If you're thinking about buying a Sacramento short sale, find out if the lender is Countrywide before you pursue it. If you discover the original loan or loans are held by Countrywide, you may want to cross your forefingers, hiss and walk backwards. Countrywide, which is now owned by Bank of America, is a vampire.

The first inkling I had that something was amiss happened last week. Countrywide informed us that one of my Sacramento short sales was placed on hiatus because the borrower had applied for a loan modification. What the? That seller doesn't have a job. I called the seller. No, he had not applied for a loan modification, but he did call Countrywide in response to a letter he had received.

Yesterday, we discovered that Countrywide / Bank of America began mailing letters June 18 to a vast database of pending short sale sellers. If you haven't received your letter yet, it's probably on its way. That letter allegedly informs borrowers that they are eligible for a loan modification and, effective immediately, their Countrywide short sale is deactivated!

As if it's not bad enough that Countrywide emptied its queue of certain short sales due to a backlog in India a while back -- so most of my short sales required faxing paperwork 3 or 4 times before a new file was opened -- now Countrywide is deactivating its current inventory of short sales.

Countrywide just offered another Sacramento short sale seller a payment of $1,700 a month for three months if that seller would agree to a loan modification. This seller hasn't lived in the home for a year nor made a payment for 18 months, plus she owes $500,000. What happens after the three-month period? The letter doesn't say.

But I'm betting at that point the loan modification may be over. Countrywide has milked some of my other clients and then dropped their loan modification. It's the main reason these sellers began a search for a Sacramento short sale agent and found me. I've heard this story over and over.

You've got to ask yourself if the 3-month loan modification is a coincydink since it coincides with the 3-month foreclosure moratorium in California, which began June 15. And the only way lenders are exempt from the moratorium is if banks demonstrate they have a loan modification system in place. Sounds like a brilliant blood-sucking plan to me, if it's true: Stop the short sales. Pick up additional income. Foreclose on everybody else.

If you are a Sacramento short sale seller with a Countrywide loan who does not want a 3-month loan modification, you may wish to call Countrywide to say you want your file reactivated as a short sale. At this point, I don't know if Countrywide will start over from the beginning with a new file or simply pick up where it left off, but this deactivation situation is a nightmare. Oh, and go hang some garlic over your front door.

Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available in bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

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