We all know what happens when decisions are made in committees. Too many fingers in the pie, too many opinions and not enough cooperation. Throw in a few extreme egos, bad haircuts and tight shoes, and you've got a recipe for a brand new California short sale addendum. The new C.A.R. form, SSA, was released last November, shortened, revised, and is supposedly a cleaner form. But it's still confusing to a lot of real estate agents, especially to those who are not short sale agents. Which, amazingly enough, are the agents for whom this form was designed. Regular buyer's agents.
It's a good thing other agents trust me when I explain how to fill them out because practically every single short sale addendum that I have received for my Sacramento short sales has been incomplete, and the buyer's intention to release the deposit was messed up and not conveyed. But I had the opposite problem a few days ago when I wrote an offer on a short sale for a Sacramento buyer.
I don't work with as many buyers as I do sellers these days. But being a Sacramento short sale agent who lists short sales, well, that experience is very helpful when working with a short sale buyer. Because the short sale addendum contains defaults that are not necessarily favorable for a buyer. Unless an agent changes it.
If I had not changed the short sale addendum, the buyer would have been stuck with the following default items:
- Would wait 45 days for approval. No, we want a 60-day contract. Why is the default 45? How many short sales are approved in 45 days?
- Seller has 3 days to deliver the approval. No, the seller has 24 hours to send the approval letter.
- Inspections periods commence the day after approval. In this case, no, we want inspections to begin immediately because this is an older home with deferred maintenance. If there is something terribly wrong with this property, we prefer to know about it upfront and to amend the offer prior to bank acceptance.
- Deposit check withheld. To show good faith, we'll release the earnest money deposit to escrow upon seller acceptance.
- Seller can continue to market, accept offers and send those offers to the short sale bank. Hell, no. Well, unless I represent the seller and then hell, yes.
I presented the offer to the seller's agent. That listing agent did not understand that we were releasing the earnest money deposit to escrow, even though it was spelled out right there in the short sale addendum. We had to discuss that issue. It was still confusing even after she read it. Then, the agent said her seller would not remove Section 6 about accepting other offers. What? Is her seller not interested in selling to my buyer? Is the seller unwilling to make a commitment to my buyer? The agent did not understand. Finally, the agent gave up and just took my word for it.
C.A.R. -- do you have to make this form so danged difficult for non-short sale agents? The bulk of the agents who represent buyers for short sales?
Photo: Big Stock Photo
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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.
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