Archives for March 2011
Happy St. Patty’s Day!
How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part III
How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part III
This is the 3rd part to a multi-episode, written depiction of a real life short sale.
Part I: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/
Part II: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-ii/
Note from the author (me): Short sales and the rules and regulations banks try (and butcher) are changing every day. Even though I try to keep things as recent as possible, for the protection of those involved, some of the events in my posts may not reflect “current events”. Therefore, you should consult with the proper professionals when dealing with your short sale. Now for the rest of the story…
Day 5
I awoke to the alarm clock blaring “Buffalo Soldier” by Bob Marley at around 5:30am (it is my current ringtone and therefore tends to strike me as an important call…and I fall for it every day). So after about 3 verses, I slowly turn over and check the time. 5:30am…Sweet! I can’t believe I’m awake. Being that I am always trying to wake up early, the enthusiasm is understandable. I flop my head back on my pillow thankful to be awake, and fall back asleep. The snooze function is great. It continues to disrupt my sleep for the next 2 hours. Finally, I wake up (and actually get out of bed).
Shit! I haven’t heard from the bank yet! The foreclosure sale is in 3 ½ hours.
At this point in the game, I can’t really do much except for wait. So…. I dial the bank and try desperately to get an update. I beg and plead to speak to the wonderful woman who is paramount in our success to date, but can’t get her. Another woman answers the phone and I ask for superwoman instead. “She’s on the other line” the woman politely informs me. “Uhhhh, can I hold?” After hours of being on hold on nearly every short sale transaction (not by my choice), I could barely believe I asked such a ridiculous question. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.
“She is helping another customer…but there may be something I can help you with” she said in the most helpful tone imaginable. She’s cheating on me. That was my first thought, but then I came to the reality that the bank has thousands of customers and I would have to settle for her wingwoman (I officially coined that term after writing this).
“Well” I said, rather dejectedly. “She knows the whole scoop on this file (and is quite possibly my favorite person in the banking industry), but I’ll give it a shot. The property address is…” The woman interrupts and finishes the street name, city and zip code! I was famous!
“Yes, I see here that the auction has been postponed.” I wanted to blurt out “my favorite color is red, I’m a Libra and the account # is xxx-yyy-xyxy (it’s a habit)”. But I stuttered “It, it is extended? It’s been postponed? For how long?”
“Looks like until…about 5 days from today.” She responded.
All I can say is that I am very glad weren’t on a video chat. Although dancing on a glass table in a bathrobe seems to be cool, I doubt she would have thought so. I turned down the “I’ve got the power” background music, dismounted from the desk, and unmuted my phone.
“Thank you” I said. She replied with “You’re welcome, Sir.” (Clearly we were not on a webcam because she would have known my age and that “sir” was not appropriate).
“Anything else I can help you with at this time?”
“No, ma’am, this is wonderful news. Thank you very much; you have made my whole day.”
“Thank you for calling Bankland and you have a nice day, Sir.”
Once I made sure the call was completely ended, I clapped my hands 4 times and gave a little “whoop, whoop!” (Alright, it was more than little, but hey, I was stoked).
Previous experience taught me that banks don’t always tell you what the actual situation is, so I headed for the courthouse to make sure the information I received was accurate. After impatiently waiting for 17.8 minutes, the gentleman handling the sale strolled in fashionably late. He was a pleasant man with a ball cap on and spectacles, sort of reminded me of St. Nick. The one auctioneer saw him arrive and stopped his operation to tell me this was the gentleman I needed to ask about the status of my clients’ sale date.
“Property address?” the kind man asked in a very sincere and caring tone.
“”123 Main Street.”
His response did not match the news I received from the bank. It was better!
“Postponed for 7 days.” He declared. I couldn’t hold back the smile.
“Thank you, Sir. Thank you. I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear you say that.”
With a warm smile and “relax kid, you’re okay” tone, he said “Have a wonderful day”.
“You too. You too.” I said and shook his hand.
I managed not to do a cart-wheel down the courthouse steps (thank goodness, I’m getting older and the successful dismount from the desk earlier in the day was the 1 in 20 successful moves for the week and the outcome would have been disastrous). I immediately sent a text to my client and called my best friend and principal broker.
“Guess what dude? (Long dramatic pause) I got the auction bumped until a week from now”.
End of rant.
Other parts of this series:
Part I: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/
Part II: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-ii/
Part III: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-iii/
Final Chapter: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-final-chapter/
How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part II
How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part II
The following is the second part to the blog series “How to beat a bank in 5 days: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/
Day 3: Day 1 and 2 consisted of mad scrambling to get each and every document to the lender. After running around town and a tremendous effort by the owners of the home, the bank received the last document they needed last night at 6pm (my time). I called in the morning to verify receipt only to find out the gentleman handling the file and his boss/supervisor were both out of the office for the day. Luckily, the woman I spoke to was the same one I spoke to the day before. She not only confirmed receipt, but had her supervisor (as I am typing this, I just realized this bank has a ton of supervisors) help escalate the file and get it to the loss mitigation department (insert ominous music here). She told me I should be able to get some info by the end of the day around 5:30pm my time.
I called an hour early just to make sure I could reach her and I couldn’t get through to anyone except voicemail. When I heard the voicemail I started pushing buttons trying desperately to get a human. After the 3rd voicemail, I hit the zero key one more time and punched in an extension previously given to me. Someone answered. The connection was terrible and I could barely hear him. I asked for her, told him the extensions I already tried, etc. He tried to locate her but couldn’t, and then asked if he could help me. I went through the normal routine and gave the account number, my name, the property address, borrower’s social security number, and favorite color (other than the favorite color, this is usually what banks ask to make sure I have authority to discuss the account and that a stranger isn’t calling to steal the identity of the person losing their house). After confirming I was me and he was him, he proceeded to tell me that the request for extension was rejected by guess who? Yep, a supervisor.
“Why?” I asked.
The man replied “…because we can’t get a broker price opinion done before the foreclosure auction date.”
My heart sank. If at first you don’t succeed…. I pleaded with him. He asked the offer price. Instead of asking what the (insert superlative) does this have do with the auction being delayed, I composed myself and said “$x thousand”. Before he had time to respond, I started in explaining how long this home has been on the market, how this was a miracle offer given property condition, the tragic state of our real estate market, and that the only reason we received the offer was because we found the one person in the world who would have interest in this “unique” property. I finished with “Trust me. You guys don’t want this one back.”
He said he would transfer me to the gentleman responsible for the denial (supervisor, in case you forgot) but explained I would have to leave a message and wait for him to get back to me. I thanked him and waited for voicemail. Then what to my wondering ears should appear…a live person chimed in and said “Hi, this is Aslan. May I help you?” (To protect the privacy of the individual, I have selected a fictitious name).
I started over. “Aslan, my name is Josh Hansen and I am trying to find out why the request for a short sale was denied for this file. Can you help me?”
He replied “We just don’t have enough time…I mean, it’s 6pm my time, 5pm your time…and the sale is less than 2 days away. There is no way we can get a value prior to the auction time.” Composure is key with these people.
Instead of duh, I have a clock and duh, I know your time is 1 hour ahead, and duh, the auction is on Friday, I kindly replied with “I know, Aslan. That is why it is so important we talk about this now.”
He continued “If we had this paperwork 30 days ago, it would be…”
I interrupted “30? How about 60? Trust me, Aslan, If we had received an offer earlier, I would have gladly submitted it (courtesy chuckle). Problem is, we didn’t.”
“I know, I know…” he said and then paused. I had him. “Well” he continued, “What is the offer price?” (Seriously, what is the deal with the stupid offer price?).
“$x thousand” I replied. “Look, I’m not asking for an indefinite postponement, just long enough for you to evaluate the value so everyone involved will know this is a great deal for your bank. Trust me; you don’t want this one back.”
After stammering for an eternity of 3-4 seconds (which, given the hour difference and short time frame, seemed like forever), he said “Well” he sighed and then continued “It’s about 6pm my time and I doubt the person who can help us is still in the office, but I will call him. Is it okay if I call you back in about 20 minutes? Is the number you called from the best one to reach you at?”
Again, composure is key. Rather than “Don’t end a sentence in a preposition” I said “Absolutely, Aslan. You can call me anytime.”
He finished with “If I can’t reach him, I will call you in the morning.”
I responded “Oh, thank you Aslan, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help”. To be continued….
Note from the author: For what it’s worth, even though this post is laden with sarcasm and seemingly insincere gestures, I am very thankful for how this bank is treating me on the phone and everything they are doing to help the borrowers avoid foreclosure (if they don’t postpone, I won’t be surprised and I assure you I will broadcast their ineptitude via every outlet I can find). But, at least they are kind. End of rant.
Other parts of this series:
Part I: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/
Part II: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-ii/
Part III: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-iii/
Final Chapter: https://movetobend.com/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-final-chapter/
February Market Numbers Just Out
The new February market numbers are out for Bend. New sales stayed pretty flat, and closings dipped down 12% from January. It was also another losing month for Bend single-family home inventory numbers. This is going to be good news for sellers while it lasts. If you want to see my take on the recent trend, you can check out my video blog on the subject.