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The Search for Intelligent Life in a Green Tree Short Sale
Talking to a Green Tree short sale bank negotiator can be like that cartoon about what dogs hear. You know what I’m referring to, right? The human is speaking to the dog, giving a lecture about not jumping on the furniture or perhaps not tracking dirt on its paws into the house, and the caption balloon over the dog’s head is an interpretation of what the dog hears, which is “blah, blah, blah.” This is what it feels like when I talk to a short sale bank negotiator. Words are coming out of the mouth of this Sacramento short sale agent, but they are ignored and must sound like incomprehensible gibberish to the negotiator.
This is so common place in short sales that my Sacramento short sales are ripe with illustrations. Let’s look at a Green Tree short sale, for example. Green Tree is famous for trying to extort extract payments from sellers during the short sale, and why not? Green Tree is a collection agency. If PNC or Bank of America transferred the servicing of your loan to Green Tree, you’re stuck with Green Tree and, by extension, so am I. But that’s OK, I don’t mind dealing with Green Tree as it’s typically good fodder for illustrations of ineptness.
The latest problem is a Green Tree short sale in which there are four individuals who have signed the mortgage. All four people have signed the promissory note and the deed of trust. Since Green Tree picked up this loan by assignment, it was not involved in the notarized signatures on the prom note and deed of trust. In fact, Green Tree might not even know how to recognize a promissory note and deed of trust nor understand the instruments even though these pieces of paper are the basis for its business. Because Green Tree has decided there are only 2 individuals noted on the note and deed of trust — because that’s what Green Tree’s incorrect records tell Green Tree.
Never mind that I sent Green Tree a copy of the deed of trust showing that all four individuals have signed it. The evidence is in front of their faces. Nope, Green Tree has demanded a new package, new hardship letter and all new documents signed by only 2 people. You might be asking what’s the harm in that? Well, the harm is Green Tree is not the lender. Green Tree is the servicer of this loan. The lender is Fannie Mae, making this a Fannie Mae short sale. And when Fannie Mae sees there are only 2 people who have signed everything, Fannie Mae will kick out this short sale package and reject it. Green Tree has refused to send the file to Fannie Mae unless we submit it with only 2 individuals. Do you see the problem?
We have talked to the negotiator and the negotiator’s supervisor. They both have demanded that we submit a package that will be rejected by Fannie Mae for being incomplete. Makes one want to grab Green Tree employees by their shoulders and shake these people.
I’m just a Sacramento short sale agent. Why am I having to explain to Green Tree who their borrowers are? Why doesn’t Green Tree employ people who can reason and think? The only way to remove a borrower from a mortgage, apart from death — which, believe it or not doesn’t do it either — is to refinance that mortgage or pay it off, neither of which has happened.
Today we will contact Fannie Mae and report this problem at Green Tree, in addition to contacting the supervisor’s supervisor at Green Tree. Somewhere, there is intelligent life in this universe.
How to Get $10 a Day for a B of A HAFA Short Sale
We just closed a Bank of America HAFA short sale yesterday that had started in January. This was my second Bank of America HAFA short sale closing this month. The one that closed last week was much worse by comparison. In this particular HAFA, I was fortunate to represent an extremely detail-oriented seller who had completed all of her paperwork immaculately and upon receipt. This escrow should have flowed just like clockwork, yet it took 10 months to close. Within 30 days of opening the file in Equator, we had approval from the second lender, Green Tree, and all documentation submitted and verified, including two completed BPOs. Still, it took 10 months.
By the time Bank of America gave us its first B of A HAFA short sale approval in May, the approval at Green Tree had expired. Despite our pleas, Green Tree closed the file. We reopened the file at Green Tree and started over. There were the usual battles at Green Tree: calling the seller at work, harassing the seller for payment, threats of short sale charge off, and finally we said: fine, send the file to charge off. See, this is the thing — Green Tree can reopen and re-approve a file in 2 to 3 weeks, what it takes Bank of America 3 to 4 months to do.
To add to the horrors, Bank of America then abruptly closed the file early July. It was a mistake. We had asked for an extension but no, they closed the file. We tried to reverse the soft decline, Tweeted the Social Media Team, escalated the file to the Executive Office, but to no avail. Of course, by this time, Green Tree approved the short sale a second time, while we started the process over with Bank of America.
Bank of America assigned an escalation specialist to the file. This negotiator managed to get approval two months later, insisting her performance was perfectly satisfactory. You’re telling me that a HAFA initiated in January and closing in October is perfectly satisfactory? This is why many sellers would rather poke out their eyeballs than do a Bank of America HAFA short sale. The only benefit to a seller is that $3,000 payment. Which worked out to a return of $10 a day.
I reflect on this and wonder what we could have possibly done differently. The answer I come up with is not to have applied for a B of A HAFA short sale at Bank of America. But when a seller insists on a HAFA, that’s what I do. It’s not my decision to make. This particular seller figured she had 10 months to wait, so it didn’t matter. As long as she closed by the end of the year, she was satisfied, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say she was happy about it.
The other element in this transaction was the buyer. The extremely patient, dedicated and committed buyer. We selected the right buyer, which is always key to a successful closing. It could have been much, much worse. I could have had to sell this Elk Grove short sale three times instead of only once.
As an experienced Sacramento short sale agent, I have been closing Bank of America HAFA short sales for a long time. I am Equator Platinum Certified and a Certified HAFA Specialist. If you absolutely want to do a HAFA short sale through Bank of America, I doubt there is much I haven’t seen, and I’ll be happy to help you close it. Just be forewarned.
Taxes for that Sacramento Short Sale
Time is running out to avoid paying taxes on a Sacramento short sale. The 2007 Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act expires on December 31, 2012. This is the law that exempts a short sale seller from paying taxes on forgiven debt for a personal residence. Will the law be extended? Most likely, if the past is any indication and the future continues to be as uncertain as it is. You know how they say history repeats itself. That’s because it does. And we have an election year. It’s in the 2013 budget.
Some of you may not recall what happened last go-around with this short sale tax issue. When it expired, it was not renewed right away for the following year. Sellers were closing short sales fearing the worst: that not only did they lose their home, but now the government would be sticking outs its hand and taxing them on the short fall difference. We had California taxes to deal with at the same time. It was a scary problem. Congress dinged around on the short sale taxation extension and finally granted the extension. Then our California exemption came through, too. Just in time for taxes. And it was made retroactive. We were all biting our fingernails.
I am working on a Bank of America HAFA short sale. Yeah, I know, I’m a sucker for punishment. I have a few of them. You can read all the government rules for HAFA about the timeframes to process a HAFA short sale, and they are pretty much meaningless. It takes Bank of America a good 4 months, on average, to approve a HAFA short sale. If you’re teamed up with a Green Tree mortgage in second position, God help you. Green Tree closes files after 90 days. So, you can see the problem. Not only that, but after 6 months, Green Tree sends its loans to charge off. It’s better not to have a short sale charge off if you can avoid it.
This particular seller is very concerned that she won’t close this year. I believe she will. It’s been 9 months already. You can get pregnant and give birth in that period of time. Bring a tiny new life form into being. But that HAFA short sale at Bank of America can’t close within a reasonable timeframe.
Your safest bet is to close your short sale escrow within the confines of the 2012 calendar year. That way there is no question. But if you have to rollover into 2013, do so knowing it’s a risk. Although, a calculated risk. Do you think the government will hang all of these short sellers out to dry? This Sacramento short sale agent says probably not. Not if history repeats itself.
Take Xanax for a Bank of America HAFA Short Sale
In some Sacramento short sales, I want to grab an ax and hack Bank of America into itsy bitsy pieces. Hey, don’t call the cops. In other short sales, I’m littering the doorway with rose petals. There is no one-size-fits-all explanation when it comes to a Bank of America short sale. But there is also no middle ground. No median. It reminds me of that nursery rhyme about the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. When a Bank of America short sale is good, it’s very very good. When the short sale is bad, it’s horrid.
I tell my short sale sellers in Sacramento that there are two kinds of customer service reps at Bank of America: the brilliant and the morons. Nobody in between. They always laugh, but they and I know it’s the truth. I am also at an advantage with that statement because I know by the time a seller gets to me, that seller is pretty much ticked off at Bank of America. That seller has probably tried to do a loan modification and failed, often miserably. I don’t have to do much to poke the hornet’s nest and find common ground.
By the time a seller calls this Sacramento short sale agent, the seller is often exhausted, tired and angry. Oh, they can try to disguise their anger, and most do try to be polite, but I hear it in the cracking sounds of their voice and I see it in the fire raging behind their eyes. Bank of America has pushed them over the edge. They’re not even sure if they want to do the short sale because they are worried it will favor Bank of America in some way. Or, that the bank will reject their short sale. There’s fear and loathing. Believe me, I understand and empathize.
Moving a Bank of America short sale forward has its roots in patience. In not expecting too much from bank employees. Lowered expectations is key. Especially for a Bank of America HAFA short sale. A HAFA can expire. You’ve got about 4 months to close a HAFA. When you have a Bank of America HAFA coupled with a Green Tree second mortgage, that’s a lovely treat. Because Bank of America will take so long to approve the short sale, the Green Tree file will close. Green Tree keeps its files open for 90 days, and then they close them.
Those pesky laws about time frames in a HAFA? Ha. Bank of America thumbs its nose at those laws and slaps your face twice with its glove.
By the time we received short sale approval from Bank of America for our last HAFA short sale, Green Tree was long gone. We reopened the file with Green Tree and pushed. More than 60 days later, Green Tree issued approval, but then the Bank of America HAFA had expired. Could the bank extend? Yes, but it refused. Instead, Bank of America closed the file and reopened it, started over from scratch. New RASS, new TOS, new BPO, new HUD, it’s a new day at Bank of America, and it’s welcome to more hell for these Sacramento short sale buyers and seller.
On Wednesday, I sent a Tweet to the Social Media team at Bank of America about this file. I’ve Tweeted them so many times over this that they ignored the Tweet. It’s very unusual not to get a call back from Bank of America. I think I wore out my Tweets. The negotiator noticed the ZIP code was wrong. She asked me to send her a change of address when it was Bank of America that entered the wrong ZIP code. Oh, please.
We have a buyer’s loan about to expire if we don’t close by the end of the month. We have the Green Tree second loan going to charge-off at the end of the month. And we have a Bank of America negotiator lamenting about a ZIP code on a file that had already been approved once. This was already an approved HAFA short sale at Bank of America! Slap the Xanax into my hand.
I hope that today is the day we receive the new approval for this Bank of America HAFA. That’s one thing you can count on from this Sacramento short sale agent, I never give up hope.
