The VA Short Sale- What a breath of fresh air
I recently had the easiest short sale of my career. With this particular deal I had two things going for me.
1) The bank was Chase
2) The loan was backed by the VA department.
Chase has very friendly customer service. Their wait time to talk to a rep is minimal and they almost guarantee approval within 30-45 days from submission date (not post date, mind you).
Here is where communication is key. We all know that sellers who are facing foreclosure are bombarded with phone calls and letters. Sometimes these phone calls can amount from 5-15 per week. These phone calls are from banks, debt collectors and attorneys. Let's face it these calls are never pleasant and sellers will forever screen these calls.
It was about 3 weeks into the short sale process when I was alarmed by my seller that the VA department was "blowing up" his answering machine. The words on the machine were "you are going under foreclosures and need to call the VA department right away". My seller was alarmed as if this was the first time he had really come to the realization that he was in fact facing his demise.
None-the-less, he calls me in a panic... "Help!" As a short sale realtor, we get quite a few of these calls and avoiding the caller is not always the best solution. I told him that we could conference the VA department and see what they want and at the very least tell them that we are in the short sale process.
Long story short, the VA rep was the knight in shining armor. He assured us that if the bank did not have an approval letter in 2 weeks then he would take the entire file and process the short sale himself. He made a few calls to Chase Bank and within 2 weeks we had our approval letter.
If you ever have a VA short sale listing be sure to contact your local VA department as soon as you get a valid offer. The VA department is here to help, but they need the seller to cooperate.
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