Short Sales we all have an opinion on them. One thing is for sure however, and that is:
- We all want Banks to give us an answer sooner.
- We all want banks to give us some guidelines as to how they make a decision.
- We all want Banks to order BPO's from people who know the area so that the BPO's come in at a more accurate value.
- We all want Banks to not lose our files more than once.
- We all want Banks to have a better plan in process to weed out those with real hardships and those that do not.
So is the new HAFA program going to do that?
Short answer is NO.
I went to the RE/MAX Convention in Orlando a couple weeks ago, and was listening to Matt Vernon, President and in charge of all the short sales and REO's for Bank of America-Countrywide. What I got out of it was they are going to adhere to those guidelines, and in theory the HAFA program looks good, but what he said may surprise you.
I am paraphrasing, but basically "Bank of America is working towards shortening the process, and may be able to give 10 day turnaround times. We at Bank of America, and I can guarantee this that we will say NO a lot quicker."
So yes the banks are going to adhere to these policies, but they are just going to say NO a lot more often, and a lot quicker. What is the consequence of this?
Well there is going to be more inventory staying on the market as people will resubmit the same file over and over again.
There will be more frustrated sellers, buyers, real estate agents, settlement companies because many of the files they say no to would have gone through if they did not have to adhere to the 10 day decision turnaround.
I think most of us really do not expect a 10 day turnaround we just do not want the 6 month turnaround. If banks got back to us with in 30-45 days we would be estatic.
With the HAFA policy, we yet again tried to do something for everyone, and we make that blanket policy for everyone you end up doing it for no one.
Personally, I do not believe the government has the right to step in and give a policy for banks to use for the loss mitigation products. That would be like the government coming in and saying to all real estate agents, you must now cut your commission to 1% because we believe this is the best way to alleviate the stress on the housing market.
Private business and private thinkers and private decision makers are always the best way to go. Government should be a referee not an owner of the team.
We need to think about what we are doing before implementing these type of programs. HVCC appraisals have not worked, mandatory loan modifications did not work. The new GFE programs have not worked. Now we expect the governement to suddenly come up with a plan to work.
In theory all of these programs looked great. When you look at the consequences however, that is when you find the real problems.
Short sales are here to stay, and we do need to work them to the best of our abilities so we will have to deal with the policies that are in front of us I just hope this program has a better outcome than the previous "blanket" policies.
David Serle
Vice President/Managing Broker
RE/MAX Services
561-912-3500 Office
561-912-3502 Direct
561-756-3104 Mobile
Hi David,
1st I want to say I love Boca Raton FL, I've visit at least once a year and more if possible. My two best friends live there and are from Omaha, NE.
Short Sales, I totally agree with your blog. I recently had a Short Sale and said to the buyer and seller plan on 4 - 6 months. My seller was formally one of those high power push VPs before he lost his job and he got right on it with Wells Fargo. We had a verbal approval within 6 days on our asking price. We sold the house in 5 days, and submitted all paperwork as requested.
Then they gave the file to an arrogent young man who never never returned my phone call and would only respond by email. Oh YES HE LOST THE FILE, so we had to put it together again. Then he decided he needed a signature on one of the forms that wasn't necessary, so we lost another week.
4 1/2 months later we got loan approval, the buyer lost his job the day before. I still have the listing since september.
The first thing the bank should do is hire and train those who know what they're doing, and care about the lives that they affect.
I'll be in Boca in June...
best of Luck
Don Keeton RE/MAX The Producers, Omaha Nebraska www.TheProducersRealEstate.com
Don, thank you so much for commenting on my blog. I have always meant to cme out for the college of world series as that is on my bucket list of things to do. Anyway, I agree they need to train better people to make decisions. You would think that it would be an amazing opportunity to get the very best people working for banks as many people are looking for jobs. I definitely feel for you. I have closed around 50 short sales, and they are becoming increasingly tougher and tougher. There are so many obstacles that we did not have a year ago. Good luck with everything, and I would love for you to stop in to our office if you have time when you are in June. If you need anything while you are down here fax, copy use a computer our office is open to you. Speak to you soon.