I've been doing short sales for going on three years now and it seems to be getting harder and not easier. I've just finished negotiating a short sale with Chase Bank and I have to say that it has been the most frustrating and difficult short sale to date.
I have a 100% approval rating on my short sales. I've not done a huge number but am approaching around 35. I've had some general rules and guidelines about which short sales to take and it's worked pretty well for me.
If it involves a second that is not with the same bank that holds the first, you will have a much less chance of getting your approval. The seller must have suffered a legitimate hardship and the financial documents must show that conclusively. Investment properties are harder but can be done with patience and the right set of circumstances.
I am now adding a new guidelines to my list and that is when you have an Equity Line of Credit even with the same Bank, your chances of getting approval will be long and slow and possibly not at all. Oh, and one other guidelines, Don't Do Business with Chase Bank.
We've been working on this short sale file for six months and got an approval from the first within 2 months of having been submitted. Once the first issued the approval and the clock started to tick on their approval, a Per Diem kicked in for every day after the closed date in the approval letter.
The Equity Line Division was another story. They continued to document us to death and all parties, the first and second said they did not talk to each other and each party must approve the short sale. The second continued to ask us for document after document and to tell us that they were submitting for approval only to call the next week and ask for more documents. Eventually, our first approval expired and we had a $800+ amount that would be due at closing. We received another 30 day extension with the clock ticking and the dollars mounting.
The second could have cared less and continued to ask for documentation. In talking with the Loss Mitagator with Chase for the first and explaining our troubles with the second, she suggested that I ask the second to pay the Per Diem due to their lengthy process in the approval. I followed her advice and upon my follow up calls the next week learned that the second had charged off the debt (sold it to a collection agency). The collection agency now tells me that they can approve the short sale if the first instructs them to do so.
My calls to the first since that day have gone unanswered. I received a call today telling me that we need to close in two days or the file will be closed and we will need to resubmit the short sale. My guess is that this is how they chose to handle it. Wait until close to the close date and give me this information. The first time home buyer was counting on the $8000 first time home buyer incentive and this will punch the heck out of that. We have to close by June 30. I am quite sure that she will choose to not go forward.
In the meantime, we have had vagrants breaking into the property and have had to secure the property. I would guess the next thing will be windows broken to gain entrance. This property has gone downhill fast and yet the Buyer still wants the property even after the disclosure about the vagrants breaking and entering.
Something you need to know about Chase Bank is that they don't care about the Consumer. The have a system that is set up to fend off the agents trying to do short sales. You are not allowed access to the Loss Mitagators phone numbers or email and can relay messages to them only through their main call center. Is is an effective shell game.
It seems the CEO of Chase believes the Consumer should be held responsible for their liabilities.
Chase Bank is still part of this Industry and the Economy and when unemployment is on the rise and banks are not lending, how would their policy support the recovery in the housing market? I would guess the answer to be "FORECLOSE"!
My sign is Taurus and I have a very long memory. I would advise the Consumer to remember who is helping them now in times of hardship. There will be opportunity once again and I know that in my book, Chase will not be there.
I often times tell my clients that it is not one single thing we do but all the things we do that result in getting a home sold. Today's market is a hard market and a trending market that is changing constantly. It takes Real Estate Agents that are prepared for those changes. It is a blend between using technology and out-bound marketing effectively along with traditional marketing and communication.
