My clients and I submitted an offer on a short sale about 2 months ago.

The listing agent has told me over the past couple of months ...The docs have been sent in.. SHe is waiting for the property to be assigned to an manager etc....and then they have no news etc... Then she would tell me they would have a decision in a few days

Finally today... I was like let me call and see what they say (the bank)... Thinking of course with no authorization they wouldnt tell me anything

But... they did...

I called them told them I was the buyers agent and we have an offer on the property and can you give me a status update.....Apparently she saw thee offer..
--Told me everything

No tax returns have been turned in
No bank documents
No pay stubs

None of that the asset manager has been assigned as soon as th offer came in so we have been waiting for 2 months for nothing really..

What would you do?

Find my client a home that is not a short sell. I have been burned on two this year (the latest one just today). There are some deals to be had, but the time frame is tough for a owner-occupant.

Just because you were told that on the phone doesn't mean it is true. It might be, but it also could be that the low-level employee who took your call just didn't see the information, or the file has already been forwarded to the negotiator.

Many times when I call on short sales I am handling, I am told that something is missing. Then I tell them the date and time it was faxed to them and they find it.

Two months is not a really long time to wait for short sale approval. If your buyers are in a hurry, they shouldn't be looking at short sales.

What would I do? I wouldn't make an offer on a short sale unless I knew and trusted the seller's agent, and my buyers were willing to wait six months. I certainly wouldn't go behind her back and call the bank myself. If I thought it was taking too long, I would find another house for my buyers.

I don't like short sales for a few reasons.

1.The time it takes to get one approved if at all.A short could be listed at 150,000 subject to bank approval.You wait 4 months for approval.During that time the market dips another 8% in price.

The bank comes in at 160k which you will not accept.You tell the bank they need to come down in price and now they assign the file to a new negotiator to start all over again or have to order another report to accept a lower value.

2.Interest rates for a loan could have fallen by the time or underwriting standards and credit requirements your buyer qualified for could change by the time you get an approval.

3.Life circumstances like a job layoff or medical issues could make the buyers need ot ability to purchase change.

4.The sellers could file BK at the last hour or get tired of the banks demands and walk away killing the deal.


If the seller has not sent in documents as you say it sounds like they might be hiding assets they don't want to disclose to the bank.The bank tries to find money and the sellers hide it.Most would rather walk away than bring money to the table on an underwater property.

This is just scratching the surface of things that go wrong with short sales.

I like REO's much better. Co-op to the buyer side is better with often a bonus attached.Closing happens very quickly as the bank already has their report and value decided on when they list the property bank owned.

I sure hope you didn't give the listing broker the earnest money to hold or left an open ended contract where they can hold the earnest money until written acceptance or response comes back from the bank.What you need is a contract where they have a short time line to perform.After that time line your buyer is not obligated to purchase but can if they so choose.

How you get around depositing earnest money is to copy a check and put in the contract that earnest money will be given "upon acceptance" of the bank in writing approving the sales price.

Notice I said NOT the seller.Seller acceptance doesn't mean squat without the banks approval.

good luck

If I were you I would move on and be lining up other properties.

You want to lock in great prices and interest rates for your buyer while you can.With now being the Holidays you will have more leverage in the market and can drive a harder bargain.Being the end of the year banks are more willing to accept lower offers as they have met margin goals for the year.They don't like to give too much up at the beginning of the year as you don't know how the year will shape up.

Thats exactly what I thought... So just really out of pure frustration I decided to call back 3 more times (I know right) each time I was told the same thing at which point I spoke with a "supervisor" just to verify... and so it was true

Well out of the number of short sale transactions i've done this year including being on the listing side.... I've never had to wait more than 30 days (offer to acceptance from bank)...

Oh well I am glad I did... My buyers are willing to wait its a good deal... But too bad it's set to be foreclosed on in 3 WEEKS..... Oh and by the way the listing agent has no idea... called her today just to discuss how far along they were.

Thanks...

Yeah everyone always tell me it takes months for short sales to go through.. this year I've worked with about 15 short sales (selling and listing) I've never had one take more than 30 days from initial offer to banks acceptance.

Haha Yea there was no way I was giving the listing broker the earnest money or leave it open ended.

Yea this isn't a "huge" deal I a working with investors... It's just frustrating because as an agent you "believe what other agents say" and relay the info back to your clients and yeah...

or maybe today just wasn't a good day... side note: had another offer submitted 3 weeks ago ... bank foreclosure... Over the past 3 weeks I've been communicating with the listing agent... called/emailed once every 5 days for an update... for the past 2 weeks she had told me the bank is still looking at the offer.... Long story short i WAS talking with another agent in our office and the bank accepted their offer 3 WEEKS ago.

Maybe Im just frustrated with all agents today

Well New Guy you have learned lesson #1, listing agents can't be counted on. I remember presenting an offer to a seller on a Monday and the listing agent telling me to get lost, they would wait for a better offer.

I simply said well on Wednesday my client will probably be the new owner right after the trustee Sale. He had no clue about his clients problems, and problems with the property. And it didn't surprise me any, had to pull teeth to get him to return a call.

Bay Area Brian and New Guy: You are pretty much in complete control when you bid on a HUD house for a client. Check out www.hudhomestore.com.

Bay Area Brian: I am an REO listing agent, and I get truly fed up with the inane questions that most buyer's agents send my way. The info that I have about the house is in MLS. Read it! Don't expect me to be over-joyed about answering "what can you tell me about the house" or "do you have any offers yet" type of questions. Of course, I know that is not what you were talking about. BTW, did your client buy the house in question at the trustee sale?

Liz

No didn't have to wait for trustee sale, made the deal that night because the seller was smarter then his agent.

On the other matter of inane questions, I was an approved HUD broker and for some reason many mortgage companies had me handling their REO's in the 80's. It was business I hadn't pursued.

My feeling on time wasting inquiries was I was the listing agent for these properties and I would do my best to sell that agent on the property, and on doing business with me then and in the future. The space allowed in the mls barely allowed for many comments at all, so calls were expected and many of those dumb callers ended up being the selling agent on something I had listed, or about to be listed.

Short sales are getting easier in our market. or maybe our team is just building better systems. I am leary though of showing other listing agents listing to my buyers because I am always concerned about the listing agents experience with working with short sales.

In the same situation, if it were me I would call the listing agent.

The only ones we have had problems with recently are those that the seller has judgments or more advanced issues

[quote=FSBO]Find my client a home that is not a short sell. I have been burned on two this year (the latest one just today). There are some deals to be had, but the time frame is tough for a owner-occupant. [/quote]

Yep I'd find them a foreclosure or traditional sale. They can plan on an actual closing date and you look like a hero. On the other hand.... I've sent the same paperwork to banks MULTIPLE times and called the next day to hear "oh, we never received that", so I wouldn't put the blame on the agent right away(although it may very well be the agents fault).


www.contractfordeedmn.blogspot.com