Realtors nationwide are working triple time trying to get short sales closed. The short sale as we have all come to learn is when the bank takes less than what the homeowner owes as a payoff on the mortgage when they sell the house. This is better for the banks than a foreclosure for a few reasons. It saves on legal fees, it saves time, the homeowner usually maintains the house so there is no need for repairs and they never have to become property managers. Everyone knows a short sale is a better option for all than a foreclosure.
If the banks know that, and they do, then why are they so difficult to deal with. I have heard they are overwhelmed with the number of short sales, they are under staffed, under paid, but the fact is the talent in the banks has left or been terminated for $ 10.00 and hour paper pushers that couldn’t make a decision if they had a loaded gun pointed at their heads.
They need to take some of the money the government has thrown at them and devise a system and hire enough people at a decent wage to get this train moving. Instead of the bank taking 10 minutes to order a BPO and coming up with a price when they are notified of a short sale situation, they tell the Realtors to list the property and bring them an offer. Then the Realtor consults with the seller, tries to predict what the bank will take, spend time and money marketing and showing the property, they get an offer and send it in to the bank.
Does the bank immediately order the BPO and get back to the Realtor with a price? No, now they begin the torture. After you spend countless hours on hold to be told that they are not the right person to speak to and keep calling back and wind up faxing the same documents 4-5 times, then you wait. Not days, not weeks, usually months, MONTHS, to get an answer back from the bank.
By that time the buyer is so disgusted they have either moved on to something else or have just decided they don’t want to buy anymore. Then you are back to square one. When the one out of 10 times the bank is a little more timely or the buyer actually sticks it out, then the bank gets penny wise and dollar foolish about what they “allow.” Or now at the end of the game what “their policies” are.
No one else’s policies matter, not the title company, the Realtor, or the buyer. Now they want everyone else involved in the deal to pay for their screw up. They tell the Realtor to take 20-40% less in commission for three times the work, to help them make up for their screw up.
The system is horrendous and needs to be changed or the mess the banks have created will just get worse and the market will be flooded with foreclosures and the price will again rapidly drop.
If anyone reads this that works in a bank in this capacity, I would love to hear from you. If you need more info about short sales just visit our website at www.exitrealtypalmbeach.com or write me at vdefrisco@exitrealtypalmbeach.com .