I’m a firm believer in only addressing a problem if you have the solution.

The recent blog I wrote about Countrywide short sales sure caused a lot of comments, emails and phone calls.

Not to worry, I have a solution.

Allow me to continue the story where we left off before….

After calling several phone #s of what I believe to be decision makers at Countrywide Home Loans, I get a call back. Sure, it was from an administrative assistant of a President of a department. But it was the first call I ever received that appeared like someone was really going to look into the situation.

The next day I get a call from a negotiator from the office of a President of a department.

This will amaze and awe: As we are the telephone she runs the numbers and completes her analysis. Yes, it took all of 10 minutes. She says that it appears to work and she just needs to check into one more thing and she’ll call me back. OK. She calls me back within the hour and says we will have the approval by the end of the day. YES. It took me 2 days of nearly 6 hours on the phone to get to the correct person but once I do it takes less than a day to get my approval letter. Crazy? Yes, very!

You have to understand that I have been working short sale files since early 2007. This is when they first started becoming an issue here in the Cape Coral and Ft. Myers real estate market. Most of the banks just told us no. They said they didn’t do them. That gave me the time to improve my systems. Better packages. More knowledge. Tons of research. The banks were also working on their processes. Now, in 2008, I’m ranked #3 out of our entire MLS for listing agents who close short sales. Not bad.

That being said I don’t send in bogus offers. I counsel the seller on this first thing. We compile their financials before I even list the property for sale. We counter low-ball offers from buyers. My package comes to the bank COMPLETE. I make the negotiators job EASY. Often times at many banks, the negotiator looks through my file while I am on the phone and THANKS ME for a great package. They say this one should be easy since I’ve sent in everything CORRECTLY. We have had approvals in as little as 3 days, see above. Many of my other approvals this year came back in 10-30 days. That is way ahead of the norm.

I understand the bank’s position. They are weeding through thousands of crappy packages. From low-ball offers with no supporting documentation to non-hardship situations to offers that are unsigned, etc. I’m sure there are agents who call and are rude to them. Try to tell them how to do their job, etc.

Think about this folks. If you work for a bank as their loss mitigation specialist and you have 300 files on your desk which one will you work on first?

1) Friendly, knowledgeable agent with complete package

2) Jerky agent with complete package

3) Clueless agent with incomplete package

4) Jerky clueless agent with incomplete package

It really it isn’t that hard to figure out. First of all banks, if you DO NOT look at short sales, make that known. I know of a few that don’t do short sales and yet somehow I still see these short sales listed for sale by other agents. Really that is the agent’s fault for wasting everyone’s time but maybe if the bank would be clear it would help too.

Agents, call the bank first if you are unsure! Ask! Get their Short Sale Package if they have one! Ask exactly what documents they want. Some want more, some less!

Here’s what I propose the banks do to collect the most money back on these bad loans:

1) Have an intake department with a checklist of items needed in package

(timeframe: same day of receipt)

a. Reject all that are missing items – send letter of explanation

b. Forward on all complete packages to analysis team

2) Analysis Team – reviews package

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Verifies hardship

b. Verifies value

c. If good – forward to closing negotiator

d. If doesn’t work – send letter of why/reject

3) Closing Negotiator – closes file

(timeframe: 2 days of review)

a. Reviews file

b. Send approval

Ok, maybe I’m in dreamland but I think this would work. Banks would send approvals within a week. Sell off bad loans within 30 days. Our real estate market would improve as the inventory is sold.

I’m sure there are thousands of incomplete, bogus-offers files sitting somewhere at every bank. If they would just reject those upon receipt it would give their staff time to work on files that actually make sense.

By the way, we will still handle Countrywide short sales. Just keep in mind that they might take longer than the others – at least until Countrywide fixes up their process.

Any loss mitigators out there? I’d love to hear your comments!

As always, if you are considering buying or selling in the Cape Coral and Ft. Myers area, we’d love to assist you. Buyers, search thousands of homes for sale on our website. Sellers, if you need help with a short sale let us know. We’re here to help.

Yours in Success,

Florida Future Realty, Inc.

www.Florida-Future-Realty.com

(239) 542-8521

Susan@SusanMilner.com

copyright 2008 Susan Milner | Florida Future Realty, Inc.