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An Exception for a Dying Man
I am presently working on a short sale for a seller who is dying from terminal cancer. This short sale seller is trying to get financial affairs in order so his wife is not burdened with more than a broken heart and shattered spirit. After months of negotiation, we are down to the wire. We finally have agreement on terms, conditions and are ready to close between the two short sale lenders. The second lender, CCO through RBS Citizens Bank, says it cannot give a dying man an extra 10 days to close escrow. RBS Citizens Bank says: Merry Christmas and don’t let the casket door hit you.
You might think I am a soft touch who runs around hugging trees and waving the give-my-client-an-exception flag, and you might be partially right, but I am stronger than you might think. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I believe that sometimes rules need to be broken. I don’t always cross the street at the corner — sometimes I jaywalk — but I don’t run through red lights. I am not asking RBS Citizens to do anything against the law, we’re asking to give a dying guy and his family a break and let them close by New Year’s Eve.
The negotiator wants to start over with the short sale. Starting over means a new BPO and all new paperwork. RBS Citizens Bank has been working on this file since July. It took the bank 3 months just to get the first BPO, which was completed in September. The BPO makes no difference in this situation, really, because RBS Citizens Bank is getting the maximum that Fannie Mae will allow. The BPO is just a technicality.
We had this once approved as a Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale, but RBS Citizens Bank fought with us for 5 months. By then, the Cooperative Short Sale had expired. Bank of America refused to renew or extend the Cooperative Short Sale status. That’s why it took us another 2 months to go the traditional route, but we finally got approval from Bank of America . . . and now . . . now RBS Citizens Bank will not give the buyer the extra 10 days the buyer needs to close her loan. RBS says the approval expires on the 20th and they need to start over. By the time they redo the short sale and all of the paperwork, the seller, quite literally, could be dead.
I don’t know about you, but my heart hurts.
Death Qualifies for a Short Sale
I suspect you’ve landed on my blog with the thought she is NOT going to talk about death and a short sale. But you would be incorrect or maybe you just don’t know me very well yet. I’ll talk about anything I darn well feel like on my blog. If you’re not interested in matters surrounding death, all I’ve got to say is you are going to be very surprised one day. That old grim reaper is hanging around and not just around us old people. You can’t escape it. One day you’re laughing and joking with friends, and the next day, bam, somebody is dead.
You just hope it’s not you.
I haven’t seen very many dead people myself. Once, driving along the Biz 80 freeway in Sacramento, I saw an upside-down Corvette. The windows were open. The driver was still in the car, shirt unbuttoned and this huge stomach was bloated and bare for all the world traveling by to see. I guess it took paramedics a long time to get there. They were probably stuck in a traffic jam on the other side of the road. Because even people on the other side of the road were slowing down to gawk. You don’t want to look but you do. It’s kind of human nature. I felt sorrow and horror for this dead person in the Corvette.
If this guy in the Corvette had a home that was upside down, the same as he was, his joint tenancy partner or tenants in common partner could sell that home as a short sale. Because death qualifies for a short sale. Even if his heirs were not on title to the property, they can use death as a qualifying factor to get rid of the house. Doesn’t matter if it’s Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or which bank is servicing the loan. There is no getting around it, death qualifies for a short sale.
To do a short sale involving a dead person, you need a recorded copy of the death certificate. It might take a while to get the death certificate, especially in Sacramento. I guess it depends on where the person kicked the bucket. If a person died in the hospital, I hear you get a death certificate a lot faster than if you came home and found your ex-husband dead in bed. That’s what clients tell me. I don’t have any first-hand experience myself.
But I do have a lot of first-hand experience selling short sales in Sacramento. I’m a competent and veteran Sacramento real estate agent. I am, in fact, working on two separate short sales this week involving spouses who have passed on. These are different than a strategic short sale or a short sale involving loss of income, for example. There is a lot of grief and bereavement. Pain. People need to talk. I listen. I’m not just in the real estate business. I’m a person, too. If somebody has died in your family and you need to sell that Sacramento home as a short sale, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916 233 6759. I know what to do. Remember, death qualifies for a short sale.
