Why Would an Agent Sell Short Sales?

You might be one of those people who could not in a million years fathom why a Sacramento short sale agent would want to specialize in short sales. There are days I ask myself that question. And there is nobody to talk to about it. My husband doesn’t want to hear it. He doesn’t want to hear it any more than my other types of complaints such as why can’t I buy pieces from the new Eileen Fisher Resort Collection at the Eileen Fisher website? Why can’t other department stores such as Macy’s, for example, sell Eileen Fisher online?

Here you have a designer with her own website and she doesn’t sell all of her designs on her own website. Not only that, but you cannot buy those designs on any other website. It’s like a big secret. They send out a catalog but consumers can’t buy featured items. How sneaky is that? What you have to do is call Eileen Fisher to find out which department stores near you carry which particular garments, and then call those stores to order. You would think it would be difficult for Eileen Fisher to increase her sales volume in that manner because, let’s face it, it’s kinda nuts.

But I accept that because I sell short sales, I guess. I am surrounded by insanity. I seem to function well in that kind of environment, which is kind of scary when you think about it, not to mention, it makes me want to go screaming into the street. Yet, I seek out that kind of frustration through the very act of accepting short sale assignments and listings.

For instance, I am well aware of the torture of a Bank of America FHA Short Sale. Still, I continue to list and sell them. I can’t stop. I know I shouldn’t look at a train wreck but I do. Just yesterday a negotiator told me that her QA department would kick out a HUD because it was drawn in accordance with RESPA. Apparently, Bank of America thinks nothing of violating RESPA. It routinely tries to change the way items are listed on the HUD — and are required by law to be listed on the HUD when the buyer obtains financing. It makes me wonder how does she ever do any FHA short sale for Bank of America when she cannot read a HUD? Does she make the other agents she deals with so frustrated that they end up breaking the law just to stuff a sock in her? How does she keep her job?

Moreover, where does Bank of America find these people? Do they pull them out of soup lines? Hire them out prison mail rooms? What hideous crime must a person commit to go to work on FHA short sales at Bank of America? Whom do they need to offend to be demoted to the FHA short sale team?

I suppose they could go to work at CCO, but then they would suffer a worse fate because they would have to live in Tennessee. A negotiator at CCO told me yesterday she received permission to look up the sellers’ loan on the Fannie Mae website but it was not listed there. Except that it was. I’ve been telling her for 2 months the seller has a Fannie Mae loan and, as such, Fannie Mae will not authorize a payment above $6,000 to the second lender. I sent the negotiator the preapproval letter from Fannie Mae on Fannie Mae letterhead, but that was not good enough. Finally, I downloaded a screen capture of Fannie Mae’s Loan Look Up website that showed the seller’s name and address to prove that it was indeed a Fannie Mae loan. I turned the screen capture into a PDF and sent it to CCO. The approval letter appeared like magic moments later.

See, that’s how I do it. Eventually things work out. Eventually they see the light. It doesn’t mean they will change. I’m not looking for anybody to change. I just want that short sale approved. My sellers are counting on this Sacramento short sale agent to be successful for them. I am not about to let them down.