Dealing with short sales/banks and waiting for answers about your client's offer is mind-boggling. Back in March, '08 I made an decent offer for my first-time home buyer on a short sale. We had visited the house two times and she was sure that this is where she wanted to be. It was near her work and near her child's schools. It was a good size for them in a decent neighborhood. It was near a freeway access and shopping. My client had preapproval for a appropriate size loan for the home.
My client was living with her parents at the time so it was going to be o.k. to wait for a long time for an answer. She settled back and didn't bug me about the offer. Meanwhile, I called the listing agent once a week or every ten days just to check in. She was very nice and kept trying to get the bank to respond. She began to tell me they were avoiding her calls. Then, I'd call my client or email just to keep her in the loop about the offer process. She was very patient.
After three months had gone by...MY patience was gone. I finally got the listing agent to give me the bank's phone number since they would not return her calls. I started calling but got no response either. I finally started leaving messages that said, "We would appreciate just a courtesy response." That didn't work either. So I sent them a fax asking for a courtesy response. That didn't work either.
So I got the bright idea to fax them the offer again. I figured it had been so long since they had looked at it, they had probably lost it or forgotten it somewhere. That didn't work.
So...Evil Jill took over and I started faxing the 15 page offer once a day, every day. It only took about four days for the bank (the bank's assistant or janitor or secretary) to finally call me back! We DID NOT have the highest offer! Ugh! It was a sad call for my client...she had been so patient!
After that...I lost her as a client. She's still a good friend, but now she has moved into a rental. Thanks banks.
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