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UGH! Bank rejects short sale and ends up accepting an even lower price!!

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Education & Training with Coldwell Banker Burnet

What?? How often have you sat there with your mouth hanging open listening to the bank "negotiator" say "I am sorry but we are rejecting the short sale because of _______________" (you fill in the blank). Has this happened to you:

You sent in a file that makes perfect sense for a bank to accept a short sale, i.e., the seller is unemployed, has no assets, and the purchase price is within reason, and the bank rejects the sale because the seller isn't behind by 3 months yet, or the seller is still showing good credit, or the bank wants to cut your brokerage fee out...whatever the "unbelievable reason is", and the sale falls apart. The buyer walks and finds another home. 1-2 months later the bank negotiator calls and asks if the sale can be put together still (yes, incredible as it sounds, they call back and ask). Now, what happens next is that the home ends up with a lower offer as time goes by and the bank ends up taking an offer that is tens of thousands of dollars below what you sent them originally!

Banks are literally stepping over dollars to pick up dimes!!

A bank "closes" a file because the agent said they will not take a 2% cut in the brokerage fee to 4% to be split between 2 agents. On the $300,000 sale, the bank rejected the offer for $6000. The home ultimately sold for $260,000 months later and the bank took the offer.

The bank negotiator said we needed to get a 1% fee from the buyer as a "short sale processing fee" and we had to lower our commission 1%. I said that we are countering this by asking for the price to be raised by 2% and have these 2 issues covered. The short fused negotiator said "are you telling me I need to close the file?" The buyer decided not to get involved with the sale because of this nickel/dime stuff but additionally the offer was rejected before I could tell the bank the buyer walked. The offer was rejected because the seller was current on her loan and the bank wants her to be behind by 3 months. The seller stopped borrowing money from family members. The price is now much lower then the 3 months of payments the bank wants the seller to miss.

Please tell me your stories of banks making unbelievably bad decisons that cost them more in the end

I am starting a grass roots movement to stop banks from COSTING US TAX PAYERS MORE MONEY by making stupid decisions on short sales. If you have a story to share, please let me me know. Reply here or go to http://www.facebook.com/keith.maahs share your story and become my my friend. I intend to pile up the responses and get these to my political representatives. Maybe we can stop the banks from wasting the bailout money and keep them from asking for even more to waste. I bet we could have cut the losses at the banks by 25% or more if they would just listen to reason.

Keith Maahs, CSS, CIA, CNS

Keith Maahs is a real estate sales executive with Coldwell Banker Burnet in Coon Rapids, MN. He is a Certified Short Sale Specialist, a Certified Internet Agent, a Certified Negotiation Specialist, and certified in many other areas. Keith Maahs is a renowned speaker and lecturer on many topics of interets to real estate agents. His 10 - week sales training program, The Elite Sales Force Sales Academy, has produced countless top producers and changes agents careers. Currently Keith is highly involved with short sales and speaking on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Agents.

Show All Comments Sort:
Patti Maddux
First American Title Insurance Compoany - Tacoma, WA
Escrow Officer/LPO

I had a short sale transaction recently where everything was in place to close, buyer had signed and deposited their money, the short sale had been approved and at the last minute the lender decided they would not pay the buyer closing costs.  Needless to say, the deal died.  You would think that once you had the written acceptance that they wouldn't come back and change the terms but I guess the lenders are making the rules.

Aug 06, 2009 06:29 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

most of the short sale deals I have had fall apart are due to PMI on the second and they won't accept a settlement without a promissory note.  The seller says "no thanks, I don't want to be tied to this thing till I die."

I do get frustrated because there is a big servicer out there who takes forever + 1 day to get responses out and then the buyer says "bye bye" by the time they make their minds.  They do lose thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands just by being inept.

Aug 06, 2009 06:29 AM
James "Jim" Vitale
Mighty Realty - Apopka, FL

It's obvious that the short sale negotiators are either not qualified, over-worked, or powerless to do a thing.  The only thing you can do is present your contract and show the negotiator why they should accept the deal!

Aug 06, 2009 06:49 AM
Joni Gordon
Leisure American Realty/Jakus Realty Team - Fort Myers, FL

I had a short sale listed for $170.00 the exact amount of the loan.  The first week it was on the market we received a cash offer of $170.00.  After 3 months when we still couldn't get any definite response from the lender, the clients walked.  Within days we had another offer for $157,000.  After another 3 months with no definite response from the lender, the client walked.  Another offer for $145,000 this time with financing.  Appraisal came in at $138,000, bank rejected it.

Next offer was $122,000 and it was accepted.   Whole process from list to close 11 months.

During this process there were 5 different negotiators and of course each time a new one was assigned, it would take them 2 months to "acquaint" themselves with the file. 

Absolutely Ridiculous!!!!

Aug 06, 2009 07:07 AM
Bill Blair
Coldwell Banker Realty - Covington, GA
Covington Georgia Realtor Covington Living Homes

Great story, Keith.  And best of luck on your grassroots effert.  I support you completely!  Take a look at look at my post from earlier this week for a couple of other stories.

I've Ceased to be Amazed

Aug 06, 2009 07:35 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

I hear ya about BK.  I send them to a lawyer but don't necessarily give them legal advice to do that.  Unfortunately my clients cannot seem to connect the dots, lol!

Aug 06, 2009 09:51 AM
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes

Parking here - as there are a lot of stores that are interesting and makes us know that we are not alone.

Aug 06, 2009 01:06 PM
Keith Maahs
Coldwell Banker Burnet - Anoka, MN

This message was from an agent in Minneapolis:

Subject: Short Sale Disaster (Sent via Activerain)

I had a short sale where everything was in place but the financing. July 28th was redemption day at 5:00, at 5:15 we rec'd financing approval. We tried to get the mortgage company (First Franklin) to give us a couple more days and they just said that sorry, it will fall into REO dept. I actually talked to someone in REO that said, he was just following their procedures.
The PA was written 6-2-09, they didn't give final approval until within 30 days of close (I think that is procedure too which sets you up to fail).
Granted you can't change MN laws regarding redemption period extensions (some states allow) and I have asked Sen Klobuchar to look into that but we could have closed 3 days later with the same deal and everyone would be happy. Our buyer, was a 70 year old woman who bought the home for her grandson and great grandson, they were being evicted the very next day as we had allowed them to move in. That probably cost the bank $1,500 in legal fees.
There are a lot of people getting rich, the attorneys, the "chosen" few agents (they should consider using the agents already involved), the banks are taking the losses as tax deductions and bail out. I also hear of loan packaging where wealthy investors are being these properties at cents on the dollar.

Aug 10, 2009 04:05 AM
Keith Maahs
Coldwell Banker Burnet - Anoka, MN

YES PENNYMAC IS REAL!!!

Hi JJ,

Yes, the rumors are TRUE. PennyMac is a mortgage investment trust set up by former Countrywide executives to buy and restructure troubled home loans. The fund is led by Countrywide's former president Stanford Kurland!! What their business model is, is that they will purchase troubled loans from banks for "pennies on the dollar" and hang onto them in hopes of the mortgage getting rescued, getting modified or some other type of satisfaction. Will it be a successful company built on the losses of the failed loans they help to create? Will the American taxpayers end up funding their profits with another round of bailouts? PennyMac just launched their Initial Public Offering, they are real and they intend to make a profit. Unbelievable. The guys that ran Countrywide while it lost BILIIONS are apparently doing well,  yet our poor clients have to suffer through banks saying "sorry, we can't help you." What a shame.

 Keith Maahs

Aug 10, 2009 04:07 AM
Keith Maahs
Coldwell Banker Burnet - Anoka, MN

How unprofessional...agents first call to say your offer is accepted, then you find out it isn't, and THEN they won't return your call. Very unprofessional.

***How to avoid let downs with short sales? GET YOUR PURCHASE AGREEMENT SIGNED SUBJECT TO BANK APPROVAL!!

When dealing with a short sale, you are dealing with a seller and negotiating a reasonable price with the seller. The bank will approve the sale if everything is in order.

I have heard from several real estate attorney's who have asked "who is signing the purchase agreement...the seller or the bank? Who decides if they will move in 24 hours or immediately...the seller or the bank? Who is deciding if they will sell using FHA, VA, or Conventional...the seller or the bank?" If the answers to the questions are THE SELLER then the seller is the one who needs to sign that purchase agreement when it is presented "subject to the bank approval" and then start going through the process of getting it approved. ANY OTHER OFFERS that come in after someone signs a purchase agreement are simply backup offers, just like any home that gets an offer accepted on it.

NEVER put yourselfin a position where the agent tells you that they will send all offers to the bank and keep sending additional offers to the bank until they decide which one they'll take and then they'll have the sellers sign the offer. Listing contracts are not with the bank, they are with the homeowner! Listing agreements are signed and homes are placed in the MLS for sale because a seller signed an agreement. NOT THE BANK!

Someone is going to say, but the bank needs to do a BPO to determine the fair market value. Well, if you're a real estate agent who is a professional, you should be able to figure that out. What are you getting paid for?

I hope this helps some of the buyer agents out there to give them more arguments for getting their purchase agreements signed. If the buyer insists on waiting to see what happens, make sure you write in on your purchase agreement that the buyer retains the right to rescind the offer at anytime prior to getting written approval from the bank.

Keith Maahs

Aug 28, 2009 04:12 AM