My office has been working on a file for over 1 year with Nationstar and a couple who put their faith in my Company’s skills to get a short sale approved. We listed the property and immediately received an all CASH offer from our Buyer. Nationstar sent out a Realtor to do a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) on the property and then instead of countering the existing buyer, they informed our office that they are now using Auction.com to do a valuation process of the property. What that meant to the Sellers is that the existing Buyer on the property would not receive a counter offer on the property, but the Realtor was to hold 2 open houses in order to make sure that Nationstar received their highest and best offer.
We received a Buyer for $80,000 from Auction.com and the existing Buyer would have to be released from their existing contract or Nationstar would not agree to the short sale. Right after the first Buyer for $60,000 was released, the Buyer through Auction.com backed out. We were instructed to increase the list price of the property to $89,900. We did and got another CASH offer for list price based on the instruction of the negotiator from Nationstar. Time went on and as it did, Nationstar again decided that the $89,900 was not enough and we, as the Realtor, were instructed to hold 2 additional open houses for Auction.com for their valuation process. No one bid on the property, so we assumed the $89,900 cash buyer was going to be accepted. On the Auction.com website it stated “Short Sale Approved,” but it was NOT approved yet. We then got another negotiator who said that we had to increase the list price AGAIN to $125,000.00, which caused us to lose $89,900 cash buyer. We then got a new cash buyer at $125,000.
During this time, Nationstar did not stop the foreclosure action against our Sellers and continued to hold a Motion for Foreclosure wherein it would set a sale date when the property would be sold. The Sellers, who were already struggling immensely, hired an attorney who got us an additional 90 days to process the short sale due to the delay caused by Nationstar and their valuation process. We tried our best to advise the Sellers that we should be able to get this offer of $125,000 through Nationstar and please be patient and hang in there. I am not really sure how much more stress our Sellers could take. They had to move out of Florida due to a job relocation for the wife, and the husband still had to find a job in the new area. That stress alone of moving across the country and not having a job would be enough to cause sickness, anxiety, depression, stress, frustration and the list goes on. And then, add in the constant fight that we were having with Nationstar to get our offer approved; this was more pressure than the husband could take.
Even though the Auction.com website had stated this was “short sale approved,” it took a couple months for them to process our new buyer. The buyer had a deadline in which they needed to close, and after at least 2 months of waiting, Nationstar still hadn’t approved their full price offer and the buyer had 1 week to find a new home, so they walked. Nationstar again decided that they were going to do yet ANOTHER valuation process and requested that the house be placed for auction with Homesearch.com.
No new offers came in, as we truly believe that the $125,000 is a very high offer for this property. And, in this price range, you will most likely have a mortgage buyer, so all we could do is pray that a mortgage buyer would get approved. We finally received a mortgage offer at $112,500 and submitted this to the bank. Finally, Nationstar accepted the $112,500 offer………. only too late, because by then my Seller had committed suicide from the stress of everything. We were unable to tell him that we had a short sale approval letter from Nationstar and all we needed now was an approval from Bank of America, who was the 2nd lien holder.
But wait … Bank of America could not issue us a short sale approval letter because their servicing contract was going to be terminated in 10 days and Carrington was now the new servicer of the 2nd lien. Our just-widowed Seller/wife, had to deal solely with all the stress of everything in her life because her husband was no longer alive. We all cried at our office with much sorrow for this entire situation, and I personally was furious at Nationstar for dragging their feet to get this deal done.
Even though we have an approval letter from Nationstar, there is now another court date which the Seller’s attorney must request a postponement for in order for Carrington to provide us with the approval letter. It has been over 3 weeks since the date of the letter that Carrington is the new service provider and NO ONE there has the file yet. More stress for our Seller. So, all we can do is present our case to the Judge and pray that he will see the games that the banks are playing against our Sellers and he will grant another 90 days for the process of the short sale. Unfortunately, because we have a mortgage buyer, they will need 30 days to complete their closing process wherein the first approval letter from Nationstar will need to be extended. I really hope that this file screams out to Nationstar for them to see what they are putting our Sellers through and will not attempt to place this property again on Homesearch.com and will just grant us an extension to close.
Many short sales that we process are simple and once the Bank sends out a Realtor to do a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) they counter the existing Buyer and we can get a deal going. Other Banks don’t doubt the value that was provided to them from the BPO agent who they themselves hired. We normally fight the banks on behalf of our Sellers without them knowing many of the things that the Banks are arguing. All Banks want money from Sellers and believe it or not some Banks will pay Sellers up to $33,000 just to do a short sale.
The Banks are constantly getting laws passed in the State of Florida for their own benefit. In January of 2014, the Banks are able to get a deficiency judgment at the time of the foreclosure action against our Sellers and also still have the asset to sell. WHO IS FIGHTING FOR OUR SELLERS??!!! We believe that there should be a voice for the Sellers and as one of those voices I am saying to the Banks “STOP IT.” Stop taking advantage of the Sellers wherein the Banks are receiving FDIC bailouts, some loans have private mortgage insurance which will pay the Banks 20-30% of loss. Stop dragging their feet so that we can push the short sales through and the Sellers can move on. I ask you, as you are reading this article, who is on the losing side of this battle? The Sellers who put all of their savings as a down payment on a house, maybe even fixed it up, will they ever receive a return on their investment? The answer is “NO,” unless the Banks allow the Sellers to receive money at closing.
My tears are for the loss of my Seller, for his wife, for his family and for many other Sellers who are depressed and don’t know where to turn. I say to my Sellers “Don’t Let the Bank Win.” This phrase is on my office window and it’s on my car. Fight back with a short sale and for more information go to www.DontLetTheBankWin.com for information on how you can fight back.
As a Realtor working on behalf of my Sellers, I am ashamed to work with Nationstar as I believe they don’t follow the rules of other Banks and I am very sorry for the loss of my Seller. My office will continue to fight the fight with all Banks in order to make the voice of the Sellers heard. I want the banks to understand that just because they are in foreclosure and attempting a short sale, my Sellers are not bad people. Bad things happen to good people, but it doesn’t make them bad people. We make the Banks read their hardship letter and understand their situation. We show the banks that it’s not that the Seller just decided to stop making payments, but that they had to relocate, couldn’t sell it and had no choice but to do a short sale.
As Investors and Realtors, you need to step forward and help the Sellers. Make offers on the short sales and fight for a deficiency waiver for your Seller and make sure that their voice is heard. Sometimes as a Broker, I take a loss on a file because of the time it takes for the Banks to process the short sale. I don’t mind when this happens, as this is my contribution back to the community and a way that I can help people move forward during a highly stressful time in their lives. I will continue to fight the banks and also teach Realtors and Investors how to fight the fight. At the present time, I have saved Sellers and Buyers at least 37 Million Dollars and counting.
I have several trainings available to Investors and Realtors who want to help the Sellers. Make sure you check out my websites below and remember – DON’T LET THE BANK WIN!!!
Happy Negotiating!
Kimberlee Frank
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