San Jose Real Estate * Santa Clara County * Richard Gonzalez * Real Estate Broker * Realty World Powerhouse Brokers

10 day approval? Yes that’s what I said and for those homeowners lucky enough to have a Wachovia loan( aka World Savings) a short sale approval is possible within a few weeks time. Wachovia is able to do this mainly because they own the loans vs having to service them for investors.

What makes this more incredible is that each county has a short sale negotiator who is proactive in the approval process.  Wachovia makes its decisions on a case by case hardship a homeowner is facing. The goal is to offer a fast track process to the homeowner once it has been determined that all other options have been exhausted including the possibility of a loan modification.

Requirements for a Wachovia Short Sale Approval

1. Homeowner must have a true hardship (loss of income, job loss, medical, family, etc….). Provide required documentation to support your hardship. Taxes, bank statements, and pay stubs must be submitted to the negotiator.
2. Communication  is key! Most homeowners in this situation are embarrassed at the possibility of facing foreclosure that they stop answering the phone or opening mail. You must be willing to communicate with the lender to help yourself with this situation.
3. Work with a REALTOR who knows how the Wachovia process works. This will help the homeowner reach a timely agreement with Wachovia and help facilitate an open channel of communication with the short sale negotiator.

Wachovia’s short sale fast track is incredibly fast in comparison to the other banks and servicers who can take up to 90 days to approve a short sale. Talk to a Loss Mitigation Representative  to find out more and to explore your options.

(866) 642-8608

8:00 am-5:30 pm Monday-Thursday 8:30 am-4:00 pm Friday.

Real Estate Relationships are Key in a Hot Market

Buyers experiencing a HOT market in our area continue to deal with one frustration after another as they wage a bidding war on the low inventory we are currently experiencing.

Within all of this chaos I have developed a relationship building approach both as a listing agent and with other listing agents. I have to know that the other REALTOR is willing to work as hard as I am prior to reviewing or submitting an offer.

For example; say you want to make an offer and there are multiple offers involved. The strategy I tend to take is to make sure I package the offer in such a way that the listing agent can see that I understand the way a Bank Asset manager or a Short Sale Negotiator prefers to see an offer.

The key is to understand the inner workings of the submission process to a Bank and as such covey to the decision maker that I am well versed in this process. Its not surprising to have a listing agent pass on a offer because of the way it was presented.

I have had more success by focusing on how I have package an offer and communicated with the other agent.

Bank of America Short Sale Approval Process May Improve.

Today I had a conversation with a short sale negotiator from Bank of America and was informed that Bank of America is implementing changes to there approval process for short sales waiting to be approved.

This new fast track process (as I refer to it ) applies to loans that do not have to be approved by an outside investor.  For example if you have a loan that does not require an outside investor approval the negotiator simply runs the numbers in the computer and approves it if the computer shows a favorable calculation.

Hopefully this will shorted the horrid time lines we are experiencing when  working with Bank of America short sales.

Countrywide now Bank of America is now asking sellers to sign a 10% promissory note relative to the approved sales price and it appears to be getting worse before it gets better. For example if you are selling your property for $300,000 in a short sale you would have to sign a promissory note for $30,000 payable over 25 years at 0% interest.

Maybe I was wrong in thinking that those homeowners with countrywide short sales would benefit when it was announced that Countrywide would cease to exist and would officially become Bank of America.

It must have been the past 90 days of improved negotiations with banks and loan servicers in general that gave me that warm fuzzy feeling, but alas it was not meant to be.

I originally thought it may have been a glitch in the system, after all it’s not uncommon for investors to ask the seller to make some sort of a contribution but for whatever reason either some big wig or investor came up with the great idea of kicking sellers in the teeth while they are down (metaphorically speaking).

So far the last four short sales we have been negotiating with Bank of America have dropped the promissory note bomb on us. Take a guess at what our seller’s response has been. How would you respond? Some banks and servicers are making things worse rather than better, over the past year or two the common sense approach for the decision makers of these short sales have dwindled down to the absurd.