I don't care what anybody says, it is a bad sign when a borrower goes into underwriting and doesn't come out for more than a week. Because I am a Sacramento short sale agent, I manage a lot of listings in which borrowers vanish into underwriting. Loan officers stop returning phone calls because, quite likely, they have nothing to say.
See, this is the thing with a short sale. A short sale can take so long to get approved that by the time the buyer starts a loan, that buyer's financial picture might have changed. I don't know if it's that they forget they are in escrow or have a temporary lapse in judgment or what happens, but they aren't always as attractive to the lender as they were when they were younger and fresh meat, like they were 3 months ago.
I had one buyer go into underwriting with a mortgage broker -- not my mortgage guy, thank goodness -- and the MLO assured me over and over that the loan was solid, approved. Yeah, right. The guy died in underwriting. Well, not literally, but he canceled because he couldn't get the loan the MLO promised him. I suggested to the MLO that the loan was going sideways, and the MLO got his knickers in a twist, but guess what? It went sideways and collapsed.
I have another escrow at the moment that's run 3 weeks past the closing date. The short sale approval letter has long ago turned yellow and shriveled up. Do you know how difficult it is in some situations to get a short sale extension? The buyer changed her loan at the last minute from FHA to conventional, and we still can't yank her out of underwriting. I'm concerned she's going to drown.
If buyers can't emerge from underwriting within a week, something is wrong with that file. And agents wonder why we issue counter offers on my Sacramento short sales. In some cases we do it so we can get a lender working on the file who can actually close escrow. Been there. Done that. And I'm not going back there.
Welcome to underwriting, 2011.
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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.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
