I am listing another Bank of America HAFA short sale this week. Except this time we are not getting preapproved. As a busy Sacramento short sale agent, I have come to the conclusion that it makes a lot of sense to get other types of HAFA short sales preapproved but not Bank of America HAFAs. That's because Bank of America doesn't seem to handle its own HAFA short sales. They contract them out to a third-party vendor.
This wouldn't be so bad if the third-party vendors were held accountable or if they performed, but they aren't and they don't. That 10-day approval turnaround time that is required by federal law is laughable. These vendors thumb noses at that law. That law is loosely interpreted by them, and the third-party vendors write their own rules as they go along.
In a Rocklin short sale, also preapproved for HAFA by Bank of America, we uploaded the HUD and offer to Equator on June 23rd. Today is August 16th. We still do not have approval on this preapproved HAFA Bank of America short sale. It equates to a full price offer without a concession. First, I argued with the negotiator for a few weeks about the fact a seller credit on the HUD is not a credit to the buyer. Then, the negotiator objected to certain words on the HUD. Honestly, do they really not know that the HUD is for the buyer and not the seller?
In a Folsom short sale that's been preapproved for HAFA by Bank of America, the third-party vendor, AMS, let the BPO expire. I asked how the BPO could expire when the HAFA was preapproved on June 1. AMS said it's because the BPO was done in March, so it expired mid-June. Don't you think they should have checked this before requiring umpteen number of revised HUDs?
The Bank of America short sale vendor acknowledged receipt of all docs on June 23rd. Yet, here it is August 16th and we sit. Another real estate agent working with AMS, who is basically a mild-mannered and calm individual, had this to say about AMS: "Must be nice to have a job where you don't really have standards you have to adhere to and you know it doesn't really matter what gets done each day. If it gets done, it gets done. If not, oh well."
This short sale has a second lien with CITI. We got the approval from CITI in 30 days and pulled it out of recovery. Now we are set to close on August 21st, and we do not have the approval from Bank of America. This means the buyer might have to pay a per diem to CITI if the buyer still wants to move forward. Because Bank of America's third-party vendor screwed up. Again.
My other preapproved HAFA short sales seem to be closing without any drama. But these Bank of America preapproved HAFAs are not. From now on, I am not advising my Bank of America clients to get preapproved. We may as well submit an offer with the HAFA package because getting preapproved does absolutely nothing to speed up the process. There appears to be total disregard for federal regulations.
My consensus: A preapproved HAFA short sale at Bank of America is a waste of effort. Bank of America needs to take responsibility for the poor performance of its third-party vendors or take over the job itself.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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