You can hire the wrong short sale agent. Especially in Sacramento where lots of agents are jumping on the short sale bandwagon. If you do, Fannie Mae will send your home to foreclosure instead of granting a short sale. It's the way of Fannie Mae.
But first, let me share with you that a client said the nicest thing to me yesterday. Really touched my heart. We closed his short sale in Gold River in 8 calendar days. Actually, we closed one day early, because we were up against the sale date and there was no way to postpone the auction. I prefer to be early than late. He said: "Choosing you as my agent goes down as one of the smartest things I have ever done."
I say we closed his short sale rather than I closed his short sale because, as a Sacramento short sale agent, I realize that no wo/man is an island. It takes a team to close. Without a good buyer's agent on the other side of the transaction, a seller could be doomed. That's why I help my sellers to carefully choose the buyer and the buyer's agent we work with. If a seller were to choose the wrong buyer and that buyer doesn't perform, the seller could be headed into a trustee's sale and not to closing.
This particular seller tried to do a HAFA short sale in the middle of this transaction. I called him when I found out and asked why. I discuss HAFA upfront with my sellers to determine whether they qualify. Remember, being eligible for HAFA and qualifying for HAFA are two different and distinct things. And this transaction was a Fannie Mae short sale, which would have made it a Fannie Mae HAFA short sale -- had the seller gone that route.
I told him not to do it. I urged him to talk to his lawyer. He was too close to the foreclosure date. It wasn't worth going after $3,000 if it would have meant going to foreclosure. Fannie Mae has a procedure by which they choose if it's more profitable for them to go to foreclosure and, if they are very close to the foreclosure date, they will choose foreclosure. Yes, your government, which basically runs Fannie Mae now as a GSE, wants families to lose their homes to foreclosure. It's easier. It's more profitable.
Don't believe me? Don't just rely on my years of experience with Fannie Mae short sales. Check out this August 18th piece from the Detroit Free Press: Fannie Mae Pressures Banks to Foreclose, Contrary to Promises to Keep Families in Their Homes.
We received short sale approval on the 15th of August from Bank of America. Our closing date was the 24th of August. Nine days later. The buyer elected to get a loan, too, when informed of short sale approval. I about had a heart attack. But you know what? It closed. It closed with a loan.
And people say we short sale agents can't pull a rabbit out of our sleeves. Hey, Rocky! Yup, nothing up my sleeve. Presto, chang-o.
