There has been a lot of issues in the past few weeks with Bank of
America and Wells Fargo with regards to complying with HAFA. I have
had to actually start over a short sale that was in process on a
Bradenton home that Wells Fargo states has to be canceled and then
resubmitted in order to be considered.
In particular, I want to make sure that homeowners realize that you
have to contact your lender BEFORE submitting a contract to purchase
your home. Please make sure to contact your lender prior to having
your Real Estate agent submitting any purchase contract for the sale.
This is a dramatic change from how things were done prior to HAFA
being actually implemented by the major lenders. In the old days
before HAFA most often my customers were told to not submit anything
until there is a valid, executed contract to purchase the seller's
home.
In one instance with Wells Fargo, my seller was actually told they had
to cancel the purchase contract on their home, and withdraw the
listing in order to "start over" and apply for HAFA. In that
instance, I received two offers for the home with 24 hours of the home
being active. They had already been in very frequent contact with
Wells Fargo as they had applied for a loan modification
(unsuccessful), and then notified them that they were going to short
sale the home. They were told by the rep from Wells Fargo that to do
a short sale they needed to get a real estate agent to list the home,
and then submit the listing agreement, their typical supporting
paperwork, and a purchase contract when it arrived. The listing
agreement, their bank statements, hardship letter, and tax returns
were submitted with the purchase contract. Wells Fargo then ordered a
BPO shortly there after.
All good, or so we think...
Then the news comes that they are being denied for the HAFA program
because they did not submit the listing agreement ahead of sending in
the contract. So much for doing my job and getting a good buyer under
contract to purchase this Bradenton short sale!
I make sure that all my home owners here in Sarasota and Bradenton
that are considering a short sale review the HAFA guidelines, and
contact their lender(s) ahead of starting the short sale process.
Unfortunately not everyone that answers the phone at Bank of America
and Wells Fargo understand their own process with applying for HAFA
and even the requirement that you have to apply ahead of submitting
any contracts.
I have included in this post a video from NAR explaining the workings
of the HAFA program and also a link to the official HAFA guidebook for
Joseph C. Murphy, Broker-Associate, BS, Previews Certified
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
11215 State Road 70 Suite 105
Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202
941-780-3260 cell/text
941-739-6777 office
941-739-9120 fax
www.manateemoves.co
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