The Skinny on Bank of America Cooperative Short Sales

When I first heard that Bank of America was rolling out its "Cooperative Short Sale Program," I was under the impression that it was available to sellers without hardship. However, that is not really the case. The bank says sellers without a severe hardship will most likely be asked to make a seller contribution but it does want to see some change in the seller's situation between the time the loan was originated and today.

Bank of America is simply validating, in a way, what I've been saying all along, almost any bank will grant a short sale if a seller is willing to pay for the privilege.

I attended a special invitation webinar yesterday for Bank of America Cooperative Short Sales. I'll offer this service to my Sacramento short sale sellers. The main advantage that I see is we can save the buyer waiting time for approval, providing the sale is approved in advance of an offer, which is the purpose of the cooperative sale. It's to get Bank of America involved in the beginning of the short sale, to give the bank more control, prior to an offer. But it doesn't appear to really speed up anything. It's just like a HAFA short sale in that regard.

If an agent runs a seller through a Bank of America HAFA or the Cooperative Short Sale program, the bank collects the seller's paperwork, does a BPO, analyzes the situation and arrives at a list price, which may or may not be market. All of this takes time. The same amount of time, most likely, that a buyer would wait, except it's only the seller who is waiting when it's done in advance.

For a short sale buyer, it's great. It means a buyer will get a response in 2 weeks after submitting an offer on a Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale. For a seller, the drawbacks are the BPO might be too high, but a seller could run into that problem anyway, and #2, the wait is just as long. Oh, and in the event the short sale is denied, automatic deed-in-lieu. The benefits are a seller isn't sitting in the home on top of packed boxes wondering if the short sale will be approved, plus, the seller could receive a relocation allowance.

P.S. I have an answer for that nagging BPO problem, which seems to rear its ugly little head in almost every short sale. Why don't the banks get off their cheap-ass butts and order 2 BPOs, each from neighborhood specialists, instead of from any agent wandering around with a real estate license? I mean, what do you expect for fifty bucks? A full blown appraisal from a competent appraiser? You tend to get what you pay for, and most of it is crap.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.

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