Today, I found out the offer my short sale listing in Lowell, MA has been denied! I have to say that I was surprised since they had previously hinted to me that the offer amount on the offer that I had submitted was a "good one". They did not even give me a counter-offer, either!
While it seems that banks these days are more willing to accept short sales and move on, they are not always getting accepted, at least initially. I closed one last month that I had to really fight for because the BPO (broker price opinion) came back over $100,000 higher than our highest offer (there were three offers total). I had to submit additional documentation and extra comps to show why it was worth no more than the offer I had submitted. Luckily, there was a very good comparable sale that closed right after the BPO was submitted that really helped my cause and they ended up accepting my offer.
With this bank, they didn't even give me a counter-offer (or a number that they needed to "net"). For some reason, they're not even letting me speak to the negotiator in charge of the case. They're sending their messages through customer service reps that cannot even answer any of my basic questions. VERY frustrating!
Last week, I got an approval on another short sale I am working on in Mattapan, MA where I was able to speak directly with the person in charge of approving the short sale and he even gave me his direct line and email address. Not only that, he was able to approve my short sale by himself, right away! There must not have been an investor involved. That always seems to muddle things.
With this one I just heard about today, only time will tell if they will finally some to their senses. The offer I have submitted is for full price and the place has been on the market for a while now. There has been a total of three offers and this one is obviously the best. I was told that I would hear back in 24-48 hours about the actual reason it was denied and what I could do. Then they said maybe 72 hours... Unbelievable!!!
Getting lender approval on shortsales and foreclosure properties is challenging and takes time. As you mentioned communications with as high up as possible in the decision channels is important. When I get stuck with the "middleman" and they won't let you communicate with anyone higher, I ask them a question I'm pretty sure they cannot answer, so they at least have to turn around and talk to that person themselves. Even "forced" communications in this way has helped with some of these deals. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.
Comments(7)