We all know that the past two years have been financially challenging for many and my heart goes out to any family or person struggling with unemployment or financial troubles. However, I have to share the plight of Realtors recently handling short sales in Massachusetts.
My Franklin, Massachusetts and metro west of Boston area does not have a large number of short sales like the western part of the state does so I am not as accustomed to handling these complicated transactions and therefore use a short sale attorney as a guide. A former client of mine contacted me in January to list their west of Boston home that was facing a short sale and asked for help. We put it on the market in January and quickly learned that the house was quite desirable with multiple bids. An offer was accepted but the seller's lender had merged and the lender was taking an extraordinary number of months to get homes to close.
It is now late November and we JUST got our first response from the bank regarding their valuation of the property which was $10,000 more than what the buyer agreed to pay back in February. Now the buyer must either come up with the extra money or the deal is off and the house is back on the market!
I should add that my seller has stopped returning phone calls in the past few weeks and has apparently dropped off the face of the earth. Myself and the attorney have asked the seller to call to get the water and electricity back on since it is necessary to heat the home. The seller shut off the utilities without letting anyone know.
So the bottom line is that Realtors across the country are working on short sales for sometimes up to a year only to find that they will not get paid--maybe at all--for their efforts. The home could go into foreclosure without any compensation to the Realtors!
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