Special offer

Equator Short Sale Tips & Best Practices

Reblogger
Managing Real Estate Broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

Original content by Kevin Kauffman

Below is a Q&A style blog post of some of Group 46:10's best pracices and tips when working a short sale in Equator.

 

1) What is the benefit to opening the file in Equator before a contract is accepted?

The benefit of initiating a file in Equator before the buyer and seller sign the contract is to get a jump start on the tasks that popup in Equator. When a file is initiated in Equator the first task that is due is to upload the borrower’s authorization form. Once the BA is uploaded the lender will then have a task to confirm that the authorization is filled out correctly and they will check off the task on their end and at that time another Agent task will become available to upload the offer. Between getting the BA uploaded and having the task to upload the offer is about 2/3 business days so initiating the file early cuts down the waiting game to get the offer uploaded and helps you gain those extra two to three days in getting a negotiator assigned.

2) What is the drawback to opening the file in Equator before a contract is accepted?
The only drawback of opening a file before the contract is accepted is if you open it too many days early. The file will get rejected by the system if tasks are not done within a certain timeframe. You get around 10 business days to upload a contract before the file gets rejected. As long as you open the file 3 or 4 days before getting the contract accepted you’ll be fine.

3) What fields in Equator present problems for agents
When filling out the HUD during the submit an offer task you’ll notice some fields that the lender asks for that isn’t really their business. The lender will ask for things like an address for the buyer, social security number, and date of birth. All of these things were never asked for before Equator released. The best way to bypass these as they are required fields is to put things like your office address, zeros for the social security number and putting today’s date for the date of birth. You will never get questioned if you put that in the boxes as I have received multiple approvals when using those numbers.

4) Any tips on getting the BPO ordered quickly?
The quickest way to get the BPO ordered is to create a relationship with someone within Bank of America and having them help you by checking off some of the internal bank tasks upfront. If you do not have that special contact then initiating the short sale early and completing all the Agent tasks promptly will get the BPO ordered as quickly as possible. Typically the BPO gets ordered either the same day a negotiator is assigned or the day after. A simple email to the negotiator asking them if they have ordered the BPO will do the trick.

5) Any tips on getting the payoff ordered quickly (I know this has held us up in the past)?
The only way to get a payoff ordered quickly is to help the negotiator get the BPO completed by returning the BPO Agents phone calls ASAP so they can get the BPO completed and sent back to the lender. The payoff request task is one of the first tasks a negotiator does after receiving the BPO back.

6) Any tips on how to enter the numbers in Equator to reduce the amount of counter offers?
The easiest way to reduce the number of counter offers in Equator is to accurately input all the numbers from the HUD. Use the other fees boxes strategically by putting line numbers that match up with the HUD so the negotiator will understand what fee you are putting in those boxes. Keep HOA fees in the same boxes, leave out fees that you see rejected most often, and be specific on what fees you are putting in each other comments box.

7) Any tips on how to identify the coordinator's supervisor, manager, AVP, SVP, etc ?
One of the best features in Equator is the internal communication/email function. Equator has a built in outgoing and incoming email list so that you can email negotiators within Equator. One thing you may not know is if you send a negotiator an email within Equator the negotiator gets it in Equator and also gets it in their Outlook inbox so you are pretty much sending one email twice to the same person. Also in the outgoing email portion of Equator it gives you a list of people you can send the message to; SVP, FVP, Manager, Team Leader, Negotiator, etc. If you do not know who the negotiator’s manager is then you can send a message to the negotiator’s manager by clicking on the manager button to select them as a recipient to that email.

8) Any tips on how an agent should know if they have a task due
One thing that lacks in Equator is that it does not alert you when you have a task due. You must manually login to Equator daily to check and see if you have tasks due. Keep a close eye on your Equator tasks because if one goes outdated for too long, it will automatically close out the file for no response and you will have to start over from scratch.

9) Any other advice you can share?
A helpful thing to do when monitoring a large number of Equator files is to PDF print a copy of each Counter Offer received and Offer Worksheet that gets uploaded into Equator so that you can organize and monitor exactly what is going on in Equator and it will also give you more wood for your fire if you’re trying to escalate an Equator file.  Also check out www.ShortSalePowerHour.com for more tips and information on Equator and Short Sales in general  

10)  Where can I get more information on Equator?

    Here are a few of my favorie video blog posts on the subject.

   Video 1

  Video 2

  Video 3

 

Visit us at www.ShortSalePowerHour.com Monday - Friday for the most up to date and relevant Short Sale Information in the industry.

Comments (0)