Email ElizabethWhy Not Hire a Top Sacramento Real Estate Agent?
Wouldn’t you like to go away on vacation and come home to find your home has sold for many thousands of dollars over market value? You don’t have to put up with buyers traipsing through the house, or agents calling for an appointment at all hours. No time consuming open houses. Nope, you just pack your bags, enjoy your vacation and maybe once a day, if you feel like it, check email to tally the latest offer that arrived in your inbox. You can kick back, relax, and let your Sacramento real estate agent do all of the work.
In fact, you might have been able to hire another agent in Sacramento for a little bit less, but why? Commissions are negotiable. Why would you do it, though? Why would you give up all of that extra money just to save a few bucks on the commission? That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It’s like driving down the street and throwing money out of the window. It’s being penny-wise but pound foolish. Yet, some Sacramento home sellers don’t know any better. They tend to think that all real estate agents are the same, and homes sell themselves by sticking a sign in the yard. Little could be further from the truth.
Last week we had 68 showings and 14 offers for a home in Elk Grove! The home sold while the sellers were on vacation. I had met with the sellers to discuss strategy, marketing and home staging months before we went on the market. I have a certain way I do things because I have found that over 35-some years in the real estate business that my way of doing things works. It’s why I am successful. I constantly strive to improve my performance. Money matters. It matters to my sellers. Immensely.
If money matters to you as well, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. Experience doesn’t cost you. Experience pays off. Because you deserve a top-notch Sacramento real estate agent. Don’t you?
Why the Seller Didn’t Take Your Purchase Offer
Don’t give sellers a reason to reject your purchase offer. Not in a seller’s market like our present real estate market in Sacramento. Don’t give them one little reason. The thing that buyers don’t realize is when a listing agent is reviewing offers with the sellers, they are probably looking for a reason to reject. They are not looking for a reason to accept. That’s because most homes right now are attracting multiple buyers.
If you’re buying a home in Sacramento, you want to make your offer stand out but not in a bad way. You don’t want your purchase offer to be the only offer, for example, that asks the seller to give you the refrigerator. A smart buyer makes no demands on a seller. A smart buyer makes the offer easy for the seller to accept. This is not the time to ask the seller to pay for a home warranty or to demand that the seller in a Sacramento short sale, for instance, not send any other offers to the bank.
Realize that a Sacramento home buyer is not in a position to make demands today. Don’t stand out like a sore thumb.
For one thing, I don’t know of a single Sacramento short sale agent who would send more than one offer to the bank. It’s just not protocol. The only reason to ever do that is if the initial offer is too low. As long as a buyer’s offer is sufficient and would be acceptable to the short sale bank, only a short sale agent with sadistic tendencies would advise a seller to send more than one offer to the bank. It’s unwise to insert any clause apart from the norm that would make your purchase offer stand out in a negative way.
I promise you that if you offend the seller, your offer won’t stand a chance in a blue moon. If you’re not getting offers accepted, there might be a burr wedged in your offer somewhere.
25 HUDs to Close a Bank of America HAFA Short Sale
I will forever recall this short sale as the deal that demanded 25 HUDs to close a Bank of America HAFA short sale. I am only half joking with clients when they ask me about a Bank of America HAFA short sale. I say: “You would rather poke out your eyes.” Like with any short sale, there is truth in the pain. The pain, I tell sellers, is simply an accurate description of the agony that other Bank of America HAFA short sale sellers have shared with me, which I freely pass along to them. I don’t discourage a HAFA short sale for these Bank of America customers, but I want to prepare them for what lies ahead. As a Sacramento short sale agent — I share my experiences, good or bad — full strength, I don’t dilute.
We closed a Bank of America HAFA short sale yesterday that started in August of 2011. We were bright-eyed and bushy tailed back then. Our HAFA package was completed on that warm August day when we initially signed the listing paperwork. We started the transaction with UTLS, which later changed to AMO, which was then transferred to AMS, and I’m not sure who we were talking to when it closed, but it might have been REDC. I lost track. It was no longer important to count the third-party vendors as it was to the count the number of HUDs we supplied to them.
I tweeted the Bank of America social media team. I contacted the Executive Office. We escalated the file. It did not stop the demand for a revised HUD — eventually 25 HUDs in all. First they wanted THIS on the HUD. Then they demanded THAT. We gave them THIS and THAT but they wanted THIS NEW THING. After they got THIS NEW THING, they wanted THIS again. We supplied THIS and they asked for WHATEVER. We gave them WHATEVER and they went back to THIS and THAT.
I’m not making this up. That’s the hilarious thing about a Bank of America HAFA short sale — you don’t have to make up anything to induce tears from your shrieks of laughter. You start to wonder if the bank is just messing with you or if it is really that inept. A client told me yesterday it’s definitely ineptness after I relayed this story. He showed me a letter he received from Bank of America. It said his loan was paid in full. It was an explanation of why the bank returned his August payment. Because his loan was paid in full. Except his loan is in default, and we’re about to open a short sale file. Needless to say, his short sale will not be a Bank of America HAFA short sale.
But the 25 HUD short sale that closed yesterday was not my longest Bank of America HAFA short sale. This lasted a short 14 months. Of course, when we finally received the short sale approval letter, the buyer who had patiently waited all of this time decided to cancel. That is not completely unexpected. We put the home back on the market and immediately received a ton of offers — some as much as $20,000 over the original buyer’s offer. I asked the buyer’s agent: Is the buyer dumber than a bag of nails?
The 28th of September came and went. Our short sale approval letter expired. Finally, the original buyer came to his senses and elected to close escrow. We received an extension, submitted at least 3 final HUDs and closed on October 5th. Which was good because Monday is a holiday and the auction is scheduled for Tuesday. The seller is very relieved that this short sale rollercoaster ride is over, bruised, but no broken bones.
Representing Two Buyers for Land Park Homes
Representing two buyers for the same Land Park home doesn’t happen very often. But in our crazy Sacramento real estate market, it’s possible. Yup, an agent can represent more than one buyer to buy the same home. Especially with limited inventory. Our California Association of REALTORs team of lawyers have even designed a form for this called a DA — Disclosure and Consent for Representation of More than One Buyer or Seller. It lets an agent engage in dual agency, too, as well as disclose the terms and conditions of an offer (without a confidentiality agreement). When I read that document, I no longer wonder why the public has problems with trust issues concerning real estate agents.
Can you imagine a lawyer representing two different clients who were competing with each other? I work with a lot of lawyers. I’m not sure why lawyers tend to gravitate toward me but I like to imagine we speak a similar language; we probably approach the same subject matters in an analytical way. They know I will be direct. I suspect they appreciate that directness as not every person does.
There are some Sacramento real estate agents who won’t work with lawyers. They flat out refuse. They call lawyers “deal killers,” and maybe they’re worried a lawyer will sue them; I don’t know. The way I see it, I’m least likely to get sued by a lawyer, knock on wood. And I really love the fact I get to tell them that I can’t give legal advice. Especially when they ask me for legal advice. But I also realize that lawyers specialize in certain types of law and not every lawyer knows much about real estate, much less short sales. But they do understand strategy. I respect lawyers, and I like them. I wish all my clients were lawyers. That would be a happy day for me.
I recall a few years ago I was working with several lawyers to buy homes in Land Park. This was back when law firms were flourishing and hiring new lawyers, bringing new talent to Sacramento. As luck would have it, both of these lawyers decided they might be interested in buying the same home. Let’s just say I was not about to whip out the DA form. Instead, I explained the problem to both of them individually.
I suggested one of them could choose to work with me and the other could choose to work with a different buyer’s agent. However, as I reminded them, the lawyer who drew the short end of the stick would be competing against me in negotiations. Which Land Park agent did they want to represent them? This Land Park agent or my associate? Put that way, one of the lawyers decided to look at a different home and keep me as their agent. The other lawyer bought the home through me.
Not every agent employs this approach. In fact, not every agent who represents more than one buyer for the same property even uses the DA form. I received this week two different offers on the same listing from an agent, and no DA form with either offer. The second offer was much better than the first offer. Coincidinky? We just don’t know.
Bank of America Fannie Mae Cooperative Short Sale
Why would Bank of America issue a denial for your Fannie Mae Cooperative Short Sale? It might astonish you to learn that not every Bank of America loan will qualify for the Cooperative Short Sale process simply because your home is underwater and the investor is Fannie Mae. Moreover, at any time in the short sale process, even if you’ve signed a Borrower Acknowledgement of Interest, Bank of America can still yank out that rug from under you. As a Sacramento short sale agent, you would not believe the things I witness first hand. But then, I close a lot of Bank of America Cooperative Short Sales in Sacramento. Sooner or later, I’m bound to see a lot of crap.
Just last week, I accepted a counter offer in Equator for a Bank of America Fannie Mae Cooperative Short Sale. Typically, this is the point in the short sale when, shortly thereafter, the approval letter arrives. I thought the short sale was finished and we were about to close. Nope, next thing I discovered Bank of America denied the Cooperative because, low and behold, Fannie Mae released Bank of America as a servicer. Now, Fannie Mae has supported Cooperative Short Sales at Bank of America in the past. This was an odd move, from where I sit. So, since Bank of America was no longer the servicer, the short sale will have to start over through the new servicer, which is no stranger to short sales, Seterus. Don’t even get me started on Seterus. That’s another blog.
In another Fannie Mae Cooperative Short Sale, we have a problem with the second lender, which won’t back down to Fannie Mae’s demands. This is another file in which Fannie Mae is about to release Bank of America as the servicer and hand over the file to somebody else. Why is Fannie Mae dumping these Bank of America files? One would think that files in the middle of a short sale would receive some kind of priority. In any case, this is one reason your Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale could be denied — because Bank of America is no longer the servicer.
It’s just been the last 30 days in which I’ve noticed a change in the Fannie Mae Cooperative Short Sales at Bank of America. Generally, Fannie Mae will authorize a higher payment for the relocation incentive than a traditional Cooperative Short Sale, which is $3,000 vs $2,500. Then, if you get the HIN Incentive, that could bump up the cash payment tremendously. I have some clients who qualify for both incentives and are getting paid $15,000 or so.
On the other hand, the other GSE, Freddie Mac, does not participate in Bank of America’s Cooperative Short Sale. You would think whatever guidelines Fannie Mae comes up with would be followed by Freddie Mac, but it doesn’t always work that way. It doesn’t work that way in a HAFA short sale. A Freddie Mac HAFA short sale is very different from a Fannie Mae HAFA. This means if your loan is held by Freddie Mac and serviced through Bank of America, you cannot qualify for a Cooperative Short Sale.
I discovered an Elk Grove short sale would not qualify for a Cooperative as well because the investor was Aurora. The homeowner thought that Bank of America was the investor. Morever, Aurora says it has a policy that if the homeowner has filed for bankruptcy and completed a bankruptcy, it won’t let the homeowners participate in HAFA. The devil is in the details. The devil is always in the details, which is why it’s a good idea to hire a Sacramento short sale agent with experience. Why take a chance on a denial letter for your short sale?
And be careful if you’re trying to pursue a Cooperative Short Sale through Bank of America in which Fannie Mae is the investor. Although, this is only a few short sales in which Fannie Mae has released Bank of America as the servicer, it could be the initiation of a new policy. Even scarier is the fact there is a huge profitable market for buying and / or insuring bad loans. Not much has really changed, you know. But that’s a blog for another day.
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