Special offer

Countrywide Update! Short Sale Data

By
Real Estate Agent with RealEstateAdvisor.Pro

 Short Sale Realtors,

I just hung up with the VP of Loss Mitigation for Countrywide. The update is as follows:

They are now at over 300 short sale applications per day. As of January 18th.
This has grown from 150 applications per day as of December 23rd, 2007.

Although some applications are investors attempting low-ball offers, she thanked me and the other Realtors working hard to obtain market value for the homes that we market and sell. This should help streamline the process.

Their anticipation is expected to exceed 500 per day by May of 2008. I hope this information helps or starts to put things in perspective for the 2008 year.

Thanks for reading...

Frank Wible
ShortSaleNJ.com
REMAX ALL PROS

Comments (82)

Lorrie Smith
Newberry Realty, Black Diamond - Black Diamond, WA

Although it is taking forever..I have actually found the customer service of the part of Country Wide to be pretty good. I am sure they are overwelmed and over worked.... a little friendly voice instead of screaming at them for info can't hurt the process.

Aug 01, 2008 07:42 AM
Anonymous
Rebecca B (legal assistant)

I have yet to have a Countrywide short sale be approved and we have files that have been with them for over 18 weeks.  It is ridiculous the service they are providing.  They screwed up by giving out the loans they did, now they are just making it worse.  I DREAD the countrywide (and Wells Fargo) short sales!!!!

Aug 05, 2008 09:01 AM
#64
Loretta Buckner
Real World Properties, Inc.| Your Real Estate Consultant for Life - Palm Harbor, FL
Your GREEN Real Estate Consultant For Life!

I always try to joke with the people I get on the phone at Countrywide, but even I lost it yesterday (in a calm, nice way), when the FOURTH person I got on the phone basically told me she could do nothing, even though the negotiator hadn't noted anything on the file in over a month...

Aug 21, 2008 05:40 AM
Thomas McCombs
Century 21 HomeStar - Akron, OH

Does anyone have any good experiences to share about working with CW loss mitigation? I know many homeowners and investors who are not yet in arrears on their mortgages, but will be soon. Everyone says "call your lender before you get in trouble". Has this worked for anyone yet w/CW? Is there any real benefit in an early contact?

Aug 30, 2008 03:08 AM
Cathleen OnullHannigan
Keller Williams Realty - Cary, NC
Cary NC Homes Pro


Wow, I've got one with Countrywide, and I'm thinking of having a negotiator take over and do this for me.  Wonder if anyone else has done this?

Sep 06, 2008 01:18 AM
Evelyn Johnston
Friends & Neighbors Real Estate - Elkhart, IN
The People You Know, Like and Trust!

That is an unbelievable amount of bad loans.  I have dealt with Countrywide sucessfully and I can't imagine the nightmare they are going thru!

Sep 17, 2008 04:10 AM
Thomas McCombs
Century 21 HomeStar - Akron, OH

On 8/30 on this site I asked for feedback from anyone who has had good experiences with CW. No one has responded so far. This means to me that CW ( and other lenders) is dropping the ball. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to wake them up? It is not good enought to say that they are swamped -- it's got going to get any better, so somehow, someway, pressure needs to be exerted before home prices go any lower. If some deals could get done then the backlog would be reduced. That would benefit everyone, including CW.

Sep 17, 2008 09:07 AM
Anonymous
Tom McCombs

Nice Advertisement. You need to go to some other site; this one is for constructive discussions only.

Sep 30, 2008 08:26 AM
#70
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc. - Cape Coral, FL
Cape Coral Real Estate Broker, FloridaFutureAgents

Countrywide is by far the WORST BANK TO WORK WITH FOR SHORT SALES. Early this year we closed a few with them but since then it has been one headache after another. And just so you know, this is coming from someone who is ranked #4 out of our entire MLS for closing short sales. I am so sick of Countrywide's short sale process. If you can even call it a process.

They say everything is fine and to call back in 30 days, 30 days, 30 days. For negotiator, 30 days, for bpo, 30 days, for answer 30 days, before you know it 3 months are gone and the buyer has walked. You then get a call several months late wondered whey WE dropped the ball. Or you get a call saying they'll approve it if you get 100 more documents to them by tomorrow and only then. Or else it will be denied.


The newest: THEY WILL NOT ALLOW FOR ANY SELLER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR BUYER CLOSING COSTS FOR THE BUYER TO BE PAID BY THE SELLER.

THEY WILL DENY ANY HOME THAT WAS VACATED OR RENTED OUT FOR ANY REASON THAT WAS NOT "COMPLETELY UNAVOIDABLE"

What I don't understand is why do they have so many people working in the short sale department if they don't really want to handle short sales?

Oct 01, 2008 12:24 PM
Anonymous
Tom McCombs

It seems to me that CW (and other lenders) were directly involved in getting borrowers to accept their loans. They generated fees, and commissions for themselves and for a number of other service providers. Both borrowers and lenders believed that property values would continue to increase.

Loan Originators and appraisers provided whatever evidence was needed to qualify the borrower as per CW's criteria. Borrowers of course, took full advantage of the opportunity to borrow money to avoid getting left behind in the sizzling real estate markets.  The point is, that the lenders were in full partnership with the borrowers in generating these loans. So now that the results are not what was expected, and payments are not being made, the lenders expect to hold the borrowers solely responsible for their problems.  Is there anyone out there who agrees with me that maybe the lenders need to accept some responsibility for helping generate the situation and to therefore be willing to help solve the problems? (I'm not limiting this to homeowners -- investors also got caught up in this) This help might be in the form of the recognition that where property values have declined there might be some reasonable adjustments to the size of the loans. And this help  should not be limited to hardship cases, in my opinion.

I'm looking for ideas from anyone on this. We just might be able to reduce the problem if we can create a workable program that includes the lenders who after all, made lots of money here.

Oct 02, 2008 04:46 AM
#72
Anonymous
Anonymous

I jusu offered on a CW short sale! In Ca. Am I doomed? Help- I LOVE this house, but it suuposedly was approved at 35K higher than what I offered and the buyer walked. I think the sellers agent was hoping I'd just offer what the walking buyer did, but i made a lower offer- I am covering closing costs, tho... we were assigned a negotiator but now theyre saying another offer is coming thru! What should/could I do to get this home?

Oct 23, 2008 10:56 AM
#73
Anonymous
Helena Kaucheck-West USA

I am in the process of having my Chase short sale file delivered to the investor right now.   Just to warn anyone who may have Chase short sale,  the negotiators are given carte blanche on defining certain Chase policies.  My issue is with a negotiator who took the Arms Length transaction agreement and transfered the requirement over to the buyer and buyer's agent end.  The buyer and his agent are related by marriage; they have NO relationship with the Seller;  and are buying the home as their primary residence.

This negotiator gave me a the document that needed to be signed at closing regarding the arms length and the doc specifically says the SELLER AND BUYER CANNOT BE RELATED.  No where does it say the buyer can't use his uncle to transact the contract. But she decided that she was going to invoke the clause over to the buyer's end and cut commission and one agent out of the deal.

The negotiator cut the commission down from 5% to 3% and demanded that the other agent does not get paid!!!  In my opinion and having completed many short sales recently, this is not only ridiculous BUT outrageous.  The negotiator threatened to CLOSE the file if we do not recind our commission.  One last thing, the buyer is not asking for any concessions and are willing to pay full list price in a highly declining area.  Of course, her supervisor and manager refuses to address anything and although I confirmed Chase's policy with the folks who run the Loss Mitigation department; they said they basically allow the negotiator to interpret what they want....

This was a very huge eye opener.  I know lenders are suffering through this.  But the agents like myself who are currently trying to sell these properties are working through so many barriers to try and retain some monies for these lenders.  I have yet to meet a negotiator who doesn't want to nickel and dime a realtor out of commissions but if not for the realtors; these banks would have more foreclosed inventory to deal with.  Many would probably have gone under by now if we weren't out there selling their homes at a good market value versus having them lose $40k-$50k on top of market.  

I know most of my colleagues and I are torn between not taking any more of these short sales or to make a living in this is the market right now.  I've never had a more horrible experience with a much more horrible negotiator who basically does not care if the house goes into foreclosure or that anyone is working hard on their behalf to get a good priced offer on the house.  If there are any reforms that should be looked at; I think a great place to start would be for someone to create a coalition of lenders and realtors to get rid of all the unneccessary baggage out there.

 

Sad times..........................

 

Oct 29, 2008 07:16 AM
#74
Sandy Blanton
Pensacola Real Estate - Team Sandy Blanton Realty, Inc. - Pensacola, FL
Pensacola Real Estate- #1 in 07null- 09null

The last time I spoke to a CWide manager, they were indeed over 500 short sale requests per day and very, very slow responding to offers. But, short sales with CWide are still possible..we closed one last month in less than 45 days!

Oct 29, 2008 11:52 AM
Thomas McCombs
Century 21 HomeStar - Akron, OH

Countrywide, or anyone else for that matter has no right to interfere in the contractual arrangements (eg. commission amounts or splits) between the listing agent and the selling agent. If you allow it, your get what you deserve. the CW negotiators' job is to sqeeze you for anything they can get. One of their most effective negotiating tactics is to create confusion and delay. Your most effective negotiating tactic is to be ready to walk away from the deal. If enough of us actually walk away, the CW guys would quit all the foolishness. In any negotiation, the one who cares the least, wins.

Those of us who do short sales need to be upfront about the fact that we are doing this to earn a commission, not to rescue CW. We would not be willing to work so hard on these deals if we thought we would not get paid. And the negotiators understand that most buyers are trying to get the absolute bottom cost when buying a house. It is not usefull to take it personally when you get out negotiated.

Oct 29, 2008 12:38 PM
Tracy Royce
Short Sale Arizona, Arizona Short Sale Realtor - Phoenix, AZ
Royce of Real Estate - Short Sale Arizona

Frank thanks for the short, concise and helpful information. We deal with CW a lot and most of the agents that we help close deals with are sick of them.

Appreciate that people in this community are helping eachother out, including you.

To your success!

Tracy Venezia-Royce

Live Free Investment Group

602-957-7773

Tracy@livefreeinvestmentgroup.com

Jan 28, 2009 06:35 AM
Anonymous
Roxy

To anyone who blames ALL the homeowners for losing their homes, please think before you make harmful statements. These homeowners TRUSTED their lenders to tell them what their payments would be. A good portion of them were FIXED rates, not adjustable. I know 2 people personally who had their payments RAISED by Countrywide due to "Errors in payment" Estimates at closing. Were they really errors, or Countrywide trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes, making them think they were very comfortable with their payments. Think if you had your mortgage payments raised by $600 a month, would you feel safe with that? That is a huge jump and lenders should not make these errors. One person I know didn't even HAVE their loan with Countrywide, but Countrywide bought it up and changed the terms. If Countrywide has more shortsales/foreclosures than other companies, maybe a lot of it is Countrywides fault!

Jan 28, 2009 07:43 AM
#78
Anonymous
VICTIM OF A HUGE HOAX

COUNTRYWIDE APPRAISED AND APPROVED MY SHORT SALE .6 MO'S LATER ,I GOT A PHONE MESSAGE, ASSET MGR. ,CALLING TO TELL ME PMI WANTS 45000 NOTE OUR CASE CLOSED .BUYER WAITING TO SIGN IN ESCROW ,WITH VERBAL APPROVAL DAYS BEFORE.WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF COUNTRYWIDE MORTGAGE FRAUD

Feb 04, 2009 10:28 AM
#79
Ann Urias
Aston Group - Orange County Real Estate - Irvine, CA
Your Real Estate Concierge

They are taking 30 days to assign negotiators at this time. Countrywide is overwhelmed and was not prepared to handle this type of volume.

Mar 10, 2009 02:29 PM
Charles Stallions
Charles Stallions Real Estate Services - Pensacola, FL
850-476-4494 - Pensacola, Pace or Gulf Breeze, Fl.

All I can say is that this is unbelievable. All those homes and all those buyers and you can't get anyone to even call you back.

Jun 19, 2009 01:47 PM
Margaret C. Taylor
Century 21 New Millennium MD - Mechanicsville, MD
St Marys/Calvert/Charles MD Real Estate Agent

These numbers make it easier to understand why there is such a wait.  Why do the lenders expect the Buyers to wait?  Margaret C.

Jan 15, 2010 02:19 PM