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!