It's not often this Gainesville, VA Short Sale Listing Agent complains about Wells Fargo, but today is one of those rare days. You see, in my experience listing Wells Fargo short sales, and working with their negotiators toward short sale approval, their time frames are reasonable and their staff reliable....
UNTIL TODAY.
My short sale seller had already lost one set of buyers who were under contract to purchase his home. And once we had short sale approval, they bailed. The buyers wanted to 
renegotiate the sales price that had already been approved, down lower. I alerted Wells Fargo to this fact when I sent in our SECOND contract that offered Wells Fargo the exact same net price.
That second contract was faxed to Wells Fargo on November 24th. On November 20th we were assigned our "new" negotiator. I called every few days to ensure that we were on her radar, asking the call center employees to take my notes each time, and send them in an email to my negotiator. Evidently, the negotiators decide for themselves whether the call center can release their contact info.
So yesterday, January 4th, the second trust, who the week prior sent approval of the sale to us, called to follow-up. I informed them I was having zero luck getting my negotiator's attention, and didn't have their contact info. I dropped the negotiator in quetion's name and was surprised when my second trust negotiator gave me her email and direct phone number.
Sadly, when I made contact with her directly, I was informed she was a CLOSER and couldn't approve the file.
That's okay. She was probably going to refer us back down the line to our former negotiator.
Nope. Her reaction was to CLOSE THE FILE.
Not even this problem, while aggravating as all get out, is enough for me to declare failure. I was on the phone with the Wells Fargo short sale call center immediately, got a supervisor, and had a direct fax number and phone number for that supervisor within minutes. The contract was resent directly to the supervisor. Whether we get a reprieve from the standard Wells Fargo short sale approval time frame is yet to be determined. If I have anything to do with it we will.
The sad fact that the call center employees do not know what TYPE of negotiator you are being assigned is really a statement of how little these employees, that short sale listing agents like myself are forced to work with, really do not know, or understand of the short sale process. I think it's time for Wells Fargo to bump it up a notch and train their personnel to know when something has derailed. If not, they are quickly going to have established a short sale reputation similiar to that of Bank of America.
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