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How to Get a Release of Personal Liability From Chase Bank for a Sacramento Short Sale

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

magnify keyboardBefore I jump right into talking about a short sale, let me give a little plug and share a tip with my readers, especially my older readers. You know, I wish somebody would publish a book for women about all the crap that can go wrong when you get older; so I could prepare for the inevitable in advance. It's not like I have a mother around to ask; I am an orphan.

The first thing to go is vision. I noticed this about 15 years ago, just before my 45th birthday. All of a sudden, the print on the back of canned goods had shrunk. Why were they doing this to me? I started holding reading material at arm's length and squinting. I was turning into Mr. Magoo. I even painted with nail polish little dots on my stove buttons so I'd know where the off setting was.

Although I type by touch, sometimes I look at my keyboard. The way these cheap-ass keyboards are manufactured today, the print on your keys will wear away before the keyboard ever bites the dust. I had purchased other sticky replacement keys, but the print on those rubbed off, too. Aramedia.com sells large print keyboard stickers. They aren't the cheap ones, either. I can finally see my keys without wearing my contact lenses or reading glasses.

See, it's the little things in life I embrace and relish. These are the things that make me the happiest. Another little thing is getting a release of liability on a Sacramento short sale. To many short sale sellers, this little thing is a huge, huge deal.  In the past, I didn't have any difficulty with Chase Bank or Chase Bank short sales. I'd simply push the negotiator and get a letter with a release of liability. But in short-sale land, things change every single day. What was true yesterday is not true today.

Lately, Chase Bank has been issuing approval letters that are preliminary approvals, just like Wells Fargo. Although, the last letter I received from Chase did not reserve the right to pursue a deficiency judgment, it also did not address a release of liability. It was ambiguous. Because banks have rights in short sales, I advised my clients to get a legal opinion. I can't give legal advice. I'm not a lawyer. I'm just a Sacramento short sale agent.

Chase Bank would not respond to my request. I tried talking to the negotiator, citing California Civil Code sections, but it was like talking to a wall. She told me Chase would not pursue but Chase would also NOT put that promise in writing. Moreover, on top of that, she couldn't guarantee what the investors would do. So, the lawyer wrote a letter to Chase last week. Lawyers have power. I love lawyers. Yesterday, I received a revised short sale approval letter from this very negotiator clearly stating the following:

"JPMorgan Chase Bank agrees to release it's [sic] interest in the above collateral and forgive any deficiency balances upon receipt of $XXX,XXX.XX in certified US funds."

It just doesn't get any better than that.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

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 RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (23)

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Janet: I imagine the lawyer was paid around $1,000 or so but I don't know for certain. It's certainly worth $1,000 to a seller, I'd suppose, to get the release. After all, the seller isn't really paying me -- the bank is grinding paying my commission.

I don't think anybody should have to pave their own road to senility. I'd like a little help along the way.

Hi Cindy: Aren't lawyers wonderful? I know they get a bad rep but so do agents and there are always exceptions.

I'll tell you one thing, though. Don't believe Nora Ephron. You can fix that neck.

Mar 05, 2011 03:29 AM
Linda Jamail Marshall
Linda Marshall,Houston Texas, Linda Marshall, Realtors® - Houston, TX
Broker, ABR,QSC,RECS,ACRE - Innerloop Houston, Tex

Getting old really sucks for sure!!!  I have also noticed that my patience level with some of these people is non existent.

Mar 05, 2011 03:30 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Gary: I've considered that but I'm too busy dealing with repairing other aging parts of my body that I can't seem to get out of the body shop. Let's not even talk about dental work. I have Fort Knox in my mouth. For the time being, monovision contact lenses work great.

Mar 05, 2011 03:31 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Linda: Well, I wouldn't say that getting older sucks -- it's the unexpected stuff that sucks. Like, how your hands turn into shriveled-up lettuce sprinkled with sesame seeds. Remember those old dishwashing commercials? They'd show the mother's hands and make you think it was her daughter's?

Mar 05, 2011 03:39 AM
Donne Knudsen
Los Angeles & Ventura Counties in CA - Simi Valley, CA
CalState Realty Services

"things change every single day. What was true yesterday is not true today."

Welcome to my world.  It's becoming more and more exhausting staying on top of all of the daily changes too.  I don't see this getting any better either - do you?

Mar 05, 2011 04:59 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

I was noticing the alphabet disappearing on my keyboard the other day.  Funny you should mention that here today.  As for those ambiguously worded short sale letters, there is nothing worse.

Mar 05, 2011 06:13 AM
Melissa Zavala
Broadpoint Properties - Escondido, CA
Broker, Escondido Real Estate, San Diego County

Well, the only thing better than that would be success in seeing the keyboard again (and also those pesky price tags where sixes and threes look like eights).

Mar 05, 2011 09:08 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Donne: Yes, I do see it getting better. In 2016.

Hi Chris Ann: Well, see, now you know where to go to get those keyboard replacement stickers. You don't have to get the big print alphabet. They sell regular sized stickers, too. But they're a good quality. They cost about $15.00 as compared to the alphabets for $1.99. Don't buy those.

Hi Melissa: I do mix up phone numbers and can't tell the difference between a 3 or an 8 sometimes, so I know exactly what you mean.

 

Mar 05, 2011 10:06 AM
Steve Shatsky
Dallas, TX

Hi Elizabeth... Good for you and good for your clients!  BTW, I am 45 and the print on EVERYTHING seems to be shrinking!

Mar 05, 2011 12:11 PM
Paddy Deighan MBA JD PhD
http://www.medicalandspaconsulting.com - Vail, CO
Paddy Deighan J.D. Ph.D

nice to hear a friendly comment about lawyers!!!

Mar 05, 2011 12:25 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

45 is the magic age, Steve. I hate to say. Try monovision. It's fabulous. I had no idea I could wear contacts and have my vision restored.

Hey Paddy: I love lawyers. I almost became a lawyer but let's face it I make a lot more money as a broker. :) In fact, many many of my clients are lawyers. I know some agents are afraid to work with lawyers or think lawyers are sue happy, when nothing is further from the truth. I find lawyers are easier to work with than any other kind of client.

Mar 05, 2011 02:07 PM
Retired Notworking
Tallahassee, FL

If we read a book about all that goes wrong as you age, we'd all be depressed ... better to take care of yourself as much as possible and hope for the best.

 

Mar 05, 2011 11:53 PM
Dave Halpern
Dave Halpern Real Estate Agent, Inc., Louisville, KY (502) 664-7827 - Louisville, KY
Louisville Short Sale Expert

Good grief - those ambiguous short sale acceptance letters that stay silent on the deficiency issue. Thanks for sharing your great strategy for resolving.

Mar 06, 2011 01:02 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hey Colleen: A book about stuff that goes wrong wouldn't be depressing as long as it contained solutions. There are always solutions to any kind of problem -- and I don't mean the bullet-in-the-head type of solution, LOL.

Hi Dave: Short sale letters that don't address the deficiency issue are dangerous because they don't address the release of liability on purpose. Banks aren't stupid. Banks pay lawyers to draft the language for those letters. I suppose the banks figure that clueless agents and naive sellers will accept those letters more often than not . . .

Mar 06, 2011 03:23 AM
Robin Dahlstrom
Re/Max Westside Properties - Marina del Rey, CA
CRS

Hi Elizabeth...

 

Would the Seller allow you to post a copy of the letter that the lawyer wrote? Perhaps it would benefit us agents in attempting the same.

Thanks,

Robin

Mar 07, 2011 08:58 AM
Robin Dahlstrom
Re/Max Westside Properties - Marina del Rey, CA
CRS

PS...I thought I was aging gracefully until I realized that I forgot to add to my post that aging sucks...LOL

Mar 07, 2011 08:59 AM
Wendy Rulnick
Rulnick Realty, Inc. - Destin, FL
"It's Wendy... It's Sold!"

Send me that attorney's name.  It might be a state thing.  The Chase negotiators I've spoken with say there are "two" versions of their approval letter.  The one without deficiency says "settled", but it is pretty fuzzy language.  We've had local Florida attorneys unable to change it.

Mar 07, 2011 11:06 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Robin: It's not the seller who would object, it would be the lawyer. That lawyer is paid a lot of money to personalize his boilerplate letter and ship it off.

Hi Wendy: It's a state thing. In California, we have recourse and non-recourse loans. We also have Civil Code 580e. There is also a little known thing that happens when there are 2 loans, like with Chase -- even if the second is hard-money, because they are owned by the same institution, the second, under an appellate case, was barred from recourse. But it's all California law. Although the negotiator was in Florida, so I can see why she didn't know and refused to argue with me.

Mar 08, 2011 03:35 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Elizabeth - I don't know how I missed this blog when you first posted it.  But I did!  Perhaps it is my aging eyesight:-)   I knew getting old wasn't for sissies when they rolled me into a room, and came at me with a device that resembles roto-rooter with a TV camera on its tip.  At the end of the process they handed me photos to take home as a souvenier.  The pictures resemble the Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii.

It's kind of like giving birth but you don't bring a newborn home.  The Doctor sang John Fogarty music for me to keep me calm, I got to watch it on the monitor.  I was one of the less than 1% that opted to go through the "procedure" without anesthesia.  Next time, I want them to go ahead and knock me out!  Here's the picture.  I know - I know, your saying, "I can't believe she just did that."

Mar 12, 2011 02:54 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Um, thanks, Myrl. Just what I always wanted. A photo of your colon. I have to admit it is pretty fascinating though.

Mar 12, 2011 04:06 AM