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Super Bowl Sunday 2014 and Sacramento Open Houses
Home buyers in Sacramento were out in droves over the weekend, attending open houses, touring new listings and writing offers. This was the one weekend in January to do it because we got a break in those football games. Granted, I am not a person who watches football. I am probably in the minority but football doesn’t interest me. Not even if I imagine the team players as short sale negotiators at various banks — oh look, Bank of America just swiped the ball from Green Tree, and Wells Fargo bashed PNC in the head. Nope, still doesn’t do it for me.
Next weekend, of course, will be Super Bowl Sunday 2014, and it’s just not a good weekend for an open house. Oh, sure, there are Super Bowl widows and widowers who will be out and about, but the bulk of Americans will be focused on who will win the Super Bowl. Big Super Bowl parties everywhere except at my house. I’m not even sure who is playing, I think Denver and . . . After we get past this next weekend, it should be clear sailing through spring into summer for Sacramento real estate.
A negotiator at SLS called me this morning to ask when we would record on a short sale scheduled for closing. I told her it would be tomorrow. But what TIME, she persisted, almost in a whiny voice. Well, Sacramento has 5 recording times — it will be one of those, I offered. One of those 5 times. Don’t know which one. She probably would have smacked me if we were sitting across the table from each other.
But then I’d throw a football into her face and break her nose.
Sacramento Real Estate, TMJ and Linda Ronstadt’s Book
If I had to do it over again, I would not have let the dentist yank out 2 upper molars and 2 lower teeth at the same time. This is a person, mind you, who back in her youth had one wisdom tooth at a time extracted, yet, when it comes to implants, I tell them the more the merrier, just rip ’em all out. Hello, TMJ? I share this bit of over-the-top information with my readers so if you are ever in the same boat, and we are all getting older in this life, remember my advice.
Contessa the Ocicat
Yet, I still continue to work because the work is there and my clients count on me. I’m also addicted to real estate, as my husband will attest. Just because I’m staggering around the house like Dr. House, popping Vicodin and kicking little kittens to the wall with my cane, doesn’t mean I’m not hard at work, either. For proof, here is a photo of our new kitten, Tessa. Oblivious to the fact her toothless mom is in agony.
I can’t really concentrate on the agony or feeling sorry for my miserable self when there is so much going on. Despite everything, I managed to sell two homes: a home in Elk Grove and another in the Med Center. I also listed two homes, a condo in Arden Arcade area and a fixer in South Sacramento.
Then, yesterday, a third-party vendor for Bank of America called. I realize they have to read scripts and are reined in so tightly their elbows rub their cubicle desk-mates’, but they don’t have to talk like Lily Tomlin doing Ernestine. Fortunately, I have my iPad next to me in bed, where I was resting my jaw and could look up all of the information requested. The negotiators now call to let agents know that they’ve uploaded a counter offer in Equator. The used to just send an unending series of emails, but now they also call.
The counter offer was missing the payoff to the second. This was not a case of a miraculous second mortgage release. The second was still secured to the property. It also missed authorization for documentary transfer stamps. I could issue a counter to the negotiator’s counter, but see, then I’m labeled a troublemaker and they get irritated. It’s a lot more interesting to simply accept the counter and then point out the mistakes. Think about it. I’m just trying to comply with their wishes. I can’t help their bozo factor.
We now wait for the negotiator to fix the errors on her end so we can move forward. It’s not like this short sale will have its approval delayed because of this tactic because we’ve still got lovely Green Tree to contend with. Green Tree, if it wants to, can take 90 days to approve. I still close many short sales in Sacramento, although the volume of short sales has decreased and the volume of regular sales has increased dramatically this year, yay!
I have also managed to squeeze in some reading. Just finished downloading and reading Linda Ronstadt’s book, Simple Dreams . Simply put, it’s a simple book. If you’re looking for insight into Linda Ronstadt, what she thinks, hopes, her aspirations, opinions, dreams, any specific details from her life, you won’t get it from this book. It’s possible she has nothing to share. I read the book wondering didn’t she ever date anyone? Jerry Brown, for example? There was a photo of them running on the beach.
My husband and I saw Linda Ronstadt perform in January of 2009 at the Mondavi Center in Davis, California. She stopped singing a short 9 months later. Parkinson’s. Even though her book was a disappointment to me, Linda Ronstadt herself is inspirational.
At least I can hang my future on the fact that some morning I will get up and my jaw will no longer ache. My implants will be in place, and I’ll be experiencing chomper bliss. And Sacramento real estate will continue to move on.
Three Sellers Approved for Three Sacramento Short Sales
You know that expression: when it rains, it pours? Often, these little bits of wisdom extracted from life and handed down over the years from generation to generation are based in some kind of truth. Yesterday was one of those days. This Sacramento real estate agent received short sale approval letters on three different short sales in the Sacramento Valley.
As usual, something was wrong with each file. Things are rarely perfect in the business of Sacramento short sales. Agents who expect perfection are those you find hunched over hugging their knees in the corner, rocking back and forth and singing to themselves.
In one file, the lender reduced our commission. This file is a HAFA short sale. Our listing agreement was signed way before the short sale approval agreement arrived. The bank told me that its investor only pays a reduced amount, and that they’ve always handled their HAFA short sales in that manner. They’ve always done it because no other short sale agent challenged the bank — that’s how they get away with it. If they don’t authorize the rightful commission, the Treasury Department won’t pay them; we’ll see how they like that.
The bank can ignore the MHA handbook and the CAR explanation of HAFA rules, but they can’t ignore Laurie Maggiano, the Director of Policy for the U.S. Treasury. They coughed up the commission.
In another file, we need a final court document to close. We’ve been trying to get this court document since October. The case was settled two years ago. The sellers’ lawyer keeps saying it’s coming and she will get it, but it’s not coming and she doesn’t have it. The clerks at the court are taking their sweet time, too. Now that we have the approval letter, the clock is ticking. We might have to call the court every single day until we get the letter. Persistence is my middle name. Hey, I close more Sacramento short sales than any agent I know.
And in the third, Bank of America took so long to get us the HELOC short sale approval letter that we’ve had one short sale approval letter and one extension already from Seterus. Usually, Bank of America is pretty fast. Especially since they use Equator. I am busy today trying to figure out what took them so long with this particular file so we never repeat it again. Seterus refused to issue a third letter until we received the approval from Bank of America, and who can blame them? Not me.
Overall, yesterday was a great day. Three short sale approval letters in one day, and 3 more files headed for closing. Three more Sacramento short sales are over. More happy, happy sellers and buyers!
Equator Glitch Fix for Bank of America Short Sales
With a Bank of America short sale in Equator, the one thing I count on working day-in and day-out doesn’t always work. That one thing is technology. There seems like something always goes wrong with it, but you know what? I am a Sacramento short sale agent, which means I am used to annoyances, frustrations and absurdities — it comes with the territory. Technology is no different. You can’t operate without it, you just need to know what to do when it doesn’t work.
The first place to look is in the mirror. Yup, it could be operator error. The second place to look is at the hardware and connections. Is your computer plugged in? Laugh as you may but that’s what a tech support guy will ask you. Are you connected to the Internet? If none of those things is the problem, then it just might be Equator. Not Equator software itself but the way the bank negotiator set up the file.
Equator has an instant chat button. I love instant chats. It satisfies my need for immediate gratification. A few days ago I was working on uploading the short sale offer for several Bank of America short sales. In the first short sale, whenever I clicked submit, it would erase the buyer’s agent’s name and data. In the second Bank of America short sale, it would not calculate a bottom-line net because the loan field was filled out incorrectly by a Bank of America negotiator.
I connected with the support staff at Equator who explained the problems. Each of the support staff responded expediently and was helpful in explaining what was wrong. But what does that mean to me, to Al Franken, I asked? It meant that Equator needed to contact the negotiator so Bank of America could fix the problem on its end. If I would just wait a few hours, it would be fixed. I’m just so relieved it wasn’t something I did. I have pretty high standards for my own performance. At least I try not to make mistakes twice. Thank you, Equator, for giving us short sale agents Equator Chat!
A Countrywide Short Sale in East Sacramento
I recently closed a double Countrywide Cooperative Short Sale through Bank of America in East Sacramento in which the seller received almost $17,000. He had been recommended to this Sacramento short sale agent by a former client who had insisted that he call me. That’s probably because I handle each of my short sales with focused attention. Because each one is different. See, another agent might have just listed this short sale and sold it without giving the seller any cash. But if there a way I can get my sellers cash without making them totally miserable in the process, I go for it.
This home in East Sacramento was also owned by a lawyer. I handle many short sales for lawyers, and I really enjoy working with lawyers. One of the super fun aspects of working with a lawyer is when I get to say that I cannot give legal advice. That tickles me to no end. At least lawyers understand this concept, though, and they don’t keep grinding me.
The minute I spotted the double Countrywide loans in the public records, I suspected this short sale would make a good candidate for the Cooperative Short Sale program at Bank of America. I don’t know if B of A specifically targets those old Countrywide loans, but if I were Bank of America, I know I’d want to get rid of them. It’s not bad enough that Bank of America is being sued by the Feds for Countrywide’s old HSSL (high speed swim lane) — a loan process of pushing loans forward, allegedly with little regard for accuracy or conformity — but the process had became known as the Countrywide Hustle, a practice carried on after Bank of America took over Countrywide. Bad on so many levels.
Still, we started this short sale in May of this year. A time of year so beautiful in Sacramento that it’s like living in Carmel without the prices of Carmel except, yeah, we don’t have any dogs running on the beach or a beach — just clay soil and skunks in the yard. By August, we finally had our Cooperative Short Sale agreement signed and approved. I don’t put my short sales like this on the market until we get the short sale preapproved. Why drag sellers and buyers through that process? I’ve learned over the years that it’s much better to just wait. After we got the approval, it took B of A another month to come up with the BPO. By mid September, we were ready for the market. Who says a Sacramento short sale agent doesn’t have patience?
However, the good news is once we had everything in place and received an offer, the bank approved the short sale in 3 weeks. Bank of America just zips along when finally in Equator, and receiving the preapproval for the Cooperative Short Sale upfront really speeds up the process. Plus, the seller received almost $17,000, which he wasn’t expecting. He was happy to simply short sale the East Sacramento house and to obtain a release of liability. The cash was simply icing on the cake.
