This should have been an easy short sale. The Owner had reached out to her lender, Wells Fargo to begin the pre-foreclosure paperwork.
Her loan was insured by FHA and she would need to be approved to participate in the short sale process.
Having been referred to me by a work colleague, we met on a late Summer Saturday morning and talked price and process.
She had a new job waiting for her out of state and would be leaving Washington within the next 30 days.
Good news was, the appraisal had already been completed.
It's good news because in an FHA short sale, an appraisal is used to determine the net offer which would be acceptable to the investor.
Cool....we know our price.
Even cooler, we get an offer on the first day, from the first buyer who viewed the unit.
(Granted it showed well and had some nice upgrades, but I was expecting a more pro-longed market period just because of the high condo inventory at the time).
Offer accepted, GREAT.
EASY.
Only not so much.
Even though the appraisal had been completed, it still took about 40 days for the ATP (Approval to Participate ) letter to be generated.
In the South King County market, it's not uncommon for first time buyers to ask for 3% in seller concessions, which can be applied towards closing costs and/or pre-paid expenses.
BUT...(why is there always a but?)
FHA will only allow $1,000 towards closing costs, and even then, only if the buyer is obtaining their financing with an FHA loan.
Ok, not a problem, we'll just ask for a variance.
Tack on another 21 days.
Variance granted
Cool....ready to go.
Uh oh.........we find out the complex just lost it's FHA eligibility due to some flood bla blah blabbity blah...problem which wasn't even accurate, but caused us another 3 weeks for the property manager to get the FHA eligibility re-instated.
Cool...ready to go.
Uh oh.......Buyer's financing is through WA State Housing Commission (State Bond). Bank of America announces end of November they will no longer be the "Master Servicer" of these loans.
No one knows who will be the servicer and until then, we can only wait.
Ok, we'll wait.
Uh oh.....short sale expiration pending, request an extension.
Extension granted.
30 days pass....still no Servicer.
Request a second extension with the knowlege this is our last bite at the apple most likely.
Yes, this story has a happy ending....barely.
Thanks to a motivated Seller, committed buyer, great Lender who communicated well throughout the whole process and the BEST Escrow closer in the world...we recorded the sale just under the wire of our extension expiration.
The moral to this story is, there is rarely such a thing as an easy short sale.
No one short sale is ever like another and the likelihood of success lies in direct proportion to the commitment of all parties to be patient, go with the flow, and always keep the ultimate goal in mind.
Harbor Reach 2 BR 2 BATH Condo, Kent, WA SOLD $110,000.
Whew !
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