9861 NW 2 Street, Plantation, FL
Green Realty Properties was the Listing Brokerage in this sale that closed earlier this year.
I don't even know where to start with this odyssey of a short sale. Let's start with the day I listed the property, which was April 0f 2011...which means that we were working with the Sellers to collect short sale documents and had sent them to the lender for at least a month before that. There were additonal delays because Chase lost documents over and over again, despite the fact that they had been sent over and over again. While we were dealing the document shenanigans, I listed the property at market value, as short sales should be listed. We went under contract with a wonderful couple that was being represented by a fantastic Buyer's Agent.... and then we got a ridiculously inflated BPO with asbolutely no comps to justify that high of a value. We argued with the lender ad nauseum and sent in every supporting comparable and document I could find. Eventually we were finally out of contract and the Buyer walked. Who could blame them? My poor Sellers gathered up all their information again and we started the process again.
Chase did another BPO before the property went under contract for the 2nd, and it came back for the $173K listing price (significantly less than the last BPO...yes the prices were dropping, but not by that much), and that's what I listed it for. Another wonderful couple went under contract with Monique being their Agent. Everything went along swimmingly until Chase came back asking the Sellers for a whole lot more money than they could realistically afford as a contribution. We called and explained that the little money they saw in the Sellers' savings was there for their moving costs (they didn't qualify for HAFA). If they brought that money to closing, they would literally have to be roommates with the new Buyers because they just couldn't afford to move. Getting a rental after a short sale in South Florida sometimes requires an additional security deposit, along with any application fees for the associations that the renters have to be approved by, so it adds up to a few thousand very fast.
In the meantime, the file moved from our sweet and friendly negotiator to a closer who had a chip on her shoulder for no reason from the beginning. We asked her to please submit the Sellers' request (complete with updated financials, a letter of explanation, etc) for a reduced contribution to the investor (Fannnie), and she agreed to. Over a month went by, and every time we called (1-2 times a week), there was never any news from Fannie. At this point we were cutting it very close to the contract's expiration, so we got an extension signed and decided to use the Fannie Mae help desk that our board offers. Apparently I was the first person in Miami to use this help desk because no one had any idea on how to help me put in a request. We finally got it squared away, and got the request in.
During one of our weekly check ins with the closer, she tells us out of the blue that she's shutting down the file if we don't close in the next week. This is when our mouthes dropped to the floor and the panic set in. What do you mean, we asked. Unbeknownst to us, she was counting the days that we were waiting for Fannie to respond against us. We made every argument under the sun; we were completely blindsighted because there was no warning ever...in fact, she had said she'd extend the approval once Fannie responded when she first submitted the request. We begged for an extra 30 days just so the the Buyer's lender could close their FHA loan. She wouldn't listen to any of it. She was shutting down the file and that was the end of it. She said that if we moved forward towards closing, she may consider closing the short sale on her side at the end. Now, anyone who knows short sales...tell me how the Buyer's lender is supposed to clear all the conditions with an expired approval, besides it being a huge risk to take? They can't. Ask me if she cared. She didn't.
At this point, we called Fannie in even more of a panic. We were then told that they had given the answer to Chase weeks ago. Mouthes dropped to the floor again. We let them know that the closer was still telling us there was no answer, and she was now shutting down the file without giving us the chance to close. The VERY nice people at Fannie assured us they'd work on it and get us the extension. Another week or so went by, and the closer called to tell us that she was shutting down the file that day and that we'd have to start the short sale all over again. She managed to order a BPO for us to save some time, but this made me very nervous because, believe it or not, prices had gone up in the neighborhood. The same day, Fannie calls us and asks if we got the extension. Ummmm...no? We told the Fannie contact what happened and he went to his managers. The next day we get an extension from this closer that swore up and down that there was absolutely no way she can give us an extension because of her guidelines and policies. Yes, we savored that with a bit of an evil laugh. The Buyer's lender was working in the background with an expired approval during this whole time, so we were able to close on time THANK GOODNESS. It only took 15 months.
The moral of this very long story is that persistence is key with short sale. I definitely lost money in sheer work hours that were put in for this short sale, but I couldn't turn my back on my Sellers. They also had gone through heck and back with this. I have to give the world of credit to the Buyer's Agent, Monique. The Buyers are 1st time Buyers, and she kept the transaction together on her side, no matter what was thrown at her. I love when the Agent on the other side not only understands what's going on, but can relay that information to the Buyers in a way that keeps them in the sale. I am SO very happy that this is overwith, for everyone involved. This one had the potential to throw me into the looney bin, but thankfully closed before we got to that point.
A Little Bit About This Home: PRETTY 3 BED 2.5 BATH TWO STORY HOME IN JACARANDA'S QUATRAINE V. HOME FEATURES SPLIT LEVEL, HIGH CEILINGS, BEAUTIFUL TILE FLOOR ON FIRST FLOOR. KITCHEN OPENS TO FAMILY ROOM, NICE LIVING AND DINNING AREAS. GREAT BACKYARD AND LANDSCAPING. PRIVATE CUL-DE-SAC LOCATION, AWESOME LOCATION AND EXCEPTIONAL VALUE. This Home Was Listed For $173,000.00 And Closed For $173,000.00
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