Countrywide is the largest mortgage company in the US…think they are dealing with a short sale problem at the moment? You betcha. (not to mention short sales of their stock! Wish I had shorted them at $40!) They have now been taking over by Bank of America Mortgage.
Countrywide’s Full Spectrum Lending division was the King of awful sub prime mortgages the past few years, and now those loans are going bad. If you have a countrywide loan and are facing foreclosure, a short sale of your home might be your best option.
I did a short sale of my home (and I had a first and second mortgage on the property) earlier this year. It can be done, but it requires patience and a plan and a little help. There are a zillion schmucks out there who will offer to “help” you when your down. Some are legit, most are not.
What I Did In My Short Sale
What I did (hiring a real estate agent with short sale experience) worked for my situation. It may not for your short sale, but I found it the best option. Working with a real estate agent you at least can get a background on the person, and if they work for a larger brokerage you know they have resources to help you. Think short sales are hard for you? They are equally as hard on the real estate agent! Getting a short sale deal done (especially right now with the overwhelmed lenders like Countrywide) takes alot of work. I do think its the best option vs. foreclosure though. You can also read my 7 steps to a successful short sale guide.
You Need An Experienced Short Sale Agent!
From my blog here I’ve developed an extensive network of real estate agents that have short sale experience. If you’d like a referral, fill out the form below and I’ll have someone available in your area to help with your short sale ASAP.
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We have been waiting for our written contract for 5 weeks since Wells approved the short sale. We are getting very frustrated. The seller and the agent are calling the bank daily. Wells keeps telling them that they are “working on it”…aaauugh. How long does Wells normally take to provide the written contract once approval is made?
Any news yet, Stacy?
still waiting for Chase to approved the sale in writing…has been 11 days since the verbal.
We finally received a counter offer from Bof A after 11 months of waiting. Constantly checking this website for comments and information has helped me through the seems never ending process. I always believe that patience will pay off. For those of you still waiting, hang in there. It will come. Good luck everyone.
After waiting 7 months and going from BOA to titanium and back to BOA we received a counter offer. How excited were we! A week later we find out that the MI company did not approve it and it has gone to forclosure. How can they do this? What is wrong with people!!! Don’t they see that they will make less money on this house if it goes to forclosure?
Received written approval today. After 8 months and 2 days, wow! Hang in there guys!
Updates: BOA countered our offer after almost a year of waiting. We accepted the counter. A week later, the bank said the seller has to contribute $15k otherwise the short sale is declined. Does anyone think we can actually close this deal?
Finally received a copy of the written approval from BOA via the sellers attorney today after ~8 months. They agreed to the original offer price, satisfying the primary lien holder, with a negotiated minor payout to the 2nd lien holder. Hopefully we can successfully close on this deal within the next couple weeks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I accepted B of A counter offer on April 12, 2010 and still waiting for the final approval letter from them. Do you know how long it usually take to receive the approval letter after accepting the counter offer?
We accepted B of A counter on April 7th and received written approval on April 21st. The title agent claimed she was told that there are 2 levels of upper management that make the final approval. Each level is allowed 3 days to review the file. I’ve been reading blogs for a long time and this was the first time I’ve heard anything about “2 levels” of the upper management.
Did any of you experience BOA asking for seller contribution before closing?
Finaly closed on our short sale, 9 months from the initial offer to close. In the end, I got a tremendous deal, however this sort of transaction if not for the impatient or weak of heart. If asked directly, if I would ever do it again, I would probably say no. Particularly since there are so many steps in the process where the deal may totally fall apart after so much time invested, and stress at every juncture along the way. However, in the end, it was worth the wait. For advice, I would say, make sure that you have a good lawyer who digs deap to ensure a clean title and no tax liens, and have a through inspection near close, particularly is the property has been vacant and/or utilities have been off for a significant amount of time. Also, our experience with BOA was that they were totally unresponsive throughout the entire transaction. All I can say is to continually insist that the authorized individual contact them as much as possible to help push the case along. For short sales, you will have to fight for the deal until the end. Good luck to you all.
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