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BenCountrywide Short Sales - What You Need To Know
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!)
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.
Need an experienced Agent?
From my blog here I’ve developed a pretty 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 get back to you in a day or two with a agent who can help with your short sale (don’t just go with any agent to short sell your home!)
on September 21st, 2007 at 5:54 am
How did the short-sale impact your personal income tax situation? This to me would be a huge concern, especially if I were already in a tax trap.
09/21/07
on March 4th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I have been in the short sale process with Country Wide and we are on our fifth offer- they continuously change their mind on an approved number and recently the negotiator stated: we would rather the house go into foreclosure- we will make more money….?” troubling……..
any advice???
on March 20th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Stephanie,
First, what is the real value on the property and what to do you owe?
Second, are you late? how many months? do you live in the home?
Brennan
on March 28th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I tried to purchase a home that was a Countrywide short sale. After 3 months, we still haven’t gotten approval from Countrywide. Our contract expires today, for the second time (we already extended it once). We are now moving on, even though we have already put money into having it inspected and appraised. My suggestion would be to NOT try to buy a house that was a short sale, especially if the mortgage is through Countrywide.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
How short is the sale if you don’t mind me asking? We are dealing with the same scenario. We have been waiting on a reply for almost 60 days from Countrywide and we think the sale is less than 10K short.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Ours was short less than $10K as well. We have been told that the listing agent deals with a lot of short sales, and the only ones he’s been having trouble getting approved have been Countrywide.
on April 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I’m waiting for a response on a home I want to buy short sale from Countrywide. We have been waiting since February 1.
on April 8th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Countrywide has gone through about 4 re-org’s and they still can’t get it right. I would keep shorting this stock if I where you. On the transaction I’m working with Counrtywide on they hold the second. The offer for the home came in at 750K from a retail customer. I called Countywide to see if they would except a 54K hit on the 200K second. I also did my best to explain, if they didn’t take it, my next offer to them would be about 5K on the 200K note. The home is worth about 500K in the market which wipes Countrywide out. Here is the funny thing, no one can make a decision and no one really want to. They are just going to let things drag and drag along. I would be suprised to see BoA cut the stings to these guys and take the loss.
on April 11th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I was working on a short sale as the selling agent. This was for a condo mortgaged with Countrywide. I was told today that as of April 1, they would not be doing anymore short sales.
on April 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Countrywide is one of the most difficult lenders to complete a short sale, however, the more experienced you are in negotiating these the easier they become. Be careful that you not only ask for a realtor’s help as they are a great start, a loss mitigation company who deals with these in volume can really speed up the process. And as for the legit ones out there I am sure they work with the agents as we do!
on April 22nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
We have been waiting on areply from the 2nd got a counter offer two weeks post Og. offer @ 489k we complied and it is now foing on 3and 1/2 weeks and have still no word
on April 24th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Hello,
I currently have 2 homes. The first is a condo that I lived in for 3 years we tried to sell it twy years ago. Due to the market change we had to rent it out when we bought our 2nd home. We currently have an offer in and it’s been about 3 weeks. I guess they passed a new thing that if it’s not owner occupied then they won’t accept the short sale. I find this crazy that they would rather have it foreclose..Is this true? What should I do at this point
on April 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
my husband and i put an offer in on a countrywide short sale in December 07 we just found out that it was forclosed on and they did not accept the short sale. The bad part is that we got a verbal yes a month ago from one negotiator then it changed hands and went through three other negotiator before it was denied. five months is a long time to find out no when we were only 20k below her mortgage. How will the market improve if they son’t offload these houses?
on May 8th, 2008 at 6:12 am
This situation with country wide is out of control and the customers are being affected in different ways. I’am a country wide customer for more than five years always current on my payment until Last December I request help and I was denied. According to the retention department my family income was under the requirements therefore, I put my house for sale and found a customer for a short sale since February and every week I just get the same answer from contry wide that my loan it is waiting for approval. my concern is that the buyer no longer wants to wait and the deal is going daown the cracks!