Do the banks have any intelligence when it comes to customer service ???? 

If they did they would negotiate with sellers at the inception of mortgage problems.

I think the banks are holding off much longer these days before they actually foreclose on the property.Which is a good thing, however dealing with them to Short Sale the property prior to sheriff's sale is not a pleasant experience.

The attorneys and paralegals can't get answers from the asset managers and when they finally do they want to close in a week.

I just went through 6 months of negotiations with Countrywide now owned by Bank of America, the first 3 months was a nightmare they would not talk to either the seller the attorney or myself, because the sellers were current on their mortgage. Between myself and the seller's attorney we made 60 phone calls and sent over 30 e-mails,  finally after 3 months into the deal, because now the seller is 3 months behind on their mortgage they started talking. Crazy right.

Well it gets worse. Not only did they drag their feet on every other procedure over the next 3 months, but the sellers attorney prepared 10 plus versions of the closing statement before they approved it. Then to top off the whole experience they told everyone involved we had to close in a week, or the deal would have to be put back into the pool for another look.

Countrywide now owned by Bank of America should be shot. The representative's at Countrywide were rude, un-caring and demanding throughout the entire process. The short amount on this property is only 15,000 they should kiss the ground of everyone involved in this transaction for saving it. If they had to put it on the market today the short would be much greater and they would be lucky to sell it at all.

Another scary story: Chase Bank had the opportunity to negotiate new terms with an owner of an investment property, but since he was not behind on the mortgage payment they said they could not speak to them. This was in October. Now the seller is behind and has been forced to bankruptcy. Guess what now they want to talk. Too Late

Don't these banks get it?  The majority of people want to work with the banks to resolve their mortgage issues before it get's out of hand, but because the company big shots say "NO not until they are behind" people find themselves backed into a corner and have no other choice but to protect themselves.

The funny thing is the big shots who claim to have the consumers best interest in mind are out spending $1.2 million redecorating downtown Manhattan offices while firing employees.

Bank of America is seeking additional aid from the U.S. government, which last week agreed to provide $20 billion in capital and $118 billion in asset guarantees. If they would negotiate with homeowners early on maybe they wouldn't need as much. I trust that our new president, congress and senate will be intelligent enough to demand rehiring and penalties be included in the terms of these bailout agreements especially when they are using our children's future to bail out these greedy corporate CEO's  

Now I am not saying that short sales should be easy and will not take extra work and time Each case will be different and you will learn something each time. Lien negotiation between first and second lien holders, PMI Insurance company negotiations, credits to the buyer and how they are shown on the hud are just a few. However the attitude of the so called professionals other end of the phone is needless. They are in the business to help people get through a financial crisis and save money for their companies, not make the owners miserable or cost their companies additional needless carrying costs.

Dawn Marie White Broker-Sales Manager Crossroads Realty Inc 732-528-6800