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How to get shortsales to the bank negotiator in 3 days

By
Real Estate Agent with REMAX of Valencia/Santa Clarita CalBRE# 01729357

 

12 days ago,  I  listed a house as a short sale and received a decent purchase offer sent in from another agent in about a week. The problem my collegues and I  have always had was how to speed up the process of getting it to the bank's negotiator, rather than having the offer sit for days or weeks on some clerks desk until it works its way up the chain of command. The first thing I had the seller do was to submitt two letters to the bank, one giving me authority to negotiate on her behalf, the other, a hardship letter explaining why she could no longer afford to make payments and that she had to sell the house as a "short sale." The following day I sent in the purchase offer along with a very good comparative market analysis, using the formula that breaks the house down to the square foot and "proves" to the banker that the purchase offer is a good one, my secret formula, as I like to call it. I also included photos of the comparative homes, a net sheet of seller costs and a copy once again of the hardship letter and authority to negotiate. This all went to the loss and mitigation department. I spoke with someone there who told me that "nobody could look at it until it was all scanned in, probably in one or two days. I called back the next morning, got another person on the phone there and told him that I had been promised that today someone would have scanned in all my pages of hard work, I told him all about my market analysis that proved that we got a "darn good offer and I didnt want to lose it."I told him I was concerned that the fax was lost somewhere.  I asked for the email of the "head cheese negotiator" he chuckled and said he could not divulge that info. I then asked him to send that person an email explaining the situation for me, and the urgency that she review the offer. Not only did he send her the email as I told him what to say,  but he did give me her name and private fax. I then sent it to her about an hour later and got a response that she received and was now in the process of reviewing our request for the short sale-purchase offer. Moral of this story: If  they won't give you the negotiator's email or phone number, because it is "against the rules" then have them contact the negotiator for you! Always say thank you.

Comments (9)

David Saks
Memphis, TN
Broker / Industry Analyst

You said that she received, but was not in the process of reviewing your request for the short sale purchase offer. I was just wondering if they were still playing roulette with the house, or rather the offer?

May 20, 2008 06:35 PM
Katerina Gasset
The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT
Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Lauren- Yes, getting through to the negotiator is the key. Not taking ' it's gonna take 45 days to get it in our system' for an answer is the key. Going up the chain of command is the key. Follow up on short sales is crucial to our success. We do a very high volume of short sale listings throughout the state of Florida and we close them. Some faster and some slower. Depends on the servicers too. Katerina

May 20, 2008 06:57 PM
Keith Berne
RE/MAX Equity Group, Inc. - Portland, OR
Real Estate Broker, Realtor, GRI

Excellent advice, about to do one myself

May 20, 2008 06:59 PM
Jimmy Hutchinson
Atmosphere Realty - Bellflower, CA

Great advice. I've heard about this happening all the time in seminars, so its really good to hear it from agents out there doing it right now. Good luck on the deal!

May 20, 2008 07:26 PM
Anonymous
Sky Minor King of Eagle Rock 90041

Kicking butt, taking names.I like it!

 

Do you find email or phone follow up to be most effective Lauren??

Jan 05, 2009 07:38 PM
#5
Anonymous
Lauren Nemeschansky, REMAX of Valencia

Thank you all for your comments. In answer to the questions/comments previously  submitted, I did end up getting that short sale closed within 45 days, that's the guideline that I set for myself, although my most recent one I am working on will probably take 60 because the bank in the midst of a hostile take-over, lost all our paperwork and didn't notify me about that. I use a combination of emails and phone calls. I will send an email and if I am not responded to by the next morning then I call and mention that I emailed her and the date. Its good to have phone contact for a "personal touch" but its important to send emails also because that way the negotiator can later look up information that you are sending her and you also have a record. You will often get the voice mail of the negotiator so leave the date and time of the email where the information can be found and ask that the negotiator either call or email you back to confirm that they received the information.

Jan 06, 2009 04:26 AM
#6
Anonymous
Lucinda

We just submitted an offer on a short sale that had been previously approved for a buyer but the buyer walked.  Our offer was just submitted to the negotiator, does the process start all over or is it possible that once the offer is accepted escrow can close in a short amount of time

Jul 17, 2010 01:19 PM
#7
Anonymous
Nicole
We had the bank send us a counter offer to what our buyer contract is. A bpo was done and came in at 260k. The bank states that they need a offer from the buyer of at least 331k for the investor to meet their net minimum. I emailed them response email explaining our hardship and they replied that they went ahead and submitted our buyers offer of 300k to Freddie Mac. I might mention also that we are active duty military and have been for over 26 years. We didn't qualify for service members relief act. Should we expect Freddie Mac to decline the offer on the table or should we write our congressman. This bank has been really terrible to deal with. (Us bank). I have the email address for the negotiators manager, should I write her? Help
Feb 12, 2014 02:13 PM
#8
David Saks
Memphis, TN
Broker / Industry Analyst

correction

#1

...I meant "...was in the process of reviewing your request for the short sale purchase offer..."

 

Feb 12, 2014 02:57 PM