I've got a pretty funny story about this Ramona California short sale that I just closed a few weeks ago. This was a referral from an attorney friend, and the property was not owner-occupied. This Ramona home for sale had one lien with Bank of America.
Since Bank of America is usually pretty generous with the short sale incentives, we decided to submit for the Bank of America Short Sale Assistance Program and HAFA. We thought that their might be a chance for a short sale incentive.
Come to learn through Bank of America's third party vendor that was helping to process the short sale that the home qualified for a large incentive (over $13,000) and that the tenant would also be eligible for the HAFA incentive of $3000. We alerted all parties and everyone was jumping for joy. The short sale was approved in December and we intended to close the first week in January.
As part of our closing regiment, we uploaded the final HUD into the Equator system for approval--so that we could go ahead and close the transaction. Bank of America went silent. It's as if everyone was in a meeting--no emails, no calls, nothing. Buyer and seller were chomping at the bit, so we pushed a little harder for an approval of our final HUD-1. Instead, we got a phone call from Bank of America telling us the HUD was declined.
Why was the HUD-1 declined?
According the Bank of America, the third party vendor had made a boo boo with the incentive. Apparently, the seller was eligible for $3000 more than what had been allocated on the approval letter. So, we waiting patiently for another day while the mess was sorted out.
Of course, this story has a happy ending. I do not know anyone who would refuse to wait an extra day if they knew that meant an extra $3000 in their pocket. Do you?
Moral of the story: The Bank of America Short Sale Assistance Program pays big bucks... often more than you even expect!
