Do the lender’s act in the best interest of their clients?

Servicing Agencies or Lenders are put in place to make decisions that are in the best interest of both the investor and the homeowner. This came as a surprise to me that they are to act on the best behalf of both, sort of like a Dual Agency, yet fail in so many ways to act in fiduciary way to both parties. Surprised?

I find many blogs and post interesting that state that the servicers have allowed a property to go into foreclosure based on the issue of political battles between banks and their losses. More interesting is the banks idea of punishing a homeowner and trying to bring the idea that responsibility is met by making the homeowner carry a personal note if it is going to be released from the property to accommodate the short sale.

All too often these stories proliferate the internet in chat groups or blogs and it is with a concerted effort to challenge this process by bringing forth the Truth in Lending Practices.  And no, I am not talking about the TIL that is required by brokers and Lenders alike to disclose the APR, but about the true principles that are not being upheld in short sale transactions.

Yes, we as Real Estate professionals understand that banks are taking a loss but we also know they are taking advantage of the system and trying to place undo hardships on people not deserving of this treatment.

Wait just a minute – did I not just see on the news today (11-19-09)  that the Banks took the TARP money (Our Tax Money) and invested it not back into the community for small business loans or home loans, but  put it in very risky investment portfolios at essentially 0% risk to them, made good money…hmmmm, – look at the reports- – but if it had tanked, it would have been our money lost- yet their bonuses continue to increase.  Do we feel sorry for the banks?

How does bank state responsibility is to be learned by somebody losing their job?  This is just pure spite and taking advantage of the system.  They are not helping the investor by giving them the short end of the deal by going to foreclosure and avoiding the short sale, because there is more loss than gain in most cases related to a foreclosure.  Ok, NOT ALL!

What can we do?  We talk about the problems but rarely offer any solutions!

One is to educate one another on the true principles and duties servicers have committed to doing.

Two is to take action.  In earlier post, we discuss some legal approaches.  Feel free to add your thoughts and experiences.

Three is to get paid for what we are worth as true professionals.

Written by Allen Cofield, Real Estate Broker
Irvine, CA

Tips For Short Sales with Bank of America or Countrywide

Short Sales with Bank of America or Countrywide can be a very long and tedious process and there is no one way that is going to accomplish the task any quicker as I found in my personal dealings.  Just to get the file assigned to the first negotiator, is a lengthy process. 

When it was just Countrywide the right never knew what the left was doing and if you called into the general customer service area to check status on your file, they would state that the file has never been received for review in the short sale department, yet you just talked with the Short Sale Department yesterday about the file. 

Tip #1: Make sure you have dialed into the right department and if you have not been directed there, ask for the Short Sale department.  It will save you time.

Tip #2: Once a negotiator is assigned to your case file, get their full name.  9 times out of 10, that will be their email address.  Get your required documents in by standard fax, but also scan into a PDF, and email it to your negotiator so you know they got it.

Tip #3: Be nice to the people that are on the other end, even though you feel like ripping their head off!  It will go much further for you.  Customer service skills are something we must all work at in times of frustrations.

Tip #4: As different negotiators are assigned, make sure you contact each of them by email and let them know the serverity of the hardship.  Sometimes negotiator #2 or #3 never read that hardship letter, so bring it to their focus.

If you have any further suggestions that might help out our Realtor Community, please share your thoughts with this post.  I hope that I have offered some information that has helped me in my short sale negotiations.

Did you know that many banks are breaking the law in short sales?

Banks are breaking the law in short sales?  Who doesn’t as long as they can get away with it? Do you speed on the highway, I do, don’t tell the cops.

If you havent dealt with Short Sales then you wouldn’t know what it means to have a Servicer tell you that the offer has to be approved by lender.  Having an attorney will clear some confusion up about what is not suppose to be done and is being done by these lenders.

In most states, there is a pooling and Servicing Agreement between the homeowner, the Lender, and the Servicer.  It states the following “the Servicer shall have the full power and authority — to do or cause to be done any and all things in connection with such servicing and administration which it may deem necessary or desirable.”

Having said this, this agreement is useless unless it is enforced.  Who is enforcing it?  Come on Realtors, we need to take some legal action so that Short Sales can be processed with a defined path, and not a bunch of BS we go through.

Homeowners, I do short sales in Orange County California and I will help any homeowner who is thinking of doing a short sale in this area.  Did you know that if your agent is not allowing you to consult with an attorney to review your options before signing the contract, that your agent is in breech of his/her fidiciary duty to you?

Contact me if you are in Southern California and your Property is in Southern California so that I can set you up with a FREE consultation with an attorney to discuss your options.  Why should you have a hit to your credit report if the bank caused you harm within your loan documents you signed in the first place?

I’m not kidding you, if you want the least amount of impact to your credit, you should seek a FREE forensic audit to seek out your options by calling me now at 949.836.7225.

Homeowners should seek legal advice on Short Sale Options

 

Homeowners should seek an attorney advice on the direction they choose with Short Sale. Why? As agents, we have a fidiciuary duty to the homeowner to follow the contract that we make with you. The Short Sale Addendum in CA specifically states that it is advised for you to seek legal council for your options.

If we have you sign on the first time we meet, we have breeched our contract with you in not letting you seek after legal advice and not bringing that point to your attention.

I have an attorney now that is open to a free initial consultation to review your loan documents.

Did you know that a violation in the loan documents is found 8 out of 10 times? Why do lenders break the law and hold you accountable, affecting your credit?

This is another area being addressed by this attorney and will cost you absolutely no money out of pocket.

Not all cases are the same, but one example this attorney completed was an transaction that released the homeowner from any future obligation to the loan, enabled the short sale, required the lender to remove all negative things on the borrower’s credit report, allowed a family member realtor to double end the deal at 6%, and got the homeowner $5,000.00 in their pocket when they walked away from the sale. The attorney could have got them more money but the the homeowner just wanted to be done and said to close the case.