Short Sale Rant

I'm seething this week because the short sale situation is abominable and it looks like it will be around for a long time to come.

On Monday I went to a foreclosure hearing at the courthouse on behalf of a client who lives in New Jersey and couldn't be there to speak for himself. I had the full inch-thick short sale package with me that had been submitted to his lender, Chase, over a month ago. The package includes a bona fide contract for a cash purchase of the condo unit he owns here. And no one at Chase has bothered to answer our frequent calls for months...even now that we have this offer ready and waiting. But now I know why....seems that Chase assigned the mortgage to Fannie Mae but never notified the owner or anyone else for that matter. There I stood in front of the judge, responding to papers that said this was a hearing of Chase vs. my client, when it turned out to be Federal National Mortgage vs. my client, instead. The judge told them to go back to the drawing board so the foreclosure was stopped. But for how long? And who do we talk to about this offer now? Who's on first?

Then on Tuesday I got a chilling call that a fantastic short sale offer had been rejected by the lender due to their misunderstanding of some paperwork...and that's partly because the office representing my clients lender sent the wrong documents forward for review. Now I have to do a more elaborate tap-dance to try to get this thing worked out.
I'm dying here...this is so unsatisfying for someone like me, who thrives on procedure, process and rules. In short sale land there are none!

I had long discussions this week with colleagues regarding the way they handle multiple short-sale offers. There is a clear path defined for multiple offers when the only one to have a say on price and terms is the owner of the property. But all that great good common sense goes out the window when it comes to multiple offers on a short sale property. Since the lender gets the final say on price and terms in short sales, anything goes. Some agents present everything to the seller-owner and that seller only signs one offer and holds the rest back for later if needed. Others, often at the request of the bank involved, send in everything that comes along so the bank can pick from the pool of offers. So whenever you're working with a buyer on a short sale now, you have to phone the agent and ask how the offers will be handled. It may not matter that you send them an offer thousands of dollars higher than the 1st one they got and sent. You'll only know after months of waiting. Or not...I've seen the whole thing have to begin again because the person working for the bank moves to another position or quits and the files are so stacked up and backlogged they just toss them all out and start over! Imagine running a business like that?!!

I honestly don't know how many more of these I'm willing to do. I want to help sellers and buyers through the quagmire, but there is just so much I can take. I'm well trained in what is supposed to be the process of short sales. But there is no such thing. I've taken at least a half-dozen courses to prepare myself and even got 'certified' to handle them. But it's a giant free-for all! Many of the 'analysts' working for lenders in Loss Mitigation are totally untrained and unprepared. It should be called Loss Agitation...all they do is stir up anger with long waits, unreturned phone calls, misinformation and incompetence. UGH...short sale my foot! These deals are anything but short.