foreclosure sale — Strategic Realty

How to beat a bank in 5 days: Final Chapter

How to Beat a Bank in 5 days: Conclusion

This is the final part to a multi-episode, written depiction of a real life short sale.

It’s been awhile since I last updated this story, partly because we were working the short sale and partly because the outcome was so brutal. After much waiting, I beat the loan servicing company (which was amazing given the fact that the negotiator was the single most unpleasant person I have ever talked to), then I beat Fannie Mae and they approved the file, and then (cue ominous music)……the mortgage insurance company said they won’t agree to the sale unless the borrower signed a $25,000 note payable at approximately $350/month. One word (no, it’s not that word). Awesome.

I tried to get them to settle for less, to give a cash option, etc., because maybe, just maybe, the buyer would be willing to contribute to make the deal happen or we could find another solution. Just to summarize, 1) The seller couldn’t make their mortgage payment because they didn’t have the money 2) they had to uproot their family from a home they loved because they didn’t have the money 3) They couldn’t sell because the house was worth about ½ as much as they paid and they didn’t have the money to sell and make up the difference. So logically, the MI company realizing how much money the seller had (clearly defined above in the summary…ZERO), decided their portion of zero is $25k.

Needless to say, the deal fell apart and another foreclosure hit the market. To further illustrate the incompetence, we had an offer about $35k higher than the valuations the bank and previously mentioned idiots had in their possession, the mortgage insurance company still has to pay the bank the same amount, the buyer didn’t get the house, the brokers didn’t get paid, and Fannie Mae added to their ever-increasing property tax bill for Deschutes County. Oh and by the way, when the property came back on the market, the list price was $10,000 less than our offer.

Moral of the story: The banks, Fannie Mae, and mortgage insurance companies don’t care about the borrowers. They accept zero responsibility for their lending standards and practices and blame everything on the homeowners. Good news for them though, Uncle Sam will continue to fund their massacre of the people who are trying to do the right thing. I’m sick of it and my heart goes out to those who are dealing with this. End of rant.

Other parts of this series:

Part I: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/

Part II: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-ii/

Part III: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-iii/

Final Chapter: https://movetobend.com/2011/06/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-final-chapter/

How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part III

By Catherine

How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part III

This is the 3^rd part to a multi-episode, written depiction of a real life short sale.

Part I: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/

Part II: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/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/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-i/

Part II: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-ii/

Part III: https://movetobend.com/2011/03/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-part-iii/

Final Chapter: https://movetobend.com/2011/06/how-to-beat-a-bank-in-5-days-final-chapter/

Fells Wargo

By Catherine

I sell homes in Bend Oregon. Homes for sale in Bend have finally started moving at a very healthy pace. But today, though not as frequently, we still deal with short sales and they are still extremely trying events. For those of you frustrated with short sales (still), this should help you feel not so alone in the frustration and hopefully give you a smile at the same time.

This post was going to be about the US Treasury allocation of funds and then Wells Fargo asking for documents (documents they already received) and corrections to documents for a short sale. But instead, I’m going to focus on the short sales first, before I move on to the US Treasury (which, if the Treasury would do, might help the housing market).

I sent in a myriad of documents for a current short sale. Wells Fargo confirmed receipt and then assigned me a “pointman” (more like a dullman). He then asked me for several documents he already had. Easy enough to believe and not much further explanation needed. Here comes the fun part. He sent me an email asking for some corrections to the already collected documents. I’m going to call these “Brutals”.

Brutal #1: “Pointless in Seattle” states in an email: “The HUD1 states a sales price of $X and the sales agreement shows $X+$6k and these numbers need to match (for those of you that don’t know, a HUD1 is a statement issued by an escrow company showing the exact breakdown of costs/credits at the closing of a real estate transaction). These need to match. So I open the file I sent him and check both the price on the HUD1 and the sale agreement and guess what? Yep, they match. That’s what I get for sending mixed messages, I mean, the HUD1 says:

“Contract Sales Price: $X,000” and the Sale agreement says “…for the purchase price (US Currency) of…..$X,000”. Actually, now that I just typed it, the (US Currency) thing is a bit confusing… I wish google had a construction paper email body with giant color Crayons and a pretty color palette so I could draw pics for this person. Actually, Crayons wouldn’t help because he wouldn’t read that either. Where’s the rubber stamp when you need it?

Brutal # 2 “Dullness in Delaware” writes: “The buyer’s preapproval letter must show that he is getting a loan for at least 60% of the purchase price.” Second sentence, second! of the preapproval letter: “The loan is a conventional conforming…with 10% down”! Well, he can read but doesn’t and can’t add or subtract to save his life. Thank goodness the banks received all of that cash from the government so they can hire people who can actually count to a hundred. I was waiting for him to bust out the line from Gladiator “Are you not entertained???” End of Rant. Later.

footnote: I have worked with many banks and many negotiators. Their desks are piled high with as many as 100 files at a time. And not all of them are the same. If you are a negotiator or other employee at a big bank, I am not knocking you. Your company, yes. And for untrained employees and negotiators of banks in general, at least be kind and don’t lie. It only makes you look worse.

For more articles and blog by Strategic Realty, please visit our Bend Oregon real estate blog here:)

How to beat a bank in 5 days: Final Chapter

How to beat a bank in 5 days: Part III

Fells Wargo

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