I just submitted a short sale package on Friday (2/29) to Countrywide. As per usual, I call them over and over until I get confirmation that they received the package. On the 6th call to loss mitigation, the rep acknowledged receipt of the paperwork and said,
“Due to the volume of correspondence we are receiving, it will be 30-45 days from the time we receive your correspondence to the time a loss mitigation specialist will be assigned to your case.”
The guy did tell me that I can call before the 30 days for an update to see if anything has changed, but he doesn’t think we have a snowball’s chance of talking to anyone about the file for another 30-45 days.
Make sure you include the homeowners very very sad and pathetic hardship situation complete with financial statement and supporting documents. Send it all together with your buyer’s offer and a Broker’s Price Opinion (comps) if you can.
The last deal I did with CW took me over 9 months… I got it in the end, but geez, what a pain in the butt. But I was assigned to a LMR right away. Having a 30+ day wait until it even gets assigned to a rep is just insane…but I can’t say that I’m surprised. Most of the ppl @ CW have their head stuck in a sphincter. It’s a wonder they’re still open at all. I suppose when you are the number one sub prime mortgage note writing company in the country it can be more harmful to the economy to go under than limping a float.
With so many short sale requests the only real urgency is for files that have upcoming foreclosure sale dates within the next several weeks- in some states more pressing than others because of the difficulty & high costs associated with postponing the sale.
Check if the property has a sale date-- if so escalate it to get it rush assigned, otherwise good luck joining the queue.
Can’t control if the buyer walks-- only real deadline (and a possibly moving one at that) is that of the foreclosure.
Any reasonable offer, be it a short sale or an REO, is more likely to be accepted if there is a copy of a certified bank check (or other solid proof of funds) included in the pkt reflecting the offer price.
If the case is not yet assigned to a LMR you will have a better chance of it getting looked at sooner if you have everything ready to review AND ready to close as quickly as possible. But you may still need to be persistent in order to get someone’s attention in order to take a look at it. Try faxing the pkt to every LMR fax number you can find. Be sure to include your contact info so someone can get back to you.
Yeah, that’s the same number I’ve been using. I’ve also resorted to sending the ss package via Priority Mail (at the same time as the fax). I figure someone opens the mail every day, whereas maybe a couple of weeks will go by before someone gets to my file in the bottom of a fax pile.
Also, I’ve done some 2 dozen CW short sales now and probably half have had sale dates. Despite that, the short sales have still commenced way past the sale dates (6 so far that are still working with me past the sale date). I suppose that the courts are also backlogged and postponing the auctions - at least in my area. Either that, or the sale date is not as hard set as previously assumed.
Thanks for the info. I have three countrywide deals I am getting ready to submit. We’ve been pretty lucky in getting our auction extended. I would say that definately having a very well put together and complete short sale packet is important.
Not only Countrywide. I was working on one with a past client that was with Chase. The gentleman was 8 payments behind and Chase said that it was to Foreclosure to look at a short sale. Said it would also take 30-45 days to be reviewed. I talked to the trustee on the deal and they were willing to sell it as long as it got them the payment that was needed overall. Should I have went ahead and tried a short sale for them it being so far behind.
It’s worth a try even if you have an auction date. We submitted a short sale offer 1 week before the auction date and called the bank hourly until we got an answer. They said that they would postpone the auction to review the short sale. That was 2 months ago and we are still working on the short sale - bank says the MI is reviewing it now.