National City Mortgage short sales in Cape Coral
We have closed several short sales here in Cape Coral, Florida where the lender was National City Mortgage. Don’t get me wrong here; we bring them the BEST possible offer; with great terms and a COMPLETE package but they answer quickly.
No waiting 30 days for a negotiator, No waiting 30 days for a BPO, etc. They order an appraisal or BPO right away; assign a negotiator right away and answer within 30 days – sometimes much quicker.
Another one is about to close next week. Quick decision. Great property; great deal for all.
If you have a property in Cape Coral that you you need to short sale and the lender is National City Mortgage, give us a call; we can help!
We know what they want; how they want it and have direct phone numbers for their negotiatiors and their new third party company that handles some of the files as well.
We look forward to hearing from you & assisting you in this troubling time.
Yours in Success,
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc.
239-542-8521
Countrywide Short Sale Solution | Cape Coral Short Sale
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.
(239) 542-8521
copyright 2008 Susan Milner | Florida Future Realty, Inc.
Countrywide Short Sales in Cape Coral
Update: We will handle Countrywide Short Sales – See my newest article with a solution for Countrywide short sales.
Countrywide Short Sales SUCK. This is my story about it. I wish this weren’t true because they have more of the defaulting loans than any other lender (at least around here). But I just can’t handle countrywide short sales any longer.
I’m sorry. I cannot help you if your loan is with Countrywide. My sanity is worth more than that. After having successfully closed short sale transactions with Countrywide home loans for customers with homes in Cape Coral, Florida earlier this year, I thought I could keep doing it.
This year we had a short sale offer submitted in April. Unfortunately Countrywide hadn’t file a Lis Pendens yet so they weren’t too motivated to look at the offer. The customer hadn’t made a payment on her mortgage since last Oct. Strange. Well NOW, 6 months later, they are calling about the short sale. Wondering if I want to ‘reopen’ it. Well, sorry but that buyer is LONG GONE Countrywide.
Yesterday I receive a letter of denial on another Countrywide short sale file. Reason? The appraisal came in too far below the amount owed. Well, isn’t that WHY it is a short sale? And just to be clear about my thoughts: Countrywide can have whatever guidelines it wants. But tell me what they are. My problem with this is at that they wasted my time for 2 months. Wasted my seller’s time, wasted the buyer’s time. They knew what the offer was up front. Why go through the hassle of requesting additional documentation? Why hire an appraiser? WHY? If you knew the price was too low anyway? ABSURD Countrywide, you are CRAZY. By the way, this is my first EVER denial letter on a short sale. We have had a couple of banks say they won’t do short sales but they tell us UP FRONT. And we move on.
A month ago I submitted a Countrywide short sale package. A previous offer was already approved and this offer was actually going to NET Countrywide MORE money. We have a time sensitive closing because the buyer is working on an FHA loan (you know those guidelines changed last month). I advised them of this and asked if they had everything they needed and asked if there was anyway I could help Countrywide Home Loans with this file. I was assured that it was put through to ESCALATION (Want to do something fun? Call and ask if that exists. 9 out of 10 operators will tell you you are crazy. 1 will say it is in Escalation). Anyway, back to the story. Call for updates, needed Hud1 revised, was told to send it back within the HOUR or else the file was going to be CLOSED.
Seriously, that’s what my negotiator said. So, luckily I was in the office as was the title company and she got her revision within the hour. Ok, great I thought. It was supposed to go over to the investor for their approval. Called again, no notes about that. Negotiator is ignoring my phone message and email. GREAT. Got told by one nice man at Countrywide, “Never rely on a negotiator to update the system. Always email and fax and call to confirm receipt.” Nice.
So I call the investor. Bank of New York. They don’t make the final decision I’m told. Countrywide has the full power to make these decisions. So, if everything is ‘good’ to Countrywide then WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR? They gave me a name/# to try at Countrywide.
So I call again. “Didn’t you already call today?” I was rudely questioned. “Yes, as a matter of fact I did. However, I was told that it was going to the investor for approval when in fact the investor does NOT give a final approval”. To which she responds with “it doesn’t matter who is giving you the approval. It is under review. We don’t know when we’ll know anything else.” I advise that this is NOT an acceptable answer and I want to know when I will hear something. And she says to call back once a week. OMG. I’m about to lose it. I start to again tell her that I need a better answer and she politely says, “Thank you. Good Bye” CLICK. Yep, she hangs up on me!
Wow, I am so upset. These poor people with loans through Countrywide. I am so sorry for everyone who is attempting to be proactive here with them. I wish I could help you but I can’t.
I will still work my @ss off on the files I currently have with Countrywide lenders but from now on I am NOT ACCEPTING ANY COUNTRYWIDE SHORT SALES. I just can’t. My sanity/health are worth way more than this.
No rhyme or reason. Insane, uneducated, rude operators (except for you Randy – you were helpful) at Countrywide.
Just to confirm, no more Countrywide short sale files. Any other lender, please contact me. I’m still ranked #4 agent out of our entire mls for listing/closing short sales.
Contact me today for short sale help (Unless your lender is Countrywide. Then I’m sorry).
Update: We will handle Countrywide Short Sales – See my newest article with a solution for Countrywide short sales.
Copyright 2008 Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc.
(239) 542-8521
Susan@SusanMilner.com
Cape Coral Short Sale
We have some great new listings in Cape Coral. Cape Coral short sales can be a challenge and they do take longer to faciliate than other transactions in most cases. Working with an agent who understands short sales is the key.
View some of our Cape Coral Short Sales
Yours in Success,
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc.
(239) 218-2229
Search Cape Coral & other area listings: http://cape-coral-homes.listingbook.com/
Cape Coral Real Estate
Florida Future Realty, Inc.
239-542-8521
888-764-6665
FloridaFuture@gmail.com
