SHORT SALES ARE INDEED "DIFFERENT".
Inspired by The Short Sale Listing.....How Are Our Duties To The Seller Different?
"Different" is a polite way to describe the typical Short Sale transaction.
"Perverted" is a far better word.
SHORT SALES ARE DIFFERENT! Karen Fidler describes many ways in which our duties to sellers are different in Short Sale transactions. Short Sales are surely different. Fact is, in many ways, Short Sale transactions are perverted. Perverted by the intrusion, from beginning to the conclusion of the transaction, of the seller's financial institution.
100 YEARS OF NURTURING GONE. The housing industry has been carefully nurtured and managed by a population of trained and licensed consumer representatives for over 100 years. Our goal has been the legal and orderly transfer of ownership of real property from sellers to buyers.
AN EXERCISE OF RAW POWER. The financial institutions that hold the power over Short Sale transactions have managed to turn millions of real estate fiduciaries and transaction managers into mere paper pushers and telephone drones. The addenda required by the financial interests in the transactions pervert the traditional Contract of Sale. The financial institutions are not the owners of record but have total control over a Short Sale transaction without consideration of license law, common law or established business practices.
"BUT THE BANKS ARE TAKING A LOSS!" The financial interests of the financial institutions is written in the financial laws and regulations for that industry and are in no way related to the hubris exhibited by the financial industry in their bureaucratic practices with Short Sale transactions. The paper losses of the financial institutions would be the same if there were reasonable guidelines. Banks often "lose" more due to their mismanagement of Short Sales than would otherwise be realized with expedited approvals and closings.
CORRUPTED BY POWER. The indidious control (power) over Short Sale transactions by the financial industry (from the investor to the functionary on the telephone) has contributed to the degradation of the U.S. economy in ways never anticipated less comprehended by federal and state regulatory authorities. Oversight of the financial industry is largely managed by mid-level career regulators with little to no knowledge of the housing industry.
STATISTICS RENDERED WORTHLESS. Housing statistics have been rendered worthless and useless by anyone who understands the meaning of the term "PENDING". Yet, the national reporting services, including the National Association of Realtors, persist in publishing these worthless statistics each month. These statistics are then reported by the media as econimic fact, when anyone who understands the meaning of the status "pending" knows they are worthless. Each month the NAR publishes Pending as a transaction expected to close within 60 days. Yet, the NAR continues to publish that statistic as though it is grounded in reality.
PUTTING OUT A HOUSE FAIR WITH A BUCKET OF WATER. Hard working consumer representatives (real estate agents and brokers) have become skilled in the tasks needed to "process" Short Sale transactions. However, we do not manage these transactions within the license law of our states, the Code of Ethics for NAR members nor the normal business practices. The power over Short Sale transactions is in the hands of the financial institutions that dictate process with benefit of guidelines, rules, regulation or even consideration of the law. Those of us who work with buyers and sellers in the listing and sale of Short Sale transactions have learned the various SHORT SALE processes (different with each financial institution). Even those of us with advanced training and years of experience in Short Sale transaction management have no certainty that the financial institution with the power to permit the transaction to close will cooperate in any way.
IS THIS ANY WAY TO BUY A HOME?? We agents have learned that, rather than provide advocacy for our buyer or seller clients, we counsel patience and low expectations. Where formerly a Contract of Sale contained a date to close with a high degree of certainty because we relied on our transaction management skills to satisfy the needs of the buyer/seller clients, we can no longer give any assurances of closing, if or when.
FOLLOW THE RULES is what real estate practitioners are taught from their basic real estate course to the continuing education classes, in-house training and transaction experience.
SHORT SALES ARE DIFFERENT - THERE ARE NO RULES.
"Sorry Folks, I can't answer that with any certainty. Everything is upside down"
Courtesy, Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988.
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