We have been working with Countrywide for almost a year now and we have no reservations about why they had to declare bankrupcy.  The problem is that the new owner, Bank of America, still has not cleaned house.

That's not to say Countrywide does not have some people working in the realm of excellence, they do, and when we get to work with them it's pure joy. The trouble is that we seem to get stuck with the bad and the ugly.

We are required to send all offers to Countrywide as they will not give a letter establishing benchmarks. As a result we had an offer of $425K on a $790K house.  The Asset Manager countered back at $800K which was above the advertised market price.  Do I understand the frustration? Yes, we deal with it every day. A simple rejection would have been a professional answer and have negated a lot more work on our part.

We spent thousands of dollars on landscaping, bringing the pool, spa, and fountains back to standards and in the market where like homes are on the market for 301 days, they pulled the listing after 77 days advising it had been on the market to long.  The listing agreement that they gave us was well above our Broker Price Opinion. We had received one offer that was at our BPO target price and it was rejected, not countered.

The are many stories like this but the point is I see our tax dollars being poured into the banks without accountability.  It's scary and frustration because we do not see enough people working in the realm of excellence to make a difference.  We just see the Fed's pouring good money after bad.

Jeff Daley, MBA, e-PRO, CLHMS
Keller Williams Arizona Realty
Phone: 480-595-6412
Email:  Jeff@LuxuryValleyHomes.com
Web:   www.RealEstateInScottsdaleAZ.com