You Can Lead A Horse To Water, But You Can't Make Him Drink

A home owner in Winter Haven, FL got in touch with me a few months ago about short selling his rental property. We discussed the process and what I could do to help, what he could do to help himself etc. He decided to go ahead and proceed and list it. So I sent over the short sale listing package for him to fill out and return. Then I didn’t hear back from him for a few days so I called...nothing, left a voicemail. I called a couple times for the next few weeks and couldn’t get in touch with him.

Then finally he calls me out of the blue to tell me he’s sorry he never got the package back to me. The home has now been foreclosed on. He and his wife are very upset. He wanted to know if there is anything that I can do to help. No, unfortunately there isn’t. If the package had been returned earlier I may have been able to help, but as it is, it’s too late. So we parted ways on good terms.

Then about a week ago the same seller calls me and tells me he is in the same situation with his residence and would like my help with a short sale of that home. This time I can probably help him out. I told him about Bank of America’s new Florida Enhanced Short Sale Relocation Assistance Program and asked him to call the lender to make sure his loan qualifies.

Less than an hour later I received an email from Bank of America (good job BOA!) letting me know that his loan qualifies and they need me to upload a 3rd party letter of authorization into Equator. We were off and running. This seller has a very strong chance of receiving between $5,000-$20,000 in cash at closing. Great news for everyone. I wrote up the LOA and sent it over to the seller to sign and send back.

Then, again, I didn’t hear from him for 4 days. I wrote emails and left messages that I only had a limited time to get this in the system and get the short sale initiated in Equator before he no longer qualified for the program. The short sale has to be initiated before November 30, 2011 to qualify.

He called me back to tell me that his wife just won’t send the paperwork back from work and he doesn’t have time to do it himself. So he’s decided to just let the home be foreclosed on. With a possible $20,000 on the line he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of stopping by Staples or Office Depot and sending a quick fax.

I guess the old saying is true: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink...

Image Courtesy of SouthernAnts at Flickr