I have a short sale listing, one where a buyers agent has brought me a contract, the lender is Citi Mortgage. The buyer has also elected to get a loan with Citi Mortgage. No big deal, right? You would think that this might make things easier, but it hasn't.
When the buyer went to get pre-approved with Citi he was greeted with this email by the loan officer at Citi Mortgage and I cut & paste:
--->"Stay far away from this property! Don't go near this property! Do not do this. Find another property."<------
I immediately emailed the rogue loan officer with Citi Mortgage. After this I called "customer care"
After 12 phone calls, disconnects, holds, transfers and misdirected extensions I get a hold of a voicemail, one Arnold Simon with loans in Texas.
I don't have the results yet, but will GLADLY come back with another blog to update you guys on this unbelievable, cannibalistic approach within Citi Mortgage. I am floored, shocked and very, very angry. It's this counterproductive nonsense that adds to the mountain of issues within our short sale industry.
I can't wait to hear back from the Supervisor for this individual. I feel horrible for my seller and even the buyer!
***** UPDATE *********
I finally heard back from a Supervisor, Arnold Simon. Due to "lender required repairs" Citi Mortgage refused to work the loan. The way it was conveyed however was anything but professional or acceptable according to mgmt.
The loan officer eventually retracted his statement, apologized and said he could have said what he said more constructively. Ultimately his words were ... "farmers don't like to eat their own cattle." In other words, Citi doesn't like to finance it's own short sales! Pretty interesting huh? Nice to know that this was an isolated incident that was quickly addressed. I guess getting a loan from the same bank that's conducting the short sale is not ideal, also a claim by the loan officer.
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