The client called me in August. Less than two years ago she relocated to CT for a lucrative position and bought a home. All was well until earlier this year when she got laid off. After a period of time on unemployment she found another position, for a fraction of the pay and several hours away. Her only choice is to relocate and the home which she had bought for $190k in 2008, is now worth about $130k.
I do write quite a bit about strategic default, however; for the record I would like to state that the great majority of people I speak to are in this position not by choice, but due to some outside factor - job loss, divorce, relocation, illness....
Anyway - I list the home and one month later we secure a buyer. The bank - M&T Bank - is not terribly slow, but not quite a dream to work with either. I do get an actual live person to deal with fairly quickly, and on occasion he does answer the phone and get this - sometimes he even returns my calls.
FHA Short Sales have their problems though. There is a lot of red tape involved....the process has to be followed to a T and no exceptions can be made. Most concerning is their appraisal process. The appraisers are not allowed to comp against other distress properties, leading to a too high appraisal - EVERY TIME.
So about 6 weeks later we do have an FHA approval - for a price that is completely unrealistic. Due to the FHA short sale process of accepting a lesser net per 30 day interval, we are able to time the closing to a date when we can in fact make it work. Everyone sacrifices a little. We believe we are all set. A final HUD which my negotiator agrees with goes in for manager approval, with plans to close the following week.
My M&T Bank negotiator then conveniently goes MIA for the next two weeks. I never hear back. Numerous calls and emails result in no response. By the way - the folks at M&T loss mitigation will go out of their way to avoid anyone in management getting involved. Most of my calls to try to go over my negotiators head result in being dropped into dead end voicemail boxes, or I am given inaccurate email addresses so I am not able to follow through. Nice!
Eventually I am able to stir some action and am promised a final letter and wire instructions so we can close....but delays continue. Wiith the amount of taxes and HOA fees that have accrued since I've been ignored, meeting the net has become a challenge again. Again sacrifices are made by all parties. The last two days prior to closing I make at least 30 calls to M&T to move them to action. Generally I am sweet as pie with my negotiators, but some days only the WITCH in me can get it done. These two days certainly qualify.
I finally secure an APPROVAL LETTER. We closed yesterday. My seller can breathe a sigh of relief and move on with her life. A first timer gets her first home. I move on to all the other shorts sitting on my desk and breathe my own sigh of relief that only one of the others is an FHA...whewww!
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