Just a quick vent session and I will get back to the wacky world of Short Sales! I’m not a genius, but as I listen to CNN discussing the bank crisis…..I have to ask myself this question: Who are these people that are making the call at our lenders to foreclose rather than accept fair market value? What type of rigid interview process and criteria were they put through to have the power to ultimately affect our economy, families that are trying to salvage their dignity: while moving their family to who knows where not to mention their own Bottom Line?
Each day is a new experience working with lenders, some very good and some not so good. Kris and I work very hard for our clients. It’s important to them as well as our community to avoid more foreclosures in our neighborhoods.
Today I was checking in on one of our Short Sales for a family that was unable to keep their home of 13 plus years due to life circumstances and a serious increase in monthly mortgage payments.
After daily faxes and calls to the lender, I was told the offer was finally received.
To be professional and disguise my real feelings here, we will refer to the person I spoke to at the bank as the “The Guy”.
I was very calm, and simply asked if I could speak to the negotiator for the file. “The Guy” felt compelled to ignore my request and continue to waste both of our time.
“The Guy” completed his bad grammar with the broken sentence with “Oh, you have to counter that offer if you want to speak to the negotiator”.
I took a deep breath…and asked politely about the sale date set for tomorrow, October 1?
“The Guy”
responded that he was not a negotiator and could not help me with that. Again…I asked if I could speak to the negotiator?
“The Guy” reading from the script on the back of his hand told me that I have to counter the offer, it is too low, and it will take up to 72 hours for the bank to recognize the new offer…so I should call in a few days….!
Trying to talk to the “The Guy” at the bank was useless!
I tried to dummy it up and explained that the offer was actually higher than the recent home sales for the same size homes in the area. I asked him if there had been a bpo ordered, anything to understand why the offer was deemed too low…?
“The Guy” told me this is how they do business and if I wanted my offer to be considered I must counter with a higher offer.
So, can you see the circle here???? I appeased him and said sure, I’ll counter, but can you hold the sale for a few weeks and allow for the new offer to be reviewed?
“The Guy”
Answer: A swift ” You have to counter this offer, it is too low”
I said, ok….will you hold the sale?
“The Guy”
“I’m not a negotiator, you would have to talk to a negotiator for that”.
Getting a little frustrated about now….still asking to speak to the negotiator….!
“The Guy”
“you can’t talk to the negotiator, your offer is too low, it’s been rejected”. “You have to counter this offer, it is too low”
My last few words to
“The Guy” before I hung up…Sure, I will counter, are you going to put a stay on the sale?
Can you guess what he said?
“The Guy” “Mam, you have to counter this offer, it is too low”
Ok I’m feeling more frustrated now than when I started this! I faxed a nice note to the negotiator, and the negotiators supervisor. We will see what happens tomorrow, hope to avoid such an unnecessary foreclosure.
Bottom line…CNN…Housing Crisis…Change…Federal Bank Takeovers…
This is an internal issue with most of our lenders, no matter the Politics involved, we have idiots at most of these banks calling the shots. It’s not just the families that are loosing their homes to foreclosure that are being affected. It’s every last one of us that live here in America. Somewhere down the line maybe a genius will step up and STOP allowing these banks to run themselves into the ground, then have the government come to the rescue.
It’s all about the bottom line….or is it?
