Short Sale, Bank of America and the Squeaky Wheel
This is a great positive story from a Realtor who really went to bat for her clients. She went up against the big dog, Bank of America, and got their attention.
If you're considering buying a short sale read this. You can read about the effort a Realtor puts into trying to get the bank to accept the offer. It's disciplined, consistent work that many times does not end on a positive note. This one did and Jennifer did a great job.
As always, when you're ready to buy, sell or finance your home give me a call at the number below.
Read on . . .
Short Sale, Bank of America and the Squeaky Wheel
When I was a child I always heard "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" and today..I was the Squeaky Wheel. I have been working on a Short sale since November 16th. The sellers paid top dollar for the house $425,000 in 2005 and put $40,000 down.
In June my sellers had a 40% reduction in pay and the other was laid off. No question about the situation, it was a hardship. They needed to sell short and move on. The property had 2 Liens. Indymac was the first and Bank of America the second.
Listed the home for $350,000 no showings, 2 weeks later dropped to $325,000 4 showing, 2 weeks later Magic Number $299,950. The property had 8 showings and 2 offers in 2 days. Accepted the first one ($305,000) Sent my short sale package to both banks.
What I send to make a short sale go as smooth as one can. (I say this with humor because I do a bunch of Short sales and I have had only a few without some issues.)
□ Sellers Hardship Letter (written by Seller )
□ Authorization from Borrower/Seller
□ Financial Information Form
□ Copy of Mortgage Coupon
□ Copy HOA Coupon for each HOA (if any)
□ Copy of Paid or Delinquent Property Tax Statement
□ Copy of last 2 months Pay Stubs or Profit and Loss Statement, if you are self employed
□ Copy of last 2 months Bank Account Statements (checking, savings and stocks)
□ Copy of two years Tax Returns
□ Agent Cover Letter (the current market, the property, the sellers situation)
□ Copy of Listing Agreement
□ Copy of MLS Print Out
□ Copy of Offer
□ CMA supporting the price
□ Copy any supporting documentation for value (newspaper articles, graphs, pictures etc)
□ Copy of HUD1 prepared at offer price.
□ Any other information that will help the case.Jan 16- IndyMac approval in 60 days...only catch, Bank of America would recieve $4,000 on the second. Not awful, but the balance was around $60,000.
Jan 16 -Bank of America...not so good...(Keep in Mind) I call every 3 Business days...No assigned negotiator, ordered a BPO (lost it), they also unable to find my authorization letter, that was sent in multiple times. Quick tip...Ask them to look in the account rolodex..and magically your name may be in there (mine was a few times.)
Sorry this is such a long story, but I want to explain why after four months of this....I made a formal complaint to the OCC and the BBB. (Squeaky Wheel)
Jan 20- Bank of America still working on it.
Feb 1-Bank of America ordered a new BPO unable to locate the first. I send an updated CMA and meet the new BPO agent at the property. She did not work in the area, had no access MLS or Lock box...Really? WTH...I was nice. I emailed her all the comps, room measurements, the CMA I sent to B of A, purchase contract, etc.. everything to make her job easy! Okay, so I am not really nice but wanted her to be able to do her job and NOT hold this up!
Feb 23-Email from Bank of America...We are now sending you to Equator! OMG!! We are this close and now a New system. I complain, get NO WHERE... I upload all the 124 pages into the Equator system.....(keep in mind I faxed and snail mailed the same documents in November)
Feb 26- Bank of America more request for random stuff..they do not need...purchasers Birthday? and first 5 of SS#..I don't have this information, I represent the seller & the purchasers may not want to give this information to you, Bank of America. I get the info..put it into the system.
March- 2 Indymac sets a foreclosure date...March 17th..(they do not trust Bank of America)
March 3...Get the official Negotiator at Bank of America! Woo Hoo! I am getting somewhere...until I read her first message...I just ordered the BPO! ummm NO you have 2!
Side note...One thing I do like about Equator...you can copy the VP, SVP, Team lead, neg..a bunch at one time...I immediately remind ANYONE who reads this "You have 2 BPO's check your system, do NOT order another one" I get a note back thanking me (from negotiators boss)...Yes they do have one. That agent i sent all the stuff too...she did not use it! $348,000...WHAT, HOW, NO WAY...Not even close. I asked if they would look at an actual appraisal the purchasers had done the same day! It came in at $312,000.
March 4- Sent Bank of America the appraisal and still no where...no answers..buyers have sold their home and are going to be homeless March 15th. The purchasers are discussing a release.
March 5-10 send daily emails stating the facts to everyone in the equator system..and then I wait...call...wait...call..wait...get transferred to no one...
SQUEAKY WHEEL
MARCH 11- went to the OCC website and filed a complaint, then the BBB. Then I sent this to Bank of America!
Bank of America,
I am appalled you have made no attempt to work out this short sale. I have made a formal complaint to the OCC and BBB. The decision to DO NOTHING is NOT in the best interest of your shareholders. Bank of America had an opportunity to receive a partial payment and opted to do NOTHING and now will receive nothing. The sellers of the property have made every effort to get you the documents you requested on time. I have done everything to market the home and secure a purchaser who is willing, ready and able to buy the property. Indy Mac, the first Lien holder, accepted the purchase contract in less than 60 days and have postponed the sale date and extended deadlines. Bank of Americahas dropped the ball again. Bank of America, I will continue to fight this battle and will share my story with the media and anyone who will listen until things change. Someone must defend the distressed families going through your short sale process. They have lost too much already.
Jennifer James
It felt good to hit send! I copied all 14 people I had in my contacts with Bank of America email addresses. If nothing else I did what I needed to for my sellers and the rest of the people who Bank of America ignored. Someone needed to let Bank of America know what they were doing was WRONG!
3 minutes later-I had 3 calls from Bank of America."What happened, why are you so upset, your tone has changed?" Bank of America is almost ready to approve this you entered one field wrong. 20 minutes later I had an approval.
"The Squeaky Wheel, get's the grease" I love a challenge but this was unnecessary. Thank goodness it will be a sucessful short sale and Bank of America decided to approve the short sale. I have 2 more B of A short sales in the process and I plan to squeak early...Thanks for reading..I am new at Blogging so let me know how I am doing...
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