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        <title>Minna Reid's Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america/</link>
        <description>The Blog of Minna Reid, CT Realtor, short sale specialist. All about real estate and short sales in Connecticut from Minna Reid - CT's #1 Short Sale Realtor.</description>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-ct-nationstar-and-bank-of-america-short-sale-success.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-ct-nationstar-and-bank-of-america-short-sale-success.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>A CT Nationstar and Bank of America short sale success</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
The rising costs of living and long daily commute left these CT homeowners tired and scraping change to make ends meet until they decided they had enough. Realizing they would likely never pay their way out of the upside down home they decided to cut their losses and short sell their home to move closer to work.


Originally a Bank of America first and second mortgage, the week we listed the home the first loan got sold to Nationstar, making the process a little more complex than originally anticipated.


It took two months to find a buyer for this home in the dead of winter. A short sale package headed to the lender. Nationstar is hit or miss. They have been known to be on the ball and approve in a few short weeks, and I have also seen the opposite with this unpredictable lender. It took almost 3 months to get Nationstar to approve the sale and even then Nationstar demanded a cash contribution from my sellers. With a little negotiation we got the contribution down to a manageable $1,500 and the first was approved with full debt settlement.


Bank of America - usually a breeze - dragged for weeks further as the negotiator proved difficult and unresponsive. Bank of America finally approved the short sale on the second mortgage - also with full debt forgiveness - with barely a few weeks left on our short sale approval letter from the first.


The buyers moved quickly and shortly thereafter this Nationstar/Bank of America short sale closed.


OWED: $215,000 (Nationstar 1st Mortgage $170,000 + Bank of America 2nd mortgage - $45,000)


APPROVED AND CLOSED WITH FULL DEBT FORGIVENESS: $115,000 with seller contributing $1,500


TOTAL TIMEFRAME LIST TO CLOSE: 6 months


 


 
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            <pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 15:31:24 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/another-bank-of-america-short-sale-success-in-connecticut.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/another-bank-of-america-short-sale-success-in-connecticut.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>Another Bank of America short sale success in Connecticut!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Although Bank of America is generally pretty easy and quick in their short sale processing as of late - there are always exceptions.


The property was well priced and agressively marketed and went under contract in just over 8 weeks. A full short sale package headed to Bank of America, where negotiators fumbled around with the file for several weeks - insisting my seller go HAFA even though he did not qualify for the program. My client was eventually able to pull out of HAFA and go with a traditional short sale.


It took another few months and two negotiators for Bank of America to reach a state of decision on the file. The property was considered an investment property and the loan had private mortgage insurance (PMI). This particular PMI company had just been shut down and taken over by state regulators...which proved to be very bad timing for my seller as the MI company demanded a very large note in order to approve the short sale. Several more weeks passed as we fought the contribution request and at the end of the day agreement was reached on terms.


A month later this Bank of America short sale closed.


OWED: $550,000


APPROVED AND CLOSED WITH FULL DEBT FORGIVENESS: $340,000, with seller agreeing to $50,000 promissory note


TOTAL TIME FRAME LIST TO CLOSE: 7 excruciating months


 
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            <pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:40:06 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-connecticut-bank-of-america-short-sale-approved-and-closed.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-connecticut-bank-of-america-short-sale-approved-and-closed.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>A Connecticut Bank of America short sale  - approved and closed!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Bank of America is really on the ball lately with getting short sales approved rather painlessly ( for the most part anyway...) .


I originally listed the Mansfield, CT home after a fellow Realtor referred her foreclosing client to me. The property went on the market...and stagnated. The owner was reluctant to reduce the price of the property aggressively and as a result it took 4 solid months of marketing and 5 price reductions to finally secure a buyer.


It took Bank of America about 6 weeks to counter the purchase and ultimately the sale fell apart over a difference iof $2,500. We ended up back on market again.


A month later the buyer had second thoughts and agreed to up his offer by the required $2,500. Bank of America took just a few weeks to approve the sale. A few judgement liens were sorted out and a few weeks later the Bank of America short sale closed with full debt forgiveness for my seller.


 


 
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:10:46 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-few-suggestions-for-bank-of-america.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-few-suggestions-for-bank-of-america.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>A few suggestions for Bank of America</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
I’ve noticed no matter what real estate website I’m on – Bank of America is advertising there…I also cringe everytime I’m in the car and I hear a random story on the radio involving something like “Bank of America pavilion”…or BofA this or that…


Bank of America- since you clearly have the funds to advertise no matter where I look, I think some of that money should be diverted to loss mitigation – specifically your short sale department.


How about:


Customer service reps that have a clue, or if they don’t know, will pass on the call to someone who does instead of giving my clients the runaround?


Paying for real appraisals? You know that BPO’s on listed property in CT are illegal right? I’ve told you several times and perhaps you follow that kind of thing? Like state laws…seems like you should know. Just pay for a real appraisal in a short sale.


Moving FHA and VA to Equator? Why is this a manual process still? Other lenders have moved those to Equator – why can’t you? Why does BofA FHA need to take 6 months for approval still?


Training your people to process HAFA in house? Your outsourced vendors are a joke. Does HAFA need to take 15 months? Really? Why can Nationstar do that in 1 month? (Their people can process HAFA in-house)


Please, BofA…You can advertise all you want for new business…but maybe cleaning up loss mit can save a few bucks too?
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:29:38 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-fha-short-sale-success-after-6-long-months.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-fha-short-sale-success-after-6-long-months.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>Bank of America FHA short sale success after 6 long months</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
A happy ending to a long story….BUT….what I don’t quite understand is why Wells Fargo and GMAC can process their FHA short sales through Equator (a fast and efficient online platform), yet Bank of America still requires all FHA short sales to be processed  manually.


A regular Bank of America short sale processed through Equator will generally take about 3-6 weeks….BUT this FHA MANUALLY PROCESSED short sale with Bank of America took a whopping 6 months to make it through the system.


Why BofA? It doesn’t need to be this way. 


There wasn’t even any good reason the short sale took 6 months to get approved…forcing sellers through endless qualifying, repeatedly losing paperwork and unresponsive negotiators are the only reasons this short sale took as long as it did. Thankfully after 6 very long months there was light at the end of this long tunnel and the short sale actually CLOSED.


OWED:Bank of America First Mortgage: $620,000, NFCU Second Mortgage: $40,000


APPROVED AND CLOSED:  $502,000


TIMEFRAME: 6 excruciatingly painful months


TIME TO PICK UP THE SPEED BofA!
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:28:34 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-short-sale-approved-in-just-3-weeks.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-short-sale-approved-in-just-3-weeks.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>Bank of America short sale approved in just 3 weeks!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
If there is a single short sale that I enjoy lately it’s a Bank of America Fannie Mae owned loan.  This is quite possibly the single most predictable servicer/investor combination and one I am more than happy to take on.  Most Bank of America short sales will go through their Equator system, including all their Fannie Mae owned loans.


Many of my clients are in the middle of a divorce leading to the unavoidable short sale of their home, as was the case here. My client was anticipating a long troublesome journey through the short sale process and was quite elated when his short sale proved to be quick and painless.


Within 5 weeks on market we secured a buyer for the home…and after submitting the package to Bank of America – a short sale approval letter with full debt forgiveness and a deficiency waiver was produced just 3 short weeks later.  Less than 5 weeks later this Vernon, CT Bank of America short sale closed.


TOTAL TIMEFRAME FROM LIST TO CLOSE: 3 MONTHS


OWED: $220,000


SETTLED IN FULL: $130,000
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:03:37 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-ct-bank-of-america-cooperative-short-sale-success.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/a-ct-bank-of-america-cooperative-short-sale-success.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>A CT Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale Success</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
A CT Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale Success


I originally heard of BofA’s Cooperative Short Sale Program over a year ago. Promises of quick approvals and cash incentives went in one ear and out the other. It seems Bank of America has lots of plans that never materialize.


Over the last year I have had dealt with numerous Bank of America short sales, yet not one of their “cooperative short sales” so I assumed it was a fly by night idea that never really got off the ground.


Then I finally ran into one. My East Haddam, CT client had been attempting to short sale for several years unsuccessully when he called me. We put the property on market. As usual we found a buyer and went under contract rather quickly, but then the waiting began.


Usually Equator is a breeze but in this case the file sat…for months in fact…and no one was able to give us any answers. Eventually we were told the file had been outsourced to REDC Default Solutions, LLC. Apparently, this company must process cooperative short sales for BofA.


2.5 months after submitted a complete short sale package, REDC decided to take action. From there the file moved quickly. A short series of counters on Equator followed, the sale was quickly approved, and we closed a few weeks later with full debt forgiveness and Bank of America even insisting on giving the seller a $3,000 incentive for completing the short sale.
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:10:29 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/cleaning-up-the-last-agents-mess-a-bank-of-america-short-sale-tale.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/cleaning-up-the-last-agents-mess-a-bank-of-america-short-sale-tale.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>Cleaning up the last agents mess - a Bank of America short sale tale</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Cleaning up the last agents mess - a Bank of America short sale tale


When I first met my client she had a current listing with another agent. Priced at just what was needed to get out of the loan, the Glastonbury, CT house had sat on the market for 6 months for $80,000+ over market value. The previous agent had refused to do a short sale as she didn't understand them and- TO MY INCREDIBLE SURPRISE - had still taken a $5,000 retainer on the listing despite knowing she was incapable of handling the transaction!!!!


Realizing very quickly that she was facing an inevitable short sale, my new client still had to waste the next 6 months waiting for the current listing to expire. Thankfully there was no foreclosure date set or the consequences could have been much worse.


UNREAL!!! - IVE SAID IT BEFORE AND ILL SAY IT AGAIN: IT IS CRITICAL TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT REALTOR FOR YOUR SHORT SALE!


 IF YOU SEE ANY OF THESE SIGNS YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT REALTOR.


Anyway, back to the story... once the previous agent was out of the picture and my clients $5,000 had been returned, I took over the listing and immediately corrected the price of the property. Less than 30 days and multiple offers later a strong buyer was secured.


Although EQUATOR processed Bank of America short sales are generally pretty quick and easy, this particular short sale was rather complicated as my client was current at the time and had significant income and great credit.


Despite these pressing issues that led to a several weeks long negotiaton period, eventually a settlement was reached. My client did end up with a cash contribution into the short sale, albeit for pennies on the dollar amount of the forgiven debt. Bank of America issued another FULL DEBT FORGIVENESS APPROVAL and a few weeks later we closed.


TO ALL THE AGENTS THAT TAKE ON SHORT SALES THEY ARE NOT TRULY CAPABLE OF HANDLING: YOUR CLIENTS FINANCIAL FUTURE RESTS ON YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE. WHEN IN DOUBT, JUST REFER IT OUT!
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:36:21 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/hafa-to-the-rescue-a-15-month-hafa-story-with-no-end-in-sight.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/hafa-to-the-rescue-a-15-month-hafa-story-with-no-end-in-sight.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>HAFA TO THE RESCUE? A 15 month HAFA story with no end in sight.</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
July, 2010 I took a new Connecticut short sale listing. This was a Fannie Mae Bank of America loan. Fannie Mae had just gotten on board with HAFA and my new clients wanted to go with the program.


HAFA was supposed to be governments solution to “streamlining ” and “simplifying” the short sale process.


A summary of the last 15 months:


July 2010 –  I met with my new clients and their property went on market


October 2010  - After about 6 weeks  Bank of America finally acknowledged our requests and a  HAFA short sale file was opened.


December 2010 – A HAFA approval letter arrived with a GROSSLY EXAGGERATED valuation of the property that could NEVER be reached. We started the value dispute process.


April 2010 – After 5 months of efforts to get a revision on the HAFA approval and getting nowhere, the clients finally decided to give up on the short sale and pursue their  deed in lieu option. I took the property off market.


November 2011 – Despite the fact that I no longer have this property listed, the file is in my Equator queue. As of today November 9 , 2011 – 15 months later - the file is STILL BEING REVIEWED FOR THE DEED IN LIEU.


Maybe in 2012 my former clients can look forward to seeing the end of their HAFA Processing?


HOWS THAT FOR A STREAMLINE SOLUTION???
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:17:27 -0600</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-relentlessly-pushes-a-completely-unfitting-loan-modification-and-fails-a-short-sale-.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.homesbyminna.com/blog/bank-of-america-relentlessly-pushes-a-completely-unfitting-loan-modification-and-fails-a-short-sale-.html</link>
            <author>minnareid@gmail.com (Minna Reid)</author>
            <title>Bank of America RELENTLESSLY pushes a completely unfitting loan modification and FAILS – A SHORT SALE SUCCESS STORY</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Back in May – I listed a new CT short sale for sale -  a single lien Bank of America FHA loan. Within days we secured a very strong buyer and a complete short sale package headed to the lender.


After reviewing the sellers documentation, Bank of America immediately refused to process for a short sale as they determined the sellers should be in a loan modification instead.


HUH? The seller is RELOCATING FOR EMPLOYMENT. Relocation and loan modification don’t belong in the same sentence.


The package was resubmitted with a very clear explanation for why a loan modification would not be the answer to my relocating sellers problems. We were promised this would go straight to short sale and my sellers would not be harassed for a loan mod.


WRONG!!! What followed were daily calls to my seller for WEEKS with pushes for a loan mod, which did not relent despite my sellers repeated requests to not be contacted for a loan mod. I am surprised they didn’t show up at her door, as this has happened to other clients. They did though:






Send her a package for the loan modification she had “agreed to”..NOT TRUE






Go so far as to tell my seller that her request for a short sale could only be processed AFTER SHE HAD BEEN APPROVED FOR A LOAN MODIFICATION – ANOTHER COMPLETE LIE.






It took WEEKS before Bank of America finally agreed to give up their loan modification quest.


It only took a few short weeks thereafter for her short sale to be approved…and a few more for her SHORT SALE TO CLOSE.


Thank you Bank of America for wasting a bunch of everyones time on your failed efforts to push a loan mod down my clients throat. Why do you do this? Not quite sure but here's an idea.


Just say no when a loan mod ain’t right! But say it LOUD AND CLEAR if Bank of America is on the other side of the line!
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:13:24 -0600</pubDate>
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