So do I win, am I the poster child????????????????

A Bank of America Short Sale Success Story…

Okay so most of us have been through the traditional nightmare short sale scenario, but not this time. I had heard and seen all the horror stories surrounding Bank of America, but refused to be counted in that number.

I decided at the very beginning to be the Bank of America poster child for the fastest, smoothest short sale in the history of mankind well at least that was my goal.

As the listing agent I aggressively marketed my clients home and took the time to utilize the time consuming price reduction schedule I did everything by the book, finally after 8 months on the market, doing all the right things we received an offer, although I had been in touch with Bank of America through the entire 8 month course our professional relationship was that of myself talking to customer service or to the mortgage retention department just to keep them informed on our progress or lack of progress should I say.

On October 13^th an offer came in I put together the most awesome short sale packet it took about 8 hours to get it just right, making sure every single solitary document had all the appropriate information included. I had price reduction history, a CMA, hardship letter, a letter from buyers lender (the kitchen sink) you name it we had it, if it pertained to the sale of the home. I faxed all 50 pages at 2AM on the 14^th just to make sure all those pages got through and all in the same set.

Then I waited one whole day until the 15^th of October, I called to confirm they (Bank of America) had received the entire fax, they laughingly assured me that it would take up to 10 days to download the short sale packet fax and there was no possible way it would be in the system yet, but I encouraged the nice lady to check and lo and behold it was in the system. She (Carla) was actually dumbfounded and joked with me that this was close to a miracle in itself. She then told me to call back in a few weeks to check on the case and to see if a work out negotiator had been assigned the file and then we could proceed. 

Well I’ve never been very good at following standard protocol directions so I implemented the call twice a week policy, this included the be as sweet as humanly possible to the point of sickening, I was sure they all had their fill of nasty brokers so I choose the higher ground. I made sure they knew just how appreciative I was for all their help, thankful for how wonderful they had been to my clients and pleased for how polite they handled themselves on the phone with me etc.

Well I did call twice a week, I was told each time that I should be prepared for the long haul, and that since this was a Fannie Mae file to be prepared for at least 6 months, I took each conversation with a grain of salt and made sure I was super sweet regardless of  the news. Finally on Friday the 6^th of November 2009 I called and spoke with someone that found my determination quite hilarious I suppose, I made sure to share with her my dream of being the poster child for the fastest, smoothest short sale in the history of mankind, she actually laughed, I told her it really could happen and she was amused, it was a very pleasant conversation, as were all of them. Each person I worked with was respectful, polite and good natured.

Monday morning the 9^th of November I received an email from Bank of America with full approval, (Did I mention this property had a junior loan also?) they didn’t even negotiate the terms of the offer, but accepted it just as it was presented., I actually almost fell off my chair.   A Full Home Inspection was on Friday the 13^th, Appraisal on Monday the 16^th and we all signed closing documents on the 25^th of November the day before Thanksgiving, (We all had much to be thankful for) because of the Holiday it funded and recorded today November 30, 2009 all in 48 days….

So do I win, am I the poster child????????????????