I've got news for all you fans of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We've been lied to all these years. We, as busy people, tend to take whatever has been shoveled our direction as the truth -- like FOX News -- without ever thinking about it.
With Goldilocks, what you have here are 3 hungry bears who went for a walk in the woods. They come home to find out a stranger has a) broken into their house, b) eaten all of their food, c) broken their furniture and d) a little defenseless girl with a bloated stomach is sleeping right in front of them.
Goldilocks didn't get up and run away in the woods. I hate to break it to ya. The bears gobbled her up. Slurp. Sorry, kids.
We tend to shape our view of the world based on our own experiences. Take short sales, for example. If an agent has closed only a handful of short sales, she might have a different opinion than, say, a Sacramento short sale agent who has closed hundreds of short sales. A MLO said a few days ago that I appeared astonished that an MLO would ask for an extension. My astonishment wasn't that the MLO asked for an extension. I was astonished because the MLO expected an extension.
There are no guarantees that a short sale bank will offer an extension. Take Wells Fargo, for instance. Now, Wells Fargo will offer one extension, providing it's not too close to the auction date. But next month or even tomorrow that policy could change.
Ditto for whether a bank will postpone an auction. Often, if there is a short sale offer in the works, the bank may postpone the trustee's auction, but there is no guarantee. In fact, some guidelines, direct the bank to foreclose if the auction is more profitable. Sometimes, the investors make more money in a foreclosure over a short sale. With certain types of Wells Fargo loans, there is no postponement of auction. None. Nada.
A seller wrote to his lawyer last week to talk about a Fannie Mae short sale and the auction date. I cautioned him against requesting a Fannie Mae HAFA short sale due to the looming presence of that auction date. The seller seemed to believe that his lawyer possessed supernatural powers to stop the auction. That is a scary thought. The truth is unless the seller is willing to pay the lawyer to file suit and has established a basis for that action, Fannie Mae has the power to continue to foreclose. Especially in a Fannie Mae HAFA short sale.
We short sale agents and short sale lawyers don't have magic wands. There is no abracadabra. But it does make sense to hire an experienced Sacramento short sale agent to look out for you. It makes sense to get legal advice, too. Otherwise, I'm warning ya, you might get eaten by the bears.
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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.
