years.

In order to be eligible for HAMP:

 1.) You have to either already be behind on payments, or in a position where your ability to make payments is about to stop.

2.) You must also have a certifiable hardship, as discussed previously.

3.) The loan must have been written BEFORE January 1st 2009

4.) Second mortgages and Home Equity Lines of Credit are NOT eligible for this program. The Dept of Treasury is currently working with investors and industry trade groups to develop ways to include second lien-holders into the program.

5.) Finally, your loan balance cannot be greater than $729,750

If you are eligible, your loan can be modified in up to 4 ways:

1.) Most loan modifications are done by lowering the interest rate. Rates can go as low as 2%. At the end of 5 years, the rate will go back to either your original rate, or the Freddie Mac 30 year fixed rate at the time of the modification, whichever is lower. If a rate adjustment is NOT sufficient to reach 31% of your monthly income, the lender can next adjust the term of your loan.

2.) HAMP says that lenders can extend and re-amortize loans for up to 40 years. However, many loans are sold in packages to loan servicers using “Pooling and Servicing Agreements”. These agreements usually will not allow servicers to extend the term of only one loan within the pool.

3.) Now, if lowering your mortgage rate and extending your term are not enough, lenders CAN do principle “forbearance.” This means that a portion of the mortgage will be “lopped off” and placed into an insulated “bubble”. You won’t pay any interest or principle on this portion for a while, but that amount is still attached to the mortgage, and the entire amount is still owed.

4.) The final modification is “principle forgiveness”. This means that a portion of your loan is again, lopped off, but this time, it’s entirely forgiven and “disappears”. Of the 1700+ permanent loan modifications made under HAMP so far, only 5 were achieved by principle reduction. In other words, the chances of this happening are SLIM. Now, this highlights a problem. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

I mentioned in our first installment that negative equity was a large part of the foreclosure crisis. Now, in comparing the problems of negative equity and unemployment against the programs in place to combat this foreclosure crisis, we see that these programs may simply delay the inevitable.

Let’s do a simple example for an Arizona family in trouble with their mortgage.

So, this family bought a home in 2005 for $250,000, and the monthly payment is $1,887 per month. Now, hardship comes, the mortgage is modified, and the new payment is only $1025 per month. Now the family can afford their home. Remember, the family still owes $250,000 on the house. The fact of the matter is, right now, the home in question is really only worth $100,000 TOPS. Now, let’s fast forward. In year 6, the loan interest rate goes back up. Is the family making more money now, so they can afford the re-adjusted payment? If not, they’re in the same boat they were in 5 years ago. But that’s only part of the problem.

Remember, the family still owes close to $250,000 on the home, and it was only really worth $100,000 at the time of the loan modification. If any life change forces a move, you’re in the same place you were in 2007; upside down, in a big way. What will the real estate market look like in 2017? Who knows, but I’ll ask you, the viewer: how many years do YOU think it will be before home values in Arizona DOUBLE from what they are now, so these people can sell if they need to? My professional instincts say it’ll be PLENTY longer than 5 years. It’s already been 4, and the problem seems to just keep rolling along, impervious to efforts to stop it.

See, the bottom line is, loan modifications are a personal family decision regarding the home, and families should definitely proceed with caution. Also, be sure to keep an eye toward the future when planning your long term strategy. Remember:

1.) Your payment WILL go up again. IF you can afford to make the new adjusted payment, you’ll live happily forever after.

2.) You may be living in the home well, “forever after”. . .

Now, please listen, and listen carefully: I AM NOT advocating that Arizona homeowners should decide against a loan modification. What I AM saying is: do not jump in blindly, thinking that a loan modification will resolve the underlying issues. And remember that for the remaining 97% of the country where home prices have NOT crashed and burned, a loan modification may be exactly what those families need. They may have a very good expectation that they’ll be able to recover the equity they need to sell their homes again in 5-7 years.

Please, if you have questions or concerns about loan modifications, I encourage you to call our offices, or simply send an email. We are always here to help. Also, remember, these broadcasts are just my personal internet ramblings. The things I say should NEVER be construed as legal, credit, or tax advice. If you have questions regarding your specific set of circumstances, I strongly encouraged you to seek the appropriate professional counsel. In our next installment, we’ll cover the SHORT SALE, what it is, who can do one, and why they would do one. Until then, if you have questions or concerns regarding your personal pre-foreclosure situation, I encourage you to contact me. My staff of highly trained and certified mortgage default specialists is always ready to take your calls or emails. Until Next time, this is Allen Butler, Managing Director of The Realty Butler LLC, and agent of West USA Premier Properties, signing out.

Transcript:

Hello and thank you for joining us today at the Butler Blog.  As always, I am your host, Allen Butler, Managing Director of The Realty Butler LLC and agent of West USA Premier Properties. Today I want to examine some of the issues and strategies involving loan delinquency, mortgage default, and foreclosure affecting Arizona's families.  

   For nearly everyone being affected by this foreclosure crisis, the foundation is almost always negative equity and financial hardship: If financial hardship comes, and you can't sell the house because it's "upside down," you are likely about to stop, or have already stopped, paying your mortgage. This is when the process of foreclosure begins.

     It is absolutely critical that you know the process and timelines of delinquency, default, and foreclosure, and what your options are in dealing with them. The entire foreclosure process starts with your first missed payment. Let's take a look at the timeline.

When you miss your first payment, you will likely start getting all kinds of communication from your bank. They want to know where their money is, and if you can't bring your payments current very quickly (usually within 30-90 days), a "notice of default" will be issued.

The Notice of Default is a legal notice filed by your bank, indicating they have notified the courts that you are seriously delinquent on the loan. This notice also indicates that if you do not clear the delinquency within 90 days, the property will be scheduled for public auction.

When the home is scheduled for public auction, a Notice of Trustees Sale will be posted on the home itself, and filed with the courts. This notice identifies the place and time of the trustees' sale, the loan servicer and/or legal office pursuing the sale, and the homeowner against whom this action is being taken. The auction date for the trustees' sale is usually 30 to 90 days after the posted notice date. When and if the property is sold at auction, it now belongs to someone else, usually the lender who filed the action. 

The next step in the process is eviction. Once the home has transferred ownership at the trustees' sale, the new owner is going to take possession. Sometimes, the lender will contact the occupants of the home, and offer a "Cash for Keys" deal in exchange for leaving the home within 15-30 days. If the occupant is uncooperative or not able to be contacted, a forcible detainer action will be filed, and eviction proceedings will commence.

Now, it is absolutely vital that you understand your "Action Zone." This is the time during which you can act to contain and mitigate the damage to YOURSELF, your family, your credit, and your future. The Action Zone starts before you even miss a payment, and ends just a few weeks after the Notice of Trustees Sale. It is during this time that you absolutely need to contact someone for help with your situation, as there are several programs in place by lenders, and federal and state governments to help.

In our next installment, I'll discuss these foreclosure prevention programs, how they work, who can do them, and who should do them. Until then, if you have questions or concerns regarding your personal pre-foreclosure situation, I encourage you to contact me. Both myself and my staff of highly trained and certified mortgage default specialists are always ready to take your calls or emails.

Until Next time, this is Allen Butler, Managing Director of The Realty Butler LLC, and agent of West USA Premier Properties, signing out.

*In this first part in the series, we'll cover what a loan modification is, and who is eligible. Please keep in mind that if you have lost your job, or have extremely limited income, you probably will not qualify for a loan modification. You must have income in order to pay any loan, even a modified one. If you are in this category, help may be on the horizon. For now, please start with our Help with Arizona Short Sales and Foreclosure series. Next time, we'll look at the pros and cons of doing a loan modification. 

The Rise of "The Loan Mod"     

 Until just this last March, if you couldn't afford your home, you had little choice but to allow the lender to foreclose, or try to do a short sale. In other words, you were moving; there were no options to stay in your home. Now, in an effort stop foreclosures and stabilize the economy, the federal government has created some programs to enable you to stay in your home and avoid foreclosure by modifying the terms of your current mortgage. 

     There are currently four federal programs to make mortgage modifications available to the public: HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program), HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) HOPE for Homeowners, and the FDIC's Mortgage Modification Program for IndyMac.  Of these four programs, only HAMP has made any real progress in modifying mortgages. The other programs do not have broad lender participation, and the guidelines are too strict for many borrowers.

     The Congressional Oversight Panel (who oversees these programs) in their review released in October 2009,  reported that 85% of all servicing lenders are either participating in the HAMP program, or have programs of their own that are comparable. For this reason we will focus exclusively on HAMP, as this is how most people will modify mortgages. HAMP modifications are made on a 3 month trial basis first, and if you make the new payments and provide all documentation that your lender requests, your loan modification will become locked in for five years. After the five years, your loan will gradually revert to either your original loan interest rate, or the Freddie Mac 30-year fixed rate at the time of your modification, whichever is less. (The Freddie Mac rate is currently around 5%.)

How Does A Loan Mod Work? 

     How is a mortgage modified to make it more affordable? First, we have to define "affordable." For the purposes of this plan, the government has determined that a monthly mortgage payment that is 31% or less of your monthly income is affordable. If your monthly mortgage is more than 31% of your monthly income, it is not. In order to reach this 31% affordability level, lenders can make several changes to your mortgage. Before we get to the actual modifications that can be done, we must first advise of a few key points of the program.:

-Lower your interest rate to as low as 2% for a period of up to 5 years.

           *After 5 years, your loan rate goes up again. This is the method used in almost all modifications. The average modified loan rate goes from 7.58% to 2.92%.

-Extend the term of your loan, or re-amortize, for up to 40 years

          *Most lenders are not doing this for two reasons, 1.) an interest rate reduction will usually work to reach the desired 31%, and 2.)  most lender's Pooling and Servicing Agreements (PSAs) will usually not allow them to modify  loan lengths.

-Principal Forbearance

     *A portion of your loan is "lopped off" and placed into a "bubble" that you don't pay any interest or payments on. This portion of your loan is due "later". This is very rare.

-Principle Forgiveness

     *A portion of your loan is again "lopped off," but this time, it's forgiven. It's gone. This is not only rare, it's an anomaly: of the 362,348 borrowers placed into HAMP loan mods, only 5 had principal forgiven.

   Who Can Participate in The Loan Mod Program?

   So, does anyone who can prove that their mortgage is more than 31% of their monthly income get a loan modification? How do the government and lenders determine who is eligible? The eligibility requirements for HAMP are fairly simple, but also prohibitive for some:

#1.) You must be in default or be in imminent danger of default.

     *Default is defined as "behind on payments," and in order to be eligible, you must have either already stopped making payments, or demonstrate that your ability to make payments is about to end.

#2.) You must have a certifiable hardship

     * You must be able to explain why you now CAN'T pay your mortgage, whereas you COULD before. Did you lose a job? Get divorced? Get ill? These reasons and others like them are certifiable hardships.

#3.) Your loan has to have been issued prior to January 1^st, 2009

#4.) Only 1^st Mortgages are eligible under the program's guidelines

     *2^nd loans or home equity lines are not eligible (Treasury is working to include these.)

#5.) Mortgage balance cannot exceed $729,750

* If a review of your finances indicates that 55% or more of your income is servicing consumer debt (credit card, mortgage, etc), enrollment in a credit counseling program is mandatory for program participation.

 What's To Come:

While mortgage modifications will be a ray of hope for some homeowners in distress, many more will either not qualify for a modification, or will choose not to do one. Next time, we'll explore the difficulties and challenges of loan modifications in the market today. Stay tuned.

*I am not an attorney, and neither do I play one on TV or the Internet. This article  should NOT be construed to impart specific legal recommendations or advice to ANYONE. If you have questions regarding your specific set of circumstances, please call or email our office, or contact an attorney. (Our Office: 602-499-4798 ---Email: therealtybutler@gmail.com)

Since launching our Wise Buyer Strategies planning earlier in the year for our select buying clients, we have been pleased to discover that the strategies planning worked so well, and our clients were so thrilled with it, we have decided to publish the entire strategy series on line. If you'd like to start at the beginning, please start with our Wise Buyer Strategies home page.

In this first part of our new series on how to strategize your offer on an Arizona foreclosure, short sale, or owner-occupied home, we’ll deal with the basis of all purchases, the price. In later articles, we'll cover the remaining offer strategies (terms, concessions, inspections, repairs, costs, and closings). Our hope is that once the series is complete, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to write a strong offer on the Arizona home you want, and actually get it. In regards to your offer pricing, you have a few considerations: How much should you offer? Do you have to pay full price, or even over full price to get a home right now?

How do I determine what a home is worth?

Home prices are always approximate, and are based on what similar buyers are paying for similar homes, in similar neighborhoods, in the last few months. This will be the case for all homes in neighborhood tracts, condo complexes, etc. Custom homes in custom locations will differ slightly, but not much. For example, when your real estate agent runs a market analysis on the home you would like to make an offer on, they’ll give you a list of homes that are similar to the one you are considering, that have sold most recently. In this example, the prices people paid for those homes will range in price from say, $125,000 to $137,500. This means that if the “Market Climate” is good for sellers, the seller will be expecting to get near, or over $137,500. Why would a seller expect to get over what the market says a home is worth?

How Market Climate affects home values.

Market Climate is an expression that means, “Who is in control of the real estate market?” There are two controlling sides here, the buyers and the sellers. Therefore, we have “Buyer’s Markets,” and “Seller’s Markets.” (There is actually a “transition period” between these two that is very short and usually imperceptible called “Stability”.) When you’re a buyer looking for a home in a market where there are many more buyers than there are homes for sale, and competition is fierce, this is called a Seller’s Market. The seller is on control. When the market is flooded with homes for sale, and buyers are few, a buyer is in home-buying-heaven: the Buyer’s Market. Market climate at the time of this writing is definitely a strong Seller’s Market. In a Seller’s Market, there are likely to be multiple buyers bidding on a single home, and someone is going to offer more than what the seller is asking. This places pressure on prices, causing them to rise.

Wise Buyer Pricing Strategy

The first thing that you must remember when the buyer market is competitive is that you probably will not be able to buy a home at the top of your price range. If you have $150,000 cash, or a bank says they’ll lend you the $150,000 to buy a home, should you go look at and bid on homes that are priced at $150,000? Why would you? Chances are, there are at least 5 other people just like you that are interested in that same home, and at least one of them is likely to bid more than the asking price, and then you’re stuck. You’ve got nowhere to go. The first part of the strategy involves looking at homes that are priced below your spending limit. This will get you into negotiations, and some wiggle room for when you get there. The second part of the strategy is to carefully balance the negotiations from this point. Remember the golden rule of pricing: a house is worth what someone is willing to pay the owner in cash. If you’re paying cash, you can pay whatever you want. But, if you’re getting a loan, a problem can come up: you may be willing to pay the owner X, but the bank you’re borrowing the money from may not be. This is where the appraiser comes in. The appraiser’s job is to tell the bank if the house is worth the price you are offering. Remember those homes that sold from our previous example for between $125,000 and $137,000? The appraiser will look at that data, and make a determination. Can he tell the bank that the home is worth more than the current sold comparables indicate? Yes, he can, but only by a little. What is a safe range in this example? I personally would not advise a client to offer more than $140,000, and would advise them of the dangers of doing so. What is the danger? The danger is that the appraiser comes back with a figure of $138,500. Does the seller want the $140,000 you offered? Absolutely, but they can’t get it. You are under no obligation to pay what you offered, but unless the seller agrees to lower the price to the appraised value, the deal falls apart. So, when pricing your offer, look carefully with your agent at the comparable sales, and determine a safe range for your offer, keeping in mind the appraisal issue. If you’re paying cash, your strategy will be slightly different. If you are a cash buyer seeking guidance on your offers on investments, give us a call for alternate strategies. Click any image to continue.

In Arizona right now, we have two kinds of homes selling. Those that are in the foreclosure process, and those that have already gone through the process. My own anecdotal evidence suggests that these are really the only two types of listings that are selling. There undoubtedly are a few (very few) homeowners who have both the equity and the stomach to price their homes in line with foreclosures, and are selling. What does this indicate? What it has always indicated: if you price the home to sell, it will sell. In June (remember June? It was just a few days ago), 5265 homes sold. That means that there ARE people buying homes. And those numbers are actually very good compared to January, where only 2471 homes sold. Literally, home sales have very close to doubled in the last few months. This great news leads me to my next point: the pricing of short sales in Arizona.

As an agent who handles both short sales and lender owned homes, I see the following scenario played out on a weekly basis. I get a call from a lender indicating that they want me to sell a home for them that they have just "taken away" from some unfortunate homeowner. When I go into the data systems to examine the property, about half the time I find the subject property is actively for sale still as a short sale. Needless to say, the short sale didn't work for those poor people. I immediately find out why though, and it's not pretty.

A ficticious conversation will illustrate nicely:

Me: "Hi. I was calling about your listing at 12345 W. Elm St."

Shorty the "Short-sale expert": "Yes! That property is still available. Would you like to see it?"

Me: "Actually, I have seen it. I met your nice homeowner, and informed him that he needs to leave the home. It doesn't belong to him anymore."

Shorty: "That's news to me! Who are you anyway? Do you work for the bank?"

Me: "That's right. I do work for the bank. It appears that your short sale effort has not paid off. The lender has taken your client's home away."

Shorty: "And you are the lender's new listing agent?"

Me: "That's correct. I'll need you to cancel your listing, and remove your sign and lockbox from the property. Also, you may want to help your client find a new place to live."

Shorty: "The short sale negotiator from XYZ Bank told me that if the home went to foreclosure that they would give me the listing to sell for them."

Me: "Uh. . .you might want to call that person back and see what they say now. Sorry about the confusion. Good luck to you. . ."

Now, what does this conversation illustrate? A few things, actually, none of them good for the poor homeowner who lost his home to the bank.

First, the fact that Shorty tried unsuccessfully to complete a short sale over a period of six months strains the bounds of credulity. How does one fail at short sales? By over-pricing. Same as any other failed home-sale attempt. A home will simply not sell if it's over-priced. Doesn't matter if it's a short sale, foreclosure, builder spec home, or traditional sale. If it's over-priced it won't sell. Period. Second, it seemed to me that Shorty the short sale expert had more hope of getting the REO listing from the lender than he did of completing the short sale. Can you spell F-I-D-U-C-I-A-R-Y? In a nutshell: you place the client's needs needs above your own. Period.

Let's look at the home in question. The short sale was listed at $249,500. When the bank called me to sell the property for them, they asked me what I thought it was worth. I did my research, and determined that the home was worth $150,000, tops. The lender (not having any emotional attachments, simply wanting the home sold) agreed with my assesment, listed the property at $147,900, and had it sold within two weeks.

Seems like common sense, doesn't it? So how did Shorty miss this? The short sale listing sat on the market for 6 months, without having had a price reduction once. Wouldn't the lack of people going to see the home have been one clue? How about other properties selling all around this one for far less? A second clue perhaps? Or how about the fact that the lender kept calling asking for an offer on the property? Where was Shorty? Did he go on vacation? What was he telling his client this whole time? I don't know. It was frustrating for me to see. And now, I have to kick this poor guy out of his house!

Bottom line? You MUST price your short sale to actually sell! My own policy? Price it at what you think the market will bear. If you don't get an offer in the first two weeks, drop the price. Repeat and rinse. Price drops every two weeks until sold. Works every time. See, here's the thing: if I can't sell it for a certain price, the lender won't be able to either. Whatever the price is that someone's willing to pay, they'll pay whether its for sale as a short sale, lender owned, or owner sale.

This scenario is further complicated by one salient fact, and the fact that drives the entire short sale process: the only reason to do a short sale is to salvage your client's credit. Every month that your client misses a payment is another "ding" to their credit. The longer it takes, the more damage your client suffers. You pricing their property above what someone is willing to pay is simply destroying your client's credit! Don't do it.

So,

As the short sales go rumbling along in our various real estate markets, a question has arisen, and the answers are varied and contradictory. The question is: how do I, as the listing agent, handle a multiple offer situation on a short sale?

Make no mistake, however you decide to handle it, people are going to be upset. It's just like any multiple offer situation. There are winners, and losers. There are essentially two views of how to handle this scenario with short sales. We'll assume for the sake of clarity, that these multiple offers come in, not all at once, but successively, over a period of a few weeks. If they all come in at once, it's a no-brainer. Your seller chooses the highest and best offer, with the most likelihood of passing lender scrutiny. However, even if a bunch of offers come in, and you pick the best one, another one is probably going to come in after this initial flurry, and what are you going to do with that one? Suppose it's higher than the highest and best you have in hand?

 One group of agents will simply take the next offer that comes in, and submit it to the lender also. If any offers come in, each offer is simply passed along for the lender for consideration. Some agents will not even take the highest and best of the bunch of initial offers; they'll just submit them all. As justification, they say that they are "serving the interests of their client".

I personally believe that not only is this operating unethically, I also believe it is damaging to the interests of your selling client. Let me explain:

First, when your seller and a buyer sign a contract for purchase, it is LEGALLY BINDING. Just because there is a caviat that indicates the contract is subject to the ultimate purview of the lender does not make it any less valid as a contract. Remember in real estate school when your professors talked about "VOID vs VOIDABLE?" This contract, because it is subject to lender approval is voidable. And, it is not VOID unless the lender, in their ultimate wisdom, deems it such. You cannot simply take each successive contract and send it to the lender. Why not? Because the first buyer could sue you, your brokerage, and your client, and rightfully so.

So, how do you handle it? You have two options. You can:

a.) have each buyer who submits a contract sign a waiver relinquishing their right to positional heirarchy. This means that each buyer who submits a contract understands that all offers will be submitted to the lender, and that the lender will choose the best one. This, in my opinion, is the coward's way to handle contracts. You are going to run into all kinds of disclosure issues. What is each buyer's question?

"How much are the other offers? I want mine to be the best."

Unless you have a signed agreement with your seller to disclose the details of offers, you simply can not do this. It is a violation of contract law. You can ONLY disclose the existence of offers, not their respective details. Do YOU want to get into making full disclosure of every offer to every buyer's agent, and have them simply fight it out? Don't do it. It's a recipe for disaster. You can also:

b.) handle multiple offers with honesty and integrity. If an offer comes in that you think has a chance of getting through the lender's scrutiny, send it to them. When other agents call to inquire as to availability, simply say what you would in any such circumstance:

"I have an offer on the property at this time. You are more than welcome to submit your offer for consideration in a back-up position."

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? Simple, efficient, to the point. And it's LEGAL! What are the benefits of doing it this way? You protect your client from a lawsuit by an outraged buyer, and you increase your chances that the lender will approve the sale. I can hear you scratching your head. How does this help my client's chances of having the sale approved by the lender? Simple: if you send multiple offers to the lender, you'll simply confuse them. They're confused enough already. Don't help them. Sencond, by sending multiple offers, you might unwittingly be creating the impression that you've got a hot little property on your hands that might be worth more money. This is going to make the lender cocky. Their demands for money are going to go up, and worse yet, they may get the impression that it's a better idea to take the property away from your client and sell it themselves for more money!

Frankly, unless your seller client is going to be liable for taxes and/or definciencies, they could care less how much the property sells for. They're off the hook if the property sells, period. By "accepting" multiple offers, you are violating contract law, and doing your clients a disservice.

Caution and Disclaimer: I am NOT an authority on contract law, although I like to pretend that I am. All questions about such issues should be addressed to and by your individual broker or firm's legal counsel. This is their job, along with taking a hefty cut of your money.

Did I spell that right? Hope so. . .

So anyway, I'm back with more "tales from the dark side." I am going to continue on my  Saga, while throwing Papa John's Pizza into the mix. Let me just state flat out, in as clear a way as I know how, that CountryWide's loss mitigation department is the most incompetent group of blundering nincompoops that I have ever seen.

Case #1: I have a certain short sale that Countrywide has had in their possession since February 19th. Two loss mitigators later, and they just ordered the appraisal yesterday.

Case #2: On another active file, newly minted, fresh outta loss mitigation school comes Paul Romero (the name has NOT been changed, so as to shame the guilty) . Now Paul, bless his little heart, indicates that he's gonna "send the file to the investor" to get their response. Uh. . .Paul? Countrywide owns the loan.  He calls me back two days later to indicate that he was wrong. Problem? He's suddenly discovered that there is PMI on the loan, and he's "sending the file to them immediately." That's great Paul, but their is no PMI on this loan. He argues with me for awhile and says he's gonna send it to the PMI company to get their response. In the meanwhile, I'm off to demonstrate conclusively that there IS NO PMI on this loan. Within about 3 hours, I have written confirmation that there is indeed NO PMI on this loan. Fast forward 24 hrs. Here's Paul on the phone again: "Uh. . .the PMI company has denied the short sale. They think the property is worth more than the offer you have given them". Ok. Paul, let me explain this to you again, real slow. . .: There is no pmi on this loan. He proceeds to tell me that he's sorry, but the short has been denied. Okay Paul. Give me the policy number, inception date, & contact information for the person handling the case at the PMI company. "Uh. . .I don't have that information." Well then how did you send them our offer? "Uh. . .I'll have to get back with you. Click.

So, I call today. The case has indeed been rejected. Case closed. The peons at the loss mitigation department can't seem to figure out why, based on Paul's notes. About an hour or 6 later, I get a call from Paul's boss:

"We're sorry Mr. Butler; there was a mistake. There is no PMI on this loan. We'll have this file ready for you in a few days".

Huh. I'm speechless.

Then there's Papa John's. My wife has unfortunately fallen in love with this new pizza they have. So I ordered some . . . . . . . . . .and waited for almost 2 full hours to receive it. When I did receive it, it was cold. THAT'S FABULOUS! So I call. They offer to deliver a new one. "When? A couple of hours from now?" No sir, it'll be there in 30 minutes. Great. How about you throw in a little 2.99 desert thingy to make it up to me and my family? Sorry sir. The manager says no. FABULOUS.

I guess my point is this: when someone actually gives even adequate customer service, they are heralded as "amazing" and people marvel. What has the world come to?
Allen