I was really hoping that I had a nightmare last night, but after opening my emails this morning….It really happened! Yesterday was a perplexing day in our world of Short Sales.
The call we received from a family in the midst of a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy was not uncommon. A sale date set for the home less than 2 weeks away. We have been blessed in getting offers quickly and stopping trustee sale dates just days before the sale.
This Short Sale started out like all others….daily calls to the lender. AHMSI is the first mortgage holder, previously Option One. It took us about 7 days to have the trustee sale canceled. Although this came with conditions, typical items that lenders cover on short sales were declined as well as a huge cut in the Realtor commissions; they would only pay a total of 4%. Remember, the home was going to come back to them at foreclosure….according to the United States Bankruptcy Courts. The cost associated to take a home back at foreclosure is near $70,000 plus…!
Ok, no matter, we just want to make sure this property does not end up as a foreclosure. Next steps were to talk to the second mortgage holder, Bank of America. Their process seemed like it would be a no brainer. They actually have a recording that gives step by step instructions, and a timeline of what to expect and when. Anyone watch Twilight Zone? Remember the episode where everyone on the planet looked like a mutant pig…except one beautiful woman? They ended up sending her to another planet because she was so “different”…
Take that and imagine the entire team of home retention of Bank Of America, and I’m not talking about the beautiful woman! Get this, after days of talking to drones I finally made it to the supervisor of Home Retention, Veronica Vira. Get this…I asked her if she could help us with getting the lien released on this property as we had an offer that was accepted by the first lien holder, who by the way was going to offer a $1000 to BofA. Veronica proceeds to tell me this loan has already been charged off due to the bankruptcy. Once again, I explained that the owners of the home are trying to avoid a foreclosure and we had an offer to SELL the home, and just needed BofA to release the lien. Are you ready for this??? Veronica says and I quote “We are not going to release the lien for a $1000; do you know how much is owed on this”? Perplexed…I reminded her that she had just told me that the debt had been charged off, and with accepting this $1000 BofA was actually going to net more than if they charged it off….right????
End of conversation with Veronica, she held fast on BofA’s policy. Today via fax we received a lovely letter declining to accept the $1000 offer from AHMSI. (I have posted the letter for all to see, minus the client information of course).
What a very sad and unacceptable scenario of how lenders are “Pretending to Do Business”
I have to believe that these “temporary” employees are not accountable to higher management. From my experience dealing with Short Sale lenders over the past year, most negotiators handling these files do not hang around long enough to learn the process…if there is a process in place. I’m guessing they are paid hourly, with no incentive, or repercussion regarding their workload and the ultimate outcome of Short Sale versus Foreclosure….
There are real casualties here; the family that is going to suffer a foreclosure for years and our economy. Not accepting fair market value offers, choosing to spend the money to let the property be foreclosed on is beyond frustrating! These same idiots are now going to have to pay a Realtor to get the home ready for sale and pay them commissions….and I guarantee that the sale price 6 months from now when the home goes back to market will be LESS than the offer that was declined.
Oh, and we are not giving up that easy, we will work our way up the food chain at Bank of America. Someone has got to have a brain…..
State Bill 1137 is just around the corner, the one that is trying to help California put a stop or at least slow down foreclosures…only time will tell.
“Twilight Zone….” They need to go to the planet where people are like them!
bofadecline
