If You Don't Believe Me, Take it from Bank of America
Short Sales are still very much part of our market. A few of the problems we face every day could easily be solved if Home Owners who face the challenge of needing to sell their home through a short sale, just choose a better agent who was local and well experienced in listing, negotiating and selling Short Sales. Many agents are not experienced and some not even familiar with how they really work but are talking listings anyway. My friend Chris Ann makes a great point that there is NO such thing as a fully approved Short Sale before a buyer is found, the short sale package is submitted, the appraisal is done and the seller even approved to complete a short sale. Many times a bank will approve certain aspects such as price, but there are many contingencies on that and as always, never consider a short sale approved until it is in writing without any contingencies.
If You Don't Believe Me, Take it from Bank of America
No matter how many times I tell folks to ignore the remarks, "Bank has already approved the Short Sale," in the remarks of a Short Sale listing, there is still some contingent of folks in our industry who fall for this every time. There is no such thing as a "Pre-approved Short Sale." There are bank suggested listing prices, or acceptable nets to the bank, but this does mean that a Short Sale is approved. Part of the approval process is actually laying eyes on the purchase contract. Approving the buyers and other terms.
But if you won't take it from me, take it from Bank of America, one of the leading providers of Short Sales. In a message to their Short Sale Agents today, Bank of America gave acceptable MLS (Multiple Listing Service) guidelines. One of them was to NOT have remarks like:
Bank has already approved the Short Sale.
They go on to tell Short Sale Agents that the no-no's they list can actually lead to a Short Sale DENIAL. Yep. So go ahead and think that Short Sale was already approved. Those of us who know better will sit back with our popcorn and watch from the sidelines. And if it's a Bank of America Short Sale, those words being in the MLS can actually end up ruining the chance it has of getting approved at all.
Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com. Or you can visit her website: www.nvarealestate.net.
Header photos taken by Chris Ann Cleland.
The opinions expressed in this post are those of Chris Ann Cleland, not those of Long & Foster REALTORS®.
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