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Fannie Mae Short Sale Valuation Issues
If you have a Fannie Mae short sale in Sacramento — or just about anywhere else in the country — odds are pretty much two-to-one that you will have a problem with the Fannie Mae estimate of value. The BPO is probably fine. Don’t blame the BPO agent. It’s Fannie Mae, not the agent, setting values. Fannie Mae seems to ignore the BPO. It’s the amount that Fannie Mae may decide it wants to approve the short sale that is the problem. You may be aware of the changes to Fannie Mae implemented last November, which were touted as a streamlined approach but as usual seems to be more smoke and mirrors than anything else — a way to make it look like they are doing something proactive when it’s the opposite.
You may ask how do I know these things? After all, I am just a Sacramento short sale agent, plugging along closing short sale after short sale, and that’s one of the ways I know what’s going on. Because I see it with my very own two sparkling eyeballs nestled above my honkin’ nose, that’s how. And I talk to other short sale agents across the country. I read press releases, announcements and news stories. I’ve been working on Fannie Mae short sales for years. I’m one of the few agents in this country who have probably read from beginning to end every single Fannie Mae supplement issued, not only to the regular GSE short sale processes but also the HAFA short sales through Fannie Mae.
I know what you’re about to read may sound like a conspiracy. That alone might make it seem unreal or fabricated, but I assure you it is very real. I can also assure you that I am not one of those whack jobs who sports an aluminum foil hat and scribbles pages of dribble to newspaper reporters. I also have no idea why the valuation problems are happening except to draw to conclusion that Fannie Mae wants homes to go to foreclosure so they can try to pawn them off on unsuspecting first-time homebuyers at inflated prices through its HomePath financing program, which requires no appraisal and is almost always way above market value.
I apologize for the fact it has taken me 3 paragraphs to set up my point. My point is Fannie Mae is routinely rejecting short sales by demanding prices that are higher than the market will support. It doesn’t come right out and reject the short sale as that would be too easy. Fannie Mae inflates values. If a home is worth, let’s say $200,000, Fannie Mae will demand, let’s say $260,000. It’s happened to me. I called the BPO agent and asked her how much she estimated for the BPO. She told me $240,000. Yet, Bank of America said Fannie Mae wanted $260,000. We presented an offer of let’s say $240,000 all cash and Fannie Mae rejected it.
Next, the months trudged on. Five months later we try again, only now the offers are only $220,000. This particular home has no updates and it needs work. I requested a reevaluation at Bank of America the day before Christmas. The day after Christmas, the REDC representative told me the value had to stay at $260,000. She did not escalate this or ask for a new valuation or even request documents from me.
I went directly to Fannie Mae next and asked Fannie Mae itself to reevaluate. The new BPO was conducted and that BPO agent called me to say the value she estimated was, let’s say, $210,000.
At that point, Bank of America closed the file. I have opened the file again.
There is a petition started by our friends at Short Sale Superstars, which agents and the public can sign to protest Fannie Mae’s behavior. It needs 100,000 signatures by February 25th. We are short today 97,493 signatures. Will you please sign the White House petition to force Fannie Mae to behave responsibly and ethically and to stop Fannie Mae from rejecting short sales in favor of foreclosure?
Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored entity under the protection of the Federal Finance Housing Agency. It’s your tax dollars supporting the beast. Don’t be part of the problem; be part of the solution!
The Butterfly Effect on a Sacramento Short Sale
I received approval yesterday on a short sale in Roseville, and it was a long time coming. This was one of those deals in which the bank refused to believe that the seller had a hardship and we had to approach it from a different direction. This attitude is what separates this particular Sacramento short sale agent from other short sale agents in Sacramento, among other characteristics. When I believe in a transaction, I will fight it to the death, and I’m not talking about my demise or my sellers’.
See, I realize that the seller is typically right. If the seller has a hardship, the seller has a hardship. If the bank doesn’t agree, it’s because the information has not been either received by the bank or was interpreted incorrectly by the bank. Sometimes, it’s as Paul Newman put it: a failure to communicate. Just because the bank said no is no reason to give up. Especially if the seller has a case, and a documented case at that. Sometimes, you can change one little thing and it alters the entire outcome.
Now, you may not be a fan of Ray Bradbury, but a science fiction story he published on the day I was born pops into my head. The story is A Sound of Thunder, and over the years it’s been referred to as the Butterfly Effect — about a guy who goes back in time to kill a beast and royally screws up. The hunter is warned not to step foot off the path lest he change history. As these stories go, the hunter did indeed step off the path and he squashed a butterfly, which explained why history was altered upon his return. It was a different world. Some words had vanished, people behaved oddly and there was some new guy in office at the White House.
And that’s what can happen in a short sale. The Butterfly Effect. You’re not going to take Fox News off the air, but you can go back in time and rewrite a hardship letter or submit missing documents, and you can start over. You can change the outcome by fixing a mistake. You do not, I should point out, “start over again,” as that would be redundant. You only start over. If you say start over again to me I will want to whack your head with a ruler and scream at you about whether your slept through your English classes, but I will refrain. Because I know you did.
However, if you’re a seller in the Sacramento area who needs to do a short sale, call this Sacramento short sale agent, and I will do my best to close it for you. I am not agent who simply lists short sales. I am a Sacramento short sale agent who is hell bent on closing short sales.
The Point of Contact in the Real Estate Business
One of the little perks given to homeowners in distress through the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, apart from restrictions on dual tracking, is the right to a single point of contact, what we refer to as the POC. That acronym stands for Punch on Chin. No, it doesn’t, it means Point of Contact; you just feel like punching them. It’s nothing to really get excited about because the POC is often pretty useless. It is a person assigned by the bank to answer the phone when a customer calls. I don’t know if that person physically works at the bank in person or lives in Canada but by golly, it’s a live person you can talk to each and every time you call, even if that person is worthless and no help to you whatsoever.
There are no provisions in the new law that says the POC needs to be knowledgable or carry any authority. The POC doesn’t process your file; the POC accesses a computer database where supposedly notes are stored to glean information. As a Sacramento short sale agent who has worked with hundreds of bank negotiators over the years, I can tell you that much of the data that is not always entered correctly. But by George, you’ve got a live person on the phone. That’s a remarkable feat.
More than half of the time, the information the POC gives to a customer of the bank is incomplete or incorrect. I know this because my client will call to say the POC told her, for example, that the hardship letter is not in the file. Not only is the hardship letter in the file, but it’s at Fannie Mae for review. Along with all of the other docs such as the bank statements and tax returns the POC also says are missing. That’s because I am talking to the person who is processing the file. I am speaking to the short sale bank negotiator while the seller is talking to a POC — a POC who would dig through her bag to find an unwrapped Tootsie Roll pop and plop the thing in her mouth without washing it off.
I had a bank offer me a credit card a while back that would cost me $100 a year. At first blush, I rejected the idea because I am not that interested in accumulating points or cash-back bonuses as I always pay my bills in full and never carry a balance. However, the icing on the cake offered by the bank was not really the cash-back bonuses. It was the fact that I could talk to a real live person who would answer the phone through a direct phone number. That is now a luxury today! To be able to call a person directly and have said person answer the phone without punching through a menu or sitting on hold or talking to other doofuses.
There is little more frustrating than screaming Operator at a recorded message and hearing the reply: Did you say: Call Back Later?
The personal touch is missing from so much in business today. You can’t talk to anybody anymore. I was looking for a small business to help me over the weekend, and I was searching online. Most of the websites were geared to the company and not an individual. I don’t want to do business with a company. People do business with other people. That’s why my website features me because that’s what people want. My website is more than a search engine for homes in Sacramento. And I answer my phone. If you need a sharp real estate agent in the Sacramento area, you can call Elizabeth Weintraub 916-233-6759, and THAT, I promise, will make you happy.
Equator Glitch Fix for Bank of America Short Sales
With a Bank of America short sale in Equator, the one thing I count on working day-in and day-out doesn’t always work. That one thing is technology. There seems like something always goes wrong with it, but you know what? I am a Sacramento short sale agent, which means I am used to annoyances, frustrations and absurdities — it comes with the territory. Technology is no different. You can’t operate without it, you just need to know what to do when it doesn’t work.
The first place to look is in the mirror. Yup, it could be operator error. The second place to look is at the hardware and connections. Is your computer plugged in? Laugh as you may but that’s what a tech support guy will ask you. Are you connected to the Internet? If none of those things is the problem, then it just might be Equator. Not Equator software itself but the way the bank negotiator set up the file.
Equator has an instant chat button. I love instant chats. It satisfies my need for immediate gratification. A few days ago I was working on uploading the short sale offer for several Bank of America short sales. In the first short sale, whenever I clicked submit, it would erase the buyer’s agent’s name and data. In the second Bank of America short sale, it would not calculate a bottom-line net because the loan field was filled out incorrectly by a Bank of America negotiator.
I connected with the support staff at Equator who explained the problems. Each of the support staff responded expediently and was helpful in explaining what was wrong. But what does that mean to me, to Al Franken, I asked? It meant that Equator needed to contact the negotiator so Bank of America could fix the problem on its end. If I would just wait a few hours, it would be fixed. I’m just so relieved it wasn’t something I did. I have pretty high standards for my own performance. At least I try not to make mistakes twice. Thank you, Equator, for giving us short sale agents Equator Chat!
A Chase Bank Short Sale in Equator
One of the absolutely joys of my life is a Chase Bank short sale in Equator. I can’t begin to describe how wonderful it has been to see a Chase short sale sitting in my Equator task folder, patiently waiting for the HUD to be uploaded. It is a thing of beauty to behold. The only thing more beautiful than a Chase short sale in Equator is a Chase HAFA short sale in Equator, and I’ve definitely got one of those. It is true that one can’t always truly appreciate splendor until one has experienced hell. I am a Chase short sale expert; I have been to hell and back.
It used to be that I’d tell clients to expect at least a 4-month escrow with Chase Bank. All of that advice has changed — as with most short sale advice, it changes with the wind. I listed this particular short sale just before Thanksgiving. The seller’s spouse had unexpectedly died. I seem to be working with quite a few sellers lately whose spouses have suddenly died without warning.
It’s very different to work with people who are grieving as compared to those who simply despise their banks with a great vengeance. I find that I need to slow down quite a bit and be more patient. To listen to them more carefully. That doesn’t stop me from cracking jokes, though, and I think they appreciate it. Humor at times of uneasiness is often welcome as long as it’s not insensitive. I suspect that laughter gives them a bit of break from the steady flow of reality that they must absorb.
We opened escrow right around Thanksgiving and received HAFA short sale approval within 30 days. That’s pretty incredible when I look at my past record of having to fax documents to Chase, which would go to a central fax number and never directly to the negotiator, so they’d get lost. There are two loans on this short sale, yet getting the second approval from Bank of America was a piece of cake. That’s because Bank of America has been in Equator for what seems like a lifetime but probably has been only a couple of years. I lose track of time at my age.
I decided to ask Chase for an extension because the day we are scheduled to close is the day Chase needs its money. I know that we can’t get it to them on the same day, not when we are funding and recording on that day. That’s often the tricky part, getting the money to the bank on time. But Chase said no problem. We can have a few days if we need it. And Chase responded to this request within minutes. Minutes! It just doesn’t get any better than that!
But wait. I am now registered with Chase Bank to receive short sale prospects directly from the bank. Although most sellers in Sacramento find me through the internet or from a friend’s referral, now this Sacramento short sale agent might be able to connect sooner with those who can benefit from my short sale expertise. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. As a new client said yesterday, not only did I make her day (by talking to me), but I most likely will make her next two years more enjoyable.
