Congressman Uses Political Power to Persecute a Short Sale Agent

A friend of mine, a real estate agent on the East Coast, is under investigation and accused of breaking the law when he did nothing of the sort. It’s a crazy situation, this short sale lawsuit, apparently brought on by vengeance and petty vindictiveness, in other words, it’s political. Some guy in Congress tried to buy a short sale. He wrote an offer that was contingent on selling his home and sent it to my friend, the listing agent.

Now, you and everybody from California to Florida knows that a contingent offer for a short sale has about a snowball’s chance in hell of getting accepted by the bank. All the short sale agents I know would advise their sellers to reject such an offer if, for no other reason, than they will undoubtedly receive another viable offer without such a contingency. A short sale bank is under no obligation to approve a short sale and, it is even less likely to do so, if the buyer is not in the financial position to purchase the home because the buyer has not yet sold his own home.

Moreover, to add more ammunition to his complaint, the congressman threw in a charge of misleading advertising because the listing agent advertised the home as a Wells Fargo short sale. He says the agent did not have the permission of Wells Fargo to market the home. The problem with this accusation is Wells Fargo does not give agents permission to market the home because agents are free to market the home without the permission of the short sale bank. In fact, the bank insists on it. On top of which, how the short sale will be processed and the length of time it will take to get approved all depends on the bank. Which is why all short sales are labeled by the lending institution.

You have your Bank of America short sales, Chase short sales, Ocwen short sales, Citimortgage short sales, Green Tree short sales, Nationstar short sales, and yes, your Wells Fargo short sales. Throw into that mix, say, a HAFA angle, and now you’ve got a Wells Fargo HAFA short sale.

But this legislator is having a hissy fit because his offer was not accepted by the seller and sent to the short sale bank. So, he’s coming after this listing agent with both barrels blazing by filing this short sale lawsuit. And he seems to have the state department of real estate commission riding halfback. He is using his political power to persecute an innocent person. This is indeed a sorry situation and a poor reflection on our political process that allows such a horrendous situation to move forward, particularly when it is baseless.

I have tried to be helpful to buyer’s agents and share with them the reason(s) the seller did not accept their offer. I think from now on I will keep my mouth shut. Because whatever you say, evidently, can come back to bite in the form of spite.