$238,000 in debt FORGIVEN, with no cash contribution from seller at closing!!!
When I first met my clients ( I'll call them Mr. and Mrs. C, to protect their identity), my heart tore for them. Several hardship situations had left them unable to make a payment to any of their lenders for 2 years. That's not a typo. My clients had gone for 2 years with no payment to Bank of America, AND THERE WAS NOT EVEN A LIS PENDENS FILED! I find this to be the case with Bank of America more and more. While most lenders will file right at 90 or 120 days late, I routinely see 6,9 12,15 months of no payments with BOA, and no foreclosure proceeding begun.
The BOA file would turn out to be the easiest for me to negotiate. BOA allowed my initial request of $8,000 to pay Household Finance and Navy federal, the Jr. lien holders. Those accounts had been charged off and sent to collections, which posed some challenge in tracking down the files. Still, all negotiations were completed and the deal closed in just under 60 days.
The breakdown of the numbers:
BOA - Owed - $272,000 Settled in full for - $99,000.
Household finance - Owed - $55,000 Settled in full for - $5,000.
Navy Fed - Owed - $29,000 Settled for - $3,000 cash at closing and $11,000 promissory note.
So my clients were able to walk away from $238,000 IN BAD DEBT without having to take a single cent out of pocket. The Navy Federal deal was the best possible deal one could get with them. Their standard is to get 50% through a combination of cash at closing and a note, but it was a no brainer for my clients. They were able to avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy all in exchange for $94.99 a month with 0% interest for the next 10 years. Easy decision to make.
The deal was also not without excitement. The day before we were first expected to close, I get the phone call I never want to get. My clients' attorney on the other end saying, " Patrick, we have a problem. " The forecast was for a close to direct hit from Hurricane Irene, and no insurance company would insure the buyer until after the storm.
Luckily, all negotiators understood completely and granted short extensions for us to close! The property wethered the storm just fine, and another success is in the books!
Patrick
Why settle for less than 5 stars?
Featured in Connecticut Magazine's March 2011 issue as a top CT real estate agent in overall satisfaction.
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