Right now I'm in the middle of so many short sales I have more banks on speed dial than I have changes of clothes. Do you know how many minutes I waited on the last call before I actually spoke to someone with a pulse? 14 minutes. Now before every solicitor in town calls me salivating over the opportunity to "work my short sales for me for free" I want you to know I like it. No, I don't like waiting on the phone 14 minutes before I get another, "I'm sorry, we still don't show your third party authorization letter on file... oh, wait a minute. There it is. Now I see it. What did you say your name is, again?"
U E C K E R T. Let me spell that.
So the conversations are the same every single time -- at least I know what to expect! And I can count on faxing most everything in not once, but twice. At least. And I can count on gathering tax returns for two years most of the time. By the way, did you know you can just get it straight from the IRS? Why wait on the client to find it in his storage unit or claw it out of their exes hands? Just have your client call the IRS and fax it to you!
You can count on being asked for bank statements in the beginning and again in the end a lot of times. If the client banks online, then it's easy for them to login and get a pdf saved and then emailed right to you. If they don't bank online, encourage them to sign up -- so much easier! A hardship letter is commonly needed. Wow. I should just copy off a letter a gazillion times that reads: "I lost my job, my dog, my spouse and my house due to the market signed Billy Ray," and that will be that. Put it to a country tune and it doesn't sound so sad. You might actually tap your toe, there, partner.
What else do they generally want? Oh, a financial worksheet. That's always fun. Tell me how much you spend on these hundred items. Yea, like a person in a life tornado can keep up with their budget?! So the Price is Right style guessing begins. Numbers hit the paper and before you know it, your short sale request package is complete.
The title co. needs to work up a HUD1 Settlement Statement for the bank's review. WAIT A MINUTE! That needs to be done very carefully. Leave room for commission? Leave room for HOA? Leave room for some seller paid buyer closing cost? Leave room for some home warranty? Leave room for everything you can possibly imagine the next 10 buyers will present to you on this deal? If you didn't leave room and the bank stamps approved on it and theeeeeen you get your buyer with said terms in contract but omitted from HUD1 then good luck pedaling backwards. Get it all in there now or forever get no peace!
They want to see the listing agreement, usually, they want to see the MLS data sheet, often times, and many times they want to see comparables... get a step ahead and get a bud to do a BPO for you! Sometimes it works -- they never call another broker out. HEY! You just saved the bank money! When you get to the point an appraiser shows up, you nearly want to kiss the ground he walks on because then you know you're close -- the bank has YOU on speed dial, now. And all of a sudden the emails start flying in and the arms length transaction form shows up and the bank's terms are made clear and the legal form this and legal form that are in your inbox........... ahhhhh, I love the finish line! Birds are singing again.
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