Tips on Bypassing the HAFA Short Sale Process
This post is inspired by a comment I read on one of my posts regarding a closed San Jose Short Sale.
The comment was regarding how lenders seem to force short sales through the HAFA process even when the borrower/property does not qualify for HAFA. Doing so of course wastes time and only delays the approval process.
I learned from a Wells Fargo regional manager who oversees short sales the following tips on how to bypass HAFA.
She suggested that when we know the borrower/property does not qualify for HAFA or the seller elects to forego a HAFA short sale to do the following.
1. In bold letters on the top of the Hardship letter write NON-HAFA.
2. The Hardship letter should also include why the seller is requesting the short sale be processed outside of HAFA.
3. Kathleen Daniels, San Jose short sale agent, also places a cover letter on top of the Purchase Agreement which states the same: NON-HAFA with an explanation … and a notation to see Sellers Hardship letter.
There is no guarantee this will work with all lenders. It has worked for me with Wells Fargo and Bank of America short sales.
You have nothing to lose by doing this. The lender/servicer will either move it out of the HAFA process or they won’t. Either way, the short sale will be processed. It is only a matter of how much additional time it will take to process if a NON-HAFA short sale is processed through HAFA first only to ultimately be moved out of HAFA and placed in the non-HAFA short sale processing queue. Then the review process starts all over again.
The process of lenders processing all short sales through HAFA is only one of many reasons why short sales can, and often do, take so long to process.
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