Freddy is not in this story. He could be. This is a story about myself, a short sale expert. I have closed on many short sales. it takes an effort but most banks if you do your job will work with you on getting a short sale closed. Now comes the story of the Nightmare on Bank of America Street.
Last May I took a short sale on a townhouse in Chaska, MN. The prices have crashed in that community. Not until December did we get an offer that we sent to Bank of America. I talked twice a week with their short sale department and the file moved along. Come March we still had not been assigned a negotiator. We kept the buyer induced in a coma so they would stay patient. Three times the short sale department said they had excel orated the loan. Please do not ask me what that means. In my world, it means they tried to keep me happy. Now the buyer is waking up from the coma and threatening to pull back on the offer. I get a bit pushy with Bank of America. They suggest I put it into their Equator system. This is an electronic system that is suppose to move the process along. Using this system is assuming all Realtors have an IT degree. Still no movement on the part of the Bank of America. I get a call from a person living in the townhouse that says s sheriff stopped by and told him he had to move out by April 6th because the house was in foreclosure. That was news to the owner. A two hour phone call to all different departments at Bank of America (by the way their music when one is on hold is terrible) proved to me the bank did not know what has happed to this property. I speak to an attorney that handles foreclosures for the bank and he said the property has been foreclosed. I go back to the executive office of the V.P of the bank and they say they don't know. Now I am taking aspirin. They promise to review the file. I get an email saying they can do nothing. The owner is fried and he starts the conversations with the bank. They say they will review it once again. Meanwhile I have taken the selling agent and her clients to a bar and have left them there with an open tab until Bank of America knows what is up. Yesterday they told me to send them all documents concerning this property. I suggested they go into Equator as all the docs are there. This department said they did not know how to use Equator. Naturally, why would they. I asked them to contact the short sale department as they have all the documents. They said just send via fax as they don't talk to the short sale department. They had already proved that point to me. I did fax them the documents. In 72 hours I am to hear something. I have no idea how the bank measures 72 hours!
I have contacted the National Association of Realtors, my two Senators, and have broadcasted this on social networking as I feel this is a nightmare no one should have to go through. The seller has his credit ruined all because he does not have a job and can't pay the mortgage. The buyer and the agent are out a property that they waited since December to close on. The community where this property is located has lost value and real estate taxes due to the actions of the bank. I the listing agent has lost countless hours where I could have been making money and have not gotten so many gray hairs. Who do I send my hair coloring bill to?
Try to convince me that the government and the banks who once used tax payers money to right themselves, are making the real estate market whole. Talk to me for ten minutes and I can tell you how to make it okay fast. That will be another blog.
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