[WestieJeff]

It is because there is no coordination or even coordinated desire to sell the property between the seller, agent, and bank.

The seller and seller's agent job is to get an offer, obviously the best offer, but really any offer. Without any offer, you have nothing to send the bank and grease the wheels. Price moves around as required to get any offer. Remember, as a seller, I don't care about price since I get nothing anyways.

I see short sale listings on the MLS regularly that reappear because they fell out of escrow with a price jump and a new description that says "short sale approved at listing price", then a month later the price is reduced. Why did they reduce the price if the bank already told them how much they wanted? Because they need any offer to keep the process moving.

Part of the problem is that in a declining market, the house can be worth less after it drops out of one short sale deal (which may have taken 6 months or more), and getting an offer even at the old listing price may be impossible, but they banks seem to very hesitant to reduce prices especially after they may have an (old) BPO supporting a higher price.

It's all jacked up. Cross your fingers and hope for the best!

Originally Posted by Uralwaysonmymind

I am not getting this short sell thing. We made an offer, bank asks for more and we decline. The house then goes back on the market for our offering price. What is with that?

[007 license to sell]

Short sales can be difficult for a myriad of reasons, some make no sense at all. There is a process that has to be followed and if one step or one piece of paper isn't legible filled out wrong, or if the buyer asks for concessions the short sale can be blind sided. If there is a second the chances of closing is slim and non,
The first part of getting a successful short sale sold is on the listing agent, they have to make sure that the seller has filled out the short sale package from the bank with their financial information and a hard ship letter amongst other items the banks may request. If this step is skipped right off the get go the chances of getting a short sale approved is much more difficult.
One of the reasons banks take their time responding is that they don't trust the home owner, they want to make sure that the short sale isn't being done to either sell to a relative or a friend and then the property would be sold back to the original owner from their friends or relatives.

Also banks try to find out through the financials from the seller if they can afford the home and they are trying to do a strategic default. If that is the case the bank may grant a short sale on the condition that the seller sign a promissory note for the deficiency.
And if there is a second the second may demand a deficiency promissory note before they agree to the short sale on the first. There is so much involved in a short sale even when a negotiator is assigned to the short sale.
The other entity of the bank that actually foreclosures may foreclose before or even while the short sale is in escrow, so the would be buyer would get their emd back and gets to start over.
It's really important that the listing agent, the negotiator and the foreclosure department all keep in communication along with the buyers agent. If the communications have stopped or been interrupted then there is a greater chance of a short sale to fail.
Oh did I mention the banks are always under staffed.

This is just a snap shot of what can happen there are allot of scenarios, there are so many parties involved and the way the process works changes constantly.

[macgeek]

Originally Posted by WestieJeff

It is because there is no coordination or even coordinated desire to sell the property between the seller, agent, and bank.

The seller and seller's agent job is to get an offer, obviously the best offer, but really any offer. Without any offer, you have nothing to send the bank and grease the wheels. Price moves around as required to get any offer. Remember, as a seller, I don't care about price since I get nothing anyways.

I see short sale listings on the MLS regularly that reappear because they fell out of escrow with a price jump and a new description that says "short sale approved at listing price", then a month later the price is reduced. Why did they reduce the price if the bank already told them how much they wanted? Because they need any offer to keep the process moving.

Part of the problem is that in a declining market, the house can be worth less after it drops out of one short sale deal (which may have taken 6 months or more), and getting an offer even at the old listing price may be impossible, but they banks seem to very hesitant to reduce prices especially after they may have an (old) BPO supporting a higher price.

It's all jacked up. Cross your fingers and hope for the best!

Now wait a second here Jeff,
Agents are soliciting offers on houses, JUST to show there still worth listing, and that's it. that if I offer on a house that was 150k and they dropped there price to 135 and thats my offer, the broker will go back to the bank and say we have a fish on the line for $135k lets see if we now can get a bigger fish????

Jonathan

[WestieJeff]

No, if you think this is happening then you are giving way too much credit to the banks. The bank either likes the offer or it doesn't and it will send that info to the agent. No point in taking offers much over comps unless they are cash due to appraisal issues. If the offer sent to the bank is well below comps, then I would expect they would reject it.

Originally Posted by macgeek

Now wait a second here Jeff,
Agents are soliciting offers on houses, JUST to show there still worth listing, and that's it. that if I offer on a house that was 150k and they dropped there price to 135 and thats my offer, the broker will go back to the bank and say we have a fish on the line for $135k lets see if we now can get a bigger fish????

Jonathan

[macgeek]

*WHEW* ok, thanks jeff..
you had me worried there, for a moment!


Jonathan

[calgalt]

ours took 3 months start to finish.
It was a BOA loan with a HELOC from BOA too.
We didn't need closing costs paid nor requested any home repairs.

Our first choice for our mortgage was Wells Fargo but they appraised our home for $8,000 less than BOA was willing to take.
So we went with BOA - after all how can they appraise the home for our mortgage for less than they say it is worth? Everything A-OK now. And BOA sold our loan the next month after closing.

I think it also helped that the listing agent was the seller's mother.
So for a short sale it was relatively painless for us.
The worst part is the committment/waiting/waiting/waiting period while the bank decides on your offer.