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.

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