The Problem With Pricing a Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale

The problem with our recent elections is not really who won or lost. Well, maybe for some of you, it is. The problem, the way I see it, is we had too damn many things to vote for. Too many Propositions and Politicians. I mean part of the reason we have propositions on the ballot is because the men and women we send to Congress can’t seem to do their job so they have to take it to the people. Like we know anything. We’re just people. We’re a Sacramento short sale agent, or a Raley employee about to lose retirement health insurance benefits or a state worker hungover from furloughs.

We don’t know anything, and we don’t wanna know anything. Don’t tell us what crap is in our food. If our tomatoes are walking Frankensteins, we don’t wanna know. Just keep us in the dark. So, why anybody in their right mind would trust us — the people — to make decisions that affect the entire state, is beyond me. On top of that, they did give us too many darn choices. My ballot was 4 pages, for crying out loud. On one page, I had to select 15 people in one category alone. Who are all those people? I don’t know. Do you know? I’m not responsible enough to vote. Isn’t this why we elect people and send them to the legislature? To vote on stuff for us? Why do we have to do all of this work?

I tell you what, on the surface those arguments sound plausible, don’t they? About as plausible and logical as what goes on behind closed doors at some of our short sale banks. Let’s talk about one of my favorite subjects: Bank of America. Bank of America does really odd things sometimes. For a while there, I thought they were on to something as I continually look for trends. One trend was to price a Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale below market value. That was a brilliant move by Bank of America. Seriously. It was smart strategy. That strategy welcomed bidding and pushed up the sales prices of our Sacramento short sales.

My last 8 or 9 Cooperative Short Sales were priced this way by the bank. We’re in a seller’s market in Sacramento, so it makes sense to let the market dictate price. However, the bank got drunk on its power. You think Diane Sawyer was tipsy? Take a look at the new strategy employed by Bank of America for its Cooperative Short Sales. If they aren’t throwing back a shot of whiskey before picking a sales price maybe they’re smoking pot. Could be pain pills. Yeah, that’s probably the problem. Oxycontin. Gets ’em every time.

Why else would Bank of America price a short sale at $260,000 when the BPO agent told them $245,000? I know this because I called up the BPO agent and asked her. Not to mention, the BPO agent was off the mark. She saw the home but didn’t take into consideration the lack of upgrades or its condition. Nevertheless, the fact remains the bank disregarded the BPO. It plucked a price from the bucket of don’t pass go and don’t collect $200. Does the bank not want the home to short sale? Does the bank think buyers are stupid? What’s the reasoning? Where is the logic?

This particular home sat on the market for 2 months without an offer. In one of the hottest real estate markets in Sacramento’s history! Thank you, Bank of America. The solution? We lowered the price, sold the home, and then raised the price back to the point Bank of America demanded. Then, we presented our offer to the bank. That’s why the sellers chose this Sacramento short sale agent. To work around problems like this. Thank goodness I don’t work in Congress.