My partner Lauri Gibson and I specialize in helping sellers in trouble to either identify workout options/consultants that can help them try everything to stay in their home or if all else fails we help them with the short sale process.
We paid for and took special training to learn how to get the short sale approved and completed in a short time frame. To date, we have been successful in completing each short sale we have listed. Our fastest approval was in 5 days with a close in 17 days.
When we took this training, we were told that we could expect about 80% to be approved. The other 20% were based on inefficient processes and servicing conditions of the banks themselves.
Well, we may have run across our first bank, that by their very process are unable to take advantage of the short sale benefits. We currently have a client that has their loan with Citi Mortgage. The client was assigned a Loss Mitigator, whom they attempted to contact numerous times to always reach a voicemail. Lauri, after many phone calls as well, learned that the Loss Mitigator no longer worked at the company and had not done so for some time.
We have received an all cash offer for the client's home that fits the financial criteria that most banks accept and so we have been trying to contact the bank and get a Loss Mitigator assigned. Lauri has been told that we will not be assigned a Loss Mitigator for some 3 to 4 weeks, due to the fact that once received the short sale package is sent to a clearing house in St. Louis and that it will take from the time of receipt 3 to 4 weeks for the package to be processed and scanned into the system. When we asked on behalf of the seller if they realized the consequences of this process, they expressed that it is just the way they do business. The client could bring current their mortgage payments.
WHAT IS THIS BANK DOING? Where in any business proposition is the rationale for such a STUPID decision? Whomever is in charge of their process should be fired. That a national bank would make such a stupid business decision is beyond comprehension. Their bottom line is on hold for the processing of a clearing house? It must be a strategy to lose as much business as possible and drag the entire economy into a black hole. Citi Mortgage you get the award for BIGGEST LOSER!
To date, we have worked with professional people who express a desire to work through this real estate and mortgage market crisis. People have been polite and professional. We have felt a collaborative effort to move either to a solution that keeps the servicing of the loan with the current lender or moved aggressively to relieve both the lender and the seller. It has positive connotations for the market when relief is met on two counts and opportunity met on the buyers' side.
I have chosen to blog about this because of Citi Mortgage's non-caring and irresponsible method of doing business. The only way that change will occur is if they are exposed to the public for their business practices. It is our responsibility to bring these issues to light and to let the consumer and other professionals in our industry know when policy and procedures affect the welfare and health of our industry. It just doesn't cut it to NOT CARE anymore!
Citi Mortgage wake up before it's too late! I wonder what is REALLY UP with Citi Mortgage?
Jeanean,
I applaud your efforts, and especially your willingness to share your experiences. My experience with Citi has been like a space mission (still searching for intelligent life). I have a friend that had 2 different properties in short sale (one primary residence and one investment property). Citi had the 2nd mortgage on both properties. The investment property had a contract on it the first week of December, and by the end of december, Citi had charged off the debt and sent it to a collection agency before it was foreclosed on, and in the middle of short sale negitiations. The purchase contract was setup where the 2nd mortgage holder (Citi) would get $4000 net proceeds on the deal. They turned it down. The first mortgage holder foreclosed the first week of January, and Citi now gets nothing. In addition, the owner will be filing for BK, so Citi will have no recourse on the deficiency balance either.
Apparently, they are unaware of the term, a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush. And as long as they are getting bailed out by Saudi Arabian investors, it seems as though they don't care.
P.S. - The other property has received a contract, and Citi has again charged it off before a sale and before foreclosure.
Same issue with a short sale I have listed. First lien is Countrywide and 2nd is Citimortgage. Countrywide is about to foreclose on 1st lien and Citi will get nothing. We've had a contract since December 2007 and Countrywide did postpone one foreclosure to work on the short sale.. they offered Citimortgage $3000 to sign off on it. Still waiting on final approval from Countrywide's investor.. but the negotiator at CW seems to think we could get it closed before foreclosure on April 1st if Citimortgage would cooperate. The negotiator at Citimortgage seems to have a chip on her shoulder and says she wants $10,000 for payoff AND for the seller to sign a new loan/payment plan for $19,000 at 0% interest for 10 years. HELLO??!! This guy doesn't have any money.. that's why he's doing a short sale. She said I'd have to come up with a way to cut the costs on the HUD... gee.. don't you think Countrywide will just take whatever is cut, i.e. commission. They are clueless. I told the negotiator at Citi that the first lien is about to go to foreclosure and she said if she didn't get the deal she wanted.. to just let it go to foreclosure. The poor buyer has been hanging in there this long. I even thought of attempting to work back through the system to try to get another negotiator at Citimortgage.. but after reading what I have about them online.. they are just stupid. The seller's ready to let both go to foreclosure. If anyone has any ideas on this deal.. let me know.
C'mon now. What's the worst that could happen? They could reach the brink of total insolvency and then be bailed out with our tax dollars? Hmmmm.......
PS. I've worked short sales with them too and one sale took me almost 9 weeks. The house was broken into twice while we waited to get an answer. Another day in the life of a lender I suppose.
that's just citi being citi, and while it may seem foolish, whatever, it is their mortgage to do with as they please as long as they keep the regulators happy.
i know this is like closing the barn door after the horse got out, but people need to consider who the are dealing with when they acquire/apply. (i know that the mortgage may have been bought.0 if you apply with your huge slow moving company, that's what you are going to get. sad, but true.
Update on my short sale listing... Got full approval on the 1st lien with Countrywide and now I have to just get Citimortgage to agree to take the $3000 they are offered for the 2nd lien. I can't get the negotiator for Citi to call me back. Anyone have any success changing negotiators or talking to someone above them?
The Citi negotiator in the "Recovery Dept"... kept saying that I'd have to cut more out of the deal for Citi or she could not approve the deal. Well no matter what we cut...i.e. commission as that's about all that's available.. or raising the sales price... that will go to Countrywide. So, she pretty much presents an impossible deal.
Please tell me there's a way to get them to agree to the $3000 instead of $0.
Jeanean, I had a similar experience with WA_ _. They had an excellent offer on the table (CASH) quick close and took it to sale-instead! I think that so many lenders are just too overwhelmed and when they make the decision to go to sale they get to take that one off the PILE that they have on THEIR desks and send it elsewhere.
I think that for most all the people in the Loss Mit departments,these really are JUST numbers to them. They don't care, these people get paid monthly...just numbers on the desk and paperwork.Even if some of them did care they really can't help out other than get some of these transactions through.It sure seems to make sense that if the bank gets more money in a short sale and the homeowner gets some relief and the buyers get a good value that everyone wins...but then that makes too much sense to some banks!!
Regards,
Rick
Richard, it is a number of things that come together to make these short sales difficult. However, there are banks that are processing them more efficiently and cooperating more. I believe it is important to publicly report the business philosophy and process and procedures they have in place to help the economy, the real estate and mortgage industries, and the consumer recover from this present crisis. That is what this post is about. We have a responsibility to help the consumer understand what is taking place. I personally would have concerns about my clients working with Citi Mortgage going forward. I would relay how they have forced sellers into foreclosure when they stand to have no benefit (ergo....in second position and with foreclosure they have no possibility of any recovery of their second mortgage). You are right about short sales being about the numbers...if you get it right and the numbers work....again...I cannot say this enough....it is about the bottom line number....banks with the ability to make their own decisions can accept the short sale. We do get convoluted in who owns the loan and whether within the servicing conditions of some of these loans...they cannot accept the loan. Fine...but tell us quickly so that we can all be more efficient and help more people. I do think that within the process is an internal flaw that keeps even the loss mitigator from knowing the servicing conditions of the loan. Thanks for the visit!
Ok, Citibank finally responded to my offer to purchase a Short Sale. After 11 weeks...they said NO and countered. I happily said "no thanks...keep it".
FINNALY, you can negotiate. If you can keep your buyer....or if you are the buyer....you can negotiate. Don't just say no....counter the counter. I understand if you are at the end, however. They are not known for making the short sale work. More details on if they are the first or second....would help. I would be happy to talk with you.
Guys Guys Guys! come on we are smarter than the dimwit negotiators at Citi, My suggestion, which works, take that listing, get an offer written asap, lowball it do it yourself, whatever, just get an offer sent over to Citi, get the ball rolling! It's going to be a long wait so may as well start now, by t e time you have secured a Fair Market Value Offer (FMV) your file may have already been assigned a negotiator.
My last transaction with Citi short sale was a 2nd loan of $170k ish Citi requested $10k at close plus a Promissary note for $30k.. The first, after much talking agreed to give Citi the $10k, I then asked the buyers to raise the sales price 10k, The buyer agreed, then went back to Citi and offered them $16k at close with no promissary note, They took the deal *why wouldn't they!* The buyers' happy they got the house they wanted. total negotiated from 1st and 2nd loan combined was approx $340k, my brokerage fee of $18k was protected, (and after 7 months from the taking the listing to close, is very justified.) was it Frustrating, you bet, Did i wait for ever and a day? Oh yeah, Would i do it again? Bring it on!
Point is, dont give up, get creative, stay persistent, work hard for everyone, sleep well.
hope this helps someone.
Chris Giddings ShortSalesbyChris.com NevadaHotProperties Realty Executives of Nevada
I totally agree about CitimortgageI I have a shortsale package over there & the negotiator has been sitting on it for over 30 days now! No calls backs from the negotiator or the supervisors! I'm at my wits end! A simple phone call for an update is all we ask! We have a cash buyer to & still nothing will make this company call u any faster!!
I too and waiting for Citi to approve a short sale, it's been 10 weeks and they are not returning anyone's call. Is this legal? I think we need to do something.
I have a very motivated buyer who is looking to purchase bulk reo's ranging from 400million to 5 billion. My client is easy to work with, however needs proof that you actually have the product before giving a LOI. I am looking to establish a working relationship that way we can do business on more than one occasion. Please email me at josh@nwlsusa.com if you are able to produce proof of product. I am tired of jumping through hoops when in the end the seller doesn't have any product. I am on a deadline because my client is trying to buy up as much as possible so he can pay less in taxes. Please a friendly reminder do not ask for LOI or MFA before proving you have actual product to sell.
Joshua Loeb
J. Loeb Inc
818-428-1059
I can understand the pain of all of you ... and this unresponsible ways to act will affect of us, the economic and much more. I don't know if you realize the credit cars for Sears, Home Depot, AA and much more are from Citi. I been so fructated tryng to get a couple deals with Citi that I am about to give up because is not human way to talk to this people in the Recovery Deparment, the talk to customers like they are criminals and is not way that make deals and prefer to loose all the money that get something and keep prices up.
I will love to make a reality TV show to show the country what kind of people are in Corporate America and what kind of damage the do to Americans families.
HI my name is Joshua and my partner and I have are the direct connection to two banks. When you are dealing with banks and not pre-done tapes a direct connection takes the place of the seller's mandate. If you are looking for a real connection direct to the institution please give me an e-mail. Our protocol is as simple as it gets
1) sign NCND
2) LOI made directly to the bank , NOT ME! , proof of funds ie. bank statement
3) phone call from the bank
Joshua Loeb
J Loeb Inc.
josh@nwlsusa.com
I am about to do a short sale listing and Citimortgage is the bank. I'd appreciate any additional advice you could give. Thank you.
Citi Mortgage strung me along for 4 months and then just quit communicating. No denial - just nothing. They sent it to foreclosure and it goes to auction by the end of the week. End of story. No one offered advise or help - nothing. Might as well have been dealing with a robot. What a strange market we are in.
I have my mortgage with CitiMtg and have made many attempts to modify my loan so that we could make our payments and stay in our home. We have had the home listed for sometime but no-one is buying in our area. It is a large home and my interest rate is way to high. BUT I had originally thought of filing CHP 13 but the trustee payments were going to be as much as a mortgage payment so we are withdrawing our request to file and CITI tells me that can't help me until I have gotten the case dismissed. Unbelievable. I am the borrower telling these fools I have lost income of approx 3500.00 per month and can't continue to make the huge mtg payments and they want to wait. While they have been very nice it is beyond me why they won't start making strives to help fix this problem.
Thanks for the information and if you have anymore please let us know.
Jeanean, what kind of training did you have for short sales. My area is Canton Ohio is overun with foreclosures. We're jusst getting into short sales.
I have been trying to make an offer on a property for 3 months, that Citi foreclosed on during this time, that if they had permitted imy offer to go through, they would never have had to take. There likewise is no asset manager I may contact re this property. It sits vacant, at risk, and I am concerned that an asset manager that looks at it as a residence instead of the agricultural property that it is will do things to it that makes it less valuable to me (and others, since it is zoned agricultural). Those responsible should not have jobs. Citi has earned the predicament that it is in.
I have also tried to get a short sale through Citi. I contacted them back in early Sept. and it took 2 months to finally talk to the loss and mitigation case worker. We talked for about 30 min and he said my only option was a short sale. 2 weeks later I still have not been contacted by the short sale people and foreclosure has started with an auction on Jan. 9th. Short sales are extremely slow but nothing seens to slow down the foreclosure dept. The worst of it is that I could afford the payment if I could live in the house. I had to move because I lost my job but couldnt sell my home. I rented it and was scammed and lost around 10K in lost rent, eviction costs and cleaning. The second attempt to rent was unsuccessfull even at $300 below the mortgage. I now have a realtor experienced in short sales helping but since I have Citi holding my mortgage I think I am just screwed.
I have a customer willing to buy 3-5 homes, all bank owned short sales and cannot get any body from citimortgage on board
I have a short sale listing right now, I have a possible all cash buyer and can't get hold of Citimortgage. The loan was in their Recovery Dept, then went to collection, who were actually great and then on Tuesday we were told that Citimortgage had reclaimed the loan. I have called and called. The voice mail box is full and I can't even leave a message. any thoughts?
Citi frustrations continue.. I am just going to call every extension I can find today. How's that for a blog??? Can you tell I am punding the keyboard?????????????
I am having the same issue with Citi! Here are the details: Countrywide 1st, Citi 2nd. Citi is demanding 5k, but CW will only pay them 3k. We received the Citi approval letter February 2nd. We have a buyer willing to pay Citi the additional 2k. We have been told buyers can pay any seller costs they would like. We all know how long CW takes to approve. We are very close with a verbal approval from CW at the 100 day mark and waiting for the letter. My Citi negotiator says if we do not close by march 23rd it will be sent to the recovery department where they will demand a 17k payoff! Impossible!! He doesn't care! Absolutely will not grant an extension! Here is the real kicker...He says "we don't care either way, the loan is insured so we will get a full payoff either way"! So I have been trying to get the contact info for the insurer to make them aware Citi is throwing 5k in the toilet and relying on the mortgage insurer to pick up the entire balance! He wont disclose the info....Wouldn't even put me on the phone with a manager! Says he doesn't have one! Ridiculous. Does anyone have a contact for someone higher up, a manager in the recovery dept etc....?
I put an offer on a house that is being sold as a short sale and mortgaged through Citi. I hope the wind changes direction. I do have time on my side, but would like to speed up the process. The $8000 tax credit is too good to miss this year. Is there anything I can do being the buyer?
Yes, Citibank/CitiMortgage sucks. After 3 months, I was able to track down the negotiator, Robert Montoya. I was given his direct line from customer service, which is disconnected. The voice mail box for Citi Recovery is always full. Customer service says, "You just need to keep calling to try to leave a voice mail message when the mail box is NOT full." WTF??? I really think us agents need to start holding these idiots responsible, one by one, posting info about each of these negotiators. When they see their names come up on blogs on how STUPID they are, over and over again, they will start doing their jobs, and quit eating donuts all fricken day.
Robert L. Montoya of Citi Recovery Department. (800)788-4517 robert.l.montoya@citi.com
Sign this guy up for some 'free viagra' or somehting so he will get moving.
I am trying to modify a CitiMortgage first mortgage, which is at 9.5%, a rate the client can no longer pay-- BUT the client can make FULL monthly payments at 6%. She has missed 3 payments. We have asked that those payments be tacked on to the back of the principal or that she pay that on top of her mortgage over an extended time, like 2 years or so. We have also asked that late fees be waived, and that future payments be automatically withdrawn from the client's checking account.
Citi has NOT responded. They show NO INTEREST in renegotiating at full principal and 6% interest a mortgage that is otherwise in default.
Note: the client has owned this home for 15 years but refinanced 3 or 4 years ago. There probably is still 10% equity in the home, but it cannot be sold easily in this market.
Any suggestions based on your experiences? laughlinou@yahoo.com
I'm also a Citimortgage loan holder who, in February, tried to work out a 'modification' of our existing loan with the value of our home $40k-$50k less than our loan. We never made contact with any Citimortgage Home Assistance Team member. In April I lost my job, "Obamanized", as it were. I doubled my efforts to contact Citimortgage and their Hardship Assistance group. No luck. I have 5 different phone numbers and still no contact with a person that could help. I filled out the Hardship Package, like they wanted, but still no response or help.
We've been trying to stay current with our payments, the responsible types that we are, but realized that a short sale was probably our only option before foreclosure. I've had others, including the VA, tell me that I won't get any response until we're late 2-3 months. Haven't they been shouting on TV and the radio "Call BEFORE you're late" ? Now that I've read about your experience with them, I feel hopeless about getting this resolved before losing all our savings and our credit rating.
I leave this post up for people to find and document their experiences. I feel that with the level of frustration that we all experience it provides us an opportunity to document what these banks are doing. I am so sorry for those people in hardship. I encourage you to blog about it and to use all the resources available to you to contact the bank. Write letters and email them constantly. Call daily. Fill out their work out/loan modification package if it is on line. If not on-line have them mail it to you. Be detailed and describe your hardship in detail. Tell them what you can afford and then back it up with the proof of income to substantiate this number. You must have the hardship, however you must also have the income to justify the loan modification. It is rather an conundrum. I hope this helps.
Citimortgage is forcing foreclosure on us!Been here since 2002 they stopped taking payments from us in August 2008!Need advice?????I do have an attorney but they will not give her any infomation except a payment history!Why do they want our house so bad???Someone please any help!!!
I submitted a short sale package at the end of July and am still waiting for a negotiator to be assigned. I call weekly and am told that once the negotiator is assigned they will call me. For some reason after reading this post I don't believe them. Has anyone done a successful short sale with this bank???? Auction date is 9/21/09 so I am running out of time!!
I am a Citimortgage loan holder and very desperate. We fell behind on our payments last yr due to a medical bill /loss of my job and we were getting foreclosure warnings. I contacted Citi in Oct 08 about a loan mod or prepayment plan to get back on track. After 3mths of being tossed around and them losing my working papers, I finally spoke to someone in Dec08 and we agreed that the prepayment plan would work best for us. I asked if they could send me something confirming that this was the plan, but they indicated that they do not do that. They said I'd receive a package in the mail in early Jan 09 with the coupon book. During the 3rd wk in Jan 09, I still had not received anything from Citi so I called to find out what the hold up was. They then informed me that THEY SOLD MY HOUSE AT AUCTION ON JAN 09!!! What?!!! I was devastated and confused to say the least! I asked them how the hell that could happen and they said they didn't know but that it was done and there was nothing I could do about it! During our 6mth redemption period(that is the law here in MI), I was calling so many different people at Citi to try to redeem my home. I obviously got nowhere - just the run around. We received the notice to appear in court in Aug09 where we received our eviction date of 9/21/09. I told Citi's attorney, that day in court, that we were still trying to find an investor that could make Citi a CASH offer for my home so we could stay living there. We would then make mthly payments to the investor. I finally found an investor in my area last week who does this all the time and he said it should only take 3-4 days because he's using CASH. However, that is not what is happening. He is still trying to get someone at Citi to accept an offer. Noone there seems to know what they're doing and a couple Citi rep's just wouldn't accept anything. Would they rather be stuck selling my house and lose money?! I don't understand. Everyone would win if they took the offer...My family could stay in our home, they investor would make a few bucks, and Citi will get us off their books and receive more money then they would trying to sell the house. I explained this to Citi's attorney and he said he's seen this happen a lot and that it all depends on who you talk to at Citi whether an offer will be accepted. That seems crazy to me! Needless to say, Thurs we are calling everyone we can over at Citi in hopes that someone will be willing to help us. Do any of you have any suggestions on who or what dept to go directly to? (After reading all these blogs, I wanna call the president!) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm so upset and scared. Me and my husband have lived here happily for 8yrs and have a 5yr old little girl. We don't have anywhere to go. This should have never happened! It's their fault to begin with! Again, I'd appreciate any advice. I wish you all of you the best of luck in this economy and thank you Jeanean for starting this site.
Dear Anna,
I am so sorry for this terrible hardship for you and your family. I have taken your comment and re-posted it this morning out to the mainstream in hopes that someone will have an answer for you. You are doing the correct thing which is to talk to everyone that you can. I would try to get to the top of the food chain within CitiMortgage. I would try to get to a newspaper to see if they will carry your story and I would also try to talk to NBC or CBS and see if you can get your story on national TV. Attorney's can help when they have experience in this type of situation. If you call me, I can provide you the name of a local California attorney, however that may not help in another state. Again, I have posted your comment this morning to the entire Real Estate Industry in the hopes that you will receive advice. Read my blog for the latest post. I see in my mind's eye your success! Best wishes and Don't Give Up!
Thank you so much Jeanean for all that and your kind words. I just got tears in my eyes, knowing someone cares. Believe it or not, you just gave me the strength I needed to push on. (It was a rough night.) I'm going to get to started right now. You know, I've never blogged or done anything like this on the Internet before. I'm so glad I did. I didn't realize there were so many other people dealing with the same types of problems with CitiMortgage. Like you said, maybe with your site and enough people involved, we can all make a difference. Power and Strength in numbers! I will let you know what happens on my end. I actually did get the direct phone number of the President of CitiMortgage. However, I'm sure he probably responds as well as the rest of the employees! Keep up the good work here and I promise I won't give up! This isn't just a house like they think, it's our HOME. Thanks again!
Great info about Citimortgage's nasty practices. Yes, their negotiators are clueless at least in my case. After notifying the Citi's negotiator that we were a couple of days away from receiving the approval letter from the first trust Wells Fargo, she went ahead and charged off the account to Citi's Recovery Department. Now, with the first trust's short-sale approval letter in hand, I'm not sure what to do since Citi's Recovery Department doesn't even have our short-sale file transferred to them yet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Lance,
I would get on the phone with the short sale department at Citi and ask to escalate the matter to a supervisor and see if you can get back on track....talk to them and to recovery....talk to every one and even try to get to their legal department to talk with attorneys for Citi....just talk until someone helps you! Good luck!
Heck, that's nothing. Check this out.
I've been attempting to purchase a home that the seller had already moved to loss mitigation prior to my contract with her. Several investors made offers to her that would have Citi taking a loss, which is why the seller went to loss mitigation. However, my offer was to pay off both the first and second mortgages (both VA insured) in full, IF Citi would remove the $23,000 in late fees/penalties they tacked on to these loans over the last year. Do you hear this? Citi would get all there money for both loans (I agreed to pay the seller's closing costs too) with the exception of the excessive fees. At this point, they don't wish to do it. It is scheduled for the November auction and it appears Citi would rather foreclose (since VA will take the hit) and still not get their excessive fees instead of getting this deal closed next week.
The one thing I've learned when buying short sales is that all parties involved must throw logic out the window as all indications are that this is what the lenders are doing.
Just to document my experience as a seller working with CitiMortgage. In 2006, we moved to Phoenix and bought at the peak of the market due to a job transfer and needing to avoid capital gains from the sale of our previous home. This past April, my husband lost his job due to the economic downturn (aka plunge) that Phoenix took. We were forced to move out of state in order to gain employment. We had a first with Citi and a second with Countrywide. Our home was put on the market at current market value, exactly 30% of what we purchased it for.
At first we were very optomistic. We received many offers and Citimortgage accepted one after about 4 months of hounding them. But then we had to wait another 2 months when Countrywide finally approved the short sale offer as well. We're in business!!
Until our negotiator gave us exactly one week from the time that the Countrywide offer was approved for the buyer to get a loan and close on the house. So, that buyer backed out. And the approval expired.
That was last Friday. This past Monday (the week of Thanksgiving) we received a miracle. An offer from a cash buyer ready to close. So we sent it to our negotiator in hopes that since the expiration date was so close, the short sale would be reopened. She contacted us yesterday (Tuesday) to say that she would reopen it, but we have to close by this Friday-the day after Thanksgiving at noon. Are you kidding me?!? The buyer can't even get the money wired to the title company in that amount of time (takes three business days for funds to clear) and we still have to get reapproval from the second.
My realtor has called and left messages for our negotiator numerous times with no phone call back. I've been trying to do my part as well and keep trying to contact her. When I finally was able to speak with her yesterday (after about 5 weeks of unreturned phone messages), Sheila Hubbard (our negotiator at Citi) told me that it was a regular work week for most people (are these people smoking crack?) and it should be plenty of time. When I explained the whole situation again, she told me that she would speak with her managers about getting an extension and call me by the end of the day.
Guess what? Surprise, surprise-no phone call. And she's not in the office today. Maybe because Thanksgiving week isn't actually a normal work week for most people. Hmmm...
Do they try to sabotage these deals on purpse? Our house is set to foreclose mid-December and at this point we feel we have done all we can and are out of options. It's so frustrating.
These banks were bailed out, but what about the American people?
Along with Beth- just to document my experience (which I think is just beginning).
Two weeks before Thanksgiving I put a put an offer on a town house (short sale). The first week of Dec they accepted my offer. I started getting everything together! Super excited I told my family and friends. A day later, my agent notified and said the "papers" didn't include everything- meaning they didn't really accept my offer. Its now two days away from my closing date (yeah right) and no one is receiving an answer. The seller's is saying that he is emailing twice a day and following on emails with phone calls.
My agent said that once they accepted my offer they were suppose to responded within 10 minutes. From all the postings here, it seems like it could longer. Its disappointing and I'm starting to look at different places. Two problems 1) I really love this place (its not perfect but I can totally see myself there) 2) The market is flooded with short sales and I feel it will the same situation.
Ugh! I was suppose to have a home for Christmas. I know its not as bad if I was the seller or the other sellers that are blogging, but its also hard and frustrating for the buyers.
Does anyone have any advice? Do you think its just taking more time because of "over worked" Citibank? Or do you think they won't accept my offer?
Thanks! Nikki
So happy to find this blog and realize I am not crazy. I leased a house in January of this year from an estate. The estate is in debt nd can't pay of the mortgage so we also put in a short sale offer. Recently found out it is Citimortgage.
they countered our offer and surprise surprise the amount is exactly a 100% buyout, the principal, interest and penalties they have been charging the deceased owner. We have since countered 4 times and are at 100 percent of the principal. They still will not work with with us and are proceeding to foreclosure.
I have started calling into the short sale group to try and reach mangement but no one ever returns my call. I am also trying to track down email for executives to describe the problem. I now understand why they took more in TARP money than any other bank. Our offer is slightly better than market, 100 percent of principal and it is cash. They will receive less after they foreclose as this neighborhood in Florida has 5 other pending foreclosures and the market continues to drop. They also will have to incur expenses to maintain the property once we move out.
Hopefully I can get to someone who will say yes before I have to disrupt my family with another move but I don't have much hope.