Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Six-that's the minimum number of times I tell my team to ask, "Why?" in order to get the core issue when they run into a roadblock or meet with resistance. If the answer you receive to the first Why is Because that's the way we've always done it--ask "Why?" again, then again, then again, then...
Don't just take, "No" for an answer!
When our Senior Short Sale Negotiator Aaron asked the representative of Bank of America if the Equator system takes into account the fact that certain investors (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and many private investors) will require a new BPO in 90 days and other investors will require one in 120 days, the rep said, "I don't know. I've never been asked that question before."
Equator, as I am sure you are aware by now, is the former REO Tran system purchased by Bank of America to assist in processing their short sale volume. Several months have gone by since Equator became the mandatory system to be used with short sales at B of A. We've been talking to the bank about their error messages. One, in particular, caused quite a stir at our office and at Bank of America.
It all started when we put in an offer on a house and got it kicked back almost immediately with the message, "This offer is not high enough."
We were stunned. What's this? we thought. The bank is now approving or declining short sale offers before they do anything-before a BPO is even ordered?
We did some digging and found out that particular property had already had a BPO done on it prior to our involvement with the file; that the Equator system had been set up to decide whether or not an offer fell within a particular price range; and that the system would then accept or reject the offer based on the BPO in the system.
Well, that's kind of a cool deal. If it's going to be a crummy offer, we're going to get a kickback and know right away that it's a crummy offer. Then we can adjust accordingly.
However, that instant decline also raised a couple of questions for Aaron. He asked the bank's rep, "Does the system know when a BPO has expired?"
The rep didn't know. So, the rep asked his supervisor. She didn't know either. That wasn't surprising since the Equator system is so new to the Loss Mitigation department. The learning curve for us, including the bank's employees, has been pretty steep. The good thing is that we are all learning together so any questions concerning the inner workings of the new system help us all. The good news is that the questions are becoming fewer and further between.
Aaron's persistence paid off-up to a point. His question went up the chain of command all the way to the top level of Equator's designers! Even at that level, the supervising group troubleshooting the transition didn't have a ready answer. They dug into the system and found that the answer to the question, "Does the system know when a BPO has expired?" was, "No. It doesn't." There was no allocation in the Equator system for the expiration date of a BPO since the system was originally created for REOs, not for short sales.
Unfortunately, the designers are not going to make a patch or a fix for the problem. Agents and short sale negotiation companies will just have to deal with the system "as is."
So, the real estate agent or the short sales negotiating team is going to have to keep track of when the BPO will expire, and when it does expire, let the rep at the bank know so that they can contact the appropriate person to go in and adjust the system to order a new BPO.
Here's the trick: In order to know when the BPO will expire, either the real estate agent or the negotiating team needs to know who the investor on the loan is. (Each investor has a different timeframe for the expiration of BPOs.) Then, a new BPO will need to be ordered to help the system know if the offer in hand falls within the allotted price range.
That is critical because there are going to be a myriad of agents submitting stuff through the Equator system at Bank of America who are going to get their offers kicked back, and those agents are just going to throw up their hands and say, "Oh my god! Short sales just don't work! I can't even get an offer-one that I know is at market value--into the bank because the system just kicks it back and declines it!"
If those agents don't take the time, as Aaron did, to dig and talk to one party after another up the chain of command to understand the glitch in the system, they are just going to slam down the file, and say, "Forget it. The offer's declined. We have no choice but to let this house go to foreclosure."
Be sure when you run into a road block, especially with Bank of America's Equator system, that you ask "Why" enough times to get an answer. It may take you a lot of time to get where you are going but in order to find success in your short sales, you have to be committed to the process of finding the resolution.
Matt Side
Alliance Short Sales
Spokane, Washington
www.AllianceShortSales.com
Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MattSide
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Based in Spokane, Washington Alliance Short Sales offers short sale services in multiple states around the U.S. With a current network of agents located in Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia, Alliance negotiates short sale real estate transactions with lenders on behalf of agents without charging a fee to the agent or the seller. With their fees paid at closing out of the net proceeds to the lender, Alliance creates a beneficial outcome for all parties involved. For additional information about how you can work with Alliance Short Sales, please visit our website at www.AllianceShortSales.com.
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