In the interest of time and my personal sanity, there are some emails I don't open. Just delete. I do it based on the title of the email. Like this morning, I received, "Open House in Del Dayo." Another was "Critical Eye Home Inspection." My favorite: "Sudden Values." Into the trash. But in the back of my mind I have this nagging suspicion that one of these days I will throw away a short sale approval letter.
That's because the approval letters often arrive looking like spam. First, the bank negotiator fills the title with numbers inherent in the loan. That might be helpful in their database but it means nothing to me or any other Sacramento short sale agent. A negotiator at Bank of America sent an after-closing-escrow message that referenced the escrow number and property address, and I thought to myself what a brilliant guy. There is somebody who thinks about his audience. This is what I love to see.
Most of my email messages reference the property address. That's because after closing, I file each email into my digital file. I find them by searching for the address. But it made me think, is that enough to get a person to open my email? Referencing the property address? Not if it's not their own address. However, if I had to find that particular email again and, say, I was searching for the email about removal of contingencies, it would be helpful to reference contingency in the subject line.
I know this because I received an email this morning from an agent who has not yet removed the inspection contingencies. Her 17 days for inspection has come and gone. We requested the contingency release for inspections a few days ago. The agent refused, saying she wanted to wait for the appraisal to make sure the home appraised at value. Yet, the purchase contract has a loan contingency in place until closing. We are not asking her to remove the loan contingency. If it doesn't appraise, that loan won't close.
Her buyers are in breach of contract. Just because it's a short sale doesn't mean the buyers can get away without adhering to the contract. The contingencies are the same for a short sale as they are for a traditional sale.
Nobody is ever so sure they are right as when they are wrong. And that's a pretty sucky place to be.
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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.
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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.
